I love and play many different instruments. My favorite is the guitar. The one I’ve played the longest (34 years) is the piano. The one I’m named after is the kazoo (no duh!). The one I’m having the most fun playing THESE DAYS? The electric bass guitar! I started playing one 20 years ago when I first got a 4 track recorder. I was recording my songs and recording all the parts, so I taught myslef the bass. As some of you know, the bass is very similar to the guitar. The strings on a bass are just one octave lower than the lowest 4 strings on a guitar. It wasn’t hard to learn at all. Through the years, I’ve always had a bass around for recording, but I never performed on one. Until last year. My friends in the band Salaam knew that I read music quite well (if I don’t mind saying so myself!) and then found out I was a closet bassist. They asked me to play a gig with them, and it went so well that I became a regular member of the band. Through Salaam, I got the bass gig in a salsa band, Orquesta Son. And due to a busy schedule, the Pirate Flags’ regular bassist, Dr. Allen, had to bow out of our Talk Like a Pirate Day gig, and I took the helm and have decided to stay there! I love playing the bass! Having played 6 string guitar for so many years, switching to an instrument with only 4 strings and only playing One Note At a Time (!), is like being “On Deck” in baseball, warming up swinging 2 bats, then dropping the extra as you go up to bat for real. It’s so much easier. AND the bass really helps set the groove with the drums, so you can direct the music more than you can with a guitar. Check out Orquesta Son, Salaam, or The Pirate Flags to see Kid Kazooey play bass (and sometimes kazoo!).