Ciara Moser’s debut album Blind. So What? takes listeners deep into her brilliant, adventurous bass playing—and her life as a blind person in a sighted world.
Ciara Moser has a mission with her debut album, Blind. So what? The jazz-fusion bassist and composer is educating the sighted listener through her lyrics on the record, addressing a range of topics she has experienced and navigated throughout her 27 years, from spatial orientation and heightened senses to questions raised and misconceptions held about life as a blind person.
Blind. So What? was created as part of her master’s of jazz performance program at Boston’s Berklee Global Jazz Institute, where she was mentored by such esteemed musicians as Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and Victor Wooten. Her 6-string Fodera Emperor 6 Standard can be heard all over the record, and the title concept is front and center in the lyrics. Each song addresses a specific topic—and Moser does not mince words.
“The goal or the achievement that I’m looking for is to call for more awareness of blind people, and also, generally, for people with disabilities,” Moser says. “For me, some significant things about myself are the music that I play and being blind. It was always the question: How can I combine that? Why don’t I use my music to change what I want to change about inclusion and blindness? The Global Jazz Institute gave me the tools to actually do that through my music, because I could never connect those two elements 100 percent. Of course, I knew I already did that, standing out there publicly as a blind musician, but actually addressing the topic and writing an album about it is even more important, in my opinion.”
Ciara Moser - "Developing Senses"
Co-produced by Moser and Warren Petty, Blind. So What? begins with a cacophonous 38-second handshake, “Intro (Screen Reader),” where the words “blind, so what?” are read by computer software in 16 different languages. In the liner notes, Moser explains that it “should attract the listeners’ attention to the audible world a blind person lives in, and open up new ways of perceiving and listening.” Then, she gets into some real talk on the rest of the album, a modern jazz collection which fluidly dips and dives into funk, R&B, ambient, Latin, experimental, and, in one song, a kind of South Indian Carnatic vocal scatting called “konnakol.”
“Some significant things about myself are the music that I play and being blind. It was always the question: How can I combine that?”
Moser doesn’t sing lead on any of the songs (although she does some spoken word, including the album’s improvised finale, “The Lady with a Green Cane,” a poem by Fran Gardner). She hands that task over to best friend and fellow Berklee student Aditi Malhotra on a half-dozen songs, while Nishant Shekar, another close friend and member of the Berklee Indian Ensemble, sings the first single, the funky, R&B-tinged jazz number “I Trust,” which begins with this instruction of sorts: “Imagine how it is to live in a world that you can’t see / Relying on someone else’s helping hand, following every step, every turn, every move that’s made / Trust in your friends and family.”
But what follows is even more direct. “Disability is a stamp they put on us / I am a person like you / But you still treat me like I’m some kind of different thing,” Moser writes for the song “Different Ability, Pt. 1.” In the percussive “Memory,” for which she won a 2023 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers award, Moser explains her musical process: “I am memorizing every bit and piece of each song / For playing everything with discipline, concentration / I save it to my hard drive and use my memory to find the way through all the pieces I play.” That’s the actual lyric.
On her debut record Blind. So What?, virtuoso Ciara Moser dazzles with spectacular bass performances and striking lyrics about her life experience.
It’s an atypical approach to songwriting, and even more so for jazz, a style of music that often envelops you. Moser’s lyrics pull you out of that reverie, offering an opportunity to actively listen and learn.
“Obviously, a lot of those topics that I chose are from the viewpoint of a blind person who grew up in a very sighted society,” says Moser. “But still, even if you grew up around a lot of blind people, you’re still in this sighted society that’s built for sighted people. So every topic is related to that.”
“Even if you grew up around a lot of blind people, you’re still in this sighted society that’s built for sighted people.”
The title of the album is something Moser has felt for years. She created a podcast of the same name, in which she talks frankly about everything from how she does her makeup, to how she knows when she has her period, to how she keeps her place tidy.
“My dad and I, and my brothers and my mom, we were always talking about creating this movie called ‘Blind. So What?,’ about our family. [It would be] a documentary, because it’s kind of crazy: this Irish woman marrying this Austrian, and their children—two of them are blind. And they live in Ireland first and move to Austria, where we were always the crazy family in this super small village,” Moser recounts. “Then, when I started the podcast about blindness, obviously it’s about [being] blind, so what? I still live my life normally and can do everything. It was clear that the album would be named this as well.”
Ciara Moser's Gear
Moser’s parents started her on violin as a child, but she found her musical home when she picked up the bass.
