Music, Musicianship, and Sound

bassist1962 · #1 07-15-2007, 03:59 PM

I have been on a musical self awareness kick lately. When I was young, my dad (Jazz bassist in the '50's and'60's) made sure that if I was going to play, that I learned how to play - music theory, a bit of chart reading, arco, pizzicato, finger/hand positions, how to get the sound from myself rather than relying on the equipment to do it for me, the whole bit. As of late, I have been feeling all alone in this. I have people who can't/don't play, telling me that what I am playing is wrong; I have acoustic musicians plugging their instruments into amps and cranking the volume, then complaining that they don't sound right (DUH!!!). I feel like I am the only one who knows what they are doing, and it is really depressing me because I am not progressing as a musician. I have always (for the most part) been a plug in and play bass guitarist. No fancy effects, just the cord between the guitar and the amp. I have realized that this is due to my early training from my dad. Sorry for the rant, but I just feel I need to find some 'actual' musicians in my area, and get together just to keep my sanity. Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?

Marcus Johnson · #2 07-15-2007, 04:36 PM

Sure. Everyone has.

This thread will probably go on for days, but.. if it's the cats who "can't/don't play" who are ranking on you, why would you care anyway? The people that you listen to the most are your influences and your peers and your competition and your inspiration, not the tyros who think they know a better way of doing what you do. And those inspirational people speak loudest when they're playing, not verbalizing. Most likely you've been doing this long enough to know; you know what you want to sound like, and you play an acoustic instrument that sounds best in (or near) its natural element. Building a solid foundation of overall musicality will never go out of style. Amps have nothing to do with it.

jallenbass · #3 07-15-2007, 04:48 PM

Tyros?

Marcus Johnson · #4 07-15-2007, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jallenbass

Tyros?

Beginner, novice.

bassist1962 · #5 07-16-2007, 03:42 AM

Yes, I have been doing this long enough to know what's happening. What's happening is that I am playing with people who don't study music, or their instrument. This is in church, which is the only gig I have right now, so I am met with the whole 'Because you used to play rock...' bit. The 'plug in and crank it' acoustic players were an acoustic rock band I was in last year. To me these players should use the pickup to get to the mixing board, and not the amp.

crookedfingers · #6 07-30-2007, 04:10 PM

It seems to me that the musical world of today is so vast, that there are so many players coming from so many different kinds of places that its hard to meet people who are on your level. What happens when you crave the sound of organic music, your guitarist listens to Eric Johnson, and your drummer is a 'dead head'? For some reason all roads lead to jazz and as a result you have a strange mix of people playing together. I have been looking for an organic sound for so long and its hard to find other players who ask the fundamental question: What the hell am I playing and why?

MingusAmongUs · #7 07-30-2007, 04:49 PM

I was asked to play with a "bluegrass" group a few years back. When I showed up, at the guy's basement (small room with no noise to be heard over) they were all plugged into amps.

I almost turned around and walked out of there forever. But instead I convinced them to unplug. Nowadays we're still playing together, and although many actual gigs require amplification, the foundation is there and that makes it more tolerable when we do have to plug in.

So I know what you're dealing with. I think it's just that these folks don't know any better. Try sharing your wisdom with them. If they are not receptive, it's their loss, but if they are, then everybody wins.

CamMcIntyre · #8 08-01-2007, 03:33 PM

Since it's a church gig-it's a bit different for me than if it was a "normal" gig/band. Luckily-the praise and worship band that i played in for a while was guys that had been playing [and studying] their instruments longer than i had been alive-i replaced my uncle. To give an idea of their ages, i dated the lead guitarist's daughter.

The best advice i have is to either correct them & try to share some knowledge or just suck it up and grin. I've been to jam sessions [typically setup by a 3rd party or through a recommendation] that when i mention something about a chord progression i get the deer in head lights look from them. I feel like there's a lot of feeling people out to see about where they're at with regards to musicianship and technical facility. If the people have not studied theory/musicianship-i take a vastly different approach [and jargon] than if they know their stuff forwards and backwards. If they know their stuff that well-i try to learn from them.

So moral of the story: congrats, you have the same kind of gig problems as all of us.