MIKE HALL IS AN INSTRUMENTAL BASSIST who uses a distinct creative approach to his music that involves a blend of harmonics, two handed tapping, slap, pop and flamenco techniques.
Classically trained on the upright bass, Hall went on to form a band which played alongside several pop rock groups such as Blondie and Joan Jett, and he is now striking out on his own with his unique brand of solo instrumental songwriting.
His sound is reminiscent of Victor Wooten, but with more emphasis on a melodic, ethereal, atmospheric vibe. His original songs tell a sweeping story, much like looking at a landscape painting. He uses his instrument as an orchestra, and creates unique melodies on the bass that set his musical style apart, landing himself on our radar of artists to watch.
Hall's music puts us in a good head space, and would be the perfect backdrop to a writing or study session, or even cinematic films, and his growing catalog of stellar cover songs are worth the watch on his YouTube channel. In this interview, Mike Hall shares his intricate songwriting process as well as his thoughts on staying inspired during difficult times, and ultimately choosing self-expression over fear of striking out on his own.
Mike Hall — Madison, New Jersey
Instrumental Bassist
Original Song Submitted: "Fade To Black"
ABOUT THE ARTIST: I’m a professional bassist of a little over 14 years, based out of New Jersey, who creates solo instrumental arrangements by means of the electric bass. Online; I arrange and perform a wide variety of popular songs as unique covers that range from classical music, to video game themes, broadway hits, rock anthems, power ballads and everything in between under the moniker of “Mike Hall Bass”.
My music has often been described as a mix of tranquility and tempered aggression; consisting of an ethereal array of harmonics, tapping and chord play that aims to evoke both peace and wonder. Additionally, I aim for my music to reorient people into looking at the bass guitar as more than strictly a complimentary rhythm instrument.
That being said; I’ve been looking forward to a potential feature in Deitra Magazine for quite some time now, and for a couple of reasons in particular. The first being that my musical style and creative interpretations, at least in my opinion, fit in line perfectly with your coverage of other incredible musicians that have successfully struck upon some groundbreaking innovations in their own respective genres. The second being that your readers' interest in the alternative, creative space is an audience that I genuinely think would enjoy my kind of music, and for that, I can’t thank you enough for ultimately taking an interest in featuring me and my music in Deitra.
MUSICAL BACKGROUND: My musical background stems all the way back to when I was a child. Due to being blessed to have grown up in an extremely musical family, I grew a natural proclivity towards excelling at music at a relatively early age.
That said, the question on when I first realized that I loved music is a little complicated: throughout my early childhood and teenage years, I grew to see music as more of a chore than anything else — I was very disinterested in the idea of being confined to just performing strictly whatever was on the sheet music that was put in front of me within the context of an orchestra, which was the only real opportunity I had to play my instrument at the time: the upright bass.
It wasn’t until I entered college, however, that I could play the bass in a way that I personally wanted; to play in a way without rules, or negative repercussions for attempting to innovate something as simple as a walking bass line. This realization was the biggest driver for me to create and manage my former band, which went by the name of “Running Late.” We performed original pop rock music, and through varying different iterations of musicians, were fortunate enough to open and perform alongside a variety of national touring acts: some of which included Blondie, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Third Eye Blind, Blues Traveler, Vertical Horizon, Smash Mouth, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Plain White T’s, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, MGMT, Eve 6, Everclear and many others. However; once the pandemic began, the band ran its creative course — prompting me to leave and throw my creative gauntlet into the arena of solo instrumental music.
Thinking back on this brief synopsis of my musical background; I can say with absolute certainty that the moment I was able to creatively express myself without consequence, was the moment that I fell in love with music.
ON INSPIRATION: I would like to imagine what inspires me is what inspires most musicians: the idea of creating something new, or familiar, that hasn’t quite been heard before. What I love most about creating is the freedom to express myself in any way I see fit, period. Fans of mine know very well that my music exemplifies this rather simple statement. For example; with some arrangements of mine; I’ll start playing in a very somber fashion, then choose to quickly play with very heavy slapping and tapping, then go right back to playing as if none of that ever happened, all the while making that sound like a very natural progression.
ORIGINAL SOUND: I would classify my music as either avant-garde, neoclassical or just simply instrumental. That said; I wouldn’t say that I’m actively “trying” to make music in these particular genres, it’s more so that these genres just best describe the music I like to create. Hopefully that makes sense.
The songs that I derive creative inspiration from for my covers can honestly be about anything; because my taste in music is extremely eclectic, any song of any genre that evokes an internal emotional response within me is usually a good candidate for my creative process to take hold of. When it comes to my favorite song, I would have to say that it's a tie between my covers of “Clair de Lune” and “Stairway to Heaven” — they’re both arrangements that I truly feel could successfully stand on their own compared to their original counterparts.