Photo by Kaffee Siebenstern
Basses
- Fodera Emperor 6 Standard
- Fender American Elite Jazz Bass V
- Marco Marcustico
Amps
- Markbass Standard 104HR
- Markbass Traveler 121H
- Markbass Little Mark Tube 800
- Markbass Little Mark III
- Markbass Mini CMD 121P
Effects
- Zoom B6 Bass Multi-Effects Processor
- Boss DD-7 Digital Delay
- Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah
- EHX Micro POG
- Dunlop DVP3 Volume (X)
Strings
- D’Addario NYXL32130s
Moser’s parents always instilled in her that she was just like everybody else, and her life would be no different than that of a sighted person.
“They felt music would be an important thing to help me build some skill sets as a blind child because it’s not only good for the ears, but also for motoric skills and for coordination, and for social interaction with other kids,” Moser says. “So I started learning violin when I was 2 and a half.” She played violin throughout her youth, even entering competitions, but it was with bass that Moser found a perfect fit. “For me,” she says, “the bass always had that role of being the glue.”
“They felt music would be an important thing to help me build some skill sets as a blind child.”
In her early teens, Moser played in a pop-rock band with her two brothers— her younger one is also blind—and two other friends. “It was called Blind Brats,” she laughs. Her first bass was a “super cheap” Ibanez, and an instructor would come to the family home to give her lessons.
Blind. So What?, which showcases Moser’s 6-string Fodera bass, was created as part of her master's of jazz performance program at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.
Photo by Manuela Haeussler
In high school, she started to play in more bands, and after two years, she bought a Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass. Around that time, her instructor suggested that she enroll at Borg Linz, a pop-music-focused high school in Linz, Austria, a half hour away from her house. Classes were divided into two bands and given recording projects, where students learned how to produce music and write songs.
“There, I started to play in my first professional funk band,” says Moser. “It was called Round Corner, and the guitarist got me in a fusion trio that he started with the same drummer of the band. That was the first time I started playing more complicated music—the music of Scott Henderson, Greg Howe, Guthrie Govan, those kinds of fusion guitar players. We also played some stuff from the band Lettuce. They were actually Berklee graduates, as well.
“If it’s really important, I normally ask somebody to tell me all the knobs on the amp. But, if we don’t have time, then I just have to work with my fingers and the bass.”
“And then I went to those yearly big-band workshops where you play in a big band and you also have instrumental lessons. And there, I started to play jazz, more straight-ahead.”
Moser then started going to college in Vienna, and a year later, decided she needed “at least a 5-string.” She drove all the way to Augsburg, Germany, to a shop called Station Music. “They had like 600 basses and I tried a lot of them,” she recalls. “There was this one Fodera bass that is now my bass. I really resonated with the sound and the feel of the instrument.
“It was the overall feel of the neck that I really loved—the wood of the neck makes a lot of difference. I feel like it even makes a slight difference in the sound, because I tried some of them with dark necks and with brighter necks. But, also, what I liked about that bass was the preamp, which is cool because later, at Berklee, I studied with Mike Pope, who designed that preamp with Fodera. It’s always been striking to me how in any rehearsal room I walk into, the preamp on the bass is so well-designed that I can put the EQ of the amp flat, then just work my way around it with the bass. That’s been something that’s been supporting me as a blind person because I can’t see all the knobs on the amp. If I have a gig, or if it’s really important, I normally ask somebody to tell me all the knobs on the amp. But, if we don’t have time, then I just have to work with my fingers and the bass.”
Moser says she has yet to do any in-depth modifications or have a luthier do a custom build, but she did add a “little secret.” “I have tape on the 7th fret and on the 12th fret on the back of the neck so I can jump to wherever I want, so I can have some anchor points on the bass,” she says, adding, “I’ve been so busy performing, and I’ve been so happy with what I’ve played right now that it’s been hard to convince myself to get a different product. But I’m open to trying new instruments and defining new pathways and sounds.”
Moser is involved with Austria’s blind community, and with her experience and successes, Moser wants to help guide young blind musicians.
Photo by Manuela Haeussler
Moser, who in October finished a master’s in instrumental and vocal pedagogy from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, just did a tour of Austria at eight venues and is in the process of booking festivals and shows for this year in Europe and the U.S. She also plans on releasing an additional EP that will feature a “Different Ability” suite, “because my journey has not ended regarding that.”
“It took me a while to understand that my disability is not a disability,” she says. “I always knew my disability is a characteristic, but I still put it down a lot. I should actually put it up and highlight it, but in a good way.”
“I always knew my disability is a characteristic, but I still put it down a lot. I should actually put it up and highlight it, but in a good way.”
