I don't know that you have your facts straight. Tull version 1 was not a bunch of school mates. Anderson replaced members until it was (excluding barre), Including getting the bass player trained from scratch. (he played bass for a pre-defined period and then dropped it - never a musician at heart). The band that he replaced with school mates was very very good but the direction that Anderson was going in did not suit them.
But that's what I meant. The "Musician at heart". He wanted to have school mates, because they could get along, and the actual musicianship got the second priority. He even took Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond and taught him from scratch. That slowed down rehearsals, but they kept going no matter what. Ian FORCED his old school mates into something that they wasn't into. The early John Evan Band consisted of all future members of Tull, in spite of him startin out with a different bunch. They changed a great deal from being an almost run-of-the-mill british blues combo to something entirely different and definitely unique blend of folk/prog. Subsequent intreviews with both Hammond-Hammond, John Evan, and Barrie Barlow reveals that their later complicated stufff like Thick As A Brick/Passion Play and the folky Songs From The Wood wasn't REALLY their passion, even if they could hack it away. When hearing back to those albums these days, I sure can hear them all struggling with the difficult parts. But by then, they had monstrous success and the band members just joined in in the debauchery. You don't leave a band when it's that succesful. If they had music as their first love, they would've carried on afterwards they got sacked in time for the album A 1980. No one of them succeded at all at their attempts. Not even to keep that at much lower profile than Tull had.
FWIW I happen to think that that "school mate period", wasn't very good at all. You can hear the straining and struggle. Especially in the rhythm section. You can hear the angular and gawky playing. Like, their was just lucky nailing the recording on the 55th take. If they made a 56th one they would f*ck it up again. I don't know if that was the case, but it sure sounds like that. They're trying to "beat knot on itself" even if it was a simple tune. They actually succeded in pulling it off. But ... just! almost!
Is it your first love or not?
Does fame eludes you? Start to play punk just because it's in vogue at the moment? Even if you loathe it and you're over qualified for that? I e for the money and fame only?
Getting laid? (the last one is elusive since you're a bass player..)
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Even if you play bass, you're more inclined to be suitable in a number of different musical styles than, say, a guitarist. If you're guitarist, you're more prone to nail a certain style say "Heavy Metal" or "Blues" or "Jazz" or "Country" and be more niched. As a bass player you're more inclined towards being that jack-of-all-trades, and you're more likely to be equally as good at holding the bottom for each one of the music styles mentioned above. The only style that perhaps is requiring specialist skills are some kind of funk, that requires lot of slapping/pop/thumbing. But that's all. The most easy example to this is the blues, which "everybody can play" because it's simple. But beyond the notes and technical bit, is it what you really feel? Is it just hacking away anyway? Is the "blues" something for you that goes beyond that technical skill, which is really basic and banal anyway. Now, replace the word blues with stoner or the style of your choice. For example, I can play jazz on bass, and swing, but I would never be that good and seek out a position in a jazz band. I know that, eventually, I would just hack away, and that swinging walking bass line would turn out gawky, angular, no matter how much I woodshedded it, trying to make it sound less than 110 percent of my ability. It's not in my DNA. When people in the band would hear it, they would detect the PRETEND at the drop of a hat.
To still make comparisons with Tull, Martin Barre, their guitar player, has confessed in interviews that all that jazz, prog and sometimes even classical/folk they get into, really is a
pretend, but when he plays blues/hard rock
he's not pretending. That's probably why he remained with the band for so long.
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That said. If you find the "pretend" in your playing, skip it. That's what point I was trying to make, and it will just turn out a drag for you and a major boring chore, if you try to woodshed and practice on music that's not really up your alley. Even trying to play funk/pop/slap when you know that you're going to play stoner/doom riffs. Because if you really find that niche within your playing, you could stand and cope with all the woodshedding, and ride the storm out. You will plunge deep into practice with joy instead of a slight disdain for it deep down. The other way around, it's like learning a language that you won't ever have the need for. And deep down you know it. But as it is, there are some basic fingering, scales and timing practices that just everybody has to go through and learn by heart, so it's second nature. But that's at the very beginner level.
