Do you dream bass?

What do you think is causing these bass dreams? As a child, were you traumatized by a bass, perhaps? Or maybe there was an absence of a strong bass figure in your early years. Of course, sometimes a bass is just a bass.

 

Just last night I dreamt that I was the bass player for The Rolling Stones' current tour. I was hanging around in the green room with the band, chatting with Charlie and Ron, and then we took the stage. I walked over to where I expected my basses to be, and instead of basses there were three road bicycles in various stages of completion hanging on the guitar stands! [Talk about the minutiae of dreams: I recall the bikes were 1) my Richard Sachs Signature road bike (i.e., a bike that I actually own in real life), 2) a Lotus-green Independent Fabrications, and 3) an unfinished (unpainted raw steel) Carl Strong.] As a cyclist I was thrilled...but as a bass player I panicked! I'm onstage with The Rolling Stones and I don't have a bass to play! Finally at the last minute a roadie walked over and handed me my old Steinberger L-2 and we launched into "Start Me Up"
...and then I awoke.

 

Mine are always nightmares, not having pants on, spaghetti strings, being in over my head on stage with Michael Brecker etc.

 

Good Luck!

 

I have a few times.

The dream goes as follows. I am a member of a famous touring band. I both play bass and sing. During our tour we play Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh (the nearest major venue to me and a place where I have attended at least 40 concerts....including Chris Stapleton just Friday night.)

We did a two-night engagement there. The first night was a regular show for my band. The second night was a "family reunion jam" of sorts for me. All of my favorite musicians I have ever played with got up and did a couple of songs. I'm talking about old friends of mine who have played with me in bar bands over my 30+ years of playing. It was televised all over North Carolina where I live and grew up. It was a sold out show. Other friends and family were backstage and out in front. My kids came out and waved to the crowd and danced during a song. My 90+ year old great uncle got up and played harmonica on and sang a blues song. The last time I had the dream a while back the show ended with my brother and I doing a duet with only him on acoustic and both if us singing.

The dream occurs about twice a year and varies somewhat each time. Also, it is very rare that I remember dreams. So that makes it double weird for me when I wake up.

 

I practice in my dreams fairly often, dreaming of playing different songs, different sections, etc. I can recall one from the other night where I was practicing Free Will in my dream on my old P bass, which was pretty cool.

I’ve dreamt of band situations (when I was in my last band), like recording, etc. I’ve never dreamt of playing a big gig or anything, just small mundane things (recording, practicing, etc.)

So, yeah, it’s not unusual.

 

About one month ago my wife was awakened to me strumming an air bass in bed while I was apparently talking numbers to our drummer. Strumming and communication

 

I don’t have many dreams where I’m actually playing bass, I mainly have crazy gig dreams.

My dream last night: Driving 4 hours to the mountains to do a pickup gig. Got the call from a mediocre drummer I’ve done a handful of gigs with. The gig details weren’t specific, he mentioned a couple tunes as examples of the type of material we’d be playing.
When I got there he asked me if a knew one of the songs and I told him I didn’t. He proceeded to flip out and make a rather big scene, meanwhile there was no PA, no other musicians anywhere.
I bailed on the gig. I’ll spare you all the details of the logistical challenges I experienced trying to get home....it took me like 12 hours and every minute of it felt very real.
I’m not allowed to talk to my wife about these sort of dreams anymore...it was nice to talk about it here.

 

Let's just say I was very embarrassed to face my bass in the morning.

 

Twice I dreamt that I was in the SNL band. That was intense. The other recurring dream is that I'm sight reading a classical recital. That's just weird.

 

I would have said no, but just this night I dreamt that I pressed on the neck so hard with my thumb that I just squished the thing in half. First was a small dent, then the whole width was gone. It looked like cake on the inside.

Which is weird because people tell me all the time that I play so soft and relaxed that I might as well blow on the strings.

 

Yes. It's always a live gig. I'm really good in that dream. Really good. Sometimes I also play lead guitar in the dream and I'm really good at that too. But I'm never the drummer.

 

In my dreams I can never get the damned bass off the hook....................

 

My musical instrument dreams are usually about acquiring them.
Like trading some furniture for an old reso & a semi hollow guitar.
Or finding a rare or odd bass.

That kind of thing.