Reader Spotlight: Matt Lawton

Matt LawtonMeet Matt Lawton, a bassist who has played for more than half his life now, and covering many genres along the way. He didn’t start that way, first choosing the guitar. But once he discovered he was playing “single note lines” on the guitar, he knew he was really a bassist at heart and made the switch. Matt is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of December 2, 2013.

Bio:

I’m a 26 year old bassist from Liverpool, England. I have played for almost 15 years and have been in bands since the age of 13 playing everything from punk to prog metal!

Primarily a self taught musician, I now record regular sessions for Crosstown Studios, (including my debut EP which will be released before the end of the year!) as well as performing in professional function band ‘Friends Of The Bride’ and my jazz trio ‘Minor Third’ along with any other gigs I can get my grubby little hands on!

Location:

Liverpool

Day gig:

Musician – as well as my recording and gigging work I also teach in a local music school.

Years experience:

15 years

Bands & Gigs:

Gigging is my first love and I do it as much as possible! The groups I’m busiest with are my professional covers band and my jazz trio. In the trio we play mainly arrangements of more modern tunes than the Real Book has to offer, you can check us out over at my website!

Gear:

  • Warwick Fortress Fretless
  • Warwick Corvette Jazzman
  • Fender Jazz
  • Fender P
  • MarkBass Jeff Berlin

Why I play the bass:

I grew up in a pretty musical household and I did initially pick up the guitar but everything I wanted to play was just single note lines, I later found out these were called bass lines and swapped my guitar in for a bass!

My bass superpower/claim to fame

I can adapt to fit any musical style, I have played in a variety of different bands over the years and since getting regular studio work the need to fit in and groove is always there no matter what style of music it is.

My influences

Jaco, Miles Davis, Marcus Miller, Damian Erskine, Gary Willis, Stuart Zender…

More on the web:

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