I was going to suggest you weren't gigging enough but after seeing your last post I guess that isn't the problem. I've lost interest in the past when we were constantly practicing/learning new songs/writing and not out there playing enough gigs. That's what spins my crank ultimately. You definitely sound like you are burnt out bro.
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Losing my mojo............
- Thread starter DWBass
- Start date
I was gigging quite a lot up until last summer when I quit the band I was in. Just got lame. Then I joined a band 4 months later and that experience was horrible. Quit after 4 gigs. Here we are 6 months later and I get a call to replace a guy. I tentatively agree. BL is the drummer and he's mediocre at best. Guitarist plays loud and quite often the wrong chords. He's got a new keyboardist who does not read music so he's learning while at rehearsal. Plays a toy sounding Casio. Now I was already on the fence about playing anyway, and this puts me over the edge. Can't do it. I told him I'll play the 2 gigs next week but if he can find a guy who cam learn the tunes quick, he's more than welcome to use him. I'm NOT looking forward to playing the gigs.
I'm supposed to play a sub gig in September and am not looking forward to playing that one either! I've been playing for over 40 years. I'm 55 and I'm just about burned out!
I hear ya! I feel that way when it's 2:00 AM and we've played 3 one hour sets and I have 80 miles to drive home after helping pack up all that equipment for about an hour. It causes the mojo to shrivel considerably.
Yeah, pretty much. I used to be pretty gung ho but now I dread it. Probably going to go back to recording my own music. Kinda gave that up about 10 years ago.
Dang bro. If you made it 40 years before hitting the wall, you have done a LOT better than most.
I've hit it several times in 37 years.
What worked for me was "SHAKING THE TREE", or as Monty Python said,
"And NOW for something completely different"
Just take a break, without any foreseen return date in mind. You sound WAY burnt out. Put down the band thing for now. Keep playing by yourself if it still gives you pleasure, if not stop that too for awhile. Forget about music for now. I did, and then I came back. If you are like most of us, in time you'll feel the need to play with a group again, if not, oh well, that was just a long phase in your life, and I'm sure some of it was fun, and you'll always have the memories. Learn to paint or something, anything artful. Just find something else to occupy your creative mind for now, and the itch will probably return. But you may have to be patient. It took me almost three years to come back. Good luck.
CrashClint
I Play Bass therefore I Am
Can I have the white Jazz Bass back that I traded to you... I mean, if you don't plan on using it anymore?
I have a good guitarist and drummer but can't find a serious vocalist at all. We have auditioned over 20 and haven't found a good fit. We do a mix of rock, country and soul and find someone who can do all three.
Can I have the white Jazz Bass back that I traded to you... I mean, if you don't plan on using it anymore?
I have a good guitarist and drummer but can't find a serious vocalist at all. We have auditioned over 20 and haven't found a good fit. We do a mix of rock, country and soul and find someone who can do all three.
OP
on topic with this... DO NOT get rid of your gear.
This is NOT terminal, you will recover.
I sold that bass a while ago. I wish I still had it. There was an issue with the neck, more specifically the fret positions toward the bottom of the neck. I tried to sell it here but a lot of the experts spotted the issue so I ended up selling offsite. This was before I knew my luthier who could have fixed the issue for me. Oh well. I most likely will be selling or trading some of my gear. Not all!Can I have the white Jazz Bass back that I traded to you... I mean, if you don't plan on using it anymore?
I have a good guitarist and drummer but can't find a serious vocalist at all. We have auditioned over 20 and haven't found a good fit. We do a mix of rock, country and soul and find someone who can do all three.
Sort of, though I'm not tired of music, just certain aspects of being in bands. Like you, I've gotten pretty tired of trying to get people to play current party hits. Current party people who know and like current party hits just aren't that reliable, because they currently spend a lot of time partying. And trying to force singers who really like Frank Sinatra into doing some Avicii just isn't a good idea.