Moser says sighted people should not feel uncomfortable about asking questions of blind people. At least, she doesn’t mind. “They say, ‘I’m so sorry to ask you, but are you blind from birth?’ And I’m like, ‘Why are you sorry to ask me that?’ It’s as if you ask me if I have brown hair or what my size is, you know what I mean? I don’t mind talking about that. It’s part of me and it’s always gonna be. I think for them, it’s just because they’re coming from their perspective and not from my perspective,” she reasons. “So, if they would be imagining themselves blind right now, they can’t because they don’t know how it works. It’s basically ignorance, and I’m used to it. I’m used to explaining that to people every day.”
Moser is an educator herself, who often works with young people and colleagues who are blind musicians. “In Austria, I’m very involved in a blind scene, and, also at Berklee, there are always between five and eight blind students,” she explains. “I would say I’m kind of like their consultor. They always ask me questions like, ‘How did you do this?’ and ‘How do you think this could be done?’ If I meet parents of a young blind child, it’s very important for me to have that role model position and to help, because I know it’s very challenging for parents of a blind child. But for the blind child, of course, it’s challenging as well. So I definitely want to take that role.”
YouTube It
Along with a killer ensemble featuring Nishant Shekar on vocals, Ciara Moser plays live in the studio in the music video for “I Trust,” and takes a dazzling, playful solo.
Whether it’s slapping on TikTok, headlining solo tours, performing with Jack Antonoff and Olivia Rodrigo, or improvising over her DJ set, this badass player just needs a Jazz bass to get the party popping.
Swarms of musicians and guitarists have found social media’s 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’t that sudden or serendipitous. She’s been working towards the spotlight since she first picked up the bass to jam with her drummer brother, Rex, at age 7.
“He was playing drums and I wanted to play an instrument,” recalls DeTiger. “As a girl, I thought guitar was ‘mainstream’ 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.”
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’s 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.
“I 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.” 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’s Player Plus P and scored a deal with ALT:VISION Records, releasing the How Did We Get Here? EP in early 2021. She’s since graduated to being an UMG Recordings/Capitol Records artist and continues to embrace the snippet culture by churning out singles: “Blondes,” “Blutooth,” “enough 4 u,” “Crash Course,” and “Hot Crush Lover.” Yeah, you might only see 60 seconds of her talent before the algorithm pushes you by, but she’s put in years of sweat to get this far. What’s the plan going forward? To throw one helluva party, of course!
Ahead of her headlining set at Nashville’s Basement East, the booming bass star jumped at the chance to give her eager fans what they’ve been asking for—a Rig Rundown. In the chat with PG’s 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 “crazy pedal phase” yet.
Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings.
An Elite Gift for Blu
DeTiger was given this Fender American Elite Jazz Bass as part of her collaboration with the legendary brand. J-bass junkies might wonder what the 4-knob configuration brings to the table. There’s a standard master volume, pickup pan (subtly blending bridge and neck single-coils), treble boost/cut, mid boost/cut, and bass boost/cut. Additionally, there’s a mini toggle that engages an 18V active preamp. She notes that this was the first free piece of gear she ever received from any company, saying she “felt like I made it.”
Blue Jazz
Here’s a custom Jazz bass that Fender put together for this blistering player. Some requested specs include a lightweight ash body, ’60s-style thin neck, matching headstock, mirrored pickguard ala Nile Rodgers’ 1960 “Hitmaker” Strat, and ’70s-style Jazz bass single-coils. (Check out the cover of her single “Hot Crush Lover” to see the pickguard adding artistic affect.) Both basses are laced with strings gauged .045–.105.
Strat Solo
For “Kinda Miss You,” off her EP, Blu puts on this Fender American Ultra Stratocaster HSS and starts the song solo before brother Rex and the rest of the band fill out the mix.
Thumper
“The best my bass has ever sounded was through this amp-and-cab setup. The DB751 is so sick and just has the punch—you really feel it in your chest and that’s my favorite thing about bass. The hybrid head (three 12AX7s and a dozen lateral MOSFETs) powers a pair of Aguilar DB410 cabinets that have Eminence-designed speakers.
Floor It
DeTiger runs her Fender American Ultra Stratocaster HSS into a Kemper Profiler Stage.
