I Learned Better When I Had No Money (& No Internet)

[Smallmouth_Bass]

So, I have been doing some remedial exercises recently and having more trouble with them than I really should be for a player of my age and experience. It got me thinking; I used to pick things up so much quicker when I was younger. I think this is in part to not having as many distractions such as phone and internet, but also having limited money to GAS over things (that you could actually buy). I have a young family and have had a general lack of sleep for at least the last decade, so there is that too...

When I was younger, there were really only magazines where you could drool over equipment and read reviews. Maybe your favourite bands and players played certain instruments and amps that had an influence as well. Sure, I dreamed of having "such and such" bass and that once I did, I would be such a better player. But, the lack of funds would quickly shut that down and I would just play what I had and get on with it.

Now, we can spend so much time looking at stuff, talking (TalkBass'ing) about stuff and watching stuff - before you know it, you're thinking more about stuff than actually playing.

What is your relationship been between playing and learning from other music related (or other) distractions? Has it been an impediment to your development?

 

[Old Fart]

Distractions may very well be absorbing your brain capacity. I think that is highly likely and I think the distraction or distractions that are clogging your brain the most do not include GAS. It is easy to underestimate the effect life's stressors have on your ability to control you own mind and you have a young family. That alone is enough explanation.

I do chess puzzles in the morning with my coffee and the website keeps track of my score. I score points for successfully finding the next few best moves and points are taken away when I make a mistake. I am at 1730 right now. When I am relaxed and lucid, I am in the high 1700s and low 1800s. When something is on my mind, my score can dip into the high 1400s and low 1500s. It's an accurate barometer. I am comfortably retired with little to worry about but a great propensity for finding mind-absorbing things to chew on. It is very interesting to quantitatively see the impact of stressors.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Distractions may very well be absorbing your brain capacity. I think that is highly likely and I think the distraction or distractions that are clogging your brain the most do not include GAS. It is easy to underestimate the effect life's stressors have on your ability to control you own mind and you have a young family. That alone is enough explanation.

I do chess puzzles in the morning with my coffee and the website keeps track of my score. I score points for successfully finding the next few best moves and points are taken away when I make a mistake. I am at 1730 right now. When I am relaxed and lucid, I am in the high 1700s and low 1800s. When something is on my mind, my score can dip into the high 1400s and low 1500s. It's an accurate barometer. I am comfortably retired with little to worry about but a great propensity for finding mind-absorbing things to chew on. It is very interesting to quantitatively see the impact of stressors.

I think it is important to plan down time. I tend to get mine in bits and pieces (including sleep, but which is also often my TalkBass time). But, it's true that overall stresses (work, family, other) will definitely affect brain capacity and performance.

 

[Alexis Duntov]

Your raw brain processing power and speed diminishes over time. I’m working on a Bach piece right now which I could probably have played faster and more accurately when I was younger. My 52 year old brain has slowed considerably. I may have better judgement and more wisdom and impulse control, but my brain to hand and eye to hand reflexes are slower. Getting old ain’t for sissies.

 

[Holdsg]

I've spent the last 2 weeks deep diving into The Doors catalog. I'm auditioning for a Doors tribute band based in Las Vegas and had to learn how to play Ray Manzarek and about 20 songs.
Mind you, its not on bass, its on keys with LH bass. Which for me is something I'm used to doing, playing JPJ in a Zeppelin tribute band (certain songs, not the whole night, unlike what The Doors would be).
But Manzarek was so unique in his style and approach, often with different rhythms in the LH as in the RH, so it's a mind-expanding thing.
The reason I bring this up, is any time we feel like we might be getting "stale" in learning or growing on the instrument. Pickup a bunch of songs from a new band to you, or new genre. Spend a month or so learning Disco bass lines, or Reggae, or whatever. You might find it is a mind-expanding, skills-expanding experience.

 

[jlo95]

I’ve had similar experiences. I felt like I practicied “better” when all I had was a stack of CD’s and a boom box. I get so distracted with Spotify and the internet at my fingertips.

However, part of being an adult is having and exercising discipline. So to combat these distractions I try to keep a practice routine and regular practice times. I’m never without a stack of music to learn and techniques to improve upon. Im never at a loss of what to practice. It’s just a matter of staying disciplined and doing the work.

