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I'm done

Indiana Mike

Indiana Mike

Nov 18, 2005
3,049
3,883
#1
I'm done playing ...

I plan on liquidating all of my gear .

I have thought long and hard about this for a year . I divorced two years ago and that piled more on me than anything else ever has. I have children whom I owe it to be there for . My career of 20 + years is crazy with no set schedule and last minute travel .I'm so deep into that I have accepted the golden handcuffs as a good retirement is less than 20 away. I absolutely hate the bar scene and the BS that comes along with trying to find a group of people to fit in with . I just cannot find the time to properly dedicate myself to the instrument or others in regards to music , I am the BS at times and I know it.

soooo.

I have two basses , a P and a J , a genz shuttle 6.0 210t with a generic 210 extension cab , stands , tuners, books , bags etc...

I have considered mothballing it all or selling it all.I know I will take a loss but the CV squiers I have aren't going up in value anytime soon and the genz won't either. They will always make more gear and it will be better , faster and sleeker than ever before .

I am not depressed or have any issues mentally I can use to explain my position . I just lost the bug due to unwanted , unexpected life changes and choosing a career that doesn't play well with others. I envy those who make it work and truly love playing .
 
#3
I have thought this myself at different points along the line, if your dead set on this, keep one instrument Mike, you never know what's coming round the corner, and if you don't use it, they still look cool in the corner of a room, jus' saying ;)
 
#4
I would, at least, keep your fave bass. You never know when the urge to plink out a few notes might hit, and it would suck if you didn't have the outlet. I feel like you do at times because of the way life goes at times...it's surely depressing, but don't give up entirely on anything.

I do most of my "practicing" playing along to t.v. or whatever, just plunkin along "soundtracking" and stuff... goofy, but it's therapeutic at times too.
 
#5
I know where you're coming from because I'm going thru a similar bit myself lately. Self doubt, not sure what I want anymore and have decided to leave it alone for a while. But then, I've gone thru times before where I didn't play either (for various reasons) but I never let go of what I gear I had.....and I didn't even touch a guitar or bass from '83 thru '93!! Talk about covered in dust and rusty fingers!!

Like you, I've lost the bug myself lately and I just can't find the urge. But the fact is, music and playing (at home or out) is in our DNA and even if you don't feel like playing for a while it's nice to know that when you do come around and want to play that it's there waiting for you.

Hey, we're going thru a rough patch right now. Been there before, right? Sooner or later we'll get over it. Always have before.
 
#9
Definitely keep one bass and a small amp, even if you think you won't use them. Like somebody said, it's therapeutic even if you just pop in a CD and play along in your alone-time. If you get rid of everything, it is inevitable that a time will come when you miss playing.

Just because you want to give up the bar scene and playing out doesn't mean you need to give up playing altogether. There is such a thing as personal enjoyment.
 
#10
Honestly, a big +1 to all of the "keep at least SOMETHING" sentiment that you're getting. I tried to quit a while back, and only discovered that not only am I happier when I've at least got the option of being in a band, jamming for fun etc, but it is also very expensive to get back into the whole thing. Even if you hold on to something for the purposes of recording your own music... just keep something. You might play it, you might not. Maybe one of your wee ones might want to take up playing one day? Who knows.
 
#12
Good point. even at my most non-productive times musically, I still have stuff for my kids to bang out notes or beats on. A small kit, and other stuff, and they have carte blanche with all of it. Even as I'm not so busy now with music, for quite a long time it was a HUGE part of my life, and my kids know it, and gravitate to it to get their ya-yas out. It's better than video games or you know, worse activities...I'll never push them to it, but I like that they have it as an option. :)

I personally cannot stand the bar scene as I am not a drinker, and I'm married. I just completely fell out of love with it. Maybe someday the bug will strike, but I'm with ya on that.
 
#14
I strongly suggest you keep one bass, one amp & a cable or two. Put them out of sight & focus on what's important(especially your kids* & to w/e extent neccesary, your ex if she's the kids' mother- you are of course connected to her through them & likely always will be). One day you may bump into the musical stuff & be glad it's there.

*I finally got my kids playing w/my stuff last night- 11-yr-old son & 5-yr-old daughter fighting over the vintage Roland synth & cheesey old Casiotone keys(w/uber-chees beatbox). Maybe you can share your experience w/your younglings.
Aside from that, I can totally understand wanting/needing to dump it all, at least for awhile.
 
#16
Post-divorce is when you can most benefit by being out and about with a band, in my experience. Just keep something casual going - even if it's the occasional jam at home with friends and a few beers. You'll miss it if you cut this out of your life to the point of actually selling your stuff. That's like selling body parts, man. You can't seriously be contemplating NOT EVEN OWNING A BASS at this point, can you?

Maybe you can. Stuff means different things to different people, I guess.
 
#17
bassybill said:
Post-divorce is when you can most benefit by being out and about with a band, in my experience. Just keep something casual going - even if it's the occasional jam at home with friends and a few beers. You'll miss it if you cut this out of your life to the point of actually selling your stuff. That's like selling body parts, man. You can't seriously be comtemplating NOT EVEN OWNING A BASS at this point, can you?

Maybe you can. Stuff means different things to different people, I guess.
Click to expand...

What Bill said. Gigging post divorce saved my sanity.
 
#20
mrpackerguy said:
I'd give it a second thought. My group was gigging more than we all cared to, mostly in bars. We transformed ourselves into a wedding band playing once a month or less. Best thing we ever did.
Click to expand...

+1 I understand what your saying about the bar scene, I did that scene for a long time, I cut it back. Mrpackerguy's post was the avenue to a more 'relaxed' time playing. It's far from pedestrian, I remember the Latino wedding amongst many others, ***k me - those ladies and gents can dance and have got the moves, and I mean -all- night! Excellent buzz for everyone there, I'd have played it for nothing.

Give it a while, see how you feel, take your time ;)
 

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