Also I could also switch my major to music production from performance at my school as well
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I Think I Lost My Way
- Thread starter Jalen Fuller
- Start date
Jalen, I'm not gonna lie to you. As someone who used to make their living in music, I can tell you that it's not a secure future. That said, for so many of us, music is in our blood. I would strongly encourage you to find a way to make a living that's more stable, maybe incorporating music in some way, but don't study music with the idea that it's a ticket to something.
A friend of mine studied music therapy but he ended up making his living in IT. Most of the people I've worked with who were excellent, degreed musicians, like the keyboard player and guitar player in my signature link, work in music education, but music education is being phased out in most schools.
Those guys are really good. One of those guys works in private K-12 education and the other teaches music at the university level; those are hard jobs to get and you really do have to be that good to get them.
For most of us who love music, it ends up being a hobby that we're very driven to do. And there's totally nothing wrong with that. Take private lessons, learn what you can, drive yourself to be the best you can be, but take care of yourself and find a way to care for your eventual family, too.
Music as a lifestyle is full of pitfalls and disappointments. It can also give you the highest highs, but you have to be very, very lucky, and, frankly, very well connected in order to ride those highs to sustained success. Most of us don't check off those boxes. Maybe you'll be lucky that way. There are a lot of people reading this, I know, who think I'm squashing your dreams. But there are also a lot of old people out here with broken dreams and a lot of regrets.
Some people are driven to give it their all, so that at least they can say they tried. You have to decide if that's you. That's how I was. You might get lucky. The odds are steep, but not zero. Wishing you the best in whatever you decide to do.
A friend of mine studied music therapy but he ended up making his living in IT. Most of the people I've worked with who were excellent, degreed musicians, like the keyboard player and guitar player in my signature link, work in music education, but music education is being phased out in most schools.
Those guys are really good. One of those guys works in private K-12 education and the other teaches music at the university level; those are hard jobs to get and you really do have to be that good to get them.
For most of us who love music, it ends up being a hobby that we're very driven to do. And there's totally nothing wrong with that. Take private lessons, learn what you can, drive yourself to be the best you can be, but take care of yourself and find a way to care for your eventual family, too.
Music as a lifestyle is full of pitfalls and disappointments. It can also give you the highest highs, but you have to be very, very lucky, and, frankly, very well connected in order to ride those highs to sustained success. Most of us don't check off those boxes. Maybe you'll be lucky that way. There are a lot of people reading this, I know, who think I'm squashing your dreams. But there are also a lot of old people out here with broken dreams and a lot of regrets.
Some people are driven to give it their all, so that at least they can say they tried. You have to decide if that's you. That's how I was. You might get lucky. The odds are steep, but not zero. Wishing you the best in whatever you decide to do.
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Hey, Jalen
I feel you. And yes, lots of tough decisions but as others have pointed out you're young and have plenty of time to work through it. And I do mean work, cause no matter what instrument you chose, or if you move into production, or even promotions, 'the business' is rough and society is even tougher for a musician. Whatever your choice— pick your passion. Cause if you dont believe in it... no-one else will.
About your playing, if you want it you'll get it. Focus on fundamentals with good teacher. Over the years studying and playing there have been MANY times I questioned "whats it all about?" Finding my way outta the weeds has been about "what do I really care about", and after some hiking Im outa the weeds again. Im in NYC too hit me up with a PM. I'll try and help you out before the fall semester starts back up.
I feel you. And yes, lots of tough decisions but as others have pointed out you're young and have plenty of time to work through it. And I do mean work, cause no matter what instrument you chose, or if you move into production, or even promotions, 'the business' is rough and society is even tougher for a musician. Whatever your choice— pick your passion. Cause if you dont believe in it... no-one else will.
About your playing, if you want it you'll get it. Focus on fundamentals with good teacher. Over the years studying and playing there have been MANY times I questioned "whats it all about?" Finding my way outta the weeds has been about "what do I really care about", and after some hiking Im outa the weeds again. Im in NYC too hit me up with a PM. I'll try and help you out before the fall semester starts back up.
Dexter Holland, lead singer for The Offspring, is a molecular biologist. Brian May, guitarist for Queen, is an astronomer. Science is good.
