Getting older

[Krisfield]

Billy Sheehan is 66. Doesn't look like age is slowing him down.

 

[Fat Freddy]

How the hell did he fit four notes in there???......

 

[smeet]

I’m 58, and my joints and ligaments don’t work as well as they used to. I’ve been able to offset this by being more efficient with my movements, lightening my touch, improving the ergonomics of my instruments and my technique, etc.

So far, I’ve been able to keep improving. When I go back and play a piece I used to play, I can play it faster and cleaner now. Yay for me. But it’s catching up to me. I can’t muscle the instrument like I used to, and if I forget myself and try, it hurts. Eventually my skill gains won’t keep up with my aging body.

 

[jerry]

I’m almost 65, sh$t wears out and bass weight and gear weight are concerns that I never dreamed of as a kid, like money, age changes everything. I still love gigging though!

 

[Stumbo]

My issue is my right hand plucking has slowed down. I can handle small bursts of speed. Long stretches or 12 tuplets, nope.

Starting remedial metronome work today.

Try playing with a pick.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I practice daily with increasingly complex music but speed, per se, is not an objective. I reached for some violin exercise mostly 16ths and found i couldn't do it anymore at the penciled in 120 bpm. I was at 90 bpm tops playing clean

Does speed disappear with old age?

Can’t beat Father Time. Just asking, was bass parts are you playing that require that speed? For me, I can relate, I am no where near as fast as I was in my 20s when I thought I got paid by the note, but I will say this, the notes I play today are a lot more impactful.. BTW, I’ll be 67 in a couple of weeks and still play fast enough.

 

[rtav]

Idk I’m 55 and playing faster and cleaner than ever.

I have plans to add more Dream Theater, more Billy Sheehan rip offed solos and more insane music than ever - I spent almost 6 hours on Wednesday on 17 seconds of Liquid Tension’s “When the Water Breaks” with plans to add the whole crazy thing to my Youtube bass cover channel. I just added “La Villa” this week with an extra solo I stole from Billy and more deliberate articulated notes and fewer pull offs than the original plus plenty of overplaying bass runs, doubling Neils drum fills in places that Geddy (or Billy) don’t play.

BTW in the up and coming LTE cover I’m doubling parts that Levin doesn’t, including a very difficult unison fill that he plays a glissando up and down while Petrucci, Rudess and Portnoy speed through note for note.

I figure that eventually age will overtake me but it’s not gonna be in the foreseeable future.

Plus I see how Billy is killing it with the Sons of Apollo and figure that barring injury or illness I’ve got at least a decade of increasingly difficult and challenging bass playing ahead of me, and I’m not slowing down or conceding anything to age.

 

[brianrost]

Does speed disappear with old age?

Yes, it does for most people. It's mostly a question of when.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Ask Steve Harris.

You have his number, yes?

 

[smtp4me]

Do you have a smart phone? If so there are several metronome apps available. I am 54, and if I can offer some advice based on what has worked for me:
I use a metronome app and do some basic "pedaling" on open strings at the beginning of every practice session. For example - I start at 120 BPM, and I play 16th notes for a total of 10 minutes, 2.5 minutes for each string (I play 4 string). Yes it can be boring/monotonous. When I finish at 120 BPM, I bump the tempo up to 130 BPM and do the same thing, except 4 minutes (1 minute per string, still playing 16ths). Finally, I do the same again at 140 BPM - 16th notes at 1 minute per string. I've been doing this for more than 5 years at approximately 4 to 5 times per week, and I didn't begin at 120, 130, and 140 BPM - I had to build up to it - but it has helped immensely. And the key is the constant repetition. Not only does it help with speed and stamina, but also with consistency. When I play lengthy passages of 8th/16th notes, the notes are more consistent.

That is my routine for right hand (plucking hand), and it takes less than 20 minutes. My routine for the fretting hand is longer/more intense, it takes about 30 minutes, and it is made up of permutations and other repetitive pattern exercises.

 

[lomo]

The answer is, unequivocally, yes. It may vary by individual and there are ways to partly counteract and delay it, but time waits for no one, period. Happy Saturday. Enjoy every single rotational sojourn on the crazy, flying rock

 

[Biggbass]

I used to be able to play Foggy Mountain Breakdown on my banjo at full speed. Now, 4 decades later, it's more like a Foggy Mountain Brokedown.

