I grew up in a family with eight kids. Mom was stay at home and Dad did well, but with eight kids each individual kid received a few mostly modest presents.
When I was in college and home for Thanksgiving, my folks invited everyone out to dinner. After ordering, my dad would often introduce a topic of discussion that we'd bat around until the food came. That year he said: if you didn't need to worry about money or success, what other career path might you find interesting. Without much thought I said, I'd like to play electric bass, due to the fact that when I listened to albums, I was really mostly following the bass. I don't even recall what my other siblings said.
On Christmas day there were the usual gifts: socks and underwear, a couple of new shirts, and a book or two. But after that was all done, my dad said: tomorrow when the music store is open, let's go buy a bass. It was a $200 hondo (a fender p-bass knockoff) and a 15 watt Crate amp. What an extravagant gift! I'm 60 now and still playing, though never professionally. :-)
No, the hondo is long gone. After college, when I had a job, I bought a much better bass. I don't have any recollection what I did with the hondo. It would have been the mid to late 80s, so there was no craigslist to sell it.
That hondo had action so high I needed to attach a parachute to each note I played.
When I was in college and home for Thanksgiving, my folks invited everyone out to dinner. After ordering, my dad would often introduce a topic of discussion that we'd bat around until the food came. That year he said: if you didn't need to worry about money or success, what other career path might you find interesting. Without much thought I said, I'd like to play electric bass, due to the fact that when I listened to albums, I was really mostly following the bass. I don't even recall what my other siblings said.
On Christmas day there were the usual gifts: socks and underwear, a couple of new shirts, and a book or two. But after that was all done, my dad said: tomorrow when the music store is open, let's go buy a bass. It was a $200 hondo (a fender p-bass knockoff) and a 15 watt Crate amp. What an extravagant gift! I'm 60 now and still playing, though never professionally. :-)