Message to newbies...it's all worth it in the end

[adouglas]

I first picked up a bass before many of you were born.

I've long been a hack. I've made money playing, but do it as a career? I don't think so.

I love every second of it.

I recently started playing with a new (second) band, and after only two practices, well, DAYUMMM, we sound good.

I'm having the time of my life.

Why? Because it's fun and not intimidating, that's why.

And why is that? Because I've stuck with it all these years, just futzing around. Through sheer longevity (and believe me, not through talent), I'm good enough to walk into a room of unfamiliar musicians and play unfamiliar material, and be able to not only hold my own but have a BLAST doing it.

This is the kind of deep-satisfaction stuff that sticks with you. My main gig is with lifelong friends and when we play old, familar tunes I utterly love it, just the way I always have. This new thing is a different, and equally satisfying, experience. This new crew is clicking really well so far and it's a real euphoric high.

If you're new to the instrument and frustrated, do not despair, and DO NOT QUIT. Ever. It will get good. REALLY! Maybe not tomorrow, and maybe not in the next five or ten years....but it WILL.

I've never been, and will never be, famous or looked up to. I don't care. I'm LOVING what I do. It...makes...me...smile. A lot.

Just had to share that. Thanks for reading.

 

[EBMM7181]

good advice

 

[bassmancb]

Rock on my friend!

 

[Jim_F]

Couldn't agree more ...

 

[mammoth]

of course, having a bongo to be 100% dedicated to helps!!! wahey!!!


BOOOOOOONGOOOOOOO!!!

glad you're loving it sunshine!!

 

[francric]

If you're new to the instrument and frustrated, do not despair, and DO NOT QUIT. Ever. It will get good. REALLY! Maybe not tomorrow, and maybe not in the next five or ten years....but it WILL.

Dang, over ten years , I quit......................................

 

[Baird]

I agree 100%.

I am not completely to the point where I can walk into a group of new musicians and play new material, but close. Achieving that is like achieving bass nirvana.

I unfortunately took a decade long break from the bass and just picked it up again late last year.

 

[bassmonkey]

Dang, over ten years , I quit......................................

25 years for me, still no sign of bass greatness in sight. Botheration and fiddlesticks!

 

[RitchieDarling]

38 years................

38 years! DAY-UM!

I've been at this a while!

And still wallowing in mediocrity.................

Keep plugging away!!


Ritchie

 

[kevin]

Great Post my friend! Hope all is well!!

 

[Slim]

Forty one years on guitar and a little over a year on bass and still gigging three to four nights a week. I stopped gigging from 1992 to 2005 due to my daughter's visitation on weekend after divorce but now she is old enough so I am back in playing

 

[Soup]

What is the secret?

adouglas,

After all the years did you discover a "secret" or method to be able to play unfamiliar tunes and sound good or is it just time and work?

 

[adouglas]

adouglas,

After all the years did you discover a "secret" or method to be able to play unfamiliar tunes and sound good or is it just time and work?

Wow, that's a really good question.

I think it's about being really comfortable with your own sound. I don't try to sound like anyone but me. I also don't try to EXACTLY mimic the bass line or sound of any given tune unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm all about the groove and the vibe of a song. I want to make it sound like what I hear in my head (which may very well not be what was originally recorded).

It goes like this...you listen to a tune and get the gist of it. You pay attention to the feel. You pay attention to what makes it what it is. You also pay attention to the other musicians in the band and where they're going with it. Then you play what feels right in context.

That comes from playing a long time and getting to understand that it's about feel, not specific notes. At some point you move beyond worrying about exactly what the next note is supposed to be and arrive at an understanding of what's going to work. That's not the same thing.

Case in point. This new band is being put together by a keyboard player who has a theater background, not a band background. His idea was to create really tight, specific arrangements of songs, not playing them the way they were originally recorded, but to fit the flow of the performance he's got in mind. (He wants to put on a specific "show." This is doomed IMHO, but that's a different discussion...he's putting together a pretty good band in the process.)

So he picked this song called "I Want To Know." I have no idea who originally did it, but it's this utterly artificial, mechanical techno-pop club dance thing done entirely with keyboards. Awful in its original form. He wanted to do it as a rock piece, but we were getting bogged down because he kept on trying to make the arrangement too rigid, with everyone having to play really specific parts, and it just wasn't working. So last week the band said, "Look, let's just play it the way we feel like one time and see what happens."

So we did. We knew the chord changes, vocals and desired tempo, and we just went at it.

It kicked ass, right away. It's now a perfectly good rock song. All we did was play it the way we felt it rather than trying to hit some arbitrary target.

Does that make sense?

 

[Eggman]

Good info and insight adoug.

I have been playing for 36 years. Got my current gig by going to a rehearsal - drummer who invited me didn't bother to show up - the guitar players started playing a bunch of their originals - nothing written down. I listened - wrote a few changes out and meshed in. Nothing fancy - just supporting the bottom end of the music - following the structure of the song and blending in rhythmically.