At What Age Do I Have to Switch to "The Blues?"

[JB1]

+2

BTW - If you don't like blues, you shoudn't have to play it, ever.

OBBM is right, 'tude is a state of mind.

If you're 18 now, todays cutting edge, punk rock, whatever, will suit you at 45, cos it's from your 'formative years'

That's the way I see it.

I'm 34 and I ain't planning on slowing down or playing what someone else thinks my age should dictate.

Rock on dude.

 

[oldbluebassman]

I'm 34 and I ain't planning on slowing down or playing what someone else thinks my age should dictate.

When I was growing up in the immediate post second world war years, there was an expectation from one's parents and elders as to what you should do, say and wear at a given age. An expectation of getting a steady job, getting married, having kids, etc. Thank God the sixties blew that away. Now one can do what one feels like doing. Long may it continue. Play whatever sort of music turns you on, and do it as long as you like.

 

[Moondog]

I can't go a day without listening to SRV lately.
I love it.

 

[Mobay45]

Personally, I think you should play the blues any time you get the chance. The improvisational aspects of it really help to round out your playing style. I have played every genre of music that I've come across the opportunity to play. Rock, blues, jazz, pop, country, bluegrass, and anything else that has come along. You reach a point that you can't really grow as a musician unless you're willing to play outside the box. There are some good players out there, but the really great players are multi dimensional.

 

[adouglas]

Mobay...I agree. My band just doesn't "get" the blues AT ALL, but I totally dig it. I never get to play it.

here are some really great blues clubs up here and you can make some good money if you bring something fresh.

Isn't that an oxymoron? I thought the blues, especially from the bassist's point of view, was all about sticking to the form, and playing those well-known licks to perfection.

It's like golf. It's not about innovation and freshness, it's about perfecting the well-established art. Or am I completely out to lunch?

 

[Mobay45]

Mobay...I agree. My band just doesn't "get" the blues AT ALL, but I totally dig it. I never get to play it.

Around here you can find blues jams at various venues around town. You just take your bass with you, sign up when you get there and get up and play when your name is called. Until you feel you are ready to sit in you can just show up and listen a few times until you think you would be comfortable playing on stage.

 

[MingusBASS]

Out to lunch? Nah. I guess it's just how you view the blues. To some it might seem restrictive or boring for a bassist. I enjoy the challenge of just sitting back and laying that foundation, that solid groove that the other instruments can build on. I have so much power, I can make or break the band by what I play. I like that control and I still get my chance to show off here and there but that's not that important to me. So much of the music I play in other bands is technical, it just feels good sometimes to just chill out and play the blues.

Andrew

 

[adouglas]

Out to lunch? Nah. I guess it's just how you view the blues. To some it might seem restrictive or boring for a bassist. I enjoy the challenge .....

+10. I TOTALLY agree.

I was just wondering where the "something fresh" thing came from, esp. from the point of view of a bassist. There just isn't much room to innovate in the blues, but that's not what the blues is all about. Personally, I really enjoy sitting perfectly in a well-worn pocket, grooving on the energy of the music as opposed to grooving on the energy of innovation.

 

[MingusBASS]

I suppose "fresh" is a relative term. Sure we play the blues, but we mix some latin influences, mix up standards with some more funk, I take solos, you get the idea. Radical and Groundbreaking? Nah but for a bunch of "young'ns" we got something special going on, If it's ok for me to say so. We are able to pack a room full of college students with the blues. I think it's pretty dang cool.

Andrew

 

[adouglas]

Around here you can find blues jams at various venues around town.

Same here. Fortunately, last year a pretty darned good blues club opened up only a few miles from my house ("The Boxcar", complete with life-sized statues of Jake and Elwood outside the door...http://www.theboxcar.com/pages/1/index.htm).

Haven't had the courage to try it yet. I know I'm skilled enough on a technical level, but I have basically no blues background because the stuff I play with my band has nothing to do with the blues.

It's one of those situations where I watch the guys on stage and know I could play as well as they do, but I'm not familiar enough with the material to step up there cold and do it comfortably, ESPECIALLY with people I don't know.

Those pick-up, open-mike situations strike me as really great learning experiences...you have to go up there cold, play with a bunch of people you've never seen before, doing material that you may not be all that familiar with, in front of a crowd, no less. Talk about pressure!

I'm really comfortable with my band, and I'd play with them in front of anyone. But this business of walking in and playing pick-up, cold, terrifies me.

