I'm starting to think that a GAS problem, is just as bad as...

[JoshuaTSP]

...being obsessed with technique.

Both make you appear better than you are.

Of course, either are only a problem when at their extremes.

Being highly technique focused can be just as detrimental as being focused on gear.

Technique nor gear can write a good song.......just as it can't give you soul or groove.

[snyderz]

ah so

[Greyvagabond]

Some of the best music has been played through the worst gear by players who can't read music, never mind worry about technique.
...
Actually, MOST of the best music is like that!

[magic papa]

Originally Posted by Greyvagabond

Some of the best music has been played through the worst gear by players who can't read music, never mind worry about technique.
...
Actually, MOST of the best music is like that!

I think most of the best music is actually played by people who like to appear like they are muscial larrikins. They can read music and their technique is good, not to mention the gear.

Many people will appear sloppy on purpose, so they look like rebels not geeks. It comes out later in the interviews, workshops that it was just an image. Few drunks or yobos can be excluded of course

[madbassplaya]

Dream Theater seem to be doing well.

[seanm]

I think I agree with the OP. Technique is good, but an *over* obsession with technique can produce music that is technically brilliant but sterile or boring. You need to practice technique so you don't have to think about it.

[The1bassist06]

Look at Victor Wooten. He is my favorite bassist by far. But he just sometimes blows up songs with all his special little techniques =(.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by JoshuaTSP

...being obsessed with technique.

Both make you appear better than you are.

Of course, either are only a problem when at their extremes.

Being highly technique focused can be just as detrimental as being focused on gear.

Technique nor gear can write a good song.......just as it can't give you soul or groove.

Personally I'd rather watch someone overplay the hell out of a concert with average gear than watch someone with a nice boutique bass **** all over the stage because they spent their time looking for gear instead of practicing, hahahah.

In all seriousness though I do agree that people who focus too much on technical *perfection* tend to come off as a little boring. All of my favorite recordings generally include lots of little mistakes but are so musical that the vast majority of the song or composition is so mind blowing that it doesn't matter.

However, I'd say that GAS is worse than being obsessed with technique because generally people who have it tend not to practice much or with any sort of enthusiasm because they're unhappy with their tone - or rather they're obsessed with being unhappy with their tone, heh heh.

I've never understood GAS - I've always been happy with whatever I have, I love each of my basses and none of them are perfect. I keep looking for that special player, but I'm entirely satisfied with what I have for now. I think you have to play a bunch of basses to even find what you like in the first place.

[Jazz Ad]

Do not confuse excessive skills with a lack of bad taste.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by Greyvagabond

Some of the best music has been played through the worst gear by players who can't read music, never mind worry about technique.
...
Actually, MOST of the best music is like that!

Keep telling yourself that. I need the work I get from people who believe that rock stardom achieved by not having much skill will happen just as easily for them as it did Sid Vicious.

[joe vegas]

curious mission statement for this thread. some of the very best, searingly heartfelt music throughout history has also been played by musicians with unparalleled technique and world-class instruments.

tough to imagine ol' johnny bach kickin back a dozen lagers and making jerry lee lewis swipes at the keyboard with a shoeless foot, in an effort to make the well-tempered clavier more street-chops ballzy.

the electric bass is a strange, painted mistress, half begging her 4-banger masters to ease up on the gnostic pursuit, lest she be labeled a Fancy "over-trained" Lady.

our "doghouse" brethren on the Other Side have no such qualms about who to serve...
technique is pursued in the same way as breathing- naturally, and fully expected. their gear, too, reflects their ongoing evolution.

'scuse me, gotta transcribe "smoke on the water" for my string quartet..

[bassybill]

It still surprises me how much people will try and convince themselves that lacking the willpower to work hard at becoming a better player will somehow magically give you better soul or groove than someone who learns their craft and their instrument inside out.

A lot of the mystical soul, groove or feel that people seek is just what you hear when someone is playing a bass with the "effortless mastery" that they got by working really hard at learning to play that well.

[Osprey]

Originally Posted by JoshuaTSP

Both make you appear better than you are.

We all need an instrument that works ok and that we can love enough to get pleasure from working with. But obsession with kit doesn't make anyone appear better, it just becomes an alternative to practising. Technique becomes invisible and there's no one "correct way", but competence, skill, expertise...call it what you like but without it the music can't flow out of your fingers into that chunk of wood.

[jfh2424]

Sure some people get lucky. But, don't you want to learn your instrument? Are you not in love with it?

If you don't want to invest time in your craft, why are you doing it at all?

