My gift... My curse

[Hector_G]

So I'm approaching the 17th anniversary of my first bass ever.
(got it for Christmas my freshman year of high school)

Of course so much has changed in my life, but one thing that really hit me the other day....

I can't listen to music the same way I used to way back then before I started playing. I can't listen to any music without some sort of "unbiased" approach. No matter what, my focus goes immediately to the bass. I picture the notes and fingerings in my head. The technique the bass player is using clouds my thoughts. Many times all the other instruments kind of fade out and the only thing I hear is bass.

I hate that I can't sit back and enjoy the music as a whole any more. And I'm jealous of non musicians. They don't sit there and pick apart "tone, technique, dynamics, equipment, steel or nickel, what pedal is he using?, blah blah blah".

I remember before I started playing I could hear the whole entire band as one unit. I'm sure guitar players and drummer suffer from the same thing, focusing on their instruments.

Ah.. I often wonder the feeling of being able to simply enjoy music as it is without these extra thoughts.

Anyone? Am I just nuts?

edit: ok it's not as completely extreme as I'm making it. Yes I still can put on an album and enjoy the hell out of it. It just gets annoying sometimes when my thoughts posted above get really bad.

[bassguitar808]

Happens to me all the time, try listening to some totally different genres
Baroque Classical
Bulgarian polyphonic choirs
Dubstep, Shackleton, and Burial
Ambient synths
Doom Jazz, Bohren, Killamanjaro
Film soundtracks

Take a break from the guitar music

[Hector_G]

Oh I do love me some dubstep. Then I start thinking of how to replicate the sounds with my pedals. Ugh.
I dig Skream, Benga, 16 Bit, Propa Tingz and check out Gaslamp Killer. That genre took over my life for a good 2 or 3 months. It was an awesome break from guitar music.


And so the search continues for other genres as well.

[slaps76]

I definitely pay way more attention to the bass lines now, but I can still just enjoy a song for what it is, for the most part. Plus before I started playing, I never paid attention to the drumming, or anything in particular in terms of instruments...now I think I can appreciate well written music more than I could before.