My Son Is Learning the Bass, and as a Dad I Couldn’t Be More Excited
“Hey, dad, can I play your bass?”
Flags, Rubik’s Cubes, and bass guitar
My son is 13 and just started the eighth grade. It’s been fun, especially recently, to see him start to develop from a kid into a young man. He had gone through a bit of a rough stage behavior- and attitude-wise the last few years and was really not pleasant to be around, but he’s matured a great deal the past several months and (we hope) is turning the corner, trying to become a better person — much to the relief of his mom and me.
Along with that, it’s also been a joy to see what kind of interests and hobbies he tries on for size.
Like every kid, he loves his video games — no surprise there. But he’s also developed a love for flags (that makes him a vexillophile, by the way) and Rubik’s Cubes. Those hobbies are pretty cool, and his mom and I have tried to support him in them. (Side note: I can now solve a 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5 Rubik’s Cube!) But then a couple of weeks ago, he asked to pick up my bass.
At first, I could hear him trying to pick out a couple of easy songs by ear. “Smoke on the Water,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” and songs like that. He was sort of getting it by himself, hitting most of the right notes, although perhaps…
