These days when other bassists in my scene bust out cool stuff- like say, using a distortion pedal in a way I didnt think of, or more tastefully than I would, or switch up their tone so it sounds really awesome (or similar to mine), I get kind of mad.

Anyone else suffer from this?

Mad? No.

I saw a band a few weeks back who's bass player uses a Geddy Jazz. I've heard plenty about them, but never actually heard one in action. The tone that he got out of that thing was incredibly thick and beefy. It had a lot more low end than I would have figured. Then they did a couple of tunes that were rather funky, and the slap tone outta that thing was awesome too! I appreciated it very much.

The bassist of another band around town has a style very similar to mine. I really like to see him play, because everything he does makes perfect sense to me. He's actually said the same thing about seeing me play too. When I die I hope my band can convince him to take over for me!!

Every bassist I've ever seen whether they are accomplished musicians, or relative newbies always has something to offer me in the aspect of how they do what they do. I guess I just really dig the whole bass thing.

These days when other bassists in my scene bust out cool stuff- like say, using a distortion pedal in a way I didnt think of, or more tastefully than I would, or switch up their tone so it sounds really awesome (or similar to mine), I get kind of mad.

Anyone else suffer from this?

Why on earth would you get mad??:confused:
So, if someone does something that turns out to be more tasteful than you, or better than you, you get mad? At whom? Yourself, or the other bassist?

If they do something more tasteful than you, learn from it. Absorb it like a sponge. Filter out what you don't like, and use the rest.

If they're copping your tone, be happy. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

It's no different than seeing the stars we admire doing the same.

If it's cool, and I can use it, I steal it. Just like my bass lines. :D

get mad??? why, because you didnt think of it??
what you do is to watch and learn, take it home and practice it, then add it to your "tool box" so you can use it sometime where it will fit nice.

Ed

Given that I'm not very good, I often see bassist doing cool stuff and generally playing better than I can. So getting mad probably wouldn't do me any good....

I just do what any other person might do in that situation...cheer, gape, flash the horns, etc.:bassist:

I always glean what I can from other players,I tend to focus on them when I watch a band.Not in the form of "I can do it better" but seeing what they do,how they do it.Always try to seek them out,give em props or talk gear.Almost always they are eager to talk to another low ender,swap gear tips and ideas.

I dont get mad, i just try to learn from the experience and use it to benefit me.

plus, there are TONS of players out there that are better than me, so it's almost always a learning experience.

It's always a treat to see someone better than me rock out on the bass because I see it two ways:

1. Like many others have already said, it's a learning experience to see someone better than you play.

2. I know I'm enough of a bassist to actually APPRECIATE what they're doing, unlike 99% of the other people watching them.

you need to listen without fear, without thought at all. and you have to let go of your ego. you are not defined as a person by how you play.

The shoe was on the other foot this past Saturday night. An upright player from the local theater's orchestra came out for our gig. She'd been out to see the Box Bass in action a few weeks back, I let her try it out, but she left before the set was over so I didn't get to talk to her at all. Saturday night she stayed for the whole show. She was very complimentary of the band. I offered to let her sit in on the Ric, but she declined. She said she was playing in the praise band at her church at 7:00am Sunday, and she didn't leave until the fourth set was almost over. I'm still a little dumbstruck that a "real" musician appreciated the work of a self proclaimed talentless hack such as myself.

Bass players have to be the coolest people to meet on the entire planet!!

I used to get a mad like feeling. Then I realized it was envy, and I was a complete moron for saying or even thinking that people should only do things a certain way, and even worse, that my ideas were on top.

But this is not just for bass, people have this notion that they got a lot of answers for any given subject, and when they find out exactly how uneducated they are in a field, some of them are interested, and some just strike some crazy chord and act like a total nimrod for no reason.

This happens to A LOT OF PEOPLE in different areas of life, so I wouldn't sweat it one bit. It's things like this that make you understand, other ways are different, and different is fine whether its your bag or not. Imagine how much world issues would simply not exist if everyone truly could just get on with it instead of plopping their own ideas on others every chance they get.

Don't get mad, don't get mad, don't get mad, get pornography!

I love it when bassists do cool things onstage. It just makes the show exponentially better.

I think that seeing cool stuff and ripping it off is the probably the main key to become a better player, after seeing a good show i usually pick up my bass and try to figure out what the bassman was doing. sometimes it's easier than others (i.e. seeing herbie hancock it was difficult to mimic nathan east because...ya)

I LOVE seeing good bassists. They represent, baby!

I just hope people think the same about me. :P

I enjoy watching another bassist strut their stuff. And I also don't mind stealing whatever I can use of them... mostly because they probably stole it form somone themsleves.

I only get mad when their suckage screws up a song I like, or they're elitest pricks.

Thankfully most of the bassists I've met have been super cool and helpful. I do know one guy who's a total toolbag... he started on guitar tho... so...

To the OP, do you get mad at them or yourself for not thinking of it yourself? Sometimes I hear a bassline that is simple but fits the song or pocket perfect and I get mad at myself for not thinking of doing it that way before.

i dont see the point in getting mad either.
i just enjoy it, and learn what i can.