 

[Slevage]

Ask Steve Harris.

Playing fast is one piece of the OP’s puzzle.

Reading and playing fast adds in an additional skill involving an aging mind.

 

[Liam Wald]

Speed is over rated. I am in the quality over quantity camp.

 

[IamGroot]

Do you have a smart phone? If so there are several metronome apps available. I am 54, and if I can offer some advice based on what has worked for me:
I use a metronome app and do some basic "pedaling" on open strings at the beginning of every practice session. For example - I start at 120 BPM, and I play 16th notes for a total of 10 minutes, 2.5 minutes for each string (I play 4 string). Yes it can be boring/monotonous. When I finish at 120 BPM, I bump the tempo up to 130 BPM and do the same thing, except 4 minutes (1 minute per string, still playing 16ths). Finally, I do the same again at 140 BPM - 16th notes at 1 minute per string. I've been doing this for more than 5 years at approximately 4 to 5 times per week, and I didn't begin at 120, 130, and 140 BPM - I had to build up to it - but it has helped immensely. And the key is the constant repetition. Not only does it help with speed and stamina, but also with consistency. When I play lengthy passages of 8th/16th notes, the notes are more consistent.

That is my routine for right hand (plucking hand), and it takes less than 20 minutes. My routine for the fretting hand is longer/more intense, it takes about 30 minutes, and it is made up of permutations and other repetitive pattern exercises.

I got 16ths at 95 bpm for 20 seconds today before starting to lose it.

Your post about 120 and beyond for 10 minutes was motivational .

 

[Sonicfrog]

My next band will have Roundabout on the set list. i wanna do it whilst i still can!!!

 

[mikeyjm2]

For me (at 52) it's not so much the speed but the endurance that suffers. A 4 hour gig is a lot harder now than it used to be, but then again, I'm gigging a lot less. My fingers are out of shape .

 

[Stumbo]

For me (at 52) it's not so much the speed but the endurance that suffers. A 4 hour gig is a lot harder now than it used to be, but then again, I'm gigging a lot less. My fingers are out of shape .

A pick, padded 4" strap, better sneakers, support hose and a few more gym workouts really helped me out. Sometimes Ibuprofen.

I was also thinking of one of those restaurant/kitchen pads they use to help out their feet/legs from standing for long periods.

I've seen one bass player use this to help out his back:

 

[rtav]

Speed is over rated. I am in the quality over quantity camp.

Not me. QUALITY SHMALITY!


I only care about speed and the quality is never a concern I don't even care if the note is flat or sharp, or the length, or the voicing, because we all know that you can't have both speed and quality, no one can, never ever ever. Nope not ever. /sarcasm.



In my best toffee-nosed faux British accent: "I am devoted to purest quality and it is the sublime desire that is superior to any shabby no-quality speed that you commoners are so enamored with. Hrrrrrummmmph!!!! Furthermore, I've come to a thread where a number of you peasants are making wild boasts of your playing style and goals just to remind you that if you were a REAL musician, you would be like ME and concerned with quality, but you can't possibly have ANY such concerns, and I am compelled by my superior goals to remind you of that fact. Do you have any Grey Poupon?"



Jeez people. What a huge frothy steaming load of PUKE.



For some reason I don't feel bad about having the ability to play anything I want no matter how fast it is, and I'm SURE many on here feel and play the same. - and play those 16th notes cleanly with precision. (Oh, the scandal of the hoi poloi!)


No apologies here. You can join me on any hack-fest, dismal quality, shoddy bass Dream Theater piece you wish, oh wait... yeah, you can't, never mind.


Now let me get back to practicing my garbage (oh, if only I wasn't so cheap and shabby!)

 

[Malcolm35]

I couldn't play guitar for about a year because I couldn't curl my fingers tight enough to play most chords. I did manage to play bass throughout though.

I had to tune to open G and barre the chords. Not the best answer, but, it keeps me doing 6 string rhythm guitar.

Offered for what it is worth...