Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[monsterthompson]

Are you feeling this way even if you're vaxed and most people are?

Yeah. Some of it is personal bitterness, and coming to the realization that the joy I get from jamming and performing doesn't offset the stress those activities bring. I've become a bit of an introvert and the pandemic seems to have amplified that. My last few performances haven't been rewarding. My connections for jamming have dried up. As for seeing others live, the idea of an indoor crowd is going to take a while to get comfortable with.

 

[lordradish]

Yeah. Some of it is personal bitterness, and coming to the realization that the joy I get from jamming and performing doesn't offset the stress those activities bring. I've become a bit of an introvert and the pandemic seems to have amplified that. My last few performances haven't been rewarding. My connections for jamming have dried up. As for seeing others live, the idea of an indoor crowd is going to take a while to get comfortable with.

I hear you. I'm already a hermit and the one downside to the pandemic ending is the social pressure to act like you actually want to be around people sometimes. It still seems so far off that I'm not stressing about it, and I'll just take it on a case-by-case basis.

I want to go to some concerts this winter, and I'm still mulling over whether or not that's a good idea. There a certain band on their final tour this year that I'd like to see, even though it's a bit embarrassing (out of the hopes they'll play a few of their better, earlier things, which they certainly will), and I'm wondering whether or not to risk the money (gotta get the tix tomorrow, as they will sell out). I already missed out on Kraftwerk, Steve Hackett and Steve Roach because of the pandemic.

Nothing's easy, and nothing's certain, right now. If 30 percent of the country would get their heads out of their asses and take this seriously, it'd be a lot easier for everyone.

 

[Bob_Ross]

a disproportionately low number of RWNJ's.

LOL! I had to Google that acronym...but yeah, I get it.

the idea of an indoor crowd is going to take a while to get comfortable with.

:::Boom::: ^^^this.

I'm not sure how I feel about gigging indoors...but I already know it's going to be a long time before I feel comfortable going to see somebody else's gig, and the hypocrisy of those sentiments has me conflicted and angst-ridden and unable to maintain the enthusiasm for music that I know I'm capable of. DAMN YOU, COVID!!!!!

 

[Spectrum]

Are you feeling this way even if you're vaxed and most people are?

I will take it on a case-by-case basis up here. Vermont is only second to Hawaii in terms of doing all the pandemic things right, partly due to a disproportionately low number of RWNJ's.

What's a RWNJ?

 

[lordradish]

What's a RWNJ?

It's an acronym I'm using to not be overtly political and one can easily ignore.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Neither. Just getting to know you all as well as one can, here.

• @ugly_bassplayer - "So, what's the process?" "Punching the wall." "Check out this INSANE noise I made!" "Anyone know the best (thing) to do (task)?
  
• @monsterthompson "I'm buying this thing." "Here's a video of a thing that perhaps some of you might buy, and I might, too." "Modulars are awesome." "I know I probably don't need this thing, but I'm going to get it, anyway."
  @steubig "Here's this strange, amazing thing I did." "Here's this strange, amazing person I played with." "Here's this strange, amazing bass."
  
  DID I NAIL IT, OR WHAT?

 

[dukeorock]

Right or wrong, I’m starting to play 3-5 a week these days, starting about a month ago. It’s how I make my living. The bands I work with are all fully vaccinated. I don’t know what else to do as I’ve grown accustomed to living indoors and eating food.

 

[JES]

Everyone's got to make their own decisions, and do what's comfortable for them.

This is one place where the long term cancer experience helps: I used to not being in control. I'll just ask my oncologist and he'll tell me what he thinks is safe, and he knows better than me, so I'll just follow his guidance. I suspect I'll be hanging with friends in backyards well before I go to an indoor show, though.

I don't know how it is in Quebec, @ugly, but I do find that the Montreal lâcher-prise vibe sometimes makes people a little too "whatever" about masks and distancing. It's not RWNJ behaviour (there's a little of that too) but the effects are the same.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Everyone's got to make their own decisions, and do what's comfortable for them.

This is one place where the long term cancer experience helps: I used to not being in control. I'll just ask my oncologist and he'll tell me what he thinks is safe, and he knows better than me, so I'll just follow his guidance. I suspect I'll be hanging with friends in backyards well before I go to an indoor show, though.

