Sharing the Zon…

“Inspiration”…. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity

I thought I’d share a video I did shortly after receiving my Zon bass a little over a year ago. I was so excited after many discussions with Joe Zon about the bass he would make for me. I had dreams about it, I would imagine myself playing it, how it would sound, feel. We all know the excitement of a new Instrument.

After receiving the bass it was everything I had hoped for. I was so inspired by the new bass and at what kind of sounds I could get from it that I just started playing. The weird thing was for some reason I let go of my usual analytical side of playing and just created sounds. I actually felt like a kid hearing his own voice for the first time. I even starting messing with some altered tunings (something I never do)…maybe it was the Manring/Zon connection subconsciously coming out. It was a very “Zen” experience for me.

I decided to video at a certain point before I started analyzing what I was playing to capture the moment. When I watch it now I still feel excitement because it seems like I wasn’t even really playing, my hands were moving and sounds were coming out but from a direction other than my mind. I call it pure inspiration.

I think as players we get caught up in playing that comes from our minds rather than from an emotional level.

Give yourself some time to play your instrument without any preconceived notions of what’s wrong or right, playing what you feel, letting your hands move freely…a meditation of sound if you will…you might like what you hear!