• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

long breaks from playing

bassguitarthund

bassguitarthund

Jun 4, 2010
945
53
Michigan
#1
Mods please move if this is in the wrong section. I was talking with a good friend today that had moved down south around 07. He is one of the best bassist I have ever heard. I even took a few lessons from him. Anyways he and I were talking today and he said he got a bass again and started playing again. I did not know that he quit. I asked him how long it had been. He said he stopped in 07. This has gotten me thinking about long breaks in playing. Longest I have gone was about a year and a half. If you have/had taken a break from playing how long was yours.
 
#4
Is it just me, or do some of you actually seem to play better after putting the instrument down for a week or two?

I mentioned this to a guitarist friend of mine and he said it's happened to him, too. I suppose it's probably just an illusion (?).
 
#5
Jjango said:
Is it just me, or do some of you actually seem to play better after putting the instrument down for a week or two?

I mentioned this to a guitarist friend of mine and he said it's happened to him, too. I suppose it's probably just an illusion (?).
Click to expand...

Hmm.... Never really thought about that. Maybe it kinda let's ya reset your creative side when it comes to music if that makes sense?
 
#7
I stopped for about 7-8 years. Work, Fam, sick of playing with flaky people,ect. I think the reason some people get better after a long break is, A maturity, and B a shrunken ego. I tend to play a lot less now than I did before. Play the big notes, complement the melody more. NOT PLAY!!! when I was a bit younger it was about fills and challenging my self. Now it's about what the song needs and over all feel.
 
#8
I took an eight year break from 2001 to 2009, as I got all wrapped up in being "Career oriented", and doing what My elders said "I was supposed to do". I kept My 98 Stingray under My bed, and would take it out, restring it and thump on it from time to time. Taking that break was one of the dumbest things, that I think I've ever done. However, looking back in retrospect I feel like a better musician now, than I ever was back then.
 
#11
3-4 months. Besides playing the bass, video games is the other hobby. Haven't found a game (yet) that can peel me away from my baby, but during that 3-4 month vacancy, I was treading through dangerous MMO waters. MMOs are fiendish my fellow bassists... fiendish.

:hiding:
 
#12
10 long years... Moved from Brazil to Italy and then to England and finally settled in Spain... I have finish my University degree, focused on a job career, got married and bought a house (actually it still belongs to the bank for the next 37 years). I feel as a much better player now, I guess because of trying in recovering some of that time lost I practice more technique, have 2 bands and in the past 2 years I have bought the same gear that probably would have taken me a longer time to buy it.
 
#14
I took a break for about a year.

I agree with some of the posters above, time away resets your creative juices, and think subconsciously everyone plays a lil music in their head, when ya come back you have all these new ideas that you never thought about before.
 
#16
i had an 18 year break from Bass, from about 1992 to 2010, over all those years I toyed with the idea of picking it up again but was always afraid i would have lost everything and i would suck
in 2010 i was off work for a coupe of months due to surgery, I picked it up again and it was like being re-united with a long lost love.
now I play every day and I am a lot better than i was before

life is strange
 
#17
I think I've commented on this in another thread a while back, but I have everybody here beat without breaking a sweat. It's about 38 years for me, but now I'm back for about 3 months, woodshedding regularly and hoping to pull something together where I can have fun playing while making chicks dance.

iJazz - Almost 60 going on 24.
 
#18
iJazz said:
I think I've commented on this in another thread a while back, but I have everybody here beat without breaking a sweat. It's about 38 years for me, but now I'm back for about 3 months, woodshedding regularly and hoping to pull something together where I can have fun playing while making chicks dance.

iJazz - Almost 60 going on 24.
Click to expand...

Wow, good for you. Is your playing back to where you left it?

I am 57 , never stopped for more than a week but I get to do about 6 or 7 gigs a year and always get the chicks to dance.

Fender Precision 57 style parts bass
Fender Precision Lyte
Ibanez RB850
Squier Precision SQ Series
Squier VM Jazz Bass
Ibanez ATK 300
Squier Standard Series Precision P/J
 
#19
bassguitarthund said:
Mods please move if this is in the wrong section. I was talking with a good friend today that had moved down south around 07. He is one of the best bassist I have ever heard. I even took a few lessons from him. Anyways he and I were talking today and he said he got a bass again and started playing again. I did not know that he quit. I asked him how long it had been. He said he stopped in 07. This has gotten me thinking about long breaks in playing. Longest I have gone was about a year and a half. If you have/had taken a break from playing how long was yours.
Click to expand...

I've been playing for 8 years. The longest I've taken maybe 2 weeks. And only because I was bummed out due to the break of my band. We all miss maybe a day or two occasionally. But for the rest of my life, I can't see myself being sane unless I play at least once every few days. After about 3 days I start to lose it unless I pick it up. :bassist:
 
#20
PBnJBassist said:
3-4 months. Besides playing the bass, video games is the other hobby. Haven't found a game (yet) that can peel me away from my baby, but during that 3-4 month vacancy, I was treading through dangerous MMO waters. MMOs are fiendish my fellow bassists... fiendish.

:hiding:
Click to expand...

This is my other weakness. Have been gaming since I was 3 :P But I used to think I would never get bored of them. But lately I haven't played much in the last 2 months(maybe turn it on for half an hour a week and then turn it off). More so because I broke my leg a while ago, and did nothing but game and play bass(funny enough didn't get sick of bass haha) So I suppose it could happen with bass(but I don't see it happening any time soon, if ever)
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back