The issue of confidence...

[malicant]

I think ever musician will some day have a crisis of confidence. Whether your chosen instrument is a piano, a guitar, a bass or a timpani, there will probably come a day when you find yourself asking a very poignant question, "Am I really any good?"

For myself, I've always been the type of person that never rates themselves highly. With bass, this goes to new extremes in that I can play a pretty complex tune but then I might see a video of a guy on youtube doing something amazing and I feel like crap

This is pretty detrimental to my musical ambitions outside my bedroom as just when I've built up the confidence to look for a band, I think about going up on stage in-front of critical eyes and I have second thoughts. For some reason, when I'm being watched, I make mistakes and slip ups I never make when I'm on my own.

For reference, here are some videos I made. Bare in

mind that they're over a year old so I've come on since then.

teen town - YouTube

Bass cover of Smooth - YouTube

Anyway, I just thought this might make a good discussion point. Do others ever have these dilemmas too?

[theretheyare]

The better you get, the more you will understand how little you know. The best musicians will tell you that. Music can be a lifelong joyful enterprise, and it is joyful because you will discover new challenges and make new discoveries all the time. The key is not to compare yourself to others all the time but to find your own path. Keep playing and practicing and only care about what others say if it is helpful..

[HeadyVan Halen]

You won't know until you try it.
Wish I could give you some deep philisophical insight but, that's it.
Trust me, no one--not one person will know (or care) you hit that C# instead of the C in Teen Town...in fact, you will probably chase people out of there if you play Teen Town.

[theretheyare]

"I don't feel I am the greatest anything, I am still a developing musician" that is the great Sonny Rollins talking on Tavis Smiley, and you can listen to it here-it's very inspiring.
Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins | Tavis Smiley | PBS

[fhm555]

For most of us, playing bass is like golf, 5 minutes to lean the basic stroke than a lifetime spent trying to perfect it.

A stage is no more than a piece of wood, and you will never please everyone so forget the "magic" of that plank, along with the worry over what someone else might think or say about your playing.

Constructive criticism from a peer is one thing, but the random "you guys suck" from some non playing clod should be like water on a duck's back.

I've been in a couple situations were we had some serious vocal talent in the band, but they were so worried about someone not liking them they refused to sing on stage. A crying shame and a waste of a gift many of us would love to have, but it happens.

I know I'm a ham and egger because i never put in the time and effort required to be anything else. I grew up in a very musical family and as long as I was able to hold that down I really didn't care about the rest. All the rest sprung from my brother asking me to play in a band with him, and it just kind of snowballed from there.

If your goal is to be the best, then make the sacrifices required to get there. First is a willingness to put in countless hours of practice, taking music education over studies which will lead to a more certain (and usually more secure) future, and an acceptance that no matter how good you get most folks you know will always be thinking "when is he going to grow up".

I always thought Bill Withers nailed it pretty good with this:

"On your way to wonderful you are going to go through all right. When you get to all right, take a good look around because they may be as far as you ever get."

[tsverrir]

There will always be someone that's better than you. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can stop thinking about if your playing is crap and start enjoying playing the music you like. Like HVH stated, there is probably no one in the crowd that's gonna care about if your playing is any good, but if you enjoy what you're doing it will shine through. And people WILL notice that.

[punkinfantry]

I was practicing last night and realized that I have a REALLY hard time playing along with some RHCP songs.

pro tip: always challenge yourself, never get complacent with your instrument and you will improve greatly

[malicant]

Thanks guys. On the subject of practice, I do get in about 20 hours a week (80% bass, 20% piano), I'd do more but work just eats up most of the week.

I think a large part of my problem would be that I'm not excessively confident in general which isn't going to be conducive to musical confidence. Maybe it's part of a larger problem but I do enjoy playing bass for the sake of it

[SurferJoe46]

Up until a few weeks ago I thought I sounded pretty much like Willie Nelson. Then I got recorded and the bubble broke.

From this point on, I firmly believe that bass players are not supposed to sing. Well --- I'M not supposed to sing.

Whazzat mean to you?

Maybe not much, but sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking we are good and get this reality check shoved under our door and we go fetal because we somehow failed our self images.

We have become our own stage mothers.

Confidence - for good or bad - is just an intimate association with whatever makes you feel comfortable. Step outside that comfort circle and we feel pressure and that affects our abilities.


What I believe I'm trying to say is that small forays into unknown arenas is always good and can do things for/to us:

1) keep us humble and therefore reaching out to improve (The Dream Phase)
2) make us humble and we have to either a) somehow minimize the pain and never go there again or b) buck up and get better (The School Of Hard Knocks Phase)
3) kill us musically, from which we never recover and the only thing we can play from that point on is a CD or MP3. (The Complete Failure and I'm Gonna Eat Worms Phase)
4) whet our appetite for bigger and harder musical/personal conquests (The Reality Phase)

Most times we can recover well from number 1 & 2, but number 3 is a death knell.

Number 4 is where it's at.

Unfortunately, some of the reality of Number 4 is: The Embarrassment Phase. We have seen the enemy and he is us.

It happens.

[punkinfantry]

here is some encouragement:

when you are on stage, no matter how skilled you are you must remember that YOU are on stage stickin your neck out for the music, and THEY are the huddled masses yearning to be rocked. positive energy goes a loooooooooong way