Not having a day job and being a full time musician helps. Keeps me driven!

 

[creaturegods]

Yeah, I learned faster when I was younger too. Happens to the best of us!

 

[ga_edwards]

For me, I think I played more and learned better when I was single. However, I wouldn't trade married life for the world. But I definitely had more free time to learn and play tunes.

 

[Jefenator]

A lot of my musical development did indeed occur, pre-internet.
I might not have advanced quite so far if we'd had touchscreens & Talkbass, back in the mid 1990s.
But, you never know. Even with all those distractions, I still experience explosive growth when I get thrown in the deep end on some show or project.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

So, I have been doing some remedial exercises recently and having more trouble with them than I really should be for a player of my age and experience. It got me thinking; I used to pick things up so much quicker when I was younger. I think this is in part to not having as many distractions such as phone and internet, but also having limited money to GAS over things (that you could actually buy). I have a young family and have had a general lack of sleep for at least the last decade, so there is that too...

When I was younger, there were really only magazines where you could drool over equipment and read reviews. Maybe your favourite bands and players played certain instruments and amps that had an influence as well. Sure, I dreamed of having "such and such" bass and that once I did, I would be such a better player. But, the lack of funds would quickly shut that down and I would just play what I had and get on with it.

Now, we can spend so much time looking at stuff, talking (TalkBass'ing) about stuff and watching stuff - before you know it, you're thinking more about stuff than actually playing.

What is your relationship been between playing and learning from other music related (or other) distractions? Has it been an impediment to your development?

I don't blame any internet forum or resource. I'm 50 and not 20 or 30, and that alone accounts for challenges. We're all getting older, and in general as we go we have less and less luxury of being single-minded, and single-focus that we did, 10, 20, 30 or more years prior. Go easy on yourself. Life is not uncomplicated anymore in some undeniable and almost unavoidable ways. This modern life...

 

[Plucky The Bassist]

I'm at age 37 now so idk if I "count", but compared to 16-24 I feel like I get more out of the time I spend practicing or learning things. My hand coordination was better in my mid 20s-early 30s, but I think that boils down to having more time to play, and it being the central focus of my creative endeavors.

The level I'm at in my professional career is far more demanding now, I also have other creative endeavors that I pour brain energy into. The driving force of "making it" kind of fizzled out for me around my early 30s, so I'd say I'm far less driven.

I've learned some remarkably complex things in my 30s though, I'll say that I look for a reason or purpose to things I spend time on more than I did in years past. Consequently, I'm probably less fun to be around


EDIT: I got off-track...I spent more time just jamming to music back in the day, which I think gave me far better "internal timing". I'll say that has suffered some attenuation over the years for me.

 

[raal]

When the intellect fails, i default back to plucking drills practicing muscle memory.

 

[Thumpin6string]

My experience is the opposite. I always had a hard time learning songs when I was younger. Now that I am an old fart, it seems to come a lot easier. Also, I am thankful for YouTube videos that help me learn songs by listening and watching them. I also find it useful to get an idea of what gear sounds like.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Same here, I learned songs much quicker in my youth, even when doing so meant endlessly picking up and dropping a needle on LP's. Now it's easy to slow down or isolate a bass track.... but it takes me longer to learn them. I find I don't have the patience I did as a young player either, and encroaching arthritis in my right hand makes it somewhat painful to play complex parts repetitively. I get frustrated or bored listening to the same song over and over trying to learn a part. At this point I play only for my own pleasure, so if something doesn't really grab me, I move on. One humbling thing about the new technology: I can now hear stuff I've been playing WRONG for 30 plus years! Just keep playing, get what you can out of it until they pry the bass out of your cold, dead hands.

 

[dustinymichaels]

I like what you're saying and I've been there with the young family and sleep deprivation. It seems like I play a lot more in my 40s than I ever have. I felt like I spent more of that time putting in the "work" when I was younger. My craft probably showed greater margins of improvement back in the day, whereas today I compose a lot more music or develop my contribution to someone else's music more efficiently.

