Do you think other bass players are better than you?

RWP · #1 12-08-2006, 03:03 PM

I was in a GC today and there was a guy playing a SG bass that had great technique and sounded good. His style was very different from mine but it seems when I listen to a lot of other bass players they seem better than I am. Not sure if they really are or if it is just that they have a different style. Any one else feel this way?

Steve Clark · #2 12-08-2006, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWP

I was in a GC today and there was a guy playing a SG bass that had great technique and sounded good. His style was very different from mine but it seems when I listen to a lot of other bass players they seem better than I am. Not sure if they really are or if it is just that they have a different style. Any one else feel this way?

I used to think that way about other players. I would be scared to ask them about what they were doing. Or wouldn't want to pick up a bass after them in the same store. At 40 plus I just ask what they were doing, how they do it and be inspired by what they do as opposed to feeling down on what I do or don't. When I pick up a bass in the store I know what I am looking for and don't need to do any monster chops but I always make eye contact with someone and say hi if I know they are wathcing and listening to what I'm doing and make it OK for them to ask a question.

matrok · #3 12-08-2006, 03:18 PM

All the time, but there will always be people better than you and people worse than you. I always feel like an idiot when I go into a music store since I don't have any "monster chops" to show off when I try out a bass. But I deal with it. And for me, trying something out in a store means nothing, it all matters on the gig where I do my thing.

chaosMK · #4 12-08-2006, 03:53 PM

GC showoffs are always fun. Sometimes I wonder what type of crappy dynamic they must have when working with other people.

Once I was having a bad day and had dropped by GC to get some strings. I spent a good half hour playing all my most technical stuff on their fanciest basses.

I dont stress much about people that are better or flashier than me. My scene is pretty small so I know everyone who is really good. I try and learn from them. I am not so concerned about being the best in general, but I do want to be the best for my band.

XansNiceSweater · #5 12-08-2006, 03:57 PM

Every time I see a GC Showoff, I think to myself, or say under my breath, "let's see you do that in time, with a drummer."

people usually agree.

mambo4 · #6 12-08-2006, 03:59 PM

there's always somebody better. Comparing yourself to them can be depressing, but with a midful attitude it can inspire you to practice and improve.

there's always somebody worse. Comparing yourself to them might help you feel good, but it won't teach.

I used to like comparing myself to worse players. Now I try compare myself to better ones.

spindizzy · #7 12-08-2006, 04:02 PM

+1 to Matrok's comment. It is true that as a class of musicians bass player generally are very self critical and very appreciative of other folks prowess. This leads us sometimes to the conclusion that someone else is better at this than we are. There are no winners or losers, at least not IMHO, in this game just brothers and sisters with a common interest in being the best we can be. I remember when, way back in the dark ages, I was just a young pup and followed a local idol of mine around like he was a god. He turned to me one day when we were hanging out and asked "why is it that you want to play like me?" I told him it was because he was clearly the superior player and I was desperate to become as good as he was. He stopped me dead in my tracks and said "you already are in fact you play things I never thought of playing and you speak with your own unique voice...what more can you expect to gain that's as important as your own voice, your own style, you own way of playing?". I still think he was better and now that he is gone I miss the challenge he presented. Yet I have always carried his words with me and spent my whole life staying true to my own voice. This is not a competition its a life long effort to be the best you can be.

Foamy · #8 12-08-2006, 05:32 PM

Yes.
There are also better drivers, better cooks, better engineers, and better <everything elses>. Who cares? We only have n cycles on this planet in this life and n cycles wasted thinking about this are n too many cycles.

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #9 12-08-2006, 05:39 PM

As Max Ehrmann said: "For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself".

Telesman · #10 12-08-2006, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaosMK

I am not so concerned about being the best in general, but I do want to be the best for my band.

this is the best advice or comment I have never heard in my life... yeah it´s true you only need to be the best player for your band, fot the moment you are living right now...

and this is attitude, and this is more important than be the best... you only need to make your best effort...

Quote:

Originally Posted by XansNiceSweater

Every time I see a GC Showoff, I think to myself, or say under my breath, "let's see you do that in time, with a drummer."

lobey · #11 12-08-2006, 05:55 PM

Atleast most of you can go into GC or another store and throw something down. My local GC only has 1 left handed bass, and its the one I already own. No one else local has anything left handed for me to even try.

If I do find something new to play (amp, bass, whatever) I love to play a few licks of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson. You wouldn't believe the way people look at you.

washtub_bass · #12 12-08-2006, 06:00 PM

sometimes i get blown away by a bass players touch... i've noticed quite a few who use their thumbs for a rich full sound, not just a thump. I've picked up on that from watching cats at music stores.

twangchief · #13 12-08-2006, 06:12 PM

Actually......I try not to play any thing fancy when I get the chance to stop at a GC. There's probably someone better than me thinking I'm trying to showoff.

Most of th GC's near me don't have any basses worth playing. Even if they are higher end basses, they have strings that are dead as a door nail and curvy necks.

markjazzbassist · #14 12-08-2006, 06:20 PM

i always give people the benefit of the doubt. so yes, i think that players are better than me a lot of the time.

GhostLobby · #15 12-08-2006, 06:26 PM

I'm not intimidated by other bassists' playing, but I definitely recognize when someone is clearly more skillful than I am. Hell, it's why I'm taking lessons again and working on my playing from the ground up!

Phalex · #16 12-11-2006, 07:28 AM

Every, (well ok almost every) bassist I have seen play live with a band is better than I am. I love to see other peoples take on things and appreciate the different styles that every single one of us has. I'm always watching the bass player, and usually exclaming to the person sitting next to me "Wow! Did you just see that??"

However, when guys in other bands come see me play with mine, they seem to think I'm pretty good too. I'm not saying that I am, it's just what they say.

I suppose it's all a matter of perspective.

MistaMarko · #17 12-11-2006, 04:40 PM

Don't make music a competetion. Play it because you enjoy it. Don't always worry who's better. There's always someone better. One time at a local music shop I was just looking around and I saw a nice 6 string so I took it off the wall and no one was around really so I just started playing some fast shreddy junk and some slap stuff and I get a tap on the shoulder and some guy said 'Hey man you're awesome how do you do all that? How long have you been playing?' you know and I could tell he was a beginning because he played after me, and then other days I walk into that same place and see kids younger than me 50x better than me, so, there's always worse and better players. Just a fact of the music world.

PluperfectArson · #18 12-13-2006, 06:13 AM

In general, I tend to think most bass players are better than I am just because I look down upon my playing more than I should, even after having been told that I am extremely good. I am also incredibly shy when it comes to playing, alone, in a store full of other musicians. Knowing that they have the possibility of listening just makes me become extremely shy.

It is just one's nature. You are your own worst critic.

BassChuck · #19 12-13-2006, 08:16 AM

Seems like there's always some kid in the music store that can burn it up. I don't care. The bass players that I feel are better are the ones that know a million tunes, can play convincingly in any style, and never drop a beat or rush a fill.

The ones I admire the most are the ones who can pay all their bills with gig money.

cowsgomoo · #20 12-13-2006, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWP

I was in a GC today and there was a guy playing a SG bass that had great technique and sounded good. His style was very different from mine but it seems when I listen to a lot of other bass players they seem better than I am. Not sure if they really are or if it is just that they have a different style. Any one else feel this way?

not really... if you think of your instrument as your voice, you tend not to think in terms of better/worse... some people might have really impressive voices but it doesn't make me feel worse about mine... it's mine and i'm gonna speak with it