ON SONGWRITING: My creative inspiration for covers always begins by means of listening to a song that evokes an emotional response within me. It doesn’t matter if the song itself is happy, sad, aggressive, romantic, inspiring, sultry or melancholy; if the song moves me in any particular way, then it becomes much easier for me to begin creating my own impression on it.
Once I decide on a song, I start thinking about “standout” moments from the original song that I want to emulate in my own arrangement, usually on the G string. A standout moment could be a particular vocal vibrato that I can emulate by means of bending an active harmonic note sharp or flat, or a piano / vocal melody that I can play with my left hand while simultaneously playing something else with my right hand.
Once that’s figured out, I start thinking about the “floor” of the arrangement, or simply put, the lowest possible note I’ll need to tune the E string to in order to fully complete the arrangement. After that, I begin experimenting with different tunings on the A and D strings that offer me the maximum amount of creative options for both harmonics and chords. Finally, I begin to actually draft the arrangement from beginning to end; experimenting and employing chorus reverb and delay effects on specific harmonics, chords and tapped notes to help bring together the ethereal component to my music.
FAVORITE MUSICAL ERA: I would have to say the '80s: it was an era where innovation in both tech, composition and songwriting took a gigantic leap forward relative from the '50s through '70s, and produced countless iconic songs that most people I know actively listen to today. Personally, I’ll never get enough of MJ, The Police, Prince, Bon Jovi, Rush, Van Halen, Queen, Foreigner or Metallica.
ON PERFORMING + RECORDING: I think I’ll have to give a nearly identical answer to what I’ve stated before: regardless of whether I’m performing live or recording, I love the ability to express myself without consequence. However; I think there’s something quite special in being able to play live music to others that’s uniquely satisfying, and is something I would like to do way more of this year.
ON FASHION: Well, I suppose one could argue that wearing a black leather jacket with black ripped jeans in nearly all of my videos is a conscious “fashion statement”… But in all seriousness; when it comes to my attire, whether it be live performance or recording videos, I just like wearing what's comfortable that also makes sense for a musician to wear. That said, I do try to portray myself online in a rather “sleek, professional” manner, which I guess could be considered an artistic element that accompanies my music. 
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: Like most musicians, I’ve had plenty. On a personal level; a major obstacle of mine was being torn between pursuing a career in music by means of touring with my band after college, or committing to law school after graduating as a pre-law student from Centenary University. At the time, I felt a lot of pressure from my extended family and friends to “drop the whole music thing” and pursue a “real” career in law — which I can imagine is an extremely common story amongst artists in general within their own personal lives. That said, with the help of my immediate family as the greatest support system one could ever ask for, I did what I’ve always done in my early adult life: double down on myself, and relentlessly pursued music as my full time career.
On a creative level; I found it extremely difficult to just begin recording and releasing content as a solo musician. The whole idea of being on my own without a band was so unbelievably overwhelming to me at first, and I just didn’t know where to begin. I kept asking myself countless questions along the lines of “What kind of camera do I buy?”, “What recording software do I use?”, “What kind of backdrop do I use?”, etc. In a vacuum, these questions are fine on their own — but as someone who was thinking about all of these questions at once, I was suffering severely from paralysis by analysis — and oftentimes considered abandoning the whole idea to begin with.
However, one of the few blessings of the pandemic was having ample opportunity to focus on myself, and learn one basic production skill a day. Slowly but surely; by taking it one day at a time, I was able to create the basic framework of a recording space where I felt comfortable enough to finally begin composing and releasing songs online. 
SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Alongside receiving this feature in Deitra; getting myself and my music featured in Bass Player Magazine, Bass Magazine, and Bass Musician Magazine are definitely noteworthy accolades that I’m pretty damn proud of. These specific publications have always acted as the “who’s who” in the bass playing world, and receiving inclusion alongside legendary bassists such as Flea, Larry Graham, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten and Les Claypool is something that I definitely don’t take for granted.
Another major accomplishment that I’ll always be thankful for is currently being a featured endorsed artist to Skjold Design Guitars, which allowed me to join a roster of talent that includes some of the most successful, world-class bassists within the music industry today. Some of these extraordinary bassists include the likes of Damien Erskine, David Dyson, Dezron Douglas, Bill Bodily and many others.
Last but not least; I was able to achieve my first ever viral video last year in my solo bass arrangement of “Stairway to Heaven” - achieving over 1.1 million views on Facebook alone, and hundreds of thousands of additional views via reuploads across all major social media platforms. This level of success was extremely exciting to have, and also confirmed the reality that my kind of music can be appreciated by a mass audience.
