Has the pandemic changed your musicianship?

[StyleOverShow]

Lost a great deal of hand strength as I laid aside the basses, upright and electric. Tinkering with piano more than anything for months. Had to rejuvenate hands and ears for a couple of three gigs in June-July. Third gig was cancelled.

I’ve lost ground on every front. Still consider myself a player given the other 49 years I was active but the middle is wearing thin on that argument. Considering this and that, but DEFINITELY not going to join a bar cover band doing Classic Rock. Can’t play indoors and I’m done with that noise, more or less forever but in this biz, who knows.

 

[leftybassatl]

Definitely. Aside from all the shed time, I've also started studying with a teacher again to broaden my horizons, and its paid off. I've learned more in the past 5 months with him than the previous 5 years combined. And I'm listening to and creating sounds i wouldn't even have considered just last year. Silver lining i guess...i have a renewed energy around playing with others again when this is finally done.

 

[DWBass]

Call it what you want...
But your picture says you’re FunkFather!!
That can’t be all for naught !

I'm 61 brother! Been playing a long time. I'm tired to be honest! And while my band is pretty good, there's some things that bug me that has me contemplating quitting.

 

[CallMeAl]

At the beginning (March - May) I did a whole lot of reading transcription. My standard notation reading is painfully slow, so it was some much needed exercise.

recently (June - present) we’ve had some outdoor rehearsals and even a few gigs. So it’s been more like business as usual. I’ve also been jamming with my guitar player’s jazz outfit- a great mental and physical workout.

As fall nears, and we are forced back indoors- it’ll be back to the woodshed, more reading, and just working on “me.”

 

[Vinny_G]

Yes, I found myself practicing for hours, like I did when I first started playing bass almost 30 years ago. Except this time I focused on specific elements, and I must say that it has been a while since I had progressed so much in such a short time. It's good for morale.

 

[dr doofie]

I'm 61 brother! Been playing a long time. I'm tired to be honest! And while my band is pretty good, there's some things that bug me that has me contemplating quitting.

I’m only 48 and pretty much threw it in long before any pandemic
Sounds like you have solid personal reasons for hanging it up and I can respect that...
I was going for a “blanket” encouragement based solely on your moniker
Best wishes for you

 

[two fingers]

I've learned a few songs simply for the joy of it for the first time in decades.

And I am diving deep into chords. Right now I'm playing chord progressions using strumming and tapping. But I doubt I'll do much in the way of solo stuff. It will basically broaden my ability to improv. I have, however, learned a few songs singing and tapping that I might whip out in public under the right circumstances.

 

[equill]

Working from home, every bit as much as beforehand, so no more time now than before.
The story changes in October, though, so we'll see what happens when my day-job isn't a factor, and I no longer have to worry about the neighbours.

 

[bobba66]

My job is sucking the life out of me, and not in a good way.

 

[DWBass]

I’m only 48 and pretty much threw it in long before any pandemic
Sounds like you have solid personal reasons for hanging it up and I can respect that...
I was going for a “blanket” encouragement based solely on your moniker
Best wishes for you

It's funny, I was actually on a 'retirement' when I got the call for this band.

 

[BassGeekJack]

Yes. Not playing.

 

[CallMeAl]

At the beginning (March - May) I did a whole lot of reading transcription. My standard notation reading is painfully slow, so it was some much needed exercise.

recently (June - present) we’ve had some outdoor rehearsals and even a few gigs. So it’s been more like business as usual. I’ve also been jamming with my guitar player’s jazz outfit- a great mental and physical workout.

As fall nears, and we are forced back indoors- it’ll be back to the woodshed, more reading, and just working on “me.”

Update:

got some more bass books this winter. Some “groove” books with little reading and playing exercises. Also some blues and jazz books, trying to break free from my arpeggio walking style and make it more linear and chromatic. Considering getting the new Jeff Berlin walking book. Continuing reading transcription, mostly Jameson.

Also got an electric guitar, learning some blues. This may be distracting from my bass a little, but it’s been tons of fun and definitely expanding my overall musicianship.

 

[High Camp]

I'm practicing daily, bass guitar as well as piano, but to be honest, I'm pretty much fed with this Covid
And I'm also trying not to use big explitives and I won't, but boy, I'm fed up
My last gig was over a year ago, my last rehearsal with a band was over 8 months ago
I am really really looking forward to the day I can play for an audience without any restrictions

Sorry for the rant

 

[joelns]

I'm practicing daily, bass guitar as well as piano, but to be honest, I'm pretty much fed with this Covid
And I'm also trying not to use big explitives and I won't, but boy, I'm fed up
My last gig was over a year ago, my last rehearsal with a band was over 8 months ago
I am really really looking forward to the day I can play for an audience without any restrictions

Sorry for the rant

You're not the only one fed up.

I've been working on all kinds of things that I've been putting off. Once I get my taxes paid, I'm going to get some sort of electronic piano to play with too. My knowledge of theory and application of has improved dramatically over the last 3 months. Still a long way to go. Piano should help some with visualization and the different perspective will help with improving understanding.