Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 24/00) - Playing the bass for local musician Pat Braden almost happened by accident. He picked it up while attending Sir John Franklin high school.

That was in the 1970s and Braden played steadily for the next decade.

"But in the late '80s, after band experiences, I thought I should be writing my own material. My goal was to produce, write and perform my own material," says Braden, who juggles creative life with raising a family.

Unfortunately, the bass doesn't lend itself to a solo career in music.

"It was like a horse's tail in the wind," he says.

"Being whipped around in the wind. People like Valdy, Roy Forbes, James Keelaghan -- you see these guys perform -- or like folk musicians, they don't need anything else. You can't do that on the bass."

At the time Braden could also play "a bit of guitar, a bit of drums and a bit of keyboards." It was a matter of choosing one instrument and taking off in the solo direction.

Then he discovered the Chapman Stick -- the Stick, for short -- a combination guitar and bass on one finger board or neck.

"It was designed by Emmett Chapman in the late '60s," explains Braden.

"It was just something different. I could have picked up the piano or the guitar, but I wanted something to set me apart."

Even today there are only a handful of people playing the Stick in public, he says.

So Braden hopped on a plane to California, and from the airport he took a cab to Hollywood Hills where Chapman lived, and bought one.

"I looked at it for a year. I didn't know where to start,"

Attending the National Guitar Summer Workshop -- a sort of summer camp for musicians -- proved to be the answer.

"I begged (for) airline tickets and went all the way down to Connecticut."

That was in 1989. Two years later, Braden attended a workshop in Los Angeles and one in Vancouver three years ago.

"The great part was that I got to hear other Stick players. For three days you eat, breathe and sleep the Stick."

For 12 years Braden has been working on his own material, writing and putting out some tapes. But he says it's only over the last year he's had the confidence to improvise with this 10-stringed instrument that requires the hands to play independently of each other, much like a piano. And along with that, the confidence to perform in public.

Braden currently plays two nights a week, Wednesday and Saturday, at the Frolic Bistro Bar.

At the Frolic, Braden plays material that lends itself to the instrument -- Latin music, jazz standards, folk music, such as Bob Dylan, and some reggae. He even throws about a third of original music into the set.

"They (the audience) are not at a concert. They're eating and socializing. They don't feel uncomfortable to be talking. I finish a song and there's no clapping. There isn't that instant gratification.

"That's the difference between being an entertainer and a musician. I'm a musician. But when they walk out, even if I'm playing, they shake my hand," says Braden about his audience.

For the man who says "it's not as if I could go to the music store and get a lesson," playing this gig at a local establishment gives Braden the freedom to perfect his playing.

"He (the owner) doesn't need me there -- but it's a little extra for his customers. And for me, it allows me to find out what makes a tune work, what makes a pop song popular. As a writer, what's it doing to the audience -- as opposed to only my reaction."