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Getting back into it
- Thread starter Debby
- Start date
be grateful!
go slow enough that you have to push yourself. learn new skills while you're getting into it again. do something different this time: get a great teacher!* have great fun!! good luck!
* if you already did this: do it again, with a different teacher!
Grad school and playing professionally may be mutually exclusive.
Define"professionally".
I took 35 years off for family and career. I played professionally for almost 15 years doing anywhere from 75-200 gigs per year.
To get back into things, I did wood shedding on my own. Then, I started taking lessons from a GREAT teacher/player. After I started the lessons, I found out that my instructor is a member here.
My chops are getting there, but I can't join a band yet. My wife has WAY too much retirement travel planned.
I wish you much luck and success as you get back to basics.
To get back into things, I did wood shedding on my own. Then, I started taking lessons from a GREAT teacher/player. After I started the lessons, I found out that my instructor is a member here.
My chops are getting there, but I can't join a band yet. My wife has WAY too much retirement travel planned.
I wish you much luck and success as you get back to basics.
Welcome to the forum.
I'd say to start with what you know and slowly get yourself back to the level you were at prior to the layoff. You have probably maintained a lot of the mental side of the game and a lot of what you forgot will probably come back to you as you play along. Dexterity and the calluses will more than likely be your biggest obstacles in the beginning. Take your time, don't rush things and don't hurt yourself. Best of luck . . .
I'd say to start with what you know and slowly get yourself back to the level you were at prior to the layoff. You have probably maintained a lot of the mental side of the game and a lot of what you forgot will probably come back to you as you play along. Dexterity and the calluses will more than likely be your biggest obstacles in the beginning. Take your time, don't rush things and don't hurt yourself. Best of luck . . .
With the price of graduate school. Your bass is for the time you must chill out, nothing more. Your job is to get through graduate school.
One of the beautiful things about 'starting over' in anything is having some moments of reflection on the negatives of the past and plotting a more positive path for yourself.
So any posture, hand position, body type things can be re-taught easier than changing set habits. Reading music? Theory? Are you still drawn to the same styles of music? There might be some new teaching materials that have a different point of view than you used to have. Music is a very social thing, what kind of people do you want to hang with?
Best to you. Welcome back and enjoy the journey.
So any posture, hand position, body type things can be re-taught easier than changing set habits. Reading music? Theory? Are you still drawn to the same styles of music? There might be some new teaching materials that have a different point of view than you used to have. Music is a very social thing, what kind of people do you want to hang with?
Best to you. Welcome back and enjoy the journey.
Actually, graduate school is free in many fields, particularly the sciences: Students get their tuition waived, and earn a stipend working as a research or teaching assistant. So the problem isn't so much the cost, but the amount of time it requires: Being a (successful) graduate student means working most of your waking hours. I think it would be pretty difficult to be in a regularly gigging band at the same time.
That said, if I were getting back to playing after a long hiatus, the first thing I would do is focus on my technique. As long as you're kinda starting again from scratch, now would be a great time to diagnose and eliminate any bad habits you might have had previously.
