Hey guys

[hdiddy]

Just thought I'd say hi since it's been a while that I've visited this forum. I've been kinda burnt out after hitting a plateau and started to get distracted with other hobbies. I need to practice bad.

Any tips on getting your groove/motivation back would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[Michael Case]

What does your teacher say?

It's good to see you still around. I'd just start off with some slow scales, whole notes at 70 bpm. Then get out and play with some people. Playing with folks is always the greatest kick in the but for me.

[Marc Piane]

I often find inspiration in seeing a great live show. Last time I was in a big rut was when Ben Allison was in town. I got a chance to hang with him and have lunch and catch him that night. Really lit a fire.

It's a little rough for me right now because I am working (doing gigs) a ton. I find it hard to find time to go see folks when they come to town. I also find it a little hard to practice some days because my hands, arms, back, etc are still tired from that night before. Good problem I guess.

[damonsmith]

Originally Posted by hdiddy

Just thought I'd say hi since it's been a while that I've visited this forum. I've been kinda burnt out after hitting a plateau and started to get distracted with other hobbies. I need to practice bad.

Any tips on getting your groove/motivation back would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Being in the Bay, I would suggest some of the nice visual art shows that are up now, The Joseph Cornell and Jeff Wall at SFMOMA:
http://sfmoma.org/
The De Young has a great Louise Nevelson sculpture show:
http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/exhibit...ibitionkey=708
There is a beautiful exhibition of Goya's famous "The Disasters of War" etchings at the Berkeley art music, it is even in the free area downstairs by the cafe:
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhib...disastersofwar
The Pacific Film Archive (same site as the BAM) always has some great films.

Seeing great art always makes me want to pick up the bass.

You can also order some of that Gaston Brohan's Oak rosin, mine came to today and has beautiful smooth sound and is very grippy at the same time. While I have been playing bass all morning since it

[Marcus Johnson]

Hey H. Welcome back.

I find that there's nothing like a good (paying, public) gig with some bada$$ players to sharpen things up quickly. It may not work for everybody, but for me, pressure creates diamonds.

[Mike Goodbar]

I go through cycles in which I feel like I wouldn't care if I never played again, usually fueled by a series of crappy gigs, stagnant playing, frustration with quality of instrument, lack of confidence in my abilities and, in general, feeling like I've been a musical "poseur" for past 25 years.

Paradoxically, my biggest fear is that I'll give up the bass, and nobody would really give a crap! "Not playing anymore, Mike? That's cool."

[M Ramsey]

Originally Posted by Mike Goodbar

I go through cycles in which I feel like I wouldn't care if I never played again, usually fueled by a series of crappy gigs, stagnant playing, frustration with quality of instrument, lack of confidence in my abilities and, in general, feeling like I've been a musical "poseur" for past 25 years.

Paradoxically, my biggest fear is that I'll give up the bass, and nobody would really give a crap! "Not playing anymore, Mike? That's cool."

Sometimes this becomes my outlook, especially as the year starts to wind to a close. The gigs start to fade away (it's a seasonal thing with bluegrass) and I begin to lose interest. But, I begin to enjoy the time away.

Then, just after Christmas, there's a few jams that always crop up and they get me interested again. The fun stuff keeps me invigorated.

It's not ALL about the money, is it?

[hdiddy]

Originally Posted by Mike Goodbar

I go through cycles in which I feel like I wouldn't care if I never played again, usually fueled by a series of crappy gigs, stagnant playing, frustration with quality of instrument, lack of confidence in my abilities and, in general, feeling like I've been a musical "poseur" for past 25 years.

That's a good description of where I'm at. Don't get me wrong, playing does feel good but I lack the drive to practice constantly like I used to. Where I left off I was "happier" with my soloing - I was actually able to play my own ideas instead of noodling, at least it felt like so. Being a perfectionist sometimes, some of my simandl etudes (book #2) was getting me down as I could never seem to get the slurrs consistently right. I still kinda dread it now.

Playing jazz comes to me alot easier but I wanted to keep my arco going. Since I've started double bass, I seem to be able to keep up my arco and jazz technique going hand in hand and that it's somehow extremely important I continue to do so. Unfortunately, I don't feel like my arco is up to snuff compared to my pizz chops. Too many pots on the stove perhaps? Maybe I should just let the arco go?

Chances are I just need to buck up and go to my teacher and ask for detailed help. I feel like I'm trying to bite off a bigger piece than I can chew.

I love this community. I love that I can turn to you guys and vent my frustrations and y'all know what I'm talking about.

EDIT: Playing with people is fun, but I guess I derive more satisfaction of how well I'm playing "for myself". I like making noise but not when it kinda unpleasant to hear. Perhaps it's time to watch my Kenny Werner tapes again and not judge the noise I'm making.

[damonsmith]

Originally Posted by hdiddy

Maybe I should just let the arco go?

Letting arco go = letting pizz go. Remember Simandl is made to be tough, it rarely ends up sounding good, I would balance it with some Vivaldi sonatas or suite #2 in the low octave.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Hey there, Huy. Good to see you back.

When I get in these funks, I usually try to take a little detour off the path. Sometimes it involves a short break from the bass, but more often than not it means finding whatever kind of music moves me (by that I mean "tugs at my heartstrings in a guilty pleasure kinda way") at that particular time of my life and explore that for a minute. One time it was bluegrass, another time it was Bach Suites (played pizz, of course, but just to aggravate Damon ), another couple of times it would end up being something like trying to imitate the lines and phrasing of pop/blues singers like Bonnie Raitt or Etta James. Another time it was trying to phrase ballads along with a Frank Morgan record. Basically, I'd try anything that made it feel good to have the bass in my hands again. Music is supposed to be a joyful exploration, and the beautiful part of the journey for me is that as soon as I try little detours as described above, I'd discover little aspects of technique that had to be conquered or at least addressed in order to really make the trip worthwhile. Rarely have I found such times wasted if I go into them accepting them as having theraputic value.

