Dr. Evan Todd Yeager

Evan "Doctor Of Bassology" Yeager -- Electric Bass

The early years

My father served the First Methodist Church as minister in Laverne, Oklahoma when I was born.  Shattuck, Oklahoma was the only town with a hospital for miles therefore on April 15th, 1960 I was born in Shattuck .  As is typical of the Methodist Church at that time, my family was moved to a new church and a new town about every 2 to 3 years.  My childhood was spent all over northeast Texas moving from small town Methodist Church to small town Methodist Church .

Motorcycles

I have always liked anything with wheels or an engine.  I was attending Cook County College when I purchased my first motorcycle, a new 1981 Yamaha 650 Maxim, by trading in my 1979 Toyota pickup for it.  Needless to say my parents were less impressed with my purchasing and negotiating skills than I was.  Over the years family and graduate school caused me to sideline motorcycle riding and other hobby vehicles such my Triumph TR6.  Gas pricing got the best of me in 2005 and after over 20 years of not owning a motorcycle and I purchased a Kawasaki Ninja 250 for commuting to and from work.  It did not take long before I rediscovered the joy of traveling on two wheels again.

Music

My musical training began at age 11 when I took a few weeks of piano.  True to the form of a prepubescent male I baled on piano lessons rather quickly.  My parents should have pounded me like a drum for that indiscretion.  Not sticking with piano when I was young has been one of the few regrets I have collected over the years.  Years later we moved to Saint Jo , Texas in my junior year so my father could take the Saint Jo/Forestburg Methodist Church parish.  I was given a choice of taking a Physical Education (PE) class or Band.  As a scrawny kid whose high school PE memories were primarily comprised of being the brunt of various bullying episodes I opted for band.  I was hooked on music thanks to the very dedicated band director Saint Jo High School had at the time.

During my junior year in high school I purchased (most fortunately) a then unknown first generation Leo Fender Music Man Stingray electric bass and began taking lessons from Dr. Harold Kafer the Music department chair at Cook County College in Gainesville , Texas .  I attended Cook County College on a jazz performance scholarship at the start of my college career.  I have been blessed with many opportunities to play to bass for churches and community causes.

I studied bass formally under Dr. Kafer (he never did break me of playing with only three fingers on my left hand) and then after leaving Cooke County College to finish my bachelor's degree I picked up tips and techniques mostly via self-study using books from publishers such as Mel Bay and Hal Leonard. My tastes are very eclectic and range from rock to classical.  The groups and artists that had the biggest impact stylistically during my most formative early years include: 

As you can see this is a lengthy and varied list.  There are some influential bassist that are identified primarily with a band such as Geddy Lee of Rush and Joco Pastorius of Weather Report therefore they have are not notes specifically.  I have never set out to consciously copy someone's style or a particular bass part (unless the band I was in was playing it and we had the charts) and have adopted the habit of improvising most of my bass parts on the fly.  These artists did not influence me because I spent late hours with raw fingertips trying to master a particular riff, however, over the years I did buy a lot of albums and hum a lot of tunes the above artists and associated groups composed or recorded.

Gear

I currently play:

For the love of God and Music

My foremost motivation and primary desire is to glorify God with the gift of music He has bestowed on me.

-- Dr. Evan Yeager --