If it's someone my age (16 ish) I get angry because most other bassists I have met my age are absolute pricks and hold everything over everyone else's heads, so I don't want them to be any good or else it makes their assholish-ness less...tolerable?

The only time I get really angry is like, if I had an idea I wanted to use in one of my band's songs, and then I see it somewhere else, that really sucks, but it happens, so just gotta keep on groovin'.

i love watching bassists live...we have quite a few local bands in the Rocky Mount scene, so i'm always goin to shows to scout for ideas :ninja:

and one of my best bass moments ever was from the bassist of a band signed on an eastern nc/va/sc label, i was checkin out his band, got to talkin to him, and he said that the only reason he ever came to my old punk band's shows (we played all through the last couple of years frequently) was cuz he was intrigued w/ my bassing...that felt pretty good :hyper:

I feel a mix of envy (in the good sense) and embarassment. "Holy smokes I always knew that I sucked... But THAT much? Oh noes... I wanna fall through a hole in the ground..."

maybe when i was younger i would get a bit bummed out when i saw other local bassists do something really cool but it spurred me on.

now when i see great bassists in the local and not so local scene i enjoy watching them and dont feel any sort of negative feelings. i find it inspiring.

If they do something more tasteful than you, learn from it. Absorb it like a sponge. Filter out what you don't like, and use the rest.



Exactly!!!

I think that seeing cool stuff and ripping it off is the probably the main key to become a better player, after seeing a good show i usually pick up my bass and try to figure out what the bassman was doing.

We academics don't call it "ripping it off", we call it "research".

Research is best done while enjoying cold beer. :D

I like good bassists. :hmm:

I think most of us are lying to ourselves a little bit by saying we don't get mad.

Anyone who is seriously dedicated to music goes through jealousy/competitiveness/insecurity on some level. Most of us probably on a very serious level.

I definitely very often feel intimidated by other players. Even if they aren't very good!

It's frightening, isn't it? I'm out there trying to make a name for myself. If the competition leaves me in the dust, I'm **** out of luck.

I'm not saying I feel that way all the time. I try to maintain as healthy a perspective as possible. But part of maintaining that health is realizing that I really do feel insecure on some level. I work very hard and I'm human. Thus, I'm prone to jealousy!

i only get mad if the bassist happens to be a prick.

god, nothing is more annoying than talented, ****ed up people!

I think most of us are lying to ourselves a little bit by saying we don't get mad.

Are you serious??? I do not get jealous. Intimidated, yes, especially if I have to follow a good bassist. But that has NEVER stopped me from getting up after said bassist and playing my best.

Anyone who is seriously dedicated to music goes through jealousy/competitiveness/insecurity on some level. Most of us probably on a very serious level.

Yep, but enough to make you angry? Then there's other issues that need to be dealt with, and not just musically.

I definitely very often feel intimidated by other players. Even if they aren't very good!

Again, like I stated above, who cares if other bass players are better than you, or worse than you? When did music become a competition? I don't go to shows to see which band wins. And man, I certainly enjoy going to shows where the musicians are better than me, as opposed to shows where they're not.

It's frightening, isn't it? I'm out there trying to make a name for myself. If the competition leaves me in the dust, I'm **** out of luck.

Again, it's not like this is a competition. You'll find out that other musicians will want to work with you for other reasons besides chops (i.e. willingness to learn, listening skills, adaptability). Very rarely will a band hire you, or seek out your skills because of how well you solo.

I'm not saying I feel that way all the time. I try to maintain as healthy a perspective as possible. But part of maintaining that health is realizing that I really do feel insecure on some level. I work very hard and I'm human. Thus, I'm prone to jealousy!

Fair enough, but you don't have to let your insecurities turn into jealousy. If anything, they should inspire you to work harder at becoming a better bass player (or whatever).

yep. music is not a competition. =)

I only get mad if they're an asshole to me. And even then its only if they're better than me. Cause then i don't have any witty comebacks to deflate their head.

I sometimes do get hot under the collar, but only if the player is near to me in skill level, or sometimes age. I can't explain it, and I would love to apply the sort of "don't get mad, show your love and respect and then learn something" philosophy that gets bandied about here, but I am not always in that great of control over my inner emotions.

Oh, it's especially bad if they have a gig I would really enjoy playing in.

Oh, it's especially bad if they have a gig I would really enjoy playing in.

+1 he he he he... that's more of a problem for me than the rest of what's been said.

But, you have to keep on your track, do your band, play your music, and enjoy the rest.

:bassist:

It doesn't happen too often with me. I play in the local punk/indie scene, and as it happens, there's not a lot of hardcore bass shredding just by the nature of the music. You get a lot of people playing simple root note basslines, which is fine and all because it serves the music well, but it's nothing that makes your jaw drop as an audience member. And on the occasion that I see a bassist doing something really ambitious, it's rarely in a style of music that I really care for. It's the catch twenty-two of indie-rock bass playing: There's usually a necessary compromise between making it subtle and making it interesting. I'm really impressed when I can find a bassist who walks that line well, or somebody who can play and sing over difficult rhythms. I think I'd get jealous if I saw somebody who played my exact style, but that's rare. I ripped off my style from people in OTHER scenes, so it hasn't come up.

