| Hello?....is this heaven?
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Wow, I am so excited to have stumbled accross this site! This is exactly what I was looking for. I have been reading the various forums for about 5 hours straight since I found the site.
Ok, so here's the reason "I was just born yesterday" (or today, 5 hours ago); here's my story;
I started playing bass in my High School Jazz Band in 1975. I was a tuba player and we needed a bass for the jazz band, and since jazz band was "way cooler" than marching band.....I volunteered. I could read the music and after a while, could, with a great deal of practice, play what was written (elec. bass).
After High School I pretty much put it up until the mid eighties when a community jazz band formed, and I signed up. I got the job because I was the only bass player. During HS I had'nt really learned anything about the bass, what I knew was all self taught, I did'nt take lessons - there was'nt anyone to take lessons from! So, once again in the community jazz band I relied heavily on charts that had a written bass line. If it was just the chords, I would fumble around on the root, fifth and throw in other stuff that sometimes actually fit. The gutairist for the group was an old guy from the east coast who musically knew a great deal but talked over my head all the time. He actually showed me a few things that helped alot - when to walk, what a bossa-nova beat was, etc.
That lasted a couple of years (with little growth musically).
I went back to college in the early nineties for a degree in architecture. While I was there I played for two semesters in the jazz band - again getting the job by default, no other bass players applied. That really streched me. I was playing with career musicians, guys who took there instruments seriously. The director pushed to play some very difficult charts. I made it through, barely. At times they (the drummer and the director) were obviously frusrated with my lack of ability. I do'nt blame them. The thing I learned the most was how little I knew and how inept I was.
I put the bass down. Over the next 15 years I would pick it up from time to time to remind myself that I do'nt know how to play it at all.
Through it all I learned to love jazz. And deep inside always wishing to be able to play. The other day something hit me and I decided...."I can learn how to do that, why not", "do it", "learn to play". So I started the research for resources and that led me here. I'm 45 and I'm going to become a jazz bassist. I ca'nt wait to get started! | 
