Takayoshi Matsunaga taught me these things

Japanese great bass player Takayoshi Matsunaga died (age 54) on July 12th, 2012.

GROOVY SITUATION DUB/バウンディ

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He is my teacher of bass, so I wrote an article below "Takayoshi Matsunaga taught me these things". I'll translate it into English.
http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000081470

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> Takayoshi Matsunaga taught me these things

I'm now not a professional musician, work as an engineer or a writer, etc. But I've learnt how to play the contrabass from Takayoshi Mastunaga. And he taught it only for me in Japan. When I quit the university and wanted to live as a bass player, I met with him through the connection with the sister of Masami Shinoda(Japanese sax player of JAGATARA etc). And I learned "how to play contrabass" from Takayoshi.

So many technics I've learnt from him.
"Get centered on the one point of bowing."
"Never your left hand form be like a viper."
"If you returns the bowing, but be careful like nobody hears it."

Takayoshi Matsunaga's view about music was very scientific and intelligent. Legendary Japanese DUB band "Mute Beat"'s sound is not created from the "stoned feeelings". But it from the scientific views.

The summary I've learnt from Takayoshi was below.

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Something in your mind and body blocks your grooving.
You must put them off.
To do it, do the basic trainings.
The basic trainings makes the "white paper" of you.
Grooving is not the godsent gift.

If you believe "the godsent gift",
We Japanese cannot create the groovy rhythm eternally!
The Groove is a color.
If the groove belongs to Tango, Reggae, or Funk, etc..
it's just one color.

If you want to paint the color
you should make the "white paper" of you.
If "white paper" doesn't exist, you can not paint the colors.
So, you cannot groove.

If you want to goove
you should sing every time of your life.
You should sing the bass lines even if it's around midnight.
Your voice from your bottom of the mind will be a good bassline and a good groove.

Even if you cannot live only as a professional musician (to grow up your children)
and left from the musician's life,
You must sing the line from your bottom of your mind
only for 10 minutes everyday till you die.

Maybe, we'll live a life feeling like that,
"I want to draw it, but I cannot draw it."
and we'll wet the pillow with our tears.

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Takayoshi adviced for me that "You have a brain to create a software", so I quit the professional bass player and worked as an engineer. But always he has been my teacher and met him on some regular basis. My teacher's method was a good method as a worker.

I and my teacher(Takayoshi) like the same tastes of sound like Robert Wyatt, the Meters, Astor Piazolla, Bonnie Koloc, and so on, when I found the favorite music I always send them to him.
This year's spring(2012), I sent him Julia Guther and Masha Qrella's album to him, he said "It's so nice!!" , I felt happy.

My teacher died when I dreamed the booking Masha Qrella with Takayoshi Matsunaga concert to see the "white paper" grooving at the today that feels like "just grey in grey and god seems mortal". Maybe I think Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Jean-Luc Godard want to see the concert.

I respect Takayoshi Matsunaga from the bottom of my heart.
I pray sincerely for the repose of his soul.

for my teacher: Masataka Koduka