Band Members
Carl Joe Wittfeld - bass guitar, keyboards, & guitar, plus excellent vocals.
I Started playing the bass because the band needed a bass man. I was playing guitar and drums with several bands in Springfield Mo at the time. I bought a $100.00 Epiphone semi-hollow body bass, from a pawnshop on Commercial St with no case, and used it for about 2 years. I traded up to a Fender Musicmaster bass in 1981, and played that one until 1989 when it was ripped off. I had to get another bass, so I bought Doris (Yamaha BB200) for 155.00. It had no case and came with a strap that I still have attached to it. I bought a case, replaced the strings, the bridge, and have re-wired it several times. Doris is a bass that makes you work for it. She is like a wife, said a friend of mine Adam (a brother bass player). I used to play Grace's H&M BBQ on Fridays and Saturdays from 2-6am and some times until they closed at 8am on Sunday mornings. Doris was my constant companion. I bought an Anvil case for Doris, as I had a gig in Handzame, Belgium to play with Little Hatch in 1994. Later on, about 1996 I had to buy another bass, a white Mexican Fender off the rack, as I had left Doris at home and didn't have time to drive back to get her before the gig at the Grand Emporium. I still have Doris and someday will get her re-wired again and bring her back home to the stage.
I started taking my shoes off early on at gigs, because I sometimes closed my eyes at gigs to play and the shoes I had did not fit properly and I would find myself weaving. I have size 15 EEEE feet and for about 12years I had to stuff them into shoes too small, as I could not find any that fit right. When I took my shoes off I could feel the stage under my feet, & I played better. It became a trademark. Pictures of my feet ended up in the Kansas City Star on the entertainment page in one issue. A friend I used to gig with started calling me "Shoeless Joe". It stuck. I still play better without my shoes. It just feels like home on stage when I take them off. I can relax and play my bass.
I don't use special strings on my Fender. I have only broken two strings on my bass in 20+ years. I use GHS Boomers. I used to use flatwounds, then groundwounds, and finally got used to the roundwounds and the fret noise, without cringing. I haven't changed the strings in about 12years. I guess it might be time. I like the Yamaha (Doris) as it has the most even frequency response across the range of any bass I have played. The Fender "Baby" is bit different and I had to get used to the different frequency response of this Fender. I generally use a flat EQ and turn the guitar volume all the way up and adjust the amp for volume. That way I don't have to worry about knobs on the guitar when I play. I turn up until I don't have to strain my fingers to hear myself. In fact, I know that when my fingers start to strain and hurt that I am not loud enough. You have to adjust your technique to avoid hand and finger straining and of course, finger blisters, ( I have only had two, twice in my career). I am a classically trained musician with an "almost" Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition. I gave up college to get married. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I listened to all kinds of music and all kinds of bass players. I played in several versions of heavy metal rock and roll bands, southern rock bands, some original only R&R bands in the early 80's. I got my first real taste of the blues when a drummer friend I knew in Springfield had a gig in KC playing a country joint North of the River. I sat in with him at the gig and we asked each other "don't I know you"? We connected and later on in 1983, he called me at home one night and said his band was desperate for a bass man at a gig and asked me to come down and play. I sat in with them and was able to cover the grooves and this started a gig with the "Broadway All Stars" band. I had played in biker bars then for $20.00/night and playing covers anywhere and everywhere that paid any kind of money. I also did gigs with several other Rock bands until 1985, when Dennis, (my drummer friend) called me and asked me to come down to Stockton lake, Missouri to audition to play with "Little Hatch and the Houserockers". Hatch played Delta style blues and did not change chords according to a strict time. It was for me the first day of music school, all over again. Our first gig was at "The Point" in Kansas City Missouri the weekend of August 31st 1986, which I still have tape recordings of. The band needed me for gigs in Kansas City, as their regular bass man lived in Nevada, Mo and could not make it up to KC for a regular gig. I ended up playing with Little Hatch until his passing in January 14th, 2003. He was a good friend, brother, traveling companion and musician. I still miss him a lot.
My bass inspirations come from all music and all musicians. There are only 12 notes. It's just how
you put the puzzle together that makes the art.
Thanks,
(still shoeless)
Joe Wittfeld