You can learn rhythm from a lot of genre and try to incorporate it into your bass line as long as it fits or works or sounds nice. You can learn reggae (chord tones), blues (shuffle) , country (root/fifth), or salsa etc... You can also learn rhythm by watching others play or listening to their bass lines. For example, to name just a few, James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, or Paul McCartney etc.
First, I like all of those guys mentioned.
Second, I’ll definitely do that because I appreciate all different kinds of genres so I’ll definitely do that.
Finally, my rhythm on pick is good for the most part so maybe I over exaggerated on having no rhythm completely, but my fingerstyle rhythm is still lacking so this will definitely be helpful to that
The best decision I ever made was to marry my amazing wife, who despite having a doctorate in educational psychology, still finds my nonsense charming. When I was talking to her about what I thought of my playing while in school, she suggested I read about deficit perspective and the imposter syndrome. You should check these concepts reread how you describe your playing in this thread. As should become clear through this exercise, you are not the first or only player or person to approach their playing this way when first entering musical academia.
maybe bass is not really your passion. that's ok if so. you might explore some other instruments to find one that you do have a passion for. Think about instruments that you love to listen to and consider one of those. . . maybe something totally different like Mandolin for example
Then your problem isn't that you lack rhythm, you just lack practice. As I've already said, you can't expect to master playing fingerstlye in just few months, you need to be persistant with it, it takes time and practice. Heck I'm a finger style player first and pick player second, Yet even to this day I find songs that I just can't do fingerstyle and vice versa. I also use a pick a lot of time when I'm having a hard time figuring out the rythm to a song because playing with the pick helps me conciously single out the note. Afterwards when I figure out the rythm I play it fingerstyle slowly and just speed up gradually. It's a constant process of learning , and you don't suck you just feel you suck because you expect few months to be on par with 4 years. Which doesn't happen in any field especially not music. Heck my Friend who's link I've sent you , who used to be a pick player, he currently plays fingerstyle almost longer than you play in total and even he admits that his technique still needs a bit of work, despite now being a complete beast with both. You just have clock in those hours man, it will come with time trust me.
I like the rhythm guitar as well. I actually started off studying rhythm guitar when grabbing the bass. Eventually I became the high school band’s bassist which was more less a reason I stuck with bass. I also stuck with it because so many of us there played(still plays) guitar so to avoid being another six stringer I grabbed bass. Crazy enough I am able to write and play solos better than any of them on guitar despite mostly having rhythm origins.
Thank you for saying that. This will make my confession that much easier.
People of the thread, I come here now to say that I don’t have a passion. Playing music is nothing more than a small hobby for me. I put more time and effort into the “nasties” then Bass. I get tired after picking and plucking for one minute and to be honest I’ve done more enjoyable things with my hands.
I am a fraud who used music as a way to show I had talent when others would never give me the time of day. See I was mostly a lonely camper and till recently I was never able to settle with just being who I am and taking pride in the few friends I have. As a result I was always looking for that one thing to make myself big. I used my love fore listening and experiencing music to play music to get attention. I did like it for a while and joined the school band, but to be honest if possible I would’ve paid one of the guitarist to play for me while feeding them notes on a sheet. Once I become the co-leader of the band I was more happy just to be taking lead which is something I’m good with but it enjoyed managing the creative process rather than playing. Yes, I did have me a few enjoyable moments of having taken a quick guitar solo hear and there but seriously I can’t see myself doing that forever.
Since music club ended I did begin to enjoy music again for a while only playing to myself and those close to me. See I began to play for the live and not having to rush complex parts for shows. When I was in music club I was the best musician in terms of knowing my chords, scales and production. As a result rather than focusing on just rhythm and playing the necessary notes I would play lines with unnecessary notes just to make the band sound good. This is because most of them sucked. Once I made it out I felt like I could conquer the world once again.
Once getting into the music program it felt like a chore. Coming home to playing music no longer felt enjoyable. It felt like I was in school 2.0. If it was up to me I’d just write the notes and have someone else on the bass for me and I’d play a tambourine or strum an acoustic.
