Basically, he hit a wrong note

Re “Front man or side man?” Opinion, Jan. 13

Joe Queenan did the world a favor by giving up music. The fact that he didn’t get the girl as a bassist, and his bandmates couldn’t tell that he couldn’t play, screams volumes about the level of musicianship of his bandmates. Bassists who are frustrated guitarists are, in reality, not bassists at all. The two instruments have different roles to play, and the skilled bassist understands that instinctively. Obviously, Queenan didn’t get it. As a bassist who played professionally for 18 years, I never lacked for female companionship, and my bandmates could always tell if I was playing well or having an off night. Now if Queenan would only do the world another favor and shut off his word processing program.

Gary Starr

Chatsworth

Queenan’s article on what he takes to be the inherent contradiction between bass playing and leadership aroused my ire. I am the son and father of bass players and made my living for years as a professional bassist. I would like to think that my work as dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture is informed by the skills I acquired as a bassist: monitoring the interplay of others’ voices, subtly channeling the rhythmic and harmonic flow of the music and acting as the musical equivalent of a rudder on a ship -- steering from the rear, as it were.

The prospect of America having a bass player in chief is the least of what worries me about bassist and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. In any event, it seems to me that Queenan’s take on the leadership deficiencies of bassists stems more from his own admitted mediocrity as a musician than from any cognitive or social constraints imposed by the instrument itself. I would recommend that Queenan download a few MP3s by Jaco Pastorius, Paul Chambers or Edgar Meyers and spend a bit of time in the woodshed before engaging in further bass baiting.

Christopher

Waterman

Topanga

I am not particularly enamored of Huckabee, but I have two words to offer Queenan: Willie Dixon.

Alan Kleinsasser

Glendale