Boomer, known in real life as Steve Friedman, is a regular at The Guitar Forum and founder of www.guitardiner.com. He's been playing bass since 1964, but that's not all this adventurous forum daredevil does. Check out Boomer's responses to the Gearwire MVP interview!

What is your background?

I started playing bass in 1964. I gave it up in the early 70’s to go sports car racing, then flying, then scuba diving. I have had guitars since 1988 but I wasn’t happy playing them until I started playing bass again in the last couple of years

How did you get started in music and what advice would you give to someone who just started?

I wanted to be Paul McCartney! I even had a ’64 Hofner 500/1!

Make sure you play music for you. If someone else likes it, all the better!

Who are your musical influences and what genre do you listen to most?

60’s rock, Beatles, Joe Walsh, Steve Miller and so many more.

What's your inspiration?

I didn’t have any inspiration for a long time. When I finally decided to go back to bass it was like starting over, but I quickly found a band that writes fun tunes and seems to think I’m a great player. There’s no accounting for taste! ;)

What's your motivation for helping people out on forums?

If I have some information that might be of help to someone, I enjoy sharing it.

What's your favorite piece of gear and why?

Probably my Lentz SSL but only because I haven’t found “my” bass yet!

What gear do you use?

Guitar:

• Lentz SSL
• Fuchs ODS-50
• Bob Burt Custom 212 with two Celestion Anniversary G12H-30
• Jenkins Sound Shop Highway 61 112 loaded with Celestion Gold
• Jenkins Sound Shop 115 with Eminence Big Ben
• THD 212 (on order)

Bass:

• Melancon MB-4
• Traben Chaos 5 string
• ’76 Fender Precision Bass (still negotiating but it will be mine)
• Thunderfunk TFB-550
• Aguilar GS210
• Aguilar GS115
• ’69 Ampeg SVT (currently being restored)

What are your favorite sources for gear-related information?

• The Guitar Diner
• The Gear Page
• Vintage Guitar Magazine
• Lot’s of other places on the Net

What's the best music related advice you've ever given?

I have no idea! My short term memory is shot and my long term memory isn’t far behind!

What's the best music related advice you've ever received?

See above!

What's the best and worst thing about being a musician?

Being in a band!

What is the best and worst thing about online forums?

Finding people with enough in common to become a strong community.

Words on a screen! It’s difficult if not impossible to discern the intent of many posts. Not much body language to help with that!

What music-related topic do you think is most neglected on forums?

The forums I visit seem to cover most things I’m interested in.

What are the 5 forum posts/threads where you are most proud of your contributions? (Give actual URLs)

See my answers for music related advice!

Anything else you would like voters to know? Any interesting music related stories?

Not really. My “interesting music related stories” are too long to relate here but I’ve had the opportunity embarrass myself playing with some important and famous guitar slingers as well as many amazing unknown monster players. It’s quite humbling!