FUTURE HOPES + DREAMS: My hopes and dreams are pretty simple: being able to continue to grow my online audience, all while being able to create and perform music full time for the rest of my life. That being said; one day, I would like to perform with another band that shares my aspirations and seriousness for music - performing with a collective of like minded musicians has been something that I’ve sorely missed over the past few years. However, in the meantime; I’m quite content in continuing to create more solo arrangements, and continue to push the boundaries of what can be done on the bass guitar.
Instrumental Bassist
Original Song Submitted: "Fade To Black"
ABOUT THE ARTIST: I’m a professional bassist of a little over 14 years, based out of New Jersey, who creates solo instrumental arrangements by means of the electric bass. Online; I arrange and perform a wide variety of popular songs as unique covers that range from classical music, to video game themes, broadway hits, rock anthems, power ballads and everything in between under the moniker of “Mike Hall Bass”.
My music has often been described as a mix of tranquility and tempered aggression; consisting of an ethereal array of harmonics, tapping and chord play that aims to evoke both peace and wonder. Additionally, I aim for my music to reorient people into looking at the bass guitar as more than strictly a complimentary rhythm instrument.
That being said; I’ve been looking forward to a potential feature in Deitra Magazine for quite some time now, and for a couple of reasons in particular. The first being that my musical style and creative interpretations, at least in my opinion, fit in line perfectly with your coverage of other incredible musicians that have successfully struck upon some groundbreaking innovations in their own respective genres. The second being that your readers' interest in the alternative, creative space is an audience that I genuinely think would enjoy my kind of music, and for that, I can’t thank you enough for ultimately taking an interest in featuring me and my music in Deitra.
I can say with absolute certainty that the moment I was able to creatively express myself without consequence, was the moment that I fell in love with music.
MUSICAL BACKGROUND: My musical background stems all the way back to when I was a child. Due to being blessed to have grown up in an extremely musical family, I grew a natural proclivity towards excelling at music at a relatively early age.
That said, the question on when I first realized that I loved music is a little complicated: throughout my early childhood and teenage years, I grew to see music as more of a chore than anything else — I was very disinterested in the idea of being confined to just performing strictly whatever was on the sheet music that was put in front of me within the context of an orchestra, which was the only real opportunity I had to play my instrument at the time: the upright bass.
It wasn’t until I entered college, however, that I could play the bass in a way that I personally wanted; to play in a way without rules, or negative repercussions for attempting to innovate something as simple as a walking bass line. This realization was the biggest driver for me to create and manage my former band, which went by the name of “Running Late.” We performed original pop rock music, and through varying different iterations of musicians, were fortunate enough to open and perform alongside a variety of national touring acts: some of which included Blondie, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Third Eye Blind, Blues Traveler, Vertical Horizon, Smash Mouth, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Plain White T’s, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, MGMT, Eve 6, Everclear and many others. However; once the pandemic began, the band ran its creative course — prompting me to leave and throw my creative gauntlet into the arena of solo instrumental music.
Thinking back on this brief synopsis of my musical background; I can say with absolute certainty that the moment I was able to creatively express myself without consequence, was the moment that I fell in love with music.
ON INSPIRATION: I would like to imagine what inspires me is what inspires most musicians: the idea of creating something new, or familiar, that hasn’t quite been heard before. What I love most about creating is the freedom to express myself in any way I see fit, period. Fans of mine know very well that my music exemplifies this rather simple statement. For example; with some arrangements of mine; I’ll start playing in a very somber fashion, then choose to quickly play with very heavy slapping and tapping, then go right back to playing as if none of that ever happened, all the while making that sound like a very natural progression.
ORIGINAL SOUND: I would classify my music as either avant-garde, neoclassical or just simply instrumental. That said; I wouldn’t say that I’m actively “trying” to make music in these particular genres, it’s more so that these genres just best describe the music I like to create. Hopefully that makes sense.
The songs that I derive creative inspiration from for my covers can honestly be about anything; because my taste in music is extremely eclectic, any song of any genre that evokes an internal emotional response within me is usually a good candidate for my creative process to take hold of. When it comes to my favorite song, I would have to say that it's a tie between my covers of “Clair de Lune” and “Stairway to Heaven” — they’re both arrangements that I truly feel could successfully stand on their own compared to their original counterparts.
ON SONGWRITING: My creative inspiration for covers always begins by means of listening to a song that evokes an emotional response within me. It doesn’t matter if the song itself is happy, sad, aggressive, romantic, inspiring, sultry or melancholy; if the song moves me in any particular way, then it becomes much easier for me to begin creating my own impression on it.
