• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Hey, Why are You In This?

#81
I like the instant gratification of putting a smile on people's faces. Whether that just the result of playing a good song well, or helping cement a hookup by playing that slow dance tune just the right way, or just playing something that reminds someone of a happy time, it really gets me off to see people react positively to what I (and my band) do.

(What I'd really like to do is stand-up comedy. But I'm not nearly consistently funny enough, nor brave enough. "Life is easy, comedy is hard".)

Chicks? Well, I have a happy marriage to a beautiful woman, so me getting chicks is not the point (for me, at least, any more). But I do love getting that pile of girls writhing all over each other in front of the stage, with the thought that someone else might benefit from the energy. I guess I'm just a romantic...
 
#82
Chicks? Well, I have a happy marriage to a beautiful woman, so me getting chicks is not the point (for me, at least, any more). But I do love getting that pile of girls writhing all over each other in front of the stage, with the thought that someone else might benefit from the energy. I guess I'm just a romantic...__________________

An honest Man:)
 
#87
If I said I didn't appreciate the female attention that comes from being in a band, I'd be a liar or an idiot. It's a perk. If only it'd make up for my apperance... Just gotta work on that. For me the biggest reason for playing in bands is meeting new people. Pretty much all of my close friends have been introduced to me somehow relating to music.
 
#88
I was always into music (I would drum 'rock around the clock' on my grandparents couch cushions), but didn't start playing until High School, out of boredom really.

Over the course the of the past 10 or so years music has played so many rolls and bass right along side, right now what keeps me going is:

Personal Betterment - When I can listen to something a year old and a day old and hear the difference.

Musical Conquest - I need a years long challenge.

Jam High - I live for that feeling of perfect in the pocket, vulcan mind meld, jam satisfaction.

Money - Is my motivation the gig with the cover band right now...not getting much of the other 3 out of it.
 
#89
I hope this isn't too long...

My mom found me "writing" a song for my Grandpa (he had just passed away) on the piano one day when I was four years old. That's the first moment I know of that I was doing anything with music. In grade school I wanted to play cello (and did for six months) but my parents couldn't afford a cello, so I switched to violin. After about five years I became frustrated with the way I was being taught, so I quit around my freshman year of high school.

On March 5, 1981 I went to see Rush with Max Webster at the Checkerdome in St. Louis. I was seated in the 40th row on the floor and everyone was standing on their seats. At some point during the show, I dropped my keys. When I got below the level of the seats I was buffeted by the bass frequencies traveling under the chairs. It was an epiphany. All I could think was, "I want to do that!"

I think that I was drawn to lower frequencies all my life, and I suppose that's why I wanted to play cello initially as a child. I have played violin and I still play acoustic guitar regularly, but neither of those ever truly inspired me.

It took me a couple years to have the occasion to start playing bass after that Rush concert, but I have been playing ever since. Naturally, my first bass was a 1976 Jetglo Ric 4001.

My experience playing live is very strange even to me now. It feels like a dream. I'm not entirely conscious when I play, I just get lost in the groove and let it happen. There are occasions when I have a thought enter my head, but I immediately tell myself, "Shut up and play!" The thought disappears, and the dream returns.

If you have read all of this, thank you. I was going to say that my playing has absolutely nothing to do with chicks, but that wouldn't be entirely true. When I gig, I have no awareness of people around me most of the time, and I have never had any girls talk to me. Anyway, I am old enough I think it would be creepy. However, I met my wife at my first gig as a bass player, and she totally digs me playing bass even now. So I guess I play for one chick.
 
#90
because I'm an insomniac and there's nothing on TV at 4am, plus it' would piss off my dad when I played that late and he had to be up at 5.


actually so many different reasons. I like low agressive sounds. I like the long reach of bass, I fidgit a lot and I like to keep my hands busy.

over all though I would say it was this band I met once when I was like 10 or so. I was in a pawn shop looking at basses and the bassist came and started talking to me about it.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back