I did. It was an amazing experience. I learned a couple things from him. A few good exercises, and he kinda explained to me how he envisions music....
I'm just gonna give you the whole story for the full affect.
About two weeks before the show I put my name in for, I got a call from Ryan's "rep". I applied for the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina show at the House of Blues. Apparently, somebody else had won, but wasn't responding to any of their calls or emails. I was next in line, so she asked me if I still wanted to do it on such short notice. "Hell yeah I do!"
So comes the day of the show. I arrive at the venue, which appears deserted. But you can hear the song "Happy?" being played from inside. Don't know if it was some kind of soundcheck or what. I was given a cell phone number to some stage crew manager....I wish I could remember his name. I deleted it from my phone afterwards (more on that later). I gave him a call, I heard the music stop, and then he showed up outside to let me in. I lugged my Warwick Corvette Standard up to the top floor of the venue where he sat me down by myself in some type of dining hall/bar type area. Another guy comes in, takes my money, and says Ryan will be there in a minute. 10 minutes pass by. I'm stuck feeling awkward sitting in this room with a small practice amp, a few chords, an empty chair in front of me, and I notice the set list for the show that night sitting on the table next to me.
Thought that was pretty cool. Heard someone coming so I caught a quick shot of it. Who was coming? RYAN. Holy shit. My heart jumped up into my throat and I froze! Here is my idol! My hero! What if he is a jerk? What am I gonna say? All this crap went through my head and then the adrenalin took over. He came in and introduced himself and we just talked shit for a couple of minutes. He was so damn cool. And seemed very down to earth. He kept thanking me for coming and making my "donation" to charity (was it the American Heart Assoc? Can't recall...). The whole time I was sitting there thinking "Does this guy know who he is? I would have paid $5,000 to be here! $200 is nothing!"
He asked me my background and experience with the bass. Then told me about himself. Been playing bass for over 20 years, and I think he said he started when he was 11 or 12 years old. From the way he talked, he seemed really into 80's type music. He started basic, talked a little theory and even spent some time discussing find the most comfortable wa to hold the bass. But it wasn't boring from that perspective. He had this type of "you and your bass must be one" type of attitude when discussing how to find the perfect position. Discussed how he actually practices in front of the mirror to monitor his posture. Otherwise, he warned against strange music cramps in your back and neck during performances....made alot of sense. Then, he went over some exercises. Really showed me some ways to incorporate all 5 fingers on my right hand. Showed me his two finger tapping technique, which I already knew from trying to play like him so he seemed moderately impressed. When on like that for awhile. We really got into some deep conversations about music. He discussed how he really is interested in architecture, so he tries to envision music writing much like designing a building or temple or something. He said "Cradle" is a good example. It's starts really empty but airy, so he would envision a big room with nothing in it. As the song goes on, you travel through different rooms, that vary in size and have different amounts of design to it. It was kinda of hard to follow in my own head, but it made sense in some ways. I think you gotta take from it what you can and develop your own thought pattern.
He showed me a few songs briefly, but we didn't take the time to actually learn anything specific. All the while, the manager guy that let me in kept coming in there and reminding Ryan of the time and told him to wrap it up soon. Ryan eventually got irritated with him and basically told him "No, I'll be out when I'm done". Ws kinda cool. It actually seemed like it was important to him to spend as much time as possible with me. We really did alot of talking. Wish I could remember more topics and details, I was just freaking out the entire time. He showed me how he plays "I.P.F." and "Dig". I was hoping to take something away form Dig so I could learn the verse myself.....not gonna happen. That fucker is FAST. My jaw hit the floor when he showed me that. I'm just nowhere near that good with slapping....or any of the bass for that matter. It's gonna be awhile before I can ever hang with the likes of Ryan Martinie....
Let's see. He did also make a good point about, when writing bass, listen to the music in different ways with different instruments. Listen to the drums only, and then the guitar only, then together. Write some bass. And then listen through it again with different combinations of instruments playing. I thought it was pretty cool that he told me how they wrote a part of "New Game" song. The part towards the end in the bridge where everything stops and then the snare hits once, pauses, then the band comes in with Chad singing "I just wanna play...." He said the particular stop and snare hit was a complete accident. He said that Greg and himself did something there and didn't actually stop. But, he said one day while playing it he accidentally muted a note and just heard the part a different way. So he told Greg to cut out right there and just let Matt hit the snare.....thought that was pretty cool. Think about that every time I hear it. How often does your favorite musician in your favorite band personally tell you how a song idea came about?
The manager dude eventually came back in panicked saying Ryan was needed downstairs, so at that point we ended it. But, I had almost an hour and a half alone with Ryan Martinie. It was AMAZING. We said our goodbye's real quick, and I gave him a copy of my band's demo....which was really embarrassing. Maybe not embarrassing. Certainly scary. Nothing like your hero judging your heart and soul poured out onto CD that was partially inspired by him. And then he left....and I realized "FUCK! I didn't even get a picture with him!" So, I went back to my hotel, relayed my experience to my best friend/drummer and his wife who had accompanied me on the trip out there from Atlanta. We went to the show that night....
and I was just on top of the world. Just hung out with a bass guitar god, was drunk, and was bragging about it to everyone I came in contact with. Haha. Hardly anyone believed me. Except one couple, who ended up being glad they had done so. I was drunk, so I eventually said "Fuck it" and started texting the hell out of the stage manager begging to two more seconds with Ryan for just one picture I could take home with me. I felt bad, but then again, I didn't. I promised I'd erase his number and never bug him again if he would just ask Ryan to two seconds of his time. The show ended, Mudvayne walked off stage, and not 30 seconds later I got a phone call from the dude. "Where are you?" He was pissed. Still felt bad....but it worked! He found me, brought me to the corner of the venue down a hallway, and told me friends to wait at the end of it because only I would be allowed to see him. He knocks on a door, and someone opens it and then yells down a stairway for Ryan. He comes jogging up with a big ol' grin on his face. "Hey man! Did you enjoy the show?" Here I am bugging Ryan Martinie moments after he got off stage from almost an hour long performance, and he just seems as happy as could be to be coming out to say hi. So, I grabbed two pictures with him on my Blackberry...which came out kinda crappy but at least it was something! He saw my friend and his wife at the end of the hallway with these huge envious eyes...and then he started walking their way! They looked like they were dogs and Ryan was bringing them a doggie treat. They were just flipping out, doing these crazy motions and dances. So he came out, gave my bud's wife a hug, took a picture with my drummer, and did the same with a couple who hung out with us that night and actually believed my story. And then he said he had to hurry backstage because he had family waiting. He thanked me again and walked off. And that was it!
It took almost a month before I could wipe the grin off my face. Ryan was such a cool person. I learned some good stuff from him, and I got to hang out with my absolute hero. If you were to ask me before then, if I could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be? It would have been Ryan. And it was unbelievable.
Please ignore that stuff growing on my face. I'm usually clean shaven, but was experimenting with growing facial hair at the time....which was not working out as you could see. My only real complaint about the picture is that I look like an idiot and I wish I would have shaved before hand. I can deal with the blurriness of it. Also, I recommend not being completely trashed when you meet your hero. It will help you remember more of the experience with much more clarity....
