No Desire to Play Any Longer

[Bass Momma]

First, that's OK. The idea is that you enjoy it.

That said. I went through a long, long period where I couldn't listen to music. Just found it irritating. I did my practice, but wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it, just relied on discipline. I was faking it, really. Then my teacher gave me a huge drop of jazz CDs (I'd been mainly playing blues/Motown). That got me back to listening. Then I started paying attention to what it was I really liked listening to. Couldn't name it for a long time (still have trouble!). But I knew I wanted to play it. So now I'm working like a dog trying to sharpen my chops for "fusion" / "modern" / ECM jazz. WAY WAY above my pay grade. But it's what's keeping me at the coal face.

You may find something like that, or not. In either case, that's fine. "To thine own self be true." Good luck.

 

[PB-Padawan]

To clarify, I haven't read any other comments in the thread so far, so with that in mind:

If you're not playing professionally or something, then don't force it. I myself had a time, almost 2 years without really playing any instrument at all. Now I became sort of obsessed again. If it's not your job or something don't overthink about it, you might be burnout of playing, you might want to do different things, try to accept that, do other stuff and eventually you'll grab your instrument with whole new eyes and a different approach. You might even feel more enjoyment than you did before.

 

[Hambone70]

I was motivated when in a band. Unfortunately, bands have other people in them, and that now ruins it for me.

As bass leaves a lot to be desired as a solo instrument, I'm taking up fingerstyle acoustic guitar. Certainly a lot harder than bass, but proving to be fun and fulfilling.

 

[burgerdj]

Take a break. Develop a new skill or hobby. Music will be here when you get back.

 

[bolophonic]

I played my heart out for ~15 years and hit a brick wall. Just out of the blue... a complete lack of motivation. I took a couple of years off and took up the congas instead. Once I plateaued on congas, I found myself resuming my bass activities and I found myself to be a much stronger player after my sabbatical. It's been 20 years since I re-started and I've never lost interest again.

 

[Mastermold]

Been there. Didn't play for about 15 years.
Still had a bass and amp, picked my bass up one day and realized I missed it.
Don't worry about it.

I took a break for about 12 years when I went off to grad school and started a career. Came back to music later as a hobby and starting getting into bands again about 15 years ago. Nothing wrong with taking a break so long as you're not dependent on music to survive, life's circumstances sometimes require changes.

 

[sabre79]

I haven't touched my bass or guitar in about a year. There's no explanation. I loved playing and even plan on building a bass from a kit but, I just don't feel like getting the thing out.

Zero motivation. I bought some bass music books to work on since I've always enjoyed doing that but still don't feel like getting started.

This is the damndest thing. No, I'm not on any type of medication. Nope, not depressed. I loved playing bass - just can't do it right now.

Anybody else afflicted with this type of musical "impotence"????

For about 20 years I stopped playing only picking up the bass once every couple of months for 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Then I got into recording only using a keyboard even for the bass parts. I stopped doing that. About 10 years ago, I cut my fretting hand and fingers. I lost some feeling in one of my fingers and I thought I'd never play again. After 6 months, I picked up the bass and started playing to MP3's and YouTube videos. I have been playing 1 - 2 hours a day almost every day since.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

As bass leaves a lot to be desired as a solo instrument, I'm taking up fingerstyle acoustic guitar. Certainly a lot harder than bass, but proving to be fun and fulfilling.

Another opportunity that's adjacent to bass without being bass is to pick up a touchstyle instrument such as a Chapman Stick or NS/Stick (as pictured in my avatar). I worked on playing one of Bach's easier contrapuntal inventions on the NS/Stick, and my brain broke in a very good way learning to play complementary melodies with each hand.

A "proper" stick will have you turned inside out: The bass strings are in fifths and reversed, while the treble strings are in fourths. I'm told that you very quickly learn to play the basslines in this manner, but I wasn't prepared to make that far of a leap.

 

[Mastermold]

For about 20 years I stopped playing only picking up the bass once every couple of months for 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Then I got into recording only using a keyboard even for the bass parts. I stopped doing that. About 10 years ago, I cut my fretting hand and fingers. I lost some feeling in one of my fingers and I thought I'd never play again. After 6 months, I picked up the bass and started playing to MP3's and YouTube videos. I have been playing 1 - 2 hours a day almost every day since.

View attachment 4783237

My "like" pertained to your recovery -- not your gruesome injury!!

 

[Derry Murbles]

Been there as well- Don't sweat it. I ended up getting into rock climbing for a while and set the bass down for couple years. It was actually pretty refreshing (in hindsight) to step away for a bit.

For whatever reason, playing bass with what I had and where I was became stale.

But after a brief hiatus pursuing some other hobbies and generally solidifying other aspects of my life (financial, relationship, home, professional), the itch to play returned.

Since then I've joined a new band and am currently exploring new aspects of gear and live sound that I'd probably not have been able to afford a few years back. New amp rig/bass over the past year, selling some other things to make room (vinyls, climbing gear)…. So the cycle goes.

