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Boy, do I suck!!!
- Thread starter JimmyM
- Start date
ok what really sucks is deciding to learn bass at age 49 like Im doing , and only being 6 months in now I sometimes wonder if Im going to ever learn to play . I practice everyday in hopes to be somewhat decent before I get to old. I got home from work about 2 hours ago , my back is killing me , my arms are dead from using a sledge hammer all day . I would have loved to lay on the couch after shower and watch tv for the rest of the night , but Im never going to learn to play this thing if I dont practice .The other night I layed on the floor and practiced with my bass just laying on top of me .
That's just mean!
Alright, the Christmas stuff is put away, I folded the laundry, I got the pizza, I answered everyone's dopey amp/cab arguments, pimped my beloved Ampeg, and it's time to get My Generation back. Once I do that, I will be good to go. Oops...the dog wants out. Can't practice tonight....
HA!
That is the advantage you have over the kids, you understand the importance of time management and the key to reaching long term goals. A year or two from now with that attitude and work ethic the kids with twice the time in will have nothing on you. I'd be willing to bet that you would fit into a band situation better too since you have no dilusions of grandeur and will focus on making the group sound good as opposed to making yourself stand out.
I know what you mean, Jimmy. What's frustrating to me right now is that the holiday season intervened and, not having any holiday gigs this year, I just let things go. Had gigs on Dec. 9 and Dec. 11 and an informal recording session on Dec. 14, and was really in the groove. Now, almost a month has passed and I've played very little during that time. Practice with the band tomorrow though, so I'm getting ready to gear up. Practice is obviously a good thing whatever your age. 
I know the feeling. Same days it's like "why do I even bother?" I mean, I can "play" but I get very frustrated over the very little free time that I have due to the very long work week that I put in. It grinds at me because there is so much that I want to learn in terms of theory and how to apply it. Just trying to broaden the horizons and trying to learn to improvise much better than I can. But when you get down to it, the only time I get to play anymore is one the weekends.
But I keep trying because my life would be very empty without it. Gives me something to look forward to.
But I keep trying because my life would be very empty without it. Gives me something to look forward to.
I feel you Jimmy. I haven't played OTHER PEOPLES music in a long time as I was in a pretty serious original band. I picked up my bass and tried to play some old Motown sutff I played in High school and College. Need less to say my Jazz/R&B chops are lacking these days something to shoot for I guess!
OK, I'm back in the saddle! Totally got My Generation back, both with pick and fingers, in about 15 minutes. I think I'll be OK. Glad to see I'm not the only one who this has happened to...but the practice is working, just like everyone said!
It sounds like you have the fire back again! That's great! Most of my gigs aren't that hard but i practice like a fool anyways because I enjoy learning my instrument. I find practicing to be very satisfying.
This always helps. Kinda seriously though, it may help you get yer wank on. Sometimes I do it; gets me in the mood.
Or there's Grecian Formula. Lemme uses it.
I once put bass down for 12 years after many years of playing. When I picked it back up, it was tough initially. But I did retain a lot. As we all know, consistent playing and effort = results. "The law of use": use it or lose it, applies to all of us.
My chops have totally gone to hell. I admit it. I just spent the past 90 minutes or so trying to play some of the songs I grew up playing in bands, and a lot of them were pretty hard...maybe not Jaco/Stanley hard, but they definitely took some chops. Stuff like "La Villa Strangiato" by Rush, "On The Radio" by Joe Jackson, "Strawberry Letter 23" by the Bros Johnson, "The Trooper" by Maiden...I used to be able to pull all that stuff off and then some. But I'd try to pull them off tonight and they all sounded like crap, even after I'd practice them. What broke my heart, though, was not even being able to play the solo in "My Generation" anymore. That solo was ingrained in my DNA, or so I thought.
Man, I used to be good. I was never the kind of bassist who could hang on a Flecktones gig, but I could play. Don't get me wrong, though...I can still play, thank you. But about 15 years ago I started playing almost all oldies from the 50's, 60's and 70's, and very little of the stuff I do is hard to do. It's mostly about being solid rather than being able to dazzle people. The hardest stuff I have to play these days is Motown, which can be hard, but not in a chops wankery kind of way.
