Latest
Choosing Excellence by Steven Gregory
In my first article for Bass Musician Magazine, there was a sentence that bears repeating:
“Have I mentioned that in our relationship, my wife is the smart one?”
This truth was once again proven to me during a recent conversation. While my wife and I were cooking dinner, I vented my concern over a rehearsal I had experienced. I complained about the lack of preparation that plagued the session. I griped and groaned about issues that were keeping the group from reaching our full potential. I smugly concluded my rant just as I handed the onions I had been chopping (which were now finely chopped) to my wife, who was waiting for them.
Without glancing up from the pan on the stove, she simply said, “It doesn’t matter”.
I was flabbergasted. What did she mean, “It doesn’t matter”? She couldn’t be serious? Did she not listen to a single word I had said? Had I not explained the situation in enough detail, or with enough passion? Or perhaps she was saying that the state of affairs was irreparable and that acceptance was the only answer?
My wife, in an unflappable manner, continued: “What are you doing to be excellent?”
Ouch.
She was absolutely right. I had allowed dissatisfaction to whittle away at my efforts. I wasn’t putting my normal amount of time into preparation. I wasn’t practicing with the same drive and energy. I wasn’t pushing the situation to be better. I wasn’t leading from the bass chair. I wasn’t overflowing with a passion that was infectious.
I was not bringing personal excellence to the table.
In worship music, there is often talk of “bringing our best”. I have heard this phrase countless times, but more often than not, the phrase is offered as a blanket statement to a group in an effort to instill a sense of responsibility. I am not suggesting that these words have been said with insincerity; rather, I think that it is critical that we as worship bassists examine and understand what it truly means to “bring our best”. What does it mean to be excellent?
Blogger and leadership consultant Scott Williams wrote a definition of excellence, which I think is perfect for worship bassists:
“Excellence is a choice to care more than most think you should, risk more than most are willing to risk, dream bigger than most will ever dream and think more than others are willing to think.”
(Scott Williams, www.bigisthenewsmall.com/2011/07/01/excellence-is-a-choice/)
For worship bassists, the most critical step to take toward excellence is making a choice. Regardless of anything else in your worship situation, choose that you bring your absolute best every day. Choose to, as creativity arts pastor and blogger Stephen Brewster writes, “…be willing to work, pursue, challenge, and fight to uncover the last 2% that requires love, passion, commitment and the refusal to be satisfied.”
(Stephen Brewster, stephenbrewster.me/2011/12/13/preventing-greatness).
When you decide to be excellent, you will change. You will begin to build new attitudes and actions. You will notice the change as your efforts manifest in your playing, your musicianship, and your worship. In addition, when you choose to be excellent, there is a direct effect on those around you. Others will sense your drive, your passion, and your hard work. Your playing will certainly be noticed, but your worship and leadership will be as well. Your choice will bring others up around you. My wife was absolutely right – everything starts by asking, “What are you doing to be excellent?”
I realize that this article appears while many people are listing resolutions in celebration of the New Year. As we move toward becoming excellent worship bassists, I would suggest that we avoid making resolutions and instead challenge ourselves to do one simple thing: choose to be excellent.
This step will start you on your journey and will tap into a store of creativity and excellence. In the coming months, we will investigate specific ways in which excellence can be brought to worship bass. For now, please let me know if you take the challenge! Leave a comment, find me in the Bass Musician Magazine Community, or send me a message on Twitter. I would love to hear your story and how you can bring excellence to worship bass!
Until next time, I hope that your bass playing is blessed and that you can bless others through your bass playing!
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @kilianduartebass @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @marleaux_bassguitars @jcrluthier @sandbergguitars @ibanezuk_official @dingwallguitars @torzalguitars @ariaguitars
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @bacchusguitars @franz.bassguitars @mendesluthieria @ramabass.ok @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @shukerbassguitars @fantabass.it @andys_vintage_guitars @valdesbasses
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @murraykuun_guitars @ja.guitars @combe_luthier @overloadguitars @kevinhidebass @franz.bassguitars @indra_guitars @petercrowdesign @baboomin_bass @jcrluthier
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @sandbergguitars @benevolent_basses @rayriendeau @olintobass @wonkorbasses @bite.guitars @adamovicbasses @maruszczyk_instruments @skervesenguitars @ramabass.ok
Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
Visit online:
Official Website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Spotify