Over the past year I've naturally drifted into doing more DJing (where I can play all the Avicii I want and it sounds exactly like it's supposed to), production and sample development. I'm seriously thinking of cutting back on the "real people playing real music on real instruments live" thing to just backing up one singer who doesn't gig often anyway.
Over the past year I've naturally drifted into doing more DJing (where I can play all the Avicii I want and it sounds exactly like it's supposed to), production and sample development. I'm seriously thinking of cutting back on the "real people playing real music on real instruments live" thing to just backing up one singer who doesn't gig often anyway.
- Jan 12, 2011
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Yeah. Right now I’m in an originals band (that also does a few covers) and I’ve been feeling real down on it. The last two gigs we played were in April, one of those was right up there with the worst gig I have ever played, not because I was having issues but because everything else was going bad, and throw in that our lead guitarist was hammered before he even got to the venue, which made for an awful night. We had a band meeting at the next rehearsal after those gigs, and made it clear that I can’t trust people on stage are going to get hammered or not have it together (had some issues with the drummer in the past), and that everyone needs to straighten up and get motivated to put on a good show and write awesome material.
That was early May. We should be rehearsing once a week (usually Saturday but sometimes Sunday), though we do miss an occasional week for whatever reason. We have rehearsed twice since early May. Twice. And both of those were in mid July. Rehearsals keep getting canceled, usually because the drummer and/or guitarist has to work, though some of that was for vacations. We have a radio showcase coming up on Sept 14, I want as many rehearsals as I can between now and then, but we haven’t had one since July 19.
I’m at the point now that I am going to stick it out for the showcase. After that, I don’t know. I guess that will depend on how well the showcase goes and how I feel about it all by then.
Boiling it all down, it’s tough for me to get motivated about this band when we don’t rehearse. But, at the same time if I were to leave the band, I might just take a long break from music and bands, dealing with this has really put a downer on my musical pursuits. So that’s my rant.
Must be something in the air ... I've decided to quit my band (told 'em last week) and I really wanted to take a break from bands for a while. Being stupid, I went out and looked at the ads and replied to one, and I will probably be auditioning for a different band next week. I'm still not sure if I actually want to audition for them, I'd just as soon spend a few months in my room trying to learn to read music and master playing walking bass lines.
I used to be in a great band. That was after 9 years of being in terrible bands. It lasted about 2 years, then fell apart and I ended up in a mediocre band again. And frankly I am tired of it, too. Too many rehearsals, too little gigs and when we do gig, I secretly hope no one sees me cos I'm not even proud to be in said band. Ah well, come November I'll play my last show with this one. And maybe the one I'll audition for will be better
I used to be in a great band. That was after 9 years of being in terrible bands. It lasted about 2 years, then fell apart and I ended up in a mediocre band again. And frankly I am tired of it, too. Too many rehearsals, too little gigs and when we do gig, I secretly hope no one sees me cos I'm not even proud to be in said band. Ah well, come November I'll play my last show with this one. And maybe the one I'll audition for will be better
It isn't your mojo ... your mojo stays with you. Part of this is probably you are just getting older and less willing to put up with OPS.... and after 40 years .. bruh you are long overdue. A break is in order. Finding a group of folks who are all on the same relative page as far as skillset, work ethic, temperment and availabilty is very hard. That you have been able to slug it out as long as you have is a testament to your love of the music and the instrument and that won't change.. It's the other stuff that is getting old that is wearing you down.
There's always tons of turnover in bands in our city, I'm guessing the same is true everywhere. I'd suggest waiting to find one person you click with, guitarist maybe, then the two of you can put a project together. Two people starting a project can share the load, seems to work better in my brief history.
It could be a general trend - playing in bands is getting less and less rewarding as the gigs available shrink in number and pay every year, especially for those who aren't in the top tier. "Guitar groups are on the way out" is more and more true. So, we see less and less reward for our efforts, and less and less reason to keep going.
