Second Wind Bass Players

[dtripoli]

Like a few of the musicians on the forum, I am a second wind player (20 year gap). Stopped playing bass and took up guitar but just noodled around on it. Mostly played goofy nursery rhymes for the kids when they were growing up and/or strummed around the campfire, or patio for parties. Later they insisted I play the latest Radio Disney hits at the time. InSync, Hillary Duff, Britney, etc. I had to swallow my musical pride to oblige them. So with my last kid fully able to care for herself, I ventured back into the band market and all I got instrument wise is a middle grade Ibanez six string acoustic/electric and a 25 watt Crate bass amp.
Surprisingly, I hooked up almost immediately with a local network of musicians who play the 'coffee house circuit' doing pop and jazz standards (neither of which I'm not particularly a fan of, but probably the best thing to get your chops up)
After a year or two of this, I got the itch to return to the bass. So I bought me a Yamaha BXR250 and daily combed through craigslist for bands. Found an R&B band and got invited to stay. I'm not a Jamerson or Jaco but thought I knew my way around a fretboard better than the average bear. Quickly I learned that was just my old youthful naivety surfacing but now, older and with a some humility, I discovered I was a below average bear.
Sure, I knew all the songs they played, in fact, had listen to and known them for decades. So I commenced to play through the set lists the band had at their rehearsal. I thought I did fairly well. I nailed all the stops, bridges, outros, etc. and my meter was spot on. Later the guitarist called me and said as much but insisted I actually listen to the songs with new ears and play the songs as written rather than my interpretation. I was a little put off but agreed to do it.
After listen to 5-6 songs I realized I had not one song right. I guess the habits from my previous bass days playing with jam bands and original bands had ingrained a 'Do it Yourself' attitude about bass lines.
Listening to the songs actual bass lines as compared to mine was an awakening. What on God's green earth made me think I could one up the beautiful bass lines to Babbit's, 'Midnight Train to Georgia' or Jamerson's unreal handling of Gladys Knights, 'Heard it through the Grapevine' or Chuck Rainey's inspired bass lines in the Rascals, 'A Girl Like You'?
I spent the next 2 months woodshedding all the songs. Very educational. Seems once you start deconstructing a song(learning it) you develop a deep appreciation for the musicianship.
I also realized that my old habit of playing by ear can be beneficial if thrown songs I don't know at a gig or I blank out on a bridge or such, it will pull me through.
BTW, I don't know why it is but I am still having trouble nailing down the Gladys Knight version of 'Heard it through the Grapevine'. Between having my own version ingrained in my head as well as the Marvin Gaye version, I keep floundering and fall out of Jamerson groove,(which is no easy task to be in it in the first place)