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Finding Your Own Voice – Cross Pollination by Jimi Durso
Finding Your Own Voice – Cross Pollination by Jimi Durso… One great way to expand what you’re musically capable of (and thus find out what you really sound like) is by examining other genres. Very often innovation occurs when someone takes an idea from one area and inserts it into another, like Flea taking the slap method usually reserved for funk and using it in a rock & roll band, or Jaco taking harmonics, which had previously been mainly a guitar technique, and making it a part of his style. I remember when Living Colour released “Glamour Boys”, where bassist Muzz Skillings played a one-drop style ska line on what was otherwise a rock-pop song. In general, I’ve found that when reading interviews with the most creative musicians in any genre, they listen to and love all kinds of music, not just the type they’re associated with (I’ve read that Muse bassist Christopher Wolstenholme listens to classical string quartets for inspiration).
So whatever genre (or genres) of music you play, you’d be doing yourself a favour by checking out how the bass functions in other styles (even if they’re not bass players). And it doesn’t have to be some contrived method of trying to figure out how you can use Indonesian Gamelan ideas in your Emo band (though that would be awesome). You’ll probably find that just being exposed to (and genuinely interested in) varying types of music will start changing the way you play. But I’ll give you a concrete example (that I stole from Chip Jackson).
As all you jazz folk know, a typical walking bass line is composed of straight quarter notes with a chord tone (typically the root) on the down beat. Those of you who’ve played salsa know that those lines are syncopated and very often anticipate the root note by a full quarter note (playing the root note of a chord on the “4” of the measure before the chord occurs). How about combining the two? Playing a walking line but instead of waiting for the “1” to play the root, put it on the “4” of the previous bar. Now you’re playing a walking line with the anticipation of a salsa line.
The above is just an example, which of course you’re welcome to steal, but what’s more important is that you learn to engage in this kind of process yourself: taking ideas from one place and applying them to another. But one last thing to bear in mind and this is really just my opinion: When I come up with an idea like this, I will explore it in my practice, but I don’t try to force it into musical situations. I prefer to let whatever I’ve been working on to come out naturally, as I think this makes the music more “organic” or emotional and not overly intellectual. But that doesn’t mean you have to make that choice, at least not in the same way I have. That’s another decision that can add to making your voice your own.
Twang!
CoincidenceMachine.net
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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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