I don't know how it is in Quebec, @ugly, but I do find that the Montreal lâcher-prise vibe sometimes makes people a little too "whatever" about masks and distancing. It's not RWNJ behaviour (there's a little of that too) but the effects are the same.

In Québec city it's pretty much the same.
Some don't give a flying eff about the sanitary conditions while others do so very diligently.

But many tend towards the "je suis crissement à boute sacrament!!!!!" So they go see people and invite guests. Kind of “i deserve something” after all this.....
Entitled @$$hats that “NEED HARICUTS” and go to the mall sa soon as they open on Monday in huge crowds to buy crap.
Like my neighbor, total disgrace.

 

[monsterthompson]

Right or wrong, I’m starting to play 3-5 a week these days, starting about a month ago. It’s how I make my living. The bands I work with are all fully vaccinated. I don’t know what else to do as I’ve grown accustomed to living indoors and eating food.

We are probably going to see a split between the hobbyists and the professionals. The professionals obviously need things to start again, or they will suffer or change course. The hobbyists might decide it’s not worth the risk/effort to try again.

I’m definitely at some intersection of age/health/hobbyist that’s made my decision for me. I’m definitely burned out on most social media, and the idea of promoting anything on FB/IG/Etc makes me want to puke. I don’t have an existing promotion machine and the idea of building one is a turn off.

 

[JES]

I love playing with people, and gigging sometimes, but also really hate the promotion part of it.

 

[monsterthompson]

 

[steubig]

• @steubig "Here's this strange, amazing thing I did." "Here's this strange, amazing person I played with." "Here's this strange, amazing bass."
  
  DID I NAIL IT, OR WHAT?

hmm.

i try to not only post about stuff i did/so. usually i try to do it in the context of a topic.

like the stereo topic. i figured we discussed how i used it, rather than just try to describe it in words. (tbh, i wish there was more music posted in this thread . . . )

i also try to post music from people that might be pertinent or pedals/synths that might be of interest. or the long discussion about hydra compared to iridium. or talking about personal experience about certain pickups . . .

anyway, i try not to be too self-aggrandizing. if it comes off that way, i apologize.

 

[steubig]

gigging in the foreseeable future.

at my most optimistic, i think there's going to be a renaissance of sorts. people will be starved for live experience and younger folks will start doing small collectives and pop-up venues. whether or not us old folks will have the energy to explore, or feel resonance with, these new avenues is another story.

at my most pessimistic, i think we're years away from anything seeming normal. with what's going on in india, where covid is running rampant and the possibility for multiple variants increases every day, and that a good deal of people in the u.s. (and some other countries as well) refuse to get vaxxed (and then there's russia and brazil too), i think this is going to be around for along while.

 

[dukeorock]

anyway, i try not to be too self-aggrandizing. if it comes off that way, i apologize.

You have never once come off that way in my view. I like having a little club where the members share what they’re working on, or showcase a pedal or synth or whatever. I find it helpful and interesting.

 

[hieronymous]

In the interest of sharing some music (and because I'm spamming the interwebs today), I put something up on my Bandcamp page:



It's kind of stretching it posting it here, but there's synth bass (I think it might be my Taurus 3 before I sold it, can't remember) and the weird scratchy, filter sound at the beginning was the engineer jiggling the input cable, so I put that through a filter. Plus it's as much about the atmosphere as anything.

 

[dukeorock]

In the interest of sharing some music (and because I'm spamming the interwebs today), I put something up on my Bandcamp page:



It's kind of stretching it posting it here, but there's synth bass (I think it might be my Taurus 3 before I sold it, can't remember) and the weird scratchy, filter sound at the beginning was the engineer jiggling the input cable, so I put that through a filter. Plus it's as much about the atmosphere as anything.

Some crazy bass sounds you got going there!

 

[hieronymous]

Some crazy bass sounds you got going there!

Thanks - it's a Rickenbacker 4003 through a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] and Budda Phat Bass distortion pedal. The Phat Bass was kind of my "secret weapon" - it lives at the studio in Massachusetts (I'm in Oakland, CA) - but even though I've seen a couple up for sale I haven't bought any more, I've kind of moved away from distortion, for the time being at least.

 

[JES]

You have never once come off that way in my view. I like having a little club where the members share what they’re working on, or showcase a pedal or synth or whatever. I find it helpful and interesting.

+1. I took Lordradish's point to be that your stuff is actually awesome, not that you're saying you're awesome. And he's right!

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Cheers,

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