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Bassplaying and Babies

LOL, I think once the baby starts to sleep through the night more I will be fine! Or I just get the wife to watch her for an hour in the evening while I practice. I need at least one hobby, this is it for me! We only practice twice a month anyway, it should be fine. Not liking taking the 15 years off bit or just finding time when my kid turns 2. Like anything else IMO if I really want to do it I will find a way.
 
Congrats RicPlaya.. I'm in a similar boat. My wife is due in early january. So far, no effecton my playing or the band. I'm sure once the baby is here I'll wanna be around a little more.. But as a weekend warrior, it's not too hard to juggle both. I'm looking forward to teaching the kid about music..

We need to stay in touch and keep up with the progress.
 
Congrats Noonan

I got my baby Girl a little baby drum set to get going on! Any idea what your having yet? Prolly still a little early yet. My hope is after a month or so the baby will sleep through the night and I can get some practice in. Another option is in the evening have the wife watch the baby (mine is brest feeding for a while so should not be too hard) and get an hour in that way. For weekend rehearsals, I may have to utilize the grand parents to baby sit a couple hours if the wife is too busy. One thing for sure, it's exciting and it's going to change everything. Everyone has told me however I expect it's going to be, it will be completely different. Don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
 
Just try to work out an agreement. You can leave her with the baby for 2 hours, twice a week for the band and grant her the same opportunities to go take some PT. Babies are tough, and she probably wont want to be away from the baby, but if she forces herself to take some PT as well, she'll be less stressed. A happy wife = a happy life.
 
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Thanks everyone. I'm going to be very involved in watching the baby. In fact I may watch the baby as much or more then my wife. She knows I will be there and really doing what I got to do so she can work and do her business just as she will do for me so I can run my business. I will be watching the baby till about 12:30, goto work till 8 or so come home and be on night duty so she can sleep and I'm up again with the baby so I'm going to be getting my butt kicked. Sure she won't have a problem watching Sophia for an hour while a blow off some steam, I told my wife I need one hobby..bass is it!

It should be fine, tough at first but it will all work out I'm sure. So I miss a little band stuff..no big deal
 
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Ah, building your own band from the ground up. Nice job! I have an 18 month old and +1 to those recommending headphone amps.

I decided early on in my sons life that I wanted to be a dad, work and play music until I was told I couldn't anymore then and only then would I assess my options. It was tough; practices ran late gigs on crummy Wednesday nights were horrendous especially in the first couple of months. I had to make other sacrifices too, but I am still doing those three things (and just got back from a tour).

Good luck.
 
First off, Congratulations!!!

OK, I've got four kids, 7, 4, 1 1/2, and three months. I practice, on average, an hour a day, sometimes more, sometimes a lot more, sometimes I miss days. I play on my church's worship team at least twice per weekend, more during special conferences, etc in addition to any gigging I do; weekends can be rough on both me, and my wife, but it's doable.

A few things; one, it's possible, but this is my business. I take day jobs to make ends meet between gigs, not the other way around, and my wife has known and respects that. It helps that gigging alone has frequently paid our bills since we moved away from California.

I have no idea how this would work if it were just a hobby for me; I suspect I would still play at church, but that would be it. I know I've had to eliminate or change most things I used to consider a hobby, since the kids came along.

Also, I did it by kissing sleep good-bye. A certain amount of this happens when you have kids, regardless. Eight hours? HAH!!! Luxury. I've had to make do for weeks on end with three or four, like anybody else who regularly works more than one job. Without going to that extreme, simply giving up some TV time works wonders. Don't worry about waking the kid(s) up, they get used to sleeping through the thunder, just like I got used to practicing at lower volume.

Finally, a wireless helped, a lot. I could practice, and follow my toddlers around the house making sure they weren't up to no good. This became less useful once they were tall enough to grab the strings, anyway, but by then they're old enough to understand that they're not supposed to without asking first.


Getting them involved is even more fun, if you can. My second-oldest started making requests, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, etc whenever he saw me practicing. So I played them, and then when I got bored and he was nowhere near done, I started slapping, popping, tapping, and arppegiating them, too. Fun was had by all, and I still got my practice in, just...different. Kind of like how the rest of your life's about to get.

