Reader Spotlight: Kyle Greene

Kyle Greene

Meet Kyle Greene, a bassist with one very smart dad. Kyle’s dad told him “that playing bass in addition to guitar would give me more performance opportunities.”

“He didn’t mention that the bass was actually just cooler than the guitar,” Kyle adds.

You know we dig that kind of talk. Kyle is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of January 20, 2014.

Bio

I am a lifelong student of the musical language. I have been playing guitar and bass for the past 19 years. I was a busy performer and session musician as a teen and in my early twenties. I have toured with national country acts, recorded over ten albums with various artists and played with countless projects. I worked out of Nashville from 2005-late 2008 and some of my favorite work there was with an instrumental funk-jazz trio I started in 2006 called Uberphonics. Currently I spend most of my musical time improvising bass loop tunes and posting them on my soundcloud page. I think I bring a unique style of looping to the bass world.

Location

Sims, Indiana, USA

Day gig

I teach lessons at a local shop and raise my three young sons.

Years experience

17 years

Bands & Gigs

I have taken a break from performing for the past five years to focus on my education and starting a family. Due to my severe addiction to playing the bass, though, I have made my greatest strides as a player since taking this break. It has also helped me form my own identity as a solo artist.

Gear

  • 2001 Ernie Ball StingRay5 with two year old flats
  • SWR Mo Bass Amplifier
  • SWR Goliath III 4×10 cabinet
  • Line 6 DL4 Looper/Delay
  • Line 6 M13 Looper/Multi-Effects
  • Christopher 7/8 Double Bass

Why I play the bass

My dad, a consummate musician, told me that playing bass in addition to guitar would give me more performance opportunities. He didn’t mention that the bass was actually just cooler than the guitar.

My bass superpower/claim to fame

I spent a summer as a guitar tech for legendary British punk-rockers Buzzcocks. At the time of that tour (2006) I was totally into all this crazy fusion and bebop (still am), it was driving me crazy in both good and bad ways. Having so much exposure to raw rock-n-roll every night really helped me to get over some of my fixation on all things theory and technique. I think it was my own actualized version of what Jaco was getting at with Punk Jazz!

My influences

Allen Woody/Gov’t Mule, Jaco, Miles Davis, Richard Bona, Bill Frisell, Les Claypool, Jorge Ben, Mulatu Astatke, Autechre, Black Moth Super Rainbow

More on the web

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