Steve Hunter - virtuoso of the Electric Bass

I shared the same roof with Steve for a time... some years back, more than I'm sure either of us would care to remember. So I was fortunate enough to have extended exposure to his methods of work.

Steve would choose a piece and listen to it ad nauseum, at least it tended to 'nauseum' for the others in the household! But such is the nature of this part of the work - an essential foundation of the performance art.

Over and over and over he would listen, zeroing in bit by bit. Working out the obvious fingerings first and eventually teasing out the more obscure ones. Then repeating the phrases over and over until they flowed on his bass. Joining the phrases until he could play along with the recording, blending in perfectly.

All this time he would be working out the whys and wherefores of the notes and their relation to the harmony, and the funny little idiosyncracies that all add up form a style. Having absorbed the meaning of the music he'd created his own versions which in time were as good and better than the originals.

The process sounds neat and perhaps easy when described like this but rest assured it required enormous amounts of energy and focus. And that perhaps is the most important lesson I learned from Steve.

Links

Website - www.stevehuntermusic.com