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Finding Your Own Voice Stealing Ideas by Jimi Durso
Finding Your Own Voice Stealing Ideas by Jimi Durso…
A phrase I commonly use with students is: “Don’t steal the lick, steal the idea”. Just like the saying about teaching a man to fish, if you steal a lick you have one new lick, but if you steal and idea you can generate dozens of licks from that.
To expand your mind into this concept, let’s use the example of the “one drop”. A term I’ve heard in reggae and ska, “one drop” refers to a bassline that doesn’t play the downbeat. A classic example of the “one drop” is presented in Example 1 – Sting’s Bass part on Roxanne:
Very simple (notice he just plays the root note of each chord) yet very effective. With the guitar chunking out staccato quarter notes and the drums playing just high hat and kick, this bass part is like a punch in the chest, and the syncopation makes it more so. (I heard an interview with Andy Summers who said that Sting originally conceived of the song as a bossa nova, and it was actually Stewart Copeland who came up with the arrangement and bassline)… Just two notes, coming in on the “and of one” and then landing on the “two”, implying the backbeat. It’s as if since the guitar is rhythmically filling the role of the bass, the bass is taking the role of the snare drum. It’s also hip that for the final chord the whole band anticipates it, creating a contrast to the delayed bass notes that make up the rest of the line.
The second example is about as far away from reggae as you can get: “Sgt. Baker” from Les Claypool and Primus.
Like the other two, this one also accents the “two”, but Claypool also comes down hard on “three”. In fact, Claypool plays every strong beat except the “one”. Another wonderful aspect of this line is that it outlines a B7 chord, but doesn’t accent the root. He blasts through the root (on the “a of one”, one of the weakest points in the measure) on the way to accenting the third. So not only is he de-emphasizing the “one” rhythmically, but also harmonically.
The final example is a song of mine that I’m going to be recording with Coincidence Machine (you can hear the demo at www.JimiDurso.com, it’s called “No One There”).
Like the Sting line, it’s fairly primitive technically and melodically. Since the groove is so heavy, and the drums and guitar so downbeat oriented, using a “one drop” approach not only provides more syncopation, but also gives the bass more of a presence in the riff. Rather than doubling the guitar (which is perfectly appropriate in some contexts) having the bass play in the space left by the guitar makes its function more crucial to the sound of the riff… Sort of a call-and-response kind of thing.
So try the “one drop” in any music you’re currently playing, or write some songs that incorporate it. Or, better yet, take any bass line you really dig and tease out an idea that’s behind it, and make up some lines off of that. By stealing from the riffs that grab your ear, you’ll be delving more into your own musical personality and thus creating your own voice.
www.JimiDurso.com
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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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