Ok, so I love music but playing bass isn’t what I ever intended to do for a long period but just as some fun away from guitar. Like I said I wish I would’ve stuck to studying rhythm guitar. I wanted to gain skills there and teach on it, but since most teaching opportunities are all but drying up it’s a done deal with music.
Finally I don’t have the personality and guts to be in the music industry. First of all I’m not a fan of what happens to people in the industry and how some have been hurt by it. To be honest the industry would chew me up and I know this for fact based off of observing myself and laid back person I had. I never been one to live on social media which is what’s important in the industry now. I don’t even post my music like that on Instagram or YouTube and haven’t released music on BandLab or SoundCloud in almost a year to this month. Sometimes I just like having songs and playing them to myself and feel satisfied.
My love is for history and health. I love learning history and can sit and watch videos on human evolution or any other topic for hours without the thought of bass in mind. I can get wrapped up in what makes one healthy and the info around it for that same time. I wish I could be apart of a team that could prevent the next coronavirus from even gaining legs. Maybe I want to be that guy that preserves the history of endangered cultures connecting it to all humans and life in earth. If I do decide music maybe I could go back to studying rhythm guitar and teach and song write but that’s a stretch especially these days when people I know who never had in interest in music are making songs. My mom’s friend niece is making some tracks and we never knew she had an interest, but that’s the competition now and I don’t think I’d want to be that dude who keeps to himself trying to complete with someone like her who has the following that I lack. All in all I know where my heart is and it’s best for my mental health, happiness and pockets if I just do history or public health cuz I do love those sometimes more than music and I want to make a difference in the world and those music can do that I don’t want to be another rock in the sand.
First of all, you are not a fraud.
You are 18 years old and you are aware of the decisions you have to make, now. You're the opposite of a fraud.
For what you say, if music isn't already eliminated from your professional future, bass is. No problem in that. Just pickup up rhythm guitar again.
You are very young. If you like history or health related professions more than music, then go for it.
I love music, but compared to other people I know in music I just don’t notice myself practicing for more than 30 minutes. Sometimes I don’t even touch the bass except for a performance which I haven’t has one of those in about a year so you can see the correlation.
I think you have your answer.
Music as a job is like any other business. It's a job.
I work 10 to 12 hours a day. I imagine if I were a musician I would have to play or practice for at least 8 hours a day.
A job is a job.
I can’t believe that I am diverging for this very thing I love. Part of me loves bass but then hates it and then seeing the job out look in the 21st century has me like no way. Also while working part time now I don’t think some of my luxuries could be fulfilled if I was in a constant budget situation such as just being able to buy something expensive for my mom or for my sister without thinking twice about it or worried I’ll be broke for long. Also I was able to completely pay off both my discover card and my iPhone 11 in full recently which wouldn’t have been possible with most music jobs. So if I do end up sticking with music I’ll probably just teach or do light stuff but unless I can find something that will play the bills it’s mostly a side passion.
Passion for music will wax and wane. Don't let it go entirely.
I think you've figured out a career in music isn't for you. I have one friend that studied performance in college and knew before graduation it wasn't going to be his career. He still enjoys playing guitar and picks up some brewery/winery gigs here and there. I think he enjoys it more because it's not his job.
Find a career path that's interesting and practical (provides gainful employment at the end of the day) and go for it.
I think you've figured out a career in music isn't for you. I have one friend that studied performance in college and knew before graduation it wasn't going to be his career. He still enjoys playing guitar and picks up some brewery/winery gigs here and there. I think he enjoys it more because it's not his job.
Find a career path that's interesting and practical (provides gainful employment at the end of the day) and go for it.
Will do, and then there’s this side of me that feels I’ll regret switching from music. The path is a bit more clear but still in thought. I’m also thinking of just taking some time off to just relax after finishing the semester just to research and maybe play to see where I’m at before pulling out of the music program.
You're so fortunate and smart to be giving serious thought to all of this now. There's absolutely no reason you'd ever have to give up your love for music or bass while still pursuing something else you also love that might be a better fit in terms of career path. You seem like a pretty smart guy and I'm pretty sure you'll make the right choices for yourself.
