I wasn't sure where on TB to put this so I thought I'd go with this forum.
I'm really curious about what players consider their personal aspiration for playing the bass?
Let me give you some background ...
I've recently landed a gig as the "First Sunday" bass player in my church. I'll also be doing some playing with our various choirs when they travel and for special events. I've been working hard to learn the songs and I'm very comfortable that I'll be able to do an excellent job in this role.
Although the material is challenging for me as an intermediate bassist, there's nothing here that will (ever) require me to become the next incarnation of Jaco or Stanley -- and guess what -- I am TOTALLY cool with that.
Understanding that one always wants to get better (and that is my continuing goal), I am realistic about the fact that I am never going to become a Bass virtuoso. More importantly, with a full-time job and being a divorced parent, I am not able or willing to devote the kind of time that it would take to do so. It's hard enough for me to carve out 45 minutes a day to practice.
Having said that, I don't think I need to have Wooten-esque chops to enjoy playing the bass and that is NOT my aspiration. I just want to play well, have my bass ideas make musical sense, and hold down the groove. If I can do that every time I play, it will be a great thing.
I am wondering -- how many other folks here are in about the same boat as me? That is, "You play well enough to be good enough -- and that's good enough for you."
Nice post.
Me, I enjoyed trying to become a virtuoso.
I combined the either/or statement to become an "and" type of statement!
Ultimately, the music of virtuosos, while interesting, enjoyable, respectable, appreciable and musical, is not necessarily the music I gravitate to for listening enjoyment.
I used to buy everything that had Jaco on it, and at one point, I had about 70% of the material available for purchase. I haven't bought any (new to me) Jaco stuff in about a decade, and didn't build off my Jaco collection with similar efforts to collect the works of other virtuoso bass heroes, with the exception of Level 42 (Mark King). I used to aspire to "be" Jaco years ago, in respect and awe, but no longer. I still aspire to "be" Mark King, but just try finding non-bassist musicians who are into that band!
I think my playing/practicing has followed a similar trend. I still enjoy Jaco, and I run through the Level 42 catalogue regularly, but I'm listening to and playing different things. I have an admittedly wider scope of listening now, for the most part. I guess I got to the point that I realized that learning something new on the bass didn't and shouldn't automatically equate to something more difficult and chop-busting than the last "most difficult and chop busting" thing. Where does that road lead???? Even if I could play "Portrait of Tracy" or "Teentown" I feel there is much to be said for listening and learning something much different, and in a sense "easier" than those two.
For many years now, if there's been one artist/bassist who's been on my mind, it's been James Taylor, and his bassists, Lee Sklar and Jimmy Johnson. While these bass lines and songs are not necessarily the stuff of virtuosos, per se, the music has magic to it. That, and I just seem to gravitate to music with vocals in it and vocal harmonies. To me, that would include James Taylor, CSN, Hall and Oates, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and a whole slew of rock, pop, R&B, soul, folk, country and musics that are some hybrid of these. I think probably the biggest thing is that I'm not only a bass player, but also a singer, so that hugely influences my tastes and approach as a bass player too.
I feel sure those earlier years of chasing Jaco and Mark King have done me well in the long term, as it helped build technique and ability that has been helpful across a broad spectrum of music. The virtuoso approach helped my ear and my technique.
I probably do play well enough to be good enough, as you state, for the music I enjoy most, but I also want to grow and learn new music and throw myself in different situations as much as possible. I differ perhaps in that "well enough to be good enough" really isn't good enough for me. I still aspire to be the best bass player I can be, but I no longer automatically think that must automatically must occur through the mastery or efforts of recreating the lines/works of those that are generally regarded as "bass heroes/bass virtuosos." These days, I think I'm a much better musician, even if I might not think I'm an outright better bassist, technically-speaking, when I was running through the Jaco catalogue 24/7 way back when.
