Greg Gould of Thick and Thin

The next musician I have actually had the honor of performing with in a Band situation. We were in a group called Uncle Nick and the Recluses. Greg and I were the Recluses. Nick Harmon wrote some great tunes. I got to noodle and Greg provided us some bass lines to lean on. Here is a little about Greg who besides being a great musician, is also great person to know to find out about nutrition and food. Without further ado. Greg Gould.

I began with the recorder with my brother and sisters, we performed at Xmas parties. We were just okay, nothing to write home about, but we also had jam sessions with percussion instruments from time to time, nothing scheduled. 

When I was 14, I got a guitar which is what I wanted to play because, I wanted to be in a band like the Beatles. I took a few classical guitar lessons but that was not the sort of music, I wanted to play. My best friend who became a professional musician/entertainer would help me tune my guitar over the phone. He was in my freshman home room class in High School and he formed a band with another one of our home room classmates. They got a guest appearance on a local television program. I was their roadie, I used to haul an Fender Bassman amp around in a taxi cab. I went to all the rehearsals. 

So I was mostly self taught after those first few classical lessons, learned the fundamentals of 12 bar Blues, and the cover songs of the era, like House of the Rising Son. 

My first electric instrument was a bass guitar… which my buddies and I broke the high string by tuning it to guitar tuning, the first day, I had it and I continue to play on a three stringed bass until I gave that instrument away. I mostly played nylon string guitar back then. 

I practice every day while watching Netflix. 

My first record was a Yardbirds album. My mother was musical, she sang French folk songs, but otherwise, we didn’t listen to music much as a family. My family is composed of mostly visual artists. 

In 1985, my house burned down and all my album melted into a single big blob of vinyl. So I replaced my music collection with cassette tapes (little did I know…) I eventually switched over to CDs. I don’t really purchase music that much anymore. I listen to the radio a lot. And I go to live concerts regularly. And I play with my group regularly. 

I’m playing in a duo with my son on drums and me on bass, we call ourselves: Thick and Thin. 

When others play with us, we’re called the Side Hustles and we have a loose format: when you’re in the room with us, you’re in the band. If you’re not in the room with us, you’re not in the band. That way we eliminate commitment issues. We don’t play songs, we play grooves, so there aren’t difficult arrangements to learn. We rely on improvising and visual cues. The riffs we use are classic and thus familiar which makes it easy to join in. We rehearse Sunday mornings while other people are sleeping in. So that’s a challenge for some musicians.

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