Listening back to old recordings

I came across a bunch of stuff from around 20 years ago i had on cassette a while back. When I was a guitar player. When we played, we had a cassette player for break music, but I would put a blank in for the set and record the show. I thought we (ok, I) was the shiznizzlebambizzle, but wow...what a bit of perspective time gives you.

BnB

 

All guitar players think that.

 

Yeah. Then when I took up the bass and listen back to my guitar stuff, I realize I wasn't all that and a balogna sammich. Now that I'm a bass player, however, I know I'm the shiz...

BnB

 

I saw a video of a group I did a show with during my senior year of high school. I was a guitarist at the time. I remember us playing some pretty "high-minded" avante-garde stuff that seemed fairly complex / intelligent / ahead of our years... but... yeah it was kinda just bad. we weren't very tight. the songs (original compositions in the jazz/rock/fusion sorta vein) weren't as high-minded as I remember them being. We jammed on a 2 chord minor blues thing for like 20 minutes and i solo'd way too much for how good i was at the time. Not to mention, 1980s Crate half stack amp... tone sounded awful.

 

How true. On the other hand, occasionally, there's a diamond in the coal pile. I just watched an old video of myself from a forgettable bar-band gig. Most of it was absolutely pathetic, but on one particular tune, I played an interesting 2-meaure fill that had me wondering: "Wow...who is this kid?"

 

i have a band recording from 1964.

 

Listing back to some old recordings of my old band, I thought: "that bass sounds so good". Only to realise that I played my entry-level cheap PJ copy on those recordings, not the expensive custom basses that I have now.

 

This thread reminds me:
- After I'd been playing bass for 20 years, when I would listen to 10-year-old recordings of me I'd think "Gosh, I sucked! I could play that so much better nowadays!"
- But then after I'd been playing bass for 40 years, when I would listen to 20-year-old recordings of me I'd think "Gosh, I was pretty darn good! I wish I could still play that nowadays!"

 

I realize how much my ear has developed in the 35 years that I've been playing.
Back when I started, I had a tendency to just double the guitars.
Probably 5 years in I discovered that there were actually distinct bass parts that I should be playing.
Now I can pretty much tell where a song is going just by listening, even if I've never heard it before....