 

[pepj]

I'm improving in a lot of ways, imv, and I'm not the player I was in terms of precision but I have so much more about my playing.
Is it a trade-off..maybe... but overall I'm light years on from what I was so I'm good with that.

I have always recorded me at various stages so I think I've got useful frames of reference to determine that.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

So, I have been doing some remedial exercises recently and having more trouble with them than I really should be for a player of my age and experience. It got me thinking; I used to pick things up so much quicker when I was younger. I think this is in part to not having as many distractions such as phone and internet, but also having limited money to GAS over things (that you could actually buy). I have a young family and have had a general lack of sleep for at least the last decade, so there is that too...

When I was younger, there were really only magazines where you could drool over equipment and read reviews. Maybe your favourite bands and players played certain instruments and amps that had an influence as well. Sure, I dreamed of having "such and such" bass and that once I did, I would be such a better player. But, the lack of funds would quickly shut that down and I would just play what I had and get on with it.

Now, we can spend so much time looking at stuff, talking (TalkBass'ing) about stuff and watching stuff - before you know it, you're thinking more about stuff than actually playing.

What is your relationship been between playing and learning from other music related (or other) distractions? Has it been an impediment to your development?

I never obsessed over tools, but like you I bought an EB3 because of Jack Bruce and a Rick 4001 because of Rick Squire and couldn't sound like either of them, let alone play like them. So I got my first PB and that was the end of that sort of thing. I became much more music conscious once I started recording. Nothing like listening to yourself over and over to get an accurate picture of where you are on your musical journey. If all you do is play in real time, it's impossible for most to remember every note you've played and how well each not was played.

Learning music has been largely the same for me fore over 50 years. I break down the repeatable sections of the song first, then the intro, the ending, then the bridge, "B" section, and or pre-chorus if any. Then I assemble the parts in order.

 

[Pocket Dave]

So, I have been doing some remedial exercises recently and having more trouble with them than I really should be for a player of my age and experience. It got me thinking; I used to pick things up so much quicker when I was younger. I think this is in part to not having as many distractions such as phone and internet, but also having limited money to GAS over things (that you could actually buy). I have a young family and have had a general lack of sleep for at least the last decade, so there is that too...

When I was younger, there were really only magazines where you could drool over equipment and read reviews. Maybe your favourite bands and players played certain instruments and amps that had an influence as well. Sure, I dreamed of having "such and such" bass and that once I did, I would be such a better player. But, the lack of funds would quickly shut that down and I would just play what I had and get on with it.

Now, we can spend so much time looking at stuff, talking (TalkBass'ing) about stuff and watching stuff - before you know it, you're thinking more about stuff than actually playing.

What is your relationship been between playing and learning from other music related (or other) distractions? Has it been an impediment to your development?

Great topic.

I'm 67. I believe I learned a lot when I was younger because there was so much more to learn; I definitely don't know it all, but I'm able to spot common patterns & conventions in new techniques and songs much quicker now.

I leverage the internet to learn these days, only as a more efficient replacement to the old stack of CD's - and LP's before that.

Though for me, effective learning has always been tied directly to application, not so much the technology of the day; From day one, I learned because I had a gig, starting with piano recitals as a kid. So it went with bands throughout my 50 years of playing.

I currently host a weekly house band open jam where we open with an hour set featuring a different special guest guitarist/vocalist each week, someone from the local scene with talent & presence. Each week I request and receive a setlist of songs to shed with key signatures; I put together a Spotify or YouTube playlist, send the link to my drummer, and we both shed the material, which ranges from blues to funk to originals to fusion - Last night we played Billy Cobham's "Stratus" behind an incredibly talented young guitarist.

I guess the point is both the drummer and I use the internet effectively because we both have a reason to. I suspect the fact that it's a weekly thing helps keep us sharp; For me, the fact that I've also got my regular Fri/Sat band with hundreds of songs to keep tabs on probably also helps.

Without the reason, or application, I'd probably have a hard time learning no matter the available technology.

 

[roccobass]

There’s a case for what the thread states. Back then, when I had no money, I also was a lot younger with lots more energy and focus. I still have a fair amount of focus today, but I have plan out usage of my get and go more so these days.

 

[mambo4]

I learned better when I had more time and less rent