Basswalker

I’m Udoka Moses Augustus, aka Basswalker. I am an artist, musician, and guitarist; I’m art personified.

I started playing music when I was in 7th grade with the drums, until I found the musical instrument of my dreams—the guitar! I got a guitar as a gift from my pastor. I’d play the guitar all night, and I’d form weird chords trying to make nice tunes because I didn’t have access to YouTube. Fortunately, my cousin came over to my place, and lucky for me, he could play the guitar. He showed me how to play scales on a guitar. How I learned to play the scales on a guitar in one night still baffles me! Since then, I have developed the scales into music and practiced more. I bought music books and taught myself how to play the bass dexterously. I can boldly say I’m one of the best bassists in Nigeria (he speaks humbly).

I started my career as a professional bassist in 2019. I’ve worked with artistes like Kahren and Ige sings and was in a band directed by Mr. Ben Ogbeiwi. I’m a performing, recording, and solo bassist. My genre of music is jazz, funk, reggae, and highlife. although I play other genres. Good music inspires me, as do great bassists like Victor Wooten, Richard Bona, Agbajoshu, and Abraham Laboriel. When it comes to good music, The Cavemen, Ghost Note Band, and Dirty Loop Band inspire me. I’m always motivated whenever I see young musicians do creative and mind-blowing things on their musical instruments, especially those who are physically challenged in one way or another, just like I am.

I have syndactyly fingers (webbed-like fingers; my middle and ring fingers are joined on both my right and left hands). This has been quite challenging for me because I picked up other instruments like the piano, saxophone, and violin. I couldn’t continue learning them because my fingers prevented me from getting better. Especially on the piano, I couldn’t hold some chords. I got discouraged and stopped learning them. Not until I saw a bassist in Nigeria who didn’t have any fingers at all play the bass so well. It dawned on me that I didn’t have any excuse to be lazy”. I said to myself, “Go hard or go home!” I decided to go hard! I overcame every challenge of being a bassist, and I got so much better.

So, whenever I see what young, talented people do, it fuels my morale to do more.

Basswalker Instagram

Basswalker Twitter