Coronavirus lockdown insanity

[TerribleTim68]

What has the past six months done to almost drive you over the edge?...

Well, I have spent every day working at my same job while watching people sit on unemployment because it paid more than actually working. So that drives me over the edge. Is that what you mean?

 

[smogg]

Lockdown 2020:
Got new tires for my truck. Got new strings for my main bass. Bought a used bass for "back up." Wifey is all good with it. Surprisingly she actually likes the looks of the newest bass.
Oh ya, redid my pedal board and added like 5 new/used pedals and all new flat cables. Shhhhh, it's hidden in plain sight and she hasn't noticed yet.

 

[fivestringgecko]

I miss gigging, but this will be over at some point - even if over means everyone susceptible dies and leaves the ones that don't catch it. They will either find a vaccine, a cure, or mother nature will take out the vulnerable. Whoever is left will get on with life. Not being a pessimist, just realistic.

Meanwhile, I'm spending 3-4 hours a day practicing in the hopes that I'll be one of the ones left over!

Well then... that's a bit grim! lol I can't tell if you're a glass half empty or glass half full guy!

5sg.

 

[mellowgerman]

I'm a closed captioning coordinator for a company with live news clients all over the country, so we actually got busier through all of this. As for the after hours though, my wife and I love being at home with the cats, our garden, and our musical instruments, so we quite enjoyed her work's cut-back in hours, giving us more time together.
That said, there were a few gatherings with friends more recently that we opted to skip, just to be safe, that were kind of bummers to miss out on. Also, I definitely missed my weekly band rehearsals since we put them on hold in April. Guitarist actually contracted COVID in July, but after he was all better we started having rehearsal again. Feels good to be back at it!

 

[Spidey2112]

.After approximately 10 minutes of noodling around with each pedal, I am now thinking about selling the pedals and using the money on fig trees, because it turns out that I like fresh figs way more than effects pedals.

Lol!

 

[74hc]

I started out by selling off a bunch of unwanted gear and then buying a few effects pedals to experiment with...

...After approximately 10 minutes of noodling around with each pedal, I am now thinking about selling the pedals and using the money on fig trees, because it turns out that I like fresh figs way more than effects pedals.

There was a fig tree outside my bedroom window during high school years. My mother used to make homemade fig newtons that were delicious. Packed a few in my lunch too.

She doesn't make them anymore as she doesn't get around much these days, but she's still the best and a blessing.

Now, my neighbor has a huge fig tree and leaves bags of them on my door. I've not figured out how to make fig newtons. Nobody in my household besides me likes figs. My wife likes pecan pie and I tried making that. It's hard and I failed, but the rum was good!

 

[lfmn16]

Well then... that's a bit grim! lol I can't tell if you're a glass half empty or glass half full guy!

5sg.

1/2 the glass is full, 1/2 the glass is empty.

It may sound grim, but it's really just the truth. We hear so little of it these days that it can be jarring.

I'm not one of those nit witted fatalists, "if you're gonna get it, you get it and there's nothing you can do." I social distance, wear a mask in public, avoid crowded spaces, only play outdoor gigs where the audience is not near me. But the truth is, most of us we won't live like this forever, shut in our houses. So the four possible outcomes I see are 1) live like we're living forever (the responsible ones anyway), 2) successful vaccine, 3) cure 4) we get the virus and die, have long term complications or fully recover. Most of us won't choose number 1, so that really leaves the three.

If you see another scenario, I'm all ears!

 

[HearNoStevil]

 

[Guild B301]

I discovered TalkBass since the quarantine started- so that's been nice.
I really miss touring. But I've had more time to focus on writing new songs.
I've kind of enjoyed staying home (for a while) and not traveling.
I really enjoyed driving places and seeing no cars and no people. That made me rather giddy.
But, you've got to have people in order to have an audience.

 

[BadSanta1281]

Lockdown 2020 has made me more appreciative of the life I have.

I've been retired for a few years and my wife has the ability to work from home. We already had a great relationship and that has been made stronger with all the time we spend together now. We live a fairly humble lifestyle and our financial picture hasn't changed. We're very grateful for the position we find ourselves in.

We do miss our social life and travelling. This situation will pass and we'll be able to get back to all that. When we finally do I think we'll appreciate it more and not take those things so much for granted.

In the meantime I don't have to feel guilty about sitting around not being productive.
I have to go now... the Three Stooges are on TV.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Talkbass gave me a nice social outlet during the lockdown this spring and the relaxation in the summer. It was a nice place to get away from politics, COVID talk, and other assorted rabbit holes.

I have been reading this forum for years, but I only joined when the crap hit the fan.

I Played a lot of short scale bass in the sunshine, and reworked my pedal board in June though. I could never get up the motivation to lay any tracks down.

 

[Marc valero]

I have been somewhat busy here in Florida. When the virus first hit our lead player decided to retire (due to various things but not the virus), but now he is coming back.
At that time our five piece (including girl singer) was down to singer, bass, drums. So we had to rehearse a lot and got a good young guitar player and a keys/guitar player.
We have been doing about 3 shows a month, but our drummer who does most of the bookings kept saying a lot of the smaller local places are only hiring duos and trios. I was thinking about it (and thinking about how lame some of the local duos and trios are). I decided it may be time for me to become a lead singer for the first time in a trio with the drummer and new guitar player. They agreed to work up a trio and during the first practice I heard the guitar player sing lead for the first time and he sounds very good. (The drummer only does backup vocals)
So I have been practicing all the appropriate tunes that I can sing well and that are relatively easy to get a trio started. I am also working on a few songs I haven't performed before, but have practiced previously.
So I am looking forward to doing the trio, and with the 5 piece, the keys/guitar player will likely leave at some point and our old guitar player will come back.
We had a great night Saturday on the west coast of Fla. with the owner wanting to up our rotation from every six weeks to every four weeks.