I dont normally tend to get mad at over bassists i get a bit angry if they ruin a great song by covering it but thats the whole band.
I actually love watching other bassists play cus most of the bands that I play with are metal ones, and because im a punk bassist (with a fair few runs and what not) playing in a metal band and most of the other bassists here arent I like it cus it shows that my playing at times is a bit unneccersary and at others, that it adds a bit more to it.
I dont get insecure about our music or anything though, because I know its good, I do get slightly worried though when trying new people out, just incase they dont like it but I know if it was a gig situation I wouldnt mind as much if they liked it or not.

Oh, it's especially bad if they have a gig I would really enjoy playing in.

+1 again.

What does get me a bit miffed is seeing a lot of the kids I grew up playing along with in bands and a lot of them will limit their style and technicality in order to fit into the bar rock mentality that's most likely to get you gigs around here. It's cool to see them getting out to play, but at the same time I wanna yell "Where'd the chops you were showing at our jams go, man?"

I love seeing other bassists pull something off that I haven't thought of. Especially if it's locally. Local bassists that I can buy a beer, hang out with, and talk music with. The more of a relationship I have with the person, the more I can watch them grow as a player, which makes me bounce up and down in my chair, howl, yelp, and spill whiskey on myself.

This is far more inspiring to me than watching Vic rip on YouTube.

What I don't particularly like, are when the local show fans try to make it a competition. They used to be split between their favorite bassists, myself, and another guy (an amazingly unique player), who stand out because we have similar tech, but completely different styles at the same time.

Meanwhile, he and I are friends. We met at one of his gigs - I dug his thump work (holy hell), and had more tap under my belt (go figure); so we would hang out at his house for hours, swapping techniques. Anytime anything super exciting happens, he calls me. Same goes, I call him.

So, people would come up and say, "Hey man, you totally kick B's ass." or "Who do you think's better, you or B?" or "I like B better." - and this would make me mad.

Seeing B crack out some nasty mind boggling maneuver? No way. I can bug him about it for ten minutes after the show 'til I get the concept, then chase after it for a week 'til I get it down :)

If it's someone my age (16 ish) I get angry because most other bassists I have met my age are absolute pricks and hold everything over everyone else's heads, so I don't want them to be any good or else it makes their assholish-ness less...tolerable?

The only time I get really angry is like, if I had an idea I wanted to use in one of my band's songs, and then I see it somewhere else, that really sucks, but it happens, so just gotta keep on groovin'.

yea dude i know how you feel, im 17, and i love when most ppl think they're loads better than me, it just gives me a motivation to get better and learn more things, and when push comes to shove, most of them are all talk no walk, so just dont take it as a show offy thing, take it as an invite to get better

I feel humbled and inspired. I saw this guy in New Orleans one night at guitar center. He was jamming on a music man bass, and he could play Jaco stuff NOTE FOR NOTE! Then, on top of that, he started popping and slapping all over. He was so cool and nice. He tried to show me some of his technique, but it was so far above me....He was fantastic. When I went home and told my Brother about him, he didn't think taht I was being honest about this guys abilities. Well, a few weeks later I went back to N.O. Guitar center, and there He was. My brothers Jaw almost fell off his face! This guy did it all. EVEN double handed stuff, tapping, some weird slide thingy, and other outta space stuff. He told us he was in a blues band that was in New Orleans and that He only got to play that kinda bass at home. He said that every once in a while the band would walk offstage and him and the drummer rip. Goes to show that some people are so much more talented than what you see onstage. Imagine that!

Chuck Stardust

Are you serious??? I do not get jealous. Intimidated, yes, especially if I have to follow a good bassist. But that has NEVER stopped me from getting up after said bassist and playing my best.



Yep, but enough to make you angry? Then there's other issues that need to be dealt with, and not just musically.



Again, like I stated above, who cares if other bass players are better than you, or worse than you? When did music become a competition? I don't go to shows to see which band wins. And man, I certainly enjoy going to shows where the musicians are better than me, as opposed to shows where they're not.



Again, it's not like this is a competition. You'll find out that other musicians will want to work with you for other reasons besides chops (i.e. willingness to learn, listening skills, adaptability). Very rarely will a band hire you, or seek out your skills because of how well you solo.



Fair enough, but you don't have to let your insecurities turn into jealousy. If anything, they should inspire you to work harder at becoming a better bass player (or whatever).

Becoming an established pro IS a competition. Completely. In fact, it's about as competitive as life can get.

And who said anything about soloing?

If your girlfriend dumps you and starts ****ing your best friend, it hurts. If you step on broken glass, your foot bleeds.

Of course I understand the danger of jealous and insecurity, and that music is ultimately a beautiful expression of one's soul and blah, blah, blah...

But I'm human. I hurt.

That's all. :)

I've been playing for a year and have been doing it hard, so whenever I see someone approach or exceed my skill level, especially when they are my age or younger, I get jealous. I have a massive insecurity about myself as a musician and that seems to be what ends up driving me forwards sometimes.