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My regret as a bass player

#41
There are several things that you mentioned that struck home with me. I am 57 and just recently started creating my own Brand for myself. I'm an older guy I prefer 70's, 80's and 90's funk and I think I'm badazz! I have a tude if you will. I will never be famous or fortunate as far as my bass playing goes because I have a well paying day job and at the going rate for touring bassists they couldn't afford me anyway. I have a pension looming, good benefits, health insurance and I support a family. There is no shame in that. I look at Fame and Fortune as simply that. Some cats are famous, fortunate or both and make a decent living at it. On the real though, those cats have no real home life as they are always on the road. To live that life requires a total committment and everything else is secondary. You are married to your instrument and that lifestyle. I never really cared about being famous. There are guys like myself who are unsung and play just as well as the well known touring bassists out there. There is no shame in being a weekend Warrior. Concerning being a bass player that's out front and with a lot of chops, I say why not be that guy. If you get flack about it, which I have, just pick and choose your gigs. If you want to be the man, get your own gigs and just hire guys to play with you. There are many working/starving professionals that will happily play with you and play your music where you standing out if you pay them. When they come off tour they play the same places you play because they have that car note or electric bill etc. If I had it to do over I would not change a thing when I think about my family, wife, children and the sacrifices all would have to make had I became a full time working pro. The electric bass although no longer in it's infancy is evolving into a lead as well as a background instrument. I play Funk so I have always been up front and sometimes get angry when I see other forms of music where the bassist is just a background guy, stuck in the back, in a corner somewhere while other guys that play "lead instruments" revel in their Narcicissim ( spelling?). And as others have stated the ones harping in your playing are simply haters. Ignore them. avoid them and just play your azz off.
 
#42
heynorm said:
Thanks, Jimmy! I'm 62 and resumed gigging in '86 after a 10 year hiatus to start a career and raise a family. I know the feeling of listening to old tapes from the early 70's when I may have been more daring and inventive. These days it's mainly basic classic country and rock oldies, but, at times, I like to step out of my comfort zone and jam with some of the young cats. Covers can pay bills but originals and learning from the newbies can be very mind-cleansing and renewing. Young bassists, listen to the past masters, learn from them, build and be true to your own music, too!
Click to expand...

Ah yes listening to old tapes.

Who was that masked bassist? I did That?

It's like cleaning out my old homework problems. It's my handwriting.
 
#43
I am 51. I had exactly the same experiences. Fortunately, I have a great day job and bass is a great weekend warrior hobby. I got my one "15 minutes of fame" on a PBS television special.

That was a great experience. Among other lessons learned, I found out that my psychology does not handle the stress of the hustle it takes to be a bass player for a primary occupation. But I'm still a damn good bass player, and I enjoy being a big fish in a little pond where I live.

Look at it from another perspective: think about how much stress is not there when all you have to do is play the chart, whether written, tabs, lead sheet, off the recording, whatever, and can "hide" beside the drummer. If you make the front man sound good, then you get to play next week. And after all, isn't getting to play what it is really all about? Even if we do complain about playing "Mustang Sally" 1,287,496 + times?
 
#45
First off.................outstanding writing, JimmyM!!!!!!!! You express yourself in an excellent manner! Spoken from your heart.

I was getting ready to say this but you already said it.

Quote.................

"I'll also be the first to tell them the realities of getting a paycheck from playing music, and that is if you're looking for people to hire you, give them what they want in return for the money you want or they will find someone else."

Unquote...............

Sadly, this is the reality of being a musician/artist. We play an instrument or do art as a service to please people and not to please ourselves. So, when we're on stage, we are playing for an audience and not up there playing for ourselves. Our job is to entertain the audience and not ourselves.

That pretty much means playing music that's not very exciting to us. SUCKS!

But, unless if we want to work a "day job" so that we can play our kind of music at night or stave to death as a musician................I guess we have to to please the masses and fit ourselves into some kind of "mold". SUCKS!

(I'd love to play bass in an instrumental surf rock band! How many do you think would show up for the shows? Can you hear my stomach growl?)

Sadly again, most of the world loves............"sheety music"! and we end up having to play it!

I really admire the small, small list of musicians and artists that can have commerical success doing "their own thing".

On the top of that list is Frank Zappa, IMHO. An artist true to his values, taste and art and yet had a fairly large following and made an excellent living.

What a compromise we bass players have to make! Trying to please an audience and other band members and yet feeling un-gratified playing the bass.

Thank-you, JimmyM for your heart felt expression and advice to younger bass players.
 