The "I don't practice" thing seems very strange to me.

John

[nocontrols]

Originally Posted by Greyvagabond

Some of the best music has been played through the worst gear by players who can't read music, never mind worry about technique.
...
Actually, MOST of the best music is like that!

Leaving the house, getting up on stage and playing music that is simply fun to listen to trumps EVERYTHING ELSE, all the time, no exceptions.

Originally Posted by madbassplaya

Dream Theater seem to be doing well.

Unless you have to listen to them... in which case they seem really dorky.

[nocontrols]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Keep telling yourself that. I need the work I get from people who believe that rock stardom achieved by not having much skill will happen just as easily for them as it did Sid Vicious.

Originally Posted by bassybill

It still surprises me how much people will try and convince themselves that lacking the willpower to work hard at becoming a better player will somehow magically give you better soul or groove than someone who learns their craft and their instrument inside out.

A lot of the mystical soul, groove or feel that people seek is just what you hear when someone is playing a bass with the "effortless mastery" that they got by working really hard at learning to play that well.

Talent and skill matter. You have to have exactly enough of both to go rock out but everything after that is pointless, that's all I am saying. Technique is just a path that leads to playing in front of and connecting with people, it's not the goal in and of itself. If it is, your priorities are screwed up.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by magic papa

I think most of the best music is actually played by people who like to appear like they are muscial larrikins. They can read music and their technique is good, not to mention the gear.

Many people will appear sloppy on purpose, so they look like rebels not geeks. It comes out later in the interviews, workshops that it was just an image. Few drunks or yobos can be excluded of course

I have not been to a lot of bass clinics but I have been to MANY drum clinics. And I'm always surprised that when you start hearing some of the top studio musicians or those from top bands talk, and discover that they are NOT the bozos of the act they put on. They are often graduates of Berklee or other top schools, they read and write music fluently. They understand the TOTAL range of music from classical to the most avant garde of today. They are EXTREMELY picky about gear and understand it completely often designing their own which sometimes is sold under their "signature". Plus they also are all aware of all the usual myths like we constantly hear on TB and they know they are crap! They know that musical technique comes from the woodshed and the intensity of their practice schedule when they are trying to learn something new is absolutely jaw dropping. And yet, in spite of all the amazing gear and technique all they ever talk about is how to play MUSICALLY. They always stress it's not about gear or technique but MUSIC! And they say that already having both gear and chops we would run over our grandmother to get!

And the last thing I've noticed is that every one of these top players is a NICE GUY! They don't have nasty attitudes. They try to constantly serve the music not their careers (their belief is that when you serve the music you automatically serve your career). And to a man they all understand what they owe to the next generation and are willing to share it all with the new guys coming up! And the one thing you come away with after seeing these guys is that they are REALLY REALLY serious about music!

There are guys out there with bad attitudes and big egos, but usually I find an audience can sense when someone is trying to just snow them with bluster. Those guys usually tend to not get very far.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by nocontrols

Talent and skill matter. You have to have exactly enough of both to go rock out but everything after that is pointless, that's all I am saying. Technique is just a path that leads to playing in front of and connecting with people, it's not the goal in and of itself. If it is, your priorities are screwed up.

I think I mostly agree with you, for my own part - I'm certainly not a great player myself and I don't work hard enough to be one. I like to get out of the house, play to a crowd and "rock out". Other people derive their pleasure and fulfilment in different ways, though.

All that said, I'm still 100% behind my first post in the thread. I still think some people say things like "Great technique / theory / reading doesn't mean you can groove" just to make themselves feel better about not really having worked hard enough to learn very well, and that the fact that there are elements of truth in the statement doesn't mean that they're not using it purely to justify and comfort themselves.

[jfh2424]

I think most people would be extremely surprised to realize the amount of time someone like Angus Young has put into his craft. People think these guys just got up on stage and rocked, but he has spent thousands and thousands of hours practicing his thing, in the band and outside of it.

What you see is the prancing around and the harmonic hooks. What you don't see is all the work that goes into it.

Most people are afraid of work, musical or otherwise. So they pretend that attitude and talent are very important. But the people who make it are people who are not afraid to do what it takes to make their dreams come through. That kind of dedication scares a lot of people.

John

[madbassplaya]

Originally Posted by nocontrols

Unless you have to listen to them... in which case they seem really dorky.

Ha! I guess I should've put a smiley. Me and the OP always give each other a hard time in each other's threads. DT is the only band I could think of that is both technical and successful at the time.

Also, I like DT, just not their singer!