Blu DeTiger’s Pedalboard
“I haven’t gone through that phase of using crazy pedals yet. Live I just really love the sound of a clean bass tone,” admits DeTiger. This cast of characters gets used for specific moments. She uses the octave up on the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG for “shredding” and the sub octave setting to “change the vibe for a second.” The Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff enhances some of the POG’s shadings with added stank. The EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery is used for the funky intro to “enough 4 u,” her collaboration with Chromeo. She prefers the Spatial Delivery to the Mu-FX Micro-Tron III (which doesn’t get used at all now) and the MXR Analog Chorus is engaged for one instance. The Boss RE-2 Space Echo sees action with the Strat for “Sonic Youth freakouts” during “Kinda Miss You.” A Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner keeps all four strings in line and a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2Plus provides the volts.
Considering all of the possibilities, there’s no one perfect bass tone. But there’s a path to finding your own sound.
How can we consider “the perfect bass tone” when there are, at a minimum, millions of players, thousands of styles of music, countless bass and amp combinations, and, throughout it all, the idea that individualism and self-expression are key? Do all great singers really have something in common? From Billie to Beyoncé, we’ll always find fanatically loyal listeners who will happily testify that their pick is the greatest. What we can honestly say is they can’t all be right, and yet, in some way, they kind of are!
I’m going to discuss what I love in a well-crafted bass sound, and how some of my favorite players have gone about achieving theirs. I’ll start with two players that I consider foundational to modern bass.
Upright bassist Ray Brown was one of jazz’s most recorded and celebrated musicians. In many ways, what I like in Ray’s sound is what I like in every bass player that I consider to be a master, regardless of instrument, genre, or style. He had a luscious, thick, defined tone, with lots of low-end definition, great intonation, and beautiful vibrato. Anything Ray played sounded just right, and because Ray began long before the days of sculpting EQ, amps, or even house PAs, he relied solely upon his instrument and technique to produce the sound he was after. I’ve heard many stories about musicians who stood beside Ray and felt the sheer girth of sound coming off his bass. Ray played with his action well on the high side and used thick gut strings so he could achieve this signature tone.
James Jamerson made a significant contribution to the Motown sound, which helped define R&B music, with his playing and unmistakable tone. Though he began on upright, Jamerson is known more for his work on electric, placing him at the forefront of a technological revolution in the early days of the instrument. Everything from his Fender Precision Bass with flatwound strings to his amp (the Ampeg B-12 flip-top) to his recording chain (a special tube DI designed and built specifically for Hitsville, U.S.A.) helped him achieve his deep, round, warm, well-balanced, and even sound. Like all great bassists, a large part of Jamerson’s sound was the high level of musicianship he attained. But without a doubt, his ability to coax his recognizable tone out of his instrument played a significant role.
Throughout the years, I’ve pursued my sound, inspired in large part by the bassists above or other great players that they inspired, such as Jaco or Marcus Miller. I began on regular 4-string electric bass. I did what I could to my bass, adjusting the action and then honing my technique to create minimal fret buzz, to achieve a full, deep, fundamental from any note. I practiced scales and patterns to build speed and stamina, allowing me to play as loud or as quiet as I wanted while still getting an even and consistent tone. I experimented with using my right palm to mute while my thumb and index finger plucked down and up, creating a shorter, bass-y, muted attack, which works better in some situations. When I switched basses—fretless, 6-string, and most recently, 6-string fretless—I applied the same approach, but now also worked on intonation and fretless vibrato. La Bella Deep Talkin’ Bass (black tape-wound strings) work really well for my current instrument, a custom-built Sei Bass.
Over the years, I’ve experimented with different pickup/preamp combinations on basses, as well as different amps and speakers. I’ve checked out everything from Trace Elliot and GK in the early ’90s, to Mark Bass and Aguilar in the last decade. Epifani makes very fine rigs, but I have a soft spot for smaller, compact line-array setups (rows of small speakers). I love the portability coupled with their ability to reproduce pure, earth-shaking bass.
Today, my rig consists of a 500-watt PJB powered 6x5" with either PJB’s Bass Buddy pre (live) or an Ampeg B-12XT head (studio). I also love both the ’64 Ampeg B-12 and B-15. They’re sublime, but good luck finding either for a session or show! The PJB Bighead (mini pre) allows me to tolerate just about any half-decent amp, which has saved my life on occasion. Mics that work well for me are the Neumann U47, AKG C12 or C414, or the Electro-Voice RE20. I always use a mic in conjunction with the D.I. out on my amp. The trick (often overlooked) is to reverse the phase on the DI or mic (never both), which allows you to mix both sounds together without phase cancellation.
When it comes to developing your sound, the most important thing is to keep your goal in mind. Know what you’re going for, whether it be a grungy distorted tone or a pure, almost acoustic quality, and experiment with subtle changes in technique and setup to get you closer to that. No matter what you choose to play, great and consistent tone will help it sound better!