Once I decide on a song, I start thinking about “standout” moments from the original song that I want to emulate in my own arrangement, usually on the G string. A standout moment could be a particular vocal vibrato that I can emulate by means of bending an active harmonic note sharp or flat, or a piano / vocal melody that I can play with my left hand while simultaneously playing something else with my right hand.
Once that’s figured out, I start thinking about the “floor” of the arrangement, or simply put, the lowest possible note I’ll need to tune the E string to in order to fully complete the arrangement. After that, I begin experimenting with different tunings on the A and D strings that offer me the maximum amount of creative options for both harmonics and chords. Finally, I begin to actually draft the arrangement from beginning to end; experimenting and employing chorus reverb and delay effects on specific harmonics, chords and tapped notes to help bring together the ethereal component to my music.
I love the ability to express myself without consequence.
FAVORITE MUSICAL ERA: I would have to say the '80s: it was an era where innovation in both tech, composition and songwriting took a gigantic leap forward relative from the '50s through '70s, and produced countless iconic songs that most people I know actively listen to today. Personally, I’ll never get enough of MJ, The Police, Prince, Bon Jovi, Rush, Van Halen, Queen, Foreigner or Metallica.
ON PERFORMING + RECORDING: I think I’ll have to give a nearly identical answer to what I’ve stated before: regardless of whether I’m performing live or recording, I love the ability to express myself without consequence. However; I think there’s something quite special in being able to play live music to others that’s uniquely satisfying, and is something I would like to do way more of this year.
ON FASHION: Well, I suppose one could argue that wearing a black leather jacket with black ripped jeans in nearly all of my videos is a conscious “fashion statement”… But in all seriousness; when it comes to my attire, whether it be live performance or recording videos, I just like wearing what's comfortable that also makes sense for a musician to wear. That said, I do try to portray myself online in a rather “sleek, professional” manner, which I guess could be considered an artistic element that accompanies my music.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: Like most musicians, I’ve had plenty. On a personal level; a major obstacle of mine was being torn between pursuing a career in music by means of touring with my band after college, or committing to law school after graduating as a pre-law student from Centenary University. At the time, I felt a lot of pressure from my extended family and friends to “drop the whole music thing” and pursue a “real” career in law — which I can imagine is an extremely common story amongst artists in general within their own personal lives. That said, with the help of my immediate family as the greatest support system one could ever ask for, I did what I’ve always done in my early adult life: double down on myself, and relentlessly pursued music as my full time career.
On a creative level; I found it extremely difficult to just begin recording and releasing content as a solo musician. The whole idea of being on my own without a band was so unbelievably overwhelming to me at first, and I just didn’t know where to begin. I kept asking myself countless questions along the lines of “What kind of camera do I buy?”, “What recording software do I use?”, “What kind of backdrop do I use?”, etc. In a vacuum, these questions are fine on their own — but as someone who was thinking about all of these questions at once, I was suffering severely from paralysis by analysis — and oftentimes considered abandoning the whole idea to begin with.
However, one of the few blessings of the pandemic was having ample opportunity to focus on myself, and learn one basic production skill a day. Slowly but surely; by taking it one day at a time, I was able to create the basic framework of a recording space where I felt comfortable enough to finally begin composing and releasing songs online.
SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Alongside receiving this feature in Deitra; getting myself and my music featured in Bass Player Magazine, Bass Magazine, and Bass Musician Magazine are definitely noteworthy accolades that I’m pretty damn proud of. These specific publications have always acted as the “who’s who” in the bass playing world, and receiving inclusion alongside legendary bassists such as Flea, Larry Graham, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten and Les Claypool is something that I definitely don’t take for granted.
Another major accomplishment that I’ll always be thankful for is currently being a featured endorsed artist to Skjold Design Guitars, which allowed me to join a roster of talent that includes some of the most successful, world-class bassists within the music industry today. Some of these extraordinary bassists include the likes of Damien Erskine, David Dyson, Dezron Douglas, Bill Bodily and many others.
Last but not least; I was able to achieve my first ever viral video last year in my solo bass arrangement of “Stairway to Heaven” - achieving over 1.1 million views on Facebook alone, and hundreds of thousands of additional views via reuploads across all major social media platforms. This level of success was extremely exciting to have, and also confirmed the reality that my kind of music can be appreciated by a mass audience.
FUTURE HOPES + DREAMS: My hopes and dreams are pretty simple: being able to continue to grow my online audience, all while being able to create and perform music full time for the rest of my life. That being said; one day, I would like to perform with another band that shares my aspirations and seriousness for music - performing with a collective of like minded musicians has been something that I’ve sorely missed over the past few years. However, in the meantime; I’m quite content in continuing to create more solo arrangements, and continue to push the boundaries of what can be done on the bass guitar.
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