#49
Good Points.
Your listed references (John Entwistle, Chris Squire, Mel Schacher, Bootsy, Ronnie Lane, Gary Thain, Louis Johnson, Mars Cowling, Stanley Clarke, Andy West, Jaco, Bruce Thomas, Grahm Maby) PROVE that you can "stick to your guns" and be a unique & creative bass player and still be successful. Of course, like all other human endeavors, those stories are "few and far between" the norm. It all depends on how much YOU (and your dependents) are willing to sacrifice (eat, have a place to live, etc...); how unique & creative YOU actually are; how lucky YOU are; and YOUR ability to attract and keep an audience.
It seems it is now both easier (home studios & the internet) AND harder (public not wanting to pay for music and the internet) to be successful in music than it ever has been.
It's never too late until you're in the ground.....
 
#50
So if I can sum up in my own words:

Give the people what they want when you have to in order to pay the bills.
Make time to do your own thing your own way, even if nobody else appreciates it. You never know what might come of it.

The hardest part is finding the time and energy to keep both of those streams going while you're focused on paying the bills and feeding the kids. And I think that's kind of what Jimmy is getting at. Try not to let the necessary stuff completely replace explroation.

I might also add that if you're young and eager, you probably do have a lot to learn about good taste and playing for the song. But that doesn't mean you have to give up your personality. It takes work, but it *is* possible to be both the rock steady security blanket your bandmates need and still express yourself. IMO the guys who manage that are truly gifted. Not everybody can do it, but we can strive for it.
 
#51
+1 Jimmy. Our dreams are our own and nobody elses. Its up to us to make them happen. Its also about balance. Most good shredder bassists can play a solid supporting role when its called for. The wisdom is knowing when to cut loose & when to lay back.

Dennis
 
#53
georgiagoodie said:
Good Points.
Your listed references (John Entwistle, Chris Squire, Mel Schacher, Bootsy, Ronnie Lane, Gary Thain, Louis Johnson, Mars Cowling, Stanley Clarke, Andy West, Jaco, Bruce Thomas, Grahm Maby) PROVE that you can "stick to your guns" and be a unique & creative bass player and still be successful. Of course, like all other human endeavors, those stories are "few and far between" the norm.
Click to expand...

Absolutely true. A lot of it is fate I think. If Entwistle had been with any other band, what are the chances he'd become a big star? In The Who, his thing worked. With a different group of guys, chances are it would have been a train wreck. Sometimes you just get lucky... but that's why you try to keep the fire burning even while you're doing what's necessary to get steady work.
 
#56
Great post, Jimmy.

I've always felt that the best bassists were the ones who could gracefully balance both sides of the bassist brain - the Squire/Entwistle side with the Dunn/Babbit side. Players like, for instance, Lee Sklar or Tony Levin who can go from super out-there to super foundational at the drop of a hat. Those players are not just gracing stadium gigs, though. They're playing local bars, garages and picnics. They're sitting at home playing for fun. They're working the trenches in wedding bands.

The whole idea of a "music business" is not that old and is ever-evolving. Music used to be a part of almost every household and was practiced not because of the promise of financial reward, but because it was just something people did. People just got together and played music - without judgement or competition and without dreams of making it "big".

When you start thinking about how you want to define success personally and strip your dreams down from "I need to be a STAR" to "I need to be happy", you'll find that we can reach quite a bit of success musically, even if it's not our main source of income. If music happens to be your main source, but it's not the music you'd like to be playing, just think how lucky you are to be able to play for fun AND profit. The important thing, as Jimmy so beautifully wrote, is to play the things that get you excited any time you can because that's the stuff that counts - even if only two dozen people ever hear it.
 
#59
Great OP, JimmyM!

I would just add that the ultra-traditional "play the root, the whole root, and nothing but the root" attitude is not confined just to other bassists - not by a longshot. But great, inspired playing is...great, inspired playing - no matter what kind of guff & pushback one might receive while trying to develop it and perfect it.

The more groundbreaking, innovative, progressive and out-of-the-box your musicianship is, the more you should expect to receive resistance to it. That's just the way the human herd mentality works: people will automatically resist change - any kind of change. And they will gang up against you in order to get their point across.

Consider that even the likes of McCartney, Entwistle, Squire, Graham, Bootsy, Maby and many others might well have had the creative spirit pummeled out of them - if they had not associated themselves with other highly creative, innovative, open-minded & tolerant musicians. :hmm:

At the end of the day, if you have something special to say with your playing, don't expect to find a ready-made, pre-existing opportunity just sitting there, waiting for your arrival. Ninety-nine times out of 100, you will have to create your own opportunities; forge your own path.

MM
 

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