 

[Nev375]

My life hasn't changed a whole lot. I consider myself a nice person so I'm quite comfortable in my own company.

Watching the news is a bit scary. A lot of you all out there seem to have lost your chill and I want you to know I'm worried about you.

 

[mrjim123]

I played my first paid gig since March 3 days ago. Even though I work out several days a week my legs are still sore from standing and bouncing around for three hour-long sets. I'm 69, so it goes with the territory.

I practice at least an hour a day, same as before (I'm retired) and the down time has led to some boredom. Events of this summer have led me to rethink my personal protection situation, and after a recent purchase I have been going to the shooting range twice a week.

I've maxed myself out gear-wise. With 9 basses, 4 amps and 8 speaker cabs I have more than I need, and GAS has been a distant stranger to me for quite a while now.

Rock on, boys and girls. Hope this pandemic crap ends soon for all of us!

 

[210superair]

1/2 the glass is full, 1/2 the glass is empty.

It may sound grim, but it's really just the truth. We hear so little of it these days that it can be jarring.

I'm not one of those nit witted fatalists, "if you're gonna get it, you get it and there's nothing you can do." I social distance, wear a mask in public, avoid crowded spaces, only play outdoor gigs where the audience is not near me. But the truth is, most of us we won't live like this forever, shut in our houses. So the four possible outcomes I see are 1) live like we're living forever (the responsible ones anyway), 2) successful vaccine, 3) cure 4) we get the virus and die, have long term complications or fully recover. Most of us won't choose number 1, so that really leaves the three.

If you see another scenario, I'm all ears!

I've been asking people lately, what's the long game for the government here? What is it we're all waiting and hoping for? A cure? Won't happen. A vaccine that's MAYBE 50% effective, that many will refuse? What's the 'we're past it' moment? Because I don't think they have one...

I read an interesting quote from a doctor the other day. They asked him how long till the pandemic ends and he said "I don't know, I'm not a politician."

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I
We have been doing about 3 shows a month, but our drummer who does most of the bookings kept saying a lot of the smaller local places are only hiring duos and trios. I was thinking about it (and thinking about how lame some of the local duos and trios are). I decided it may be time for me to become a lead singer for the first time in a trio with the drummer and new guitar player. They agreed to work up a trio and during the first practice I heard the guitar player sing lead for the first time and he sounds very good. (The drummer only does backup vocals)
So I have been practicing all the appropriate tunes that I can sing well and that are relatively easy to get a trio started. I am also working on a few songs I haven't performed before, but have practiced previously.
So I am looking forward to doing the trio, and with the 5 piece, the keys/guitar player will likely leave at some point and our old guitar player will come back.
We had a great night Saturday on the west coast of Fla. with the owner wanting to up our rotation from every six weeks to every four weeks.

Very cool that you worked up a trio. We've been doing very well as a trio for 5 years. We were hit with the double whammy of having our lead singer/cajon player leave in Jan and just as we found a great replacement for him the virus crap hit. Our newest member has worked her butt off, she's a fantastic singer and the outdoor gigs we've played so far have all gone well.

You may learn to really like it as a trio. Venues like smaller groups that don't take up all their space and don't blast them with too much volume, at least that's been our experience. And even with the cajon we are doing some fun stuff that gets people dancing, we aren't the "sit and watch" kind of group and it's been really fun.

Best of luck to you in that new formation!

 

[GhettoBrassGuy]

I'm a full time musician, so aside from not having a job for the past 6 months, gigging was also my hobby and what I liked to do to blow off steam. I've played live videos and done remote tracking for clients since March, but I don't really enjoy just playing bass alone in my studio. What's really 2020 recently was having this on my wrist and not being able to even open a ziplock bag! 3 more weeks until it's hopefully off for good, 8 weeks total. Fractured scaphoid while we were camping Aug 1st. Bleh.

 

[Killing Floor]

OMG, gang, I missed this thread? I love figs. We had some fruiting trees when I was a kid.

And never ending lockdowns are gettin' old. But I did build a new pedal board and I'm learning some new techniques. Netflix 100% sucks. Instead of spending all the money on crappy self-made content how about just once in a while having something available that I want to watch? Wish you wouldn't recommend all your crap to me. If nobody else likes it why do think it's for me?

Also, did anybody else think it was "piggy pudding" in the Christmas song?
Another tree fruit I really enjoy is dates. Have you ever had one of those date milkshakes from the market by Palm Springs?

 

[lfmn16]

I've been asking people lately, what's the long game for the government here?

 

[lfmn16]

Watching the news is a bit scary.

What's really scary is the "long-haulers." People with long term coronavirus symptoms. I saw a special on that and it could be as high as 30% of the people that have had the virus, even people that initially showed no symptoms.

They are learning more about it every day, which is really frustrating for a society that wants everything instantly and will just make up "facts" if they can't get them.