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Hey, Why are You In This?

B

bluewine

Inactive
Sep 4, 2008
10,296
27
WI
#1
I like the attention, I like the pat on the back from the sound guy that doesn't even know me. I like younger women asking me silly questions and making small talk. I like the little nerdy kid asking me about my basses.

I do like the chic action being in a band brings. After all, for cats my age, we really decided to do this after we all saw he Beatles on Ed Sullivan back in 64.

It was the awesome music but we also saw how the chics were reacting.So, most of us said "hmmm I think this is something we want to be involved in.So we got out those Sears catalogs and hit up our parents for buying that first guitar and amp.

Thats how I got into this musician thing.Whats your story?


PS: I do remember being in a High Chair as a baby and my Mom would always have her radio on the Black Rythem and Blues stations> This was the late 50s, I think they called it "Race Music"

Thats how it happened for me.
 
#3
I'm not really sure why I chose bass. I didn't even know what it was until I did start playing. I remember wanting to always play guitar before then and even today I've never taken lessons for it. I got into music because I was brough up listening to it a lot though. I remember the first bands I listened to were Bon Jovi, Meat Loaf, Whitesnake and Queensryche. Nowadays I listen to Gojira, Opeth and Meshuggah. I rmeember my dad used to play guitar and sing, he might have been inspiration I guess. His musical ability and my mum's love for Rock and early Metal seems to most likely answer to why I developed my own love for playing and listening to music.
 
#4
bluewine said:
Thats how I got into this musician thing.Whats your story?
Click to expand...

Parents met while both were students @ CCM. Both grandfathers worked as semi-pro musicians at diff. points in their lives. It's in my genes, it's why I'm on this planet. I'm me because I can, I'm damn lucky because I can get paid to do it!

But seriously, I was more thrilled in college getting paid cash to play music in bars than I was paying cash to read dull accounting text books. So, I left school, pursued music and 15 yrs. later I'm fortunate enough to call it a living.
 
#5
Before rehearsal the other day I was in the worst mood. I broke up with the GF not too long ago and I was just down (I had the bluuuuuuuues). I wished that rehearsal wasn't gonna happen. But when the guys got here and we got to talking and playing and joking and working stuff out in the songs, I suddenly found myself in a great mood having a great time.

It's a welcome distraction from life. I can live in the moment when I'm playing (especially live). No matter what the hell else is going on, I can forget about it for a while in a healthy manner. It really helps to improve my outlook on life.

Also, it's my social life. I'm a dad who has his daughter some 75% of the time. The only time I get out is when I play (usually).

Finally and not lastly, Chicks, man. Chicks. Meeting women is so easy for me this way. I'm one of the most noticeable guys in the room and there's always an approach line to hit any girl in the joint with. This is especially crucial now that I'm single again.

I'd be so bored and depressed without the band. It really is one of the reasons I can look forward to living.
 
#7
Same for me, with the Sullivan show. I saw the Beatles, & all those screaming girls,...

There were also the Stones, Dave Clark 5, Doors, & some others on the show, but the Beatles made the biggest impression on me. I wanted to do that, & make that happen!
 
#9
When I was a kid my Dad was really heavy into country music. This was 1975. Being a rebelious pain in dads a## i couldnt stand all the twangy banjo molesting stuff no matter how talented the people were. In my early years i was limited to listening to records borrowed from other people. Now 75 wasnt all peace and love everywhere, namely central Oklahoma. Luckily I ran across an old hippy who was way cooler, if not funnier than everyone else. He was a guitar player and huge fan of the Who. He let me borrow his records and offered to teach me the guitar parts. Well when I listened to it I had an epiphany. Thank god dad was an audiophile and those who records sounded awesome through his system. long story short John Entwistle Is God and I owe a huge favor to my childhood hero Lenny. Thanx Buddy.
 
#11
Compared to you guys, I’m a newbie. I didn’t even think about bands or being in bands when I was a kid. Hell, my old-country grandma who lived with us smashed all my dad’s Beethoven albums because music was a sin, haha… and my oldest sister after much struggle was allowed to buy one album per year.

