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I-live-elsewhere Bassists Club .

M

magnusdeus123

Jul 2, 2007
320
3
Mumbai , India
#1
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Members :
#1 magnusdeus123
#2 varunkapahi
#3 qub
#4 Eminentbass
#5 ROON
#6 eedo
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On my daily venture through the forums today, while reading another thread with a post from a dude from Mexico and another post on a different thread from a guy whose from Estonia, I realized that a lot of us who are based out of the US/UK/Japan/etc. are basically largely left out on a lot of the same experience that the bassists from the aformentioned nations are used to .

So I decided to make this club thread as a fun factor to gather bassists who DO NOT live in the countries core to the culture we experience here on Talkbass .

Confusing, I know .

Check the list below and if you feel where you live relates to some points on the list, then you know you are eligible for membership . :D

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Following is the list of the stuff I have had to deal with, which I felt is what bassists in other places around the world have had to deal with too, due to the large void of mainstream music support . It's in random order and I'll add more in as I recollect them .

1. Music shops are rubbish . Sell you like 1-3 core brands, mostly ibanez , squier and yamaha or something .

2. Impossible to get higher end basses unless you order them and have them shipped or through relatives/friends who are coming back from the US or something .

3. If you have a mid level bass (Fender Made in mexico - sells for 470$ i think), you are considered a professional bass player or atleast someone with deep pockets .

4. A lot of pro bass players you do see around the local scene move around with local made basses which sound shitier than your second hand crappy Ibanez GSR 200 .

5. The music community is nanoscopic , and generally coned in on 1 or 2 specific genre and hates you if you are alien to that sort of music . In my own case it's basically Thrash metal, Grind core and 80's/90's hard rock or alt. rock . I'm a funk/acid-jazz/groove guy . It's like I have leprosy when i'm trying to talk to or socialize with other musicians who cant get over their John Myung's and Robert Trujillo's .

6. You will always be a second rate musician because you play bass . No amount of the most fantastic comebacks that are discussed on our Humor forums will ever change that .

7. There is a general DRAB of good music skill and content around you . You just cant make a serious career with music as your forte . Even if your excellent, the people you are with wont be .

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*MORE TO ADD*

So guys . If any of you relate to certain points in the list above , post in this thread and I'll add you to the club . :p

Cheers .
 
#3
Yeah some of the points definitely apply here in Estonia. We have this annual (I think) new band competitions and the vast majority are rock/metal bands. I'm into funk/jazz/groove myself and thankfully we have quite a lot of foreigners coming here and having really great shows. I also see a lot of youngsters turning away from mainstream music, so that's great I guess :P
 
#5
I'm in... I live in South Africa and although the bigger centres here do get distribution on high end stuff, the exchange rate makes it virtually impossible for the average working musician to afford the stuff. As for the music scene; In my area it's divided into anti-commercial alternative/metal, folky singer songwriters and cover bands. The result being that the general public in my city doesn't really give a toss about supporting music. I'm fortunate that i'm able to earn a relatively good living doing theatre stuff, corporate parties and occasional session work which has given me enough of a profile to score on some endorsement deals through a music store who has the agency on the gear I like. I'm also fortunate enough to be the only fulltime working bassist in my city, just because the company I do the bulk of work for has hit a lucky streak on the national market. Of course I'm branded as a sellout and whore by those in the aforementioned categories.

Actually i think what peeves me about the scene over here is that most of our original music consists of generic impersonations of US bands and wannabes. Nothing like a South African doing an embarrassingly bad American accent and sounding like Eddie Vedder with a cold.
 
#6
Eminentbass said:
Actually i think what peeves me about the scene over here is that most of our original music consists of generic impersonations of US bands and wannabes. Nothing like a South African doing an embarrassingly bad American accent and sounding like Eddie Vedder with a cold.
Click to expand...

Dude . You just mirrored my thoughts . :p .

It's pretty much the same here . Bands who are trying to make it big are too hot into music that deals with context which in terms of lyrics and emotion, has nothing to do with actually living here and dealing with the scenario's around you . It's totally escapist rock/metal, run by pretentious fools .

Member #4 Eminentbass :D
 
#9
I am from Australia. :) I think there are less than 10 of us active on TalkBass. Can I join?! I think I qualify, we have a craptastic selection of gear, what we have is obscenely expensive, I get shunned for liking metal. :p

However we do have better gear down here than in a lot of other countries. For example, despite costing me a ****load, I have an EBMM SR4 and an Ampeg rig. I think when I was in India I saw only one music store? Knowing what music stores are like they probably only had like 1 or 2 basses there as well. It was closed and I couldn't see inside but they had signs for Squier and Fender up, nothing else.
 

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