 

[Randracula]

i saw Bad Religion a little while ago and they can still out-rock most of the "younger" bands ive seen. they rule

Yes they can.............

 

[Beth]

Well, if you ain't a rock star by age 30 it seems the odds go way down...

But as a tax-paying corporate lackey, you are entitled to play the blues during the weeks surrounding April 15th.

The mandatory age is, I think, 57.

By then you're tired of working but too young to retire without penalties.

30's the mandatory age to start listenin' ta country music!

I would say the 401K fully-vested, corporate lackey, blues-band a'startin happens in people's fifties

 

[Beth]

i saw Bad Religion a little while ago and they can still out-rock most of the "younger" bands ive seen. they rule

Ditto. Saw them at the Taubertal/Emergenza festival in Germany this summer when we were over there. Managed to make it up to about the 3rd row in the crowd, they freaking rock! Was well worth getting SMOOSHED, trampled, mud up to my knees and almost thrown into about 3 different mosh pits (but hey, the mosh pits are kinder and gentler in Europe)!

 

[muggsy]

i thought that was rocket from the crypt?


could be wrong.

Rocket From The Tombs was a short-lived punk band from Cleveland in the mid-70s. They were together about a year, never released a proper album during that time. When they split, Dave Thomas and Peter Laughner left to form Pere Ubu. Guitarist Gene O'Connor became Cheetah Chrome when he and the drummer, Johnny Madansky, joined the Dead Boys. Laughner died a couple of years later. The surviving members, including bassist Craig Bell, got together again 2-3 years ago, with Richard Lloyd from Television taking Laughner's spot. They did a short tour and recorded a CD of their old songs. The CD is called Rocket Redux and it's amazing. I went to see them in Atlanta, not knowing a thing about the band other than the players involved, and they blew me away.

Rocket From The Crypt chose their name as a tribute to Rocket From The Tombs.

AMG entry

 

[muggsy]

30's the mandatory age to start listenin' ta country music!

I would say the 401K fully-vested, corporate lackey, blues-band a'startin happens in people's fifties

Whew. I made it through my thirties without getting nailed by the country music police. What's the statute of limitations on that?

 

[adouglas]

Whew. I made it through my thirties without getting nailed by the country music police. What's the statute of limitations on that?

Apologies to all you Texans, but not even the Urban Cowboy scene of Debra Winger:

Riding one of these:

Could get me to...um..."appreciate" country music.

Now, understand me, here...I went through a HUGE Southern Rock phase back around 1981...Allman Bros, Molly Hatchett, Marshall Tucker, The Outlaws, etc. etc....(I still listen to, and love, the Allman Bros.). I was a regular at the local Srn. Rock band shows (Southern Cross). I wore a cowboy hat. With a big hat band. I owned a pair of Dingo boots (but not real cowboy boots).

But country? I just never could handle it. Still can't.

 

[phatduckk]

Whew. I made it through my thirties without getting nailed by the country music police

he he. im makin a run for it when 30 rolls around - but hell, you never know how my musical tastes gonna change in the next 3 or 4 years; but for now i couldnt imagine not playing punk rock - it just feels right

 

[tkarter]

We play southern rock mostly. I couldn't believe it the first time it happened but it was kids that called out play Mustang Sally please. We get so much of that my band put together a full nights set of country songs. Mostly new.

Little Sister and Guitars and Cadillacs gets ya some gigs?

My take on music is love it all, play it all. I do like the blues. I love playing the blues.

I like rockabilly the best cuz that is just me.

I am going to grow up to be a jazzer one of these days.

I can always back up and crank out She hates me just like Puddle of Mud did,.

You kids that limit yourselves are your own worst enemy.

Once you hear music it can all be played by anyone that can hear. Ears don't give a carp about who is playing the music old or young. When it rocks it rocks.



IMHO


tk

 

[shamus63]

Apologies to all you Texans, but not even the Urban Cowboy scene of Debra Winger:

Riding one of these:

Could get me to...um..."appreciate" country music.QUOTE]

Hell! I just appreciate Debra Winger!

 

[Sigmunds Couch]

Play what is fun to you or makes you feel good. If it's blues so be it. My band tilts the age scale from 35 to 50 but we still play rock/alternative covers in our sets. Musicaly, we are able to pull off all of the newer stuff that the "kids" are hearing on the radio. We get away with it because we are a good band. Either that or the kids want to see what the retarded old "effers" are gonna try to do next. Regardless, we've got no shortage of shows to play in the top, predominately younger clubs around town.

Play what you love. The passion will reach the crowd one way or another...