Enjoy your time away from bass for a while. It'll always be there when you're ready again.

 

[rashrader]

Yup. it happens. Maybe you'll get out of it, maybe you won't. Good luck.

 

[J Wilson]

I beat my head and heart soft for over 20 years chasing gigs, practicing, rehearsing, gigging . . . . . and while I did take a break or two in those years, in 2008 it was obvious my High Water Mark had passed years back, and I couldn't really give a good reason why I was still staring down drunks, coming home at 3AM, working with clueless 'musicians', the whole ball of wax, except it was just habit . . . and I walked away.

Amazingly, there's a whole world out there of Things I Missed. I got new interests, music and the Muzik Bidniss is a completely different world than the one I came of age in, and I found I didn't miss it, and really don't fit in any more. There's no premium on playing or musicianship, it's all BS and Red Solo Cups, so I'm hopelessly out of touch and too damn old. I had my day, and now it's a new day, and the younger cats are doing their thing, just like I did. This is as it should be, and now is their time, not mine.

I still love to play (around the house, occasionally, when I get the itch), but I'll never gig again, period. I had enough, and in Nashville, there are lots of replacement rats to fill my spot in that rat race.

 

[MrLenny1]

It comes and goes Mon!

 

[Hambone70]

26719930[/URL], member: 389550"]I beat my head and heart soft for over 20 years chasing gigs, practicing, rehearsing, gigging . . . . . and while I did take a break or two in those years, in 2008 it was obvious my High Water Mark had passed years back, and I couldn't really give a good reason why I was still staring down drunks, coming home at 3AM, working with clueless 'musicians', the whole ball of wax, except it was just habit . . . and I walked away.

Amazingly, there's a whole world out there of Things I Missed. I got new interests, music and the Muzik Bidniss is a completely different world than the one I came of age in, and I found I didn't miss it, and really don't fit in any more. There's no premium on playing or musicianship, it's all BS and Red Solo Cups, so I'm hopelessly out of touch and too damn old. I had my day, and now it's a new day, and the younger cats are doing their thing, just like I did. This is as it should be, and now is their time, not mine.

I still love to play (around the house, occasionally, when I get the itch), but I'll never gig again, period. I had enough, and in Nashville, there are lots of replacement rats to fill my spot in that rat race.

That's fantastic insight. I still see too many cringeworthy granddad bands that should have quit years ago. Sometimes it's just time to move on.

 

[pingvuiini]

After recording a CD with a band in 1997 the guitar player suddenly split and moved away. I sold all my gear except for one bass and used the money to buy top end photography equipment and spent 7 years doing indoor sports photography. This allowed me to exercise the visually artistic side of my own self, and done learned me how to travel all over the werld. After 911 it got very difficult to travel with all that expensive camera stuff so I sold it all and made a slow return to music which occupies me to this day. Taking an extended break from music is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[baileyboy]

I'm not feeling it these days either. When my last band went their separate ways, I lost the "means to an end", essentially, practicing/rehearsing for gigs. I thought about getting with another band, but it's short-lived. I don't miss the camaraderie and gigging as much as I thought I would. To motivate myself, I've committed myself to playing just family events, BBQs with other family members, but it just hasn't materialized; we've all got such busy lives and live pretty far apart. So I find myself plugging in for 10-15 minutes a day just to run through 3-4 songs from the set list we once played. I have given thought to selling all my gear and giving it all up, but I did that once before and regretted it. Maybe joining a band would give you some motivation to continue?

 

[juancaminos]

I too have had a few slumps, the longest lasted about 5 years. Part of the reason is that I am not a bedroom player. Being on stage is what I live for. So unless I am brushing up on old or new set list songs I have zero desire to play at home.

If you don't have a current desire then don't force it. Lay off for a while but look for a band to join.

 

[J Wilson]

That's fantastic insight. I still see too many cringeworthy granddad bands that should have quit years ago. Sometimes it's just time to move on.

I've seen a few, and the idea that could still be me actually scared me. I had my turn, and now I have more and more interesting pursuits.

 

[DrayMiles]

I took 3 years off…
Miles Davis took 5 years off…

Take a break. If it's meant to be it'll come back…

 

[The Owl]

I haven't touched my bass or guitar in about a year. There's no explanation. I loved playing and even plan on building a bass from a kit but, I just don't feel like getting the thing out.

Zero motivation. I bought some bass music books to work on since I've always enjoyed doing that but still don't feel like getting started.

This is the damndest thing. No, I'm not on any type of medication. Nope, not depressed. I loved playing bass - just can't do it right now.

Anybody else afflicted with this type of musical "impotence"????

Been there, done that. I had an unplanned 6 year silence once, even got rid of my gear altogether after the first year. I felt like I had nothing to say musically and couldn't come up with anything halfway interesting or memorable.

Then just as mysteriously as it vanished, the muse came back, and I found my sound and gear preferences had radically changed for the better.