Hang in there. For every peak, there's a valley. Being where you are now will just make the next peak more enjoyable.

[hdiddy]

I think Chris, you struck a chord. I've been focusing on playing my assignments, stuff that I "should" do, not neccessarily stuff I "want" to do. I've been through this before as a kid playing piano, and didn't recognize it til now. I got bored with playing stuff assigned to me by the teacher instead of stuff I wanted to play. It definitely killed my interest in piano playing until I was allowed to play Ragtime (which is what more of what I wanted).

I'm not doing this for a living, much less making extra $$$ on the side. I do it purely for my own entertainment and things started to wane after I started feeling that playing was more of a chore than having fun. I guess it's easy to lose sight of it in light of self-doubt and following whoever's path to achieving "success", when in reality success is enjoying it in the moment, IMO.

I mean it's good to develop skills and do hard work and do stuff you're not comfortable with and all but it is secondary in a sense.

Anyways, thanks guys.

[David Kaczorowski]

If playing is a chore, maybe you should take a break from the lessons. Follow Durrl's advice and play whatever you want and have fun.

But if you're trying to get back into it after not having played in a long time I can relate my experience. A couple of years ago I injured a tendon in my right wrist that made playing impossible. I had to cancel months worth of gigs, not accept any new calls as I didn't know when or if I'd ever play again. I went to PT three times a week for 12 weeks and at the end still had problems. My physical therapist told me I might have to face not being able to play the bass again. I underwent a series of treatments (I forget the name) where they run cortisone into the tendon using electrical current. And I still had problems. It was nine months before I even touched the bass. My chops were completely gone. I was depressed. I contemplated selling all my stuff. I almost hated music. But it was too hard to let go of something I've loved for 25 years. Now and then I'd pick up the bass and just bow some loooooooooooong tones, soak in the sound and feel the bass vibrate in my gut. Then it became a little more frequent. I started doing some sloooooow scales and arpeggios. Trying to play anything else was too depressing but everything began to come back, slowly at first, then more quickly, easily. And now it's back, maybe better than before.

My point is just that I know how it feels to come back to the bass after a long time away and to take it slow, maybe doing only a little at time. But if you feed it, it will feed you back.

[hdiddy]

Yeah, I had too much focus on developing skills for skills sake.

I think taking it slow sounds good. I was just
learning the head to Monk's Dream last night, pretty simple tune. It's good to know the "hunger" is still there, but it's so much stronger with stuff I enjoy playing.

[drew_bassmore]

Huy:

One way I often find is a good way to get out of a psychological rut when it comes to my own commitment or passion with music, is to surround myself with passionate and energetic people.

Or at this stage, as I am quite the neophyte as it comes to jazz, is putting myself in playing situations where I am challenged beyond my ability (which is every lesson with Glenn at this point).

I am simply suggesting that since we have an affinity for similar things, and are connected through Glenn, maybe we can chat about things in general. Even if it doesn't compel you to pick up your bass now, it could plant the seed for some time in the future.

Otherwise, listening to jazz or other forms of music when getting a little burnt out on it, seeing great performances, or getting with people who can naturally inspire you with their commitment or excitement, can help be the catalyst for you to take action.

Or, you can simply take a sabbatical and climb mountains or train to hike the Pacific Crest trail, etc. etc.

Cheers,

drew

[hdiddy]

I tried taking breaks like that and it didn't work.

Glenn Richman (same teacher Drew and I share) called me up and had me play bass for one of his ensembles. That kinda got me back on the horse couple with me realizing I don't have to be so hard on myself.

I have a nice story tho:
My Uncle came to visit from Vietnam. He was ex-South Vietnam Military and was put into a concentration camp for 10 years following the fall of Saigon. Only a few years ago I was able to meet him in person. Lo and behold he was an avid jazz fan but didn't get much records. I started sending him cds and Kensington Burnsalis's Jazz Series (somewhat of basic education was the way I saw it) before he came to the US. So he came and visited for 5 long months and just left a few weeks ago.

He came and stayed with me before he left to go home. His favorite thing to listen to was bigband so I made sure we caught a local big band (West Coast Collective?) the day before he went home. He loved it. There is relatively ZERO jazz in Vietnam save for a club in Hanoi, so a bigband was a rare thing for him. They were pretty good too.

As a gift, my brothers gave him an 80gb iPod. Before he went home I loaded up his iPod with 20 gigs worth of Jazz and Blues. He was one happy camper!

Since then I've sorta started to have a hunger for playing and practicing again. Who knows why but it's nice to find your desire to play again.

[drew_bassmore]

That is a cool story!

It doesn't matter where inspiration comes from as far as I am concerned, but as you indicate, it is good for the spirit to reclaim your motivation to be involved in music.

It often times can come out in the form of "helping" others. By taking that selfless approach, it can support the fundamental desire or interest that may have brought you to your craft to begin with.

e.g. filling in on an ensembles class, educating a passionate relative about jazz, etc.

[hdiddy]

Dammit... I forgot to mention.

After seeing that bigband show, my uncle is walking along and tells me Jack Teagarden came to Saigon back in 1946 and he saw the show. He said it was the ****.