Singers. The term is “musician” not “instrumentalist”. In a sense you could say they are the real musicians - they can make music without a mechanical appendage.
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Hobbyists -vs- Real Musicians?
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
Someone's degree of musical skill has little to do with how they earned that skill (working professionally vs. amateur hobbyist). I consider myself a musician (albeit not a terribly good one, but getting better) and a hobbyist, the two are not mutually exclusive. Unless they're raging egotists / narcissists, most seasoned pros have been playing long enough to learn to trust someone's actual abilities vs. any labels that might be attached to them.
According to my wife, I'm a hobbyist. Therefore I shouldn't buy any more basses. According to me I'm a musician and also playing bass is my hobby. Therefore I should be able to have as many as we can afford.
Most of my friends are Ramens. Good ol Pork. Lil shrimp. Zesty Oriental. -and then there's Vegetable, but he doesn't really do much TBH.
Pfft. Punks don't buy new strings. He probably spent it on a ripped singlet and some angry stickers for his bass.
Don't know about theirs, but mine has nothing to do with earning money from music. Being good enough to be paid is fine, actually getting paid is irrelevant. YMMV.
My wife is damned good cook. Nobody pays her to do it but she’s a cook alright - as good as or better than some who are paid. It ain’t all about money.
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For me, you can be happy with where you're at musically, but I'd define "successful" in the commercial sense in that you pass the large cheese pizza test - you can feed a family of four. For that, I'd recommend going the front man route rather than as a backing bassist.
Agree most of all with the last line. I am a horrible bassist. I took up bass because after 34 years of playing guitar and not having "guitarist's hands," I mute strings I don't want to, and it makes me horrible, at least to my ear. I'm picking up bass more readily, but here's the big picture to me:
Music takes me places where other things in life don't. Music makes me happy. Happiness is a tough thing for me to grab by the neck and force it to keep me company. Music has an uncanny ability to invite happiness into my head and coaxes it into sticking around.
The first 8 bars of "Watching the Wheels" makes me incredibly happy. The first 8 bars of "Radar Love" makes me happy. Same for a few notes here and there from songs like, What Is And What Should Never Be, Ramble On, Money, Wild Night, Hey Joe, I'm Not In Love, Penny Lane, Rain, Paperback Writer, Hello it's me, Ballad of John and Yoko, Slit skirts, Jail break, Everyday I write the book, Blinded by the light (by Springsteen), Radio Free Europe, The Royal Scam, Down On Main Street, Silly Love Songs, Rundgren's In Your Eyes, Jim Croce's Operator, The Dead's Ramble On Rose, Deacon Blues, Just a girl, Short skirt long jacket, Werewolves of London, Longview, Santeria, The Things We Do For Love, The Cars' Touch and Go, Tin Man by America, With A Little Help From My Friends, and maybe a few hundred others.
OP, I hear your question, I understand your concern and appreciate the need for resolution, but in MY world; I could give less of a poopie about backseats, stations in life, and the definition of "Real" when it comes to the bass or any other instrument. I'm in this for the happiness. Music makes me happy.
The lyric "Drink scotch whisky all night long, and die behind the wheel," makes me forget about life. The guitar solo in The Cars' Touch and Go makes me giddy. That's MORE than good enough for me.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
Playing and writing music has been the only constant for me for many years.... (real!)Jobs come and go, have had dozens (maybe even hundreds) in just about every industry you can imagine and they pay the bills where as the income from music has been a steady trickle. I first consider myself as a musician because it consumes me, guides me and moulds the way I think and live my life, everything else is just a distraction.
And who would dare suggest that Dee Dee Ramen was not a musician?
No, it doesn’t.
But also asking about whether a certain overdrive holds together in the mix, I would value the input of gigging players more: sonically dense environment, and playing in different rooms with different acoustic properties just means they have more experience evaluating that piece of gear.
But there is absolutely no call for heckling on this forum. You should have reported that user to the mods.
No family of four to feed, for me "success" is being happy with where I'm at in my musical journey - nothing more, and nothing less.
I think it is kind of a strange position myself I was once a Pro I ate and slept music and no day time job to speak of from 1979-89. Now I play locally and only few times a month on the weekend
Its kind of like saying okay you were a college professor for 10 years, but no longer can be at that level, because you are no longing doing it full time? Like you said if you are enjoying what you do with the your bass, be it playing in a original gig, cover band, or just in your basement just have fun with, it life's too damn short.
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