The Electric Way of the Lowlands (day 1/55) Buying a Bass Guitar

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faunobrujo19 days agoPeakD4 min read

«Remembering the purchase of my Electric Bass»

✨ a Magical Instrument ✨

✨ Musical memory 2023

Hello everyone in this wonderful community that loves to reminisce. Today, I'm reminded of the moment I bought my first and only electric bass. Like many of you, I'm also a music lover.

These photos, some taken by me, others by my friend Nilo, capture the day I acquired my most prized musical instrument.

I had gone with my old, crazy friend from high school to see an ad on Facebook Marketplace where they were selling a Washburn Taurus T24 electric bass at an incredibly low price. I'd been looking at ads for used electric basses for a while, and this opportunity was unmissable—it was half price.

🎸

Testing the sound when we arrived at the studio

( January 2023 )

The New Ship

With a perfect balance, very comfortable to play and with a lot of resonance due to its construction

Taking a moment to feel the weight, and the balance, while I listen to the notes resonate in "El Tintero", Nilo's rehearsal room, just after we returned with the new instrument.

Moment of peace before the storm

The windows were rattling like never before, oh yeah

^{Photo taken in January 2023}

🍀 The buying meeting

When we arrived at the place, a young couple greeted us. They were clearly desperate to sell it (and I was very suspicious that it might be faulty, since when I bought my first guitar two years ago, I was scammed into buying a broken one with several stickers plastered over it to cover the cracked wood, haha, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker).

But this time it was completely different. After chatting for a few minutes, he showed me another 5-string electric bass, a beautiful one, and confessed that he didn't really want to sell it, but he urgently needed the money because he was going to be a father and was expecting his first child. He had played in a rock band some time ago and had the four-string bass in immaculate condition. He told me a few things, but since I didn't know anything about the instrument, I listened but didn't quite understand what he was saying, haha.

He tested it with a tuner to show me that all the strings were in tune. But since he didn't have an amplifier at his house, we couldn't hear it playing through a speaker. I have to admit I had some doubts, but I decided to trust him to plug it in as soon as I got home to try it out.

I have to say the instrument was so impeccably preserved, and from the way he handled it, I could tell he was a very careful person (much more so than me, since I'm a bit clumsy). The instrument was in great condition, so I said, "Okay, that's fine, perfect. I'll take it."

I was going to haggle a bit to get a discount, but seeing that he needed the money to help his family and that his wife was there, quite angry, I felt relieved to pay him exactly what he was asking (which was already very cheap, I have to admit: 80,000 Argentine pesos. Today, with inflation in my country, a set of strings costs 80,000).

In retrospect, it's been the best purchase I've made in all these years. I've spent many hours learning to play the electric bass, and I'm going to share in 55 posts (because I love that number) the path I'm following to learn to play (which is the same as having fun), and eventually return to participate in a band.