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I'm a bass snob, but I suck...

#23
It's ok to buy nice instruments and not play them well...as long as you play them. It's buying nice instruments and putting them in a display case so you can brag about how it's appreciating in value that bugs me. If it really bothers you spend the money you would have spent on your next bass on some lessons.
 
#24
+1 to this whole thread. Nothing wrong with having good gear; get what you can reasonably afford. I just replaced three lower end basses with one EBMM Big Al, and I am just a bass hacker, really. I am working at getting better, though; I have a buddy who plays guitar and a wife who plays keys, and if we can get good enough where we feel comfortable, we might put something together. If the sky's the limit, then build yourself a rocket. :)
 
#26
Play at your own skill level and don't worry about it. As people have said, practice is the way to get better. But if you're playing, and enjoying what you're playing, or you just buy and collect that's cool too. If you're doing both even cooler. Do what's right for you, don't feel like you have to justify what you have. You justify what you have just by having it.
 
#31
#33
khui said:
My vice is expensive bass gear. Have an appreciation for high end items. appreciate the craftsmenship, quality of materials, designs, and overall fucntion/sound the "toys" produce. At the same time, i suck as a musician and as a bass player.

I'm totally blown away, by some really awesome youngsters (teens, sometimes kids) on youtube that plays phenominally. And you see them with "entry level" gear. WAY TO GO! i'm so jealous of their skills and knowledge...would trade all my expensive gear in a heartbeat to play well.

So i hide my head in shame, privately pick up my instruments in my house and play quietly in the corner...don't even wanna plug in an instrument at the store to try...

k.
Click to expand...

I'd say the majority of TB'ers, even those who you think are pretty good players, feel the same way about themselves.

The bottom line is that you have to make time for improvement if it really means something to you.
 
#34
Do not despair. There is only one best bass player out there, whoever it may be, which means for all of the rest of us there will always be someone on the planet who is better. But you never saw everyone in the NBA go home just because Michael Jordan was in the league. He scored a lot of points, but he didn't score the most every night.

I never made a living playing bass, always semi-pro stuff, but every time I went on stage I felt like I was good. Even though I knew I wasn't that good, I figured if it looked like I thought I stunk, it was going to be pretty hard convincing an audience I didn't. On most gigs, you're still going to be a better bass player than 99% of the audience, so just have fun and roll with it. Music should be its own reward.
 
#35
Dont let it bother you. As someone else alluded to, you think everyone who owns a Porsche or Ferrari, can even push that car as far as it can go?

Go to a track day and youll see pros out-lapping much faster cars in slower cars. Still dont make me think any less of someone who wants to own a Ferrari. Buy whatever you want and play whatever you want. You only get one shot.
 
#36
I love high end stuff... EBMM sterling Ball Family Reserve and stuff and even I'm quite a "ok" bass player, I think my equipment somehow make some more talented musician jealous. So when I first go for a audition, I bring my Yamaha RBX 370 and THEN once I'm in the band... POW! the Sterling appears.

Ha.

I love my bass.

Being a virtuoso with cheap gear can be good,

Being a mediocre bass player with mediocre gear SUCKS! :D
 
#37
Join a band! I never had any real lessons. I used to play guitar but badly. In a band, though, you stop worrying about technical skill and just make music. The skill is then born of necessity. I still don't think I'm particularly talented but I know that I'm perfect for the music we make. I have always loved expensive gear and now I feel like its being put to good use, even though I'm not really using its full potential.

And at the end of a practice session, if you're still worrying about your level of technical skill, you can take solace in the fact that you are at least the best bassist in the room :p
 
#38
I agree with all the posts recommending you do your own thing or surround yourself with like minded hobbyists.

If it's not your bread winner, it's not going to be your main priority. Which it shouldn't be at that point, passion and enthusiasm don't keep your lights on.

I haven't been playing that long... granted I've owned a guitar or bass or both for as long as I can remember, but I never did anything but play around until a few years ago. I consider myself mediocre. I don't mind going into Guitar Center to test something out, that place is filled with so many twerps trying to show off their latest solo that I think a bit of NOOB action might be appreciated.

It's when I get into the smaller stores talking to the technician who, by my experience, has been in bands longer than I've been alive and can pick any instrument up and make it sound beautiful... having their skilled ears within range while I try out a new piece, or even my own after having work done, really tenses me up.

I found comfort playing in bands though. These guys that can do seemingly amazing things, with the utmost confidence, are usually just as self conscious as the beginners... if not more so. It's being humble that keeps us striving to improve.

Your gear is way nicer than mine though. lol.
 
#40
khui said:
My vice is expensive bass gear. Have an appreciation for high end items. appreciate the craftsmenship, quality of materials, designs, and overall fucntion/sound the "toys" produce. At the same time, i suck as a musician and as a bass player.

I'm totally blown away, by some really awesome youngsters (teens, sometimes kids) on youtube that plays phenominally. And you see them with "entry level" gear. WAY TO GO! i'm so jealous of their skills and knowledge...would trade all my expensive gear in a heartbeat to play well.

So i hide my head in shame, privately pick up my instruments in my house and play quietly in the corner...don't even wanna plug in an instrument at the store to try...

k.
Click to expand...

I think you've got it all wrong. One of the biggest lies in the retail music biz is that if you get gear just like Joe Blow, then you'll play just like Joe! All those YouTube kids get sucked in by that all the time. By now you know it's not true. So you already know more than those kids you are jealous of. Plus you know how to tune your bass and they don't...and probably don't even own it.

Music isn't a contest. (though you'd never suspect that on Saturday at GC) Everybody sucks! Life gives each of us different opportunities to explore so we all suck in different ways. Music is creativity And that means taking what you have and turning it into something good. And of course it's also a journey. We all start as beginner and climb upward. The goal is to get where YOU want to be not where some other kid is.

Tone is where you find it. I've seen amazing things from a piece of fence wire between two nails. And my Alembic or my Ken Smith are amazing irrespective of my playing on them. That you can can afford great gear means that you unlike so many others have the OPPORTUNITY to explore territory that they can't. But don't be a snob. Remember the lie. It's not in the gear. It's in you. So sure I own a Modulus and G&L but I also own SX and Squier. Tone is where you find it! None of these basses, high or low end make me a better player just by owning them. What makes me have value is to know how to get just what I want out of them, whatever they are and then have other people appreciate what I managed to do.
 

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