Good morning talkbass world. I have been playing on and off for about seven years but very seriously for the last three. During the last three years I have played for a Church band and a youth band from the same Church. Lots of Hillsong United, Desperation Band, Chris Tomlin, modern CCM stuff. I have always practiced consistently but during the last six months I have had very little motivation to do so. I still loved playing live but I just couldn't seem to enjoy practicing on my own. I would sit down to practice every night like always but I honestly began to dread it and I wasn't getting better (although I wasn't getting worse).
So finally about two months ago I decided to switch things up. I went to our Church's sanctuary and played by myself for about four hours, during which I completely changed my tone. I went from a very creamy, warm, tubey kind of tone to a much more bright, punchy tone. Since then I have stopped relying on pedals and effects for my tone and have stripped down to just my bass, a fuzz pedal(used rarely) and tuner pedal going straight into my amp.
I absolutely LOVE my new tone. It fits the music we do but also I find that I have trouble NOT practicing. When I pick up my bass I am almost taken to another place. I can sit down and play for hours without thinking or worrying about anything else and not have any of the motivation problems like before. Its almost like I am "in the zone".
So for me my tone was preventing me from enjoying practicing and I didn't even realize it. Now I am consistently enjoying practicing and getting better. So what is it that motivates you to practice? Have any of you ever went through a period where you didn't have motivation to practice? How did you work through that period of time?
So finally about two months ago I decided to switch things up. I went to our Church's sanctuary and played by myself for about four hours, during which I completely changed my tone. I went from a very creamy, warm, tubey kind of tone to a much more bright, punchy tone. Since then I have stopped relying on pedals and effects for my tone and have stripped down to just my bass, a fuzz pedal(used rarely) and tuner pedal going straight into my amp.
I absolutely LOVE my new tone. It fits the music we do but also I find that I have trouble NOT practicing. When I pick up my bass I am almost taken to another place. I can sit down and play for hours without thinking or worrying about anything else and not have any of the motivation problems like before. Its almost like I am "in the zone".
So for me my tone was preventing me from enjoying practicing and I didn't even realize it. Now I am consistently enjoying practicing and getting better. So what is it that motivates you to practice? Have any of you ever went through a period where you didn't have motivation to practice? How did you work through that period of time?
