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Some More Zen Stuff by Jimi Durso
Very often when searching for our voice, we do so by looking outside ourselves and trying things. This isn’t a bad idea, and much of what I’ve presented in this column has been from this direction. But another way to find your own voice is to search within yourself. Most people probably don’t suggest this method simply because they don’t know how to do it. Here are some approaches:
Sit (or stand) with your instrument. Empty your mind as best you can, and wait until you hear something (this could take a while). Wait until you hear it clearly in your head, and then find it on the bass. If it helps, sing or hum the idea you’re hearing first. Then figure it out.
Sometimes what works better is to sit without your instrument. Then do the same thing: clear your mind and wait to hear something internally. When you’ve got something, repeat it in your mind (like a groove, maybe). Next time you pick up your bass, figure it out. When doing this I find that singing or humming it first works best.
If this doesn’t work for you, like perhaps nothing is coming to mind, you can kick-start it. Play one note. Then stop and sit (or stand) in silence until you hear what should come after that note. If you don’t hear anything for a while, play the first note again.
These types of techniques can help you create basslines as well. If your guitarist has written yet another heavy riff, or chord sequence that needs a bassline, just listen to it. Wait until you’ve heard something internally before you play anything. If you can get a recording of it, listen to it over and over until you hear what the bass part should be (at least in your mind).
I’ll also do this with play-a-longs. Maybe I’ll solo on a blues, but I won’t just run scales or play licks. I’ll actually play nothing until I hear something. And I don’t mean thinking of licks and what they would sound like, or envisioning Dorian sounds or anything like that. I’ll wait until a sound comes into my mind.
This is an important point about this exercise. You don’t want to try and think of something, or if your ear and knowledge of music is advanced enough to come up with a theoretical idea and then imagine the sound of it. You want to wait until a sound appears seemingly on its own. If you haven’t yet experienced this, then don’t get concerned if it takes a while. With any of these approaches, if you have to wait a long time and nothing comes up, don’t let that bother you. Just try again the next day. The discovering of what you sound like at a deep level will be worth it.
Also, if the first times you do any of these things, you come up with something that’s not “hip” (like a major scale run, or a triad, or just a root-fifth pattern) don’t let that get you down, either. Or if you create something that you don’t understand, treat that the same way. As much as possible, withhold judgment on whatever it is. Just let whatever comes up be there.
Twang!
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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.
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