But dang it, I miss having the wankery. And it's all because I let this oldies stuff make me lose focus on what's important...chops. I don't care what anyone tells you...yes, you need to be solid. But if you don't have the chops to go along with your solidity, what are you going to play? You won't always need them, but what happens if you do? You suck, that's what you do!!!
It's clear I've let myself go because I could. I knew it all along, to be honest, but tonight really drove it home for me. And I'm not getting any younger, and if I don't do something about it now, I may never get it back.
So it's clear what I have to do. I practice very little because I don't need to. Nothing I'm doing requires it. So I'm going to resolve to practice an hour a day at the very least and way more most days, and I'm going back to the jazz stuff to get myself back up to speed. Might get a couple of those trombone etude books Jeff Berlin likes. Might even start transcribing again, which I hate, but it really does help your playing to do it.
But first I think I'll need to buy a couple new basses and 4 or 5 dirt pedals.
Nah, you don't suck man. When you don't play a song for 15 years you forget it and that's all there is to it. If you played those songs everyday again, you'd have them down cold in no time.
I can't pull off the songs I was playing with the band I was in 25 years ago, but then I have no real interest in playing those songs anymore and truth be told, the ones I am playing with my current band are harder anyway.
Pipe down, Junior. I do gigs most folks only dream of.*Er.. Maybe start playing your bass instead of writing comments on talkbass all the time..?
* And quite a few that most folks would consider nightmares, so don't think I'm being uppity
this thread is exactly how I feel, glad I'm not the only one!
I vowed last month that in 2012 I will try and practice daily agian as I used to, been a long time. I even got out my 'standing in the shadows of motown' book and was going over songs I used to do for parts of my lessons back with Dean Peer in the 90s.
My problem now (and why I have been lurking in the General Instruction forums) is not knowing what to practice. I have no access to a local teacher, so may go the online route. I have tons of material on hand, and of course everything at my fingertips online, but need some guidance/motivation/discipline. I had taken some classes online with Cliff Engel about 10 years ago that were great and may contact him once again to kick start my playing.
I vowed last month that in 2012 I will try and practice daily agian as I used to, been a long time. I even got out my 'standing in the shadows of motown' book and was going over songs I used to do for parts of my lessons back with Dean Peer in the 90s.
My problem now (and why I have been lurking in the General Instruction forums) is not knowing what to practice. I have no access to a local teacher, so may go the online route. I have tons of material on hand, and of course everything at my fingertips online, but need some guidance/motivation/discipline. I had taken some classes online with Cliff Engel about 10 years ago that were great and may contact him once again to kick start my playing.
Hmmm... wankery huh? Sounds like someone needs to pick up a few of those Billy Sheehan instructional vids.
OK, I'm back in the saddle! Totally got My Generation back, both with pick and fingers, in about 15 minutes. I think I'll be OK. Glad to see I'm not the only one who this has happened to...but the practice is working, just like everyone said!
Got it totally back in 15 minutes, eh? Wow, what a dilemma that was.
Wasn't THAT hard
That's why it shocked me so bad that I couldn't play it a couple nights ago. But I got it now. Have to form my hand like I'm holding a pick and play the last line pickstyle, but I had to do that when I was 16 as well, so it's all good 
The journey of bass is all about tearin' down your chops and building 'em back up again, over & over & over. I think it's kinda like what pro golfers do with their swing - ya build it up to perfection and then you tear it back down to the basics (no pun) and start building back up again.
I can't razzle dazzle like I could back in the day - but I believe I can pump out a lot better note choices, and space, a lot stronger now then back when..... or could just be bullsh*tting myself!
But ya, wanking is fun!! I go through slap books, even though I'll never be in a funk band in this part of the country. But it's SO FUN!
I can't razzle dazzle like I could back in the day - but I believe I can pump out a lot better note choices, and space, a lot stronger now then back when..... or could just be bullsh*tting myself!
But ya, wanking is fun!! I go through slap books, even though I'll never be in a funk band in this part of the country. But it's SO FUN!