Anyway, don't let anyone try tell you that having a kid or two or three or four takes up all your time; it's amazing what you can do to MAKE time for the things you care about; that goes for making time for the family while I'm under a heavy gigging schedule, too ;)

Keep your wife happy, regardless. No amount of bass playing would have been possible without her love and support, and her deep-rooted desire to be married to a rock star :D
 
Getting enough uninterrupted sleep is one of the real issues facing new parents. Babies are unpredictable in whether they sleep through the night or not. Being tired all the time can make you irritable and argumentative. Knowing this ahead of time can help you be prepared for it.

The other issue is running your lives(house cleaning, shopping, Dr. appts, bill paying, etc) and having a child with you that needs attention 24/7 and finding the time to balance it all out. I suggest making your lives as simple as you can before the child arrives. Get the room arranged for the kid, maybe put your bills into online billing paying with your bank, get your cars maintenanced, make any repairs around your home and anything else that makes your lives easier to run.

You're wife will need to physically/mentally recover from the delivery(sometimes this takes a long time) and you'll have the baby to take care of at the same time. Getting some help (grandparents, siblings?) to give you some relief on a daily basis is very helpful.

IME, have patience, remain calm and give your wife and child the love and time that they deserve/need and when you're ready, your music will always be there for you.

Congratulations and good luck!
 
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I have 3 kids. Almost 7, 5, and just turned 3. There is also another coming, probably March. I tend to practice a lot, or at least play my bass a lot. Your practice time will become less, but a lot more focused on what you need to get done. You can't spend 30 minutes noodling when you only have an hour to practice. But noodling is still fun.:)

My kids like the same music as I do, I've been playing my favorite cd's since they were all born, and it's what they like to hear. Works great, I can play my bass to music I really like, and they can dance around and sing and have a blast. Come check us out on a P-Funk afternoon for some really good laughs.

I would also say to get them involved, when they are old enough. My oldest plays a little guitar and a lot of harmonica, my 5 year old sings like there is no tomorrow, and my youngest is becoming a great drummer. He can keep a perfect rock beat, perhaps a little slow, but still good enough that I can plug in my bass and jam out for a good hour. No better practice time in the world than practicing music with your kids.

Being a gigging Dad puts everything into a better perspective. Your time with them is the most important thing of all. Go for a walk after dinner instead of watching your favorite tv show, play cars or army men on the floor instead of trying to catch every football game on Sunday. These are the things they will remember, not that you were gone on some weekend night playing in a band.

I happen to be a stay at home Dad, so when I am gone it's not just time for me, but time for them to not have to deal with me. Just time for them and Mom, and it works out pretty well. For now.:)
 
Congrats Noonan

I got my baby Girl a little baby drum set to get going on! Any idea what your having yet? Prolly still a little early yet. My hope is after a month or so the baby will sleep through the night and I can get some practice in. Another option is in the evening have the wife watch the baby (mine is brest feeding for a while so should not be too hard) and get an hour in that way. For weekend rehearsals, I may have to utilize the grand parents to baby sit a couple hours if the wife is too busy. One thing for sure, it's exciting and it's going to change everything. Everyone has told me however I expect it's going to be, it will be completely different. Don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

No idea yet. We find out on the 31st... I can't wait to know.
I know my wife is very supportive of the music. She is wonderful. I think I'll be ok, but I will need to give her time away too.. That works.
 
I have a 5 1/2 month old girl, Aria. My only gig right now is the worship team at church, but depending on who shows up, I could be playing guitar or bass and guitar could be rhythm (as the only guitar) or lead if we have at least one other, so I need some practice time on both instruments. I also write and record some music playing drums and piano.

When I get home from work, I usually make dinner so my wife doesn't have to. I have some nightly chores like kitchen/dishes, straightening the baby room and living room so that my wife has a clear path when she feeds the baby in the early morning, etc. Then I get some late evening time to play. I use a Line 6 POD X3, so I usually use headphones. Also, my wife goes to bed around 9pm, so if I need to work on something, I'll just stay up for a while. I can get away on some evenings or weekends to jam, sometimes the my wife's grandparents come over to help a bit if I am going to be gone for the evening.

It's all about finding the time slots that work for both of you. If you are the first in your band to have a baby, it will be hard to get some slack. Everyone says how much your life will change (and it will), but you don't really notice it. After a month or so, you look back and think how different today was than 6 months ago, but you never notice the big switch.