still going strong

Being a bassist in Trinidad really has not been easy. The first thing you have to consider is that no one really teaches bass on a personal level. I only started as a result of a former music teacher's urging to join his orchestra. Knowing my musical capabilities on the piano as well as my size, it would have been ideal for me to become one of the masters of the instrument. However, the prime problem has always been that the majority of music teachers tend to teach almost everything except bass. So I had a piano, violin, viola, cello teacher all in one. Which would have been fine, except that I play bass!! It's tuned differently and requires a different technique.
Thank goodness for youtube. That has really been a tutor of sorts. Nothing can replace personal one on one teaching but for me it has been a relatively good push. Hopefully one day I will try to repay the favor that has been given to me. Simandl's books have also been really helpful and I think those are the real foundation for any bass player. I also got a couple dvds from Gary Karr in which he talks about the techniques he developed. You could say I have also been learning from the best.
Then you have the transportation issue. A person really has to love playing bass to be transporting this large thing all over the place, whether it's at practice or private functions or taking it home, it could really be a headache. But it's a pain worth having. It will be very interesting where all this would take me. It's a journey just 8-9 years old but it's still only just beginning.