I ended up being a motor head in my young adult life.

Anyways… I never cared to be on stage, or get attention. I loved doing Sound, as I liked being an important part of the music, but had no real desire to be on-stage.

Long story short, I’m enjoying being on stage, playing while people are dancing, but I don’t really feel what the other guys get out of it. I wish I did, but I just don’t care for attention or being focused on. Maybe a low self esteem or something, I dunno.
 
#12
Music is in my genes too... my parents were musicians and sent me to guitar lessons when I was 8. I did that for a few years... then stopped. When I was 15, I suddenly decided that I wanted to play bass in the HS jazz band (I was playing baritone horn in the marching band and thought it terminally uncool!).

After HS, I played full time doing bar band gigs and trying to make it big in the industry until I was about 28 (country for $$, ska/punk for the joy of it)... at which point decided that I wasn't becoming a rock star, so I went to school to learn a new trade.

Now I work as an strategy/OD consultant from a home office... and still play in gigging bands a couple times a week for joy (and admittedly need).
 
#13
Sounds like you like everything about being a musician but playing music, bluewine. What happens when the chicks stop talking to you? What happens when nobody wants to hear the kind of music you play?

I play music because that's about the only way this universe makes any sense to me.
 
#14
Ed Fuqua said:
Sounds like you like everything about being a musician but playing music, bluewine. What happens when the chicks stop talking to you? What happens when nobody wants to hear the kind of music you play?

I play music because that's about the only way this universe makes any sense to me.
Click to expand...

No, at the top of the list would be being, on the groove, in a strong pocket, deep tone with not much sustain and knowing that you are grooving people.

All the rest , like chics are just the perks, every business has perks.

Hmmm, What happens when the chics stop talking to me? I never thought about it, I guess everything in life comes to an end sooner or later. I guess the thing that gets me is, you know, at 57 it's really hard to hit on chics in public.

I actually have a wonderful new girl friend (6 months, a record for me). She's a business woman but she is totally into the music scene and very supportive. I met her at a show.
 
#15
I wrote a poem about how it started for me.


Hello Mr Jamerson

I was nine
When we met
in the back
of my uncle Frank’s car
the radio turned up playing
Can’t Hurry Love
my cousins singing along.

They didn’t notice
you smiling at me
through the speakers
happily punching me in the back
with every note
so perfectly placed
saying,
“How do you do,
my name is James.
I’m your guide.”
 
#17
who says the chicks have to stop talking to you, eddie gaga? oh sure, they need walkers now, but they still talk to me ;)

anyway, getting chicks was my whole entire reason for getting into playing music. i was terrible with them ordinarily, but i played music and all of a sudden they talked to me. but i've been married for quite a while now and don't need to worry about it anymore and yet i still play, so obviously it goes beyond just chicks. i've gotten frustrated with it and threatened to quit many times, but at the end of the day, it's what i do so i keep coming back.

but there's not a thing in the world with wanting to play music for the girls and don't ever let anyone tell you different.
 
#19
Ed Fuqua said:
Don't kid yerself, AuntyEm. If the reason for doing something is outside, you'll quit at some point. If the reason is inside, there's nothing that'll happen to make you stop.
Click to expand...
while that is true, ed nugent, i can't bring myself to make a value judgment on people's motivations for wanting to play music. or wanting to stop playing music. to me it's all good and i'm totally behind whatever anyone wants to do with music for whatever reason they choose. so if it's non-musical motivation that makes them do it, fine.
 
#20
Drop-the-One said:
I wanted to do tenor sax in gr.5... my dad convinced me to play bass because it was cooler than saxophone.

Ever since, I've been doing it for the compliments, pushing a limit or two, friends and throwing wicked shows.

That and I don't have any other skill I'm good at THAT I LIKE
Click to expand...

I'm pretty much the same.

However, I still do it, not for compliments, but because it is the single best drug out there.

There is nothing that makes me feel better than a solid groove that gets everyone high.
 

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