Out and about, seeking what needs to be found by my discerning and particular eye I came upon a special deal today. In the used CD section of a local bookstore I found a copy of Green Day's album "Kerplunk."

Green Day is a band I've both dug and loathed. Memories return of my first time listening to "Dookie," the first Green Day CD I owned. I listened to the damned album so much that I became sick of it and stowed it away in a shadowy corner of my CD collection. After that I was forced to endure the band's descent from "Warning" into their current emo slum. Then the radio was shut off (though for more reasons than Green Day suckage). In the last week I revisited that dark area of the old plastic milk crate in which the hard copies of my music collection are stored, cleared the cobwebs, and slid "Dookie" into my car's CD player. Finding an inexpensive, well-kept copy of "Kerplunk" in the same week seems like fate.

Now I can listen to "No One Knows" while driving through the aspiring to be mean streets of lonely old Grand Rapids. Joy?

Nice! Much joy. Mike Dirnt's bass work on those early albums was one of my influences while learning the instrument, along with Cliff Burton. "Noone Knows," in particular, is a bass showcase, starting with solo'd bass the way it does. That song was so much fun to learn how to play! Check out "I Was There" from their first cd for another great example of bass guitar.

"Warning" was enough to stop the band from being a "blind purchase" for me, but I enjoy the story of how the band had basically recorded another "Warning" when the master tapes got stolen, prompting them to say "screw it," do what they wanted, and record "American Idiot" instead. Not sure how much truth is in that, but it's a good story.

I am finding the bass more and more appealing. My wife has played guitar and is now on her second year playing ukulele. It's time for me to commit to an instrument besides trumpet to complete our musical household. I'm hoping we eventually have a couple kids, one born with a keyboard in its hands and the other with a full drum set. My wife can't complain because that would be incredible.

Bass just really really fits my quiet & introverted personality; unplugged, noone will ever hear you practicing. And they're just so much fun to play if you pluck, instead of pick.

I've really wanted to learn to play a stand up bass. The rich sound of a bass is easier to dig, for me, than a guitar.

Maybe someday I'll join you and become a bassist. For now I'll blow a trumpet out my window, rousing the nesting birds and shattering my neighbor's calm.

Oh, ya gotta shatter the calm!

I've always wanted one of these - an electric bass guitar meant to sound like a stand-up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lM6yiqFHDI The weird-factor makes it awesome.

Oh man, this guy reviewing it is so Canadian, too! #mypeople

That is very cool. I should definitely find one of those. I sent the link to my wife.