Blu DeTiger
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Swarms of musicians and guitarists have found social media\\u2019s current 60-second attention span inspirational and fruitful. But what happens after that first minute? Well, for TikTok bass tycoon Blu DeTiger, you become a shooting star. However, her story isn\\u2019t that sudden or serendipitous. She\\u2019s been working towards the spotlight since she first picked up the bass to jam with her drummer brother, Rex, at age 7.
\\u201cHe was playing drums and I wanted to play an instrument,\\u201d recalls DeTiger. \\u201cAs a girl, I thought guitar was \\u2018mainstream\\u2019 because I saw that everywhere and thought bass was rare and it would be more unique to play. I fell in love with it and my passion took over.\\u201d
Further fanning her musical flame, she joined School of Rock and performed semester-ending concerts covering Zeppelin, Bowie, Prince, the Stones, and others. She collaborated and performed with Chromeo and Jack Antonoff\\u2019s Bleachers. Inspired by horn-playing DJs, she even toted her bass to DJ gigs, where she laid down the funkiest lines she could muscle out over the top of her playlists.
\\u201cI saw people playing saxophone or trumpet over songs they were DJ-ing and I had really never seen bass used in that context. Bass is fire and it should feel good in a club because of the low frequencies hitting you.\\u201d An added benefit of the symbiotic sets was elevating her improvisational skills.
Then, the pandemic hit and DeTiger took to social media, finding a creative outlet on TikTok by adding dance-y flourishes and bouncy thunder to classic tracks. She earned a spot helping announce Fender\\u2019s Player Plus P and scored a deal with ALT:VISION Records, releasing the How Did We Get Here? EP in early 2021. She\\u2019s since graduated to being an UMG Recordings/Capitol Records artist and continues to embrace the snippet culture by churning out singles: \\u201cBlondes,\\u201d \\u201cBlutooth,\\u201d \\u201cenough 4 u,\\u201d \\u201cCrash Course,\\u201d and \\u201cHot Crush Lover.\\u201d Yeah, you might only see 60 seconds of her talent before the algorithm pushes you by, but she\\u2019s put in years of sweat to get this far. What\\u2019s the plan going forward? To throw one helluva party, of course!
Ahead of her headlining set at Nashville\\u2019s Basement East, the booming bass star jumped at the chance to give her eager fans what they\\u2019ve been asking for\\u2014a Rig Rundown. In the chat with PG\\u2019s Chris Kies, she covers why she saw the bass as an underdog, how a Jazz tops a P bass, and explains the reason behind not going through her \\u201ccrazy pedal phase\\u201d yet.
Brought to you by D\\u2019Addario XS Strings.
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