Pressure to get better

[singlemalt]

Check out Mark at Talkingbass.com. Tons of free lessons at all levels, along with support materials like tab and standard notation.

Scott’s bass lessons has come light years from it humble start. Try it out for a couple weeks free, do a couple month by month subscriptions. See if it’s for you. The players path is perfect for leveling up skills. Dozens of instructors, on all kinds of subjects.

Everybody starts somewhere. A teacher that clicks with you, within a reasonable distance, is a needle in a hay stack. The online sources available today are amazing.

Check out the local blues jams. Find one or two nearest to you, go make friends. Write down the tunes you hear, go home and learn them. Learn the blues jam lingo. You’ll be up on stage for a few tunes a night. And since there’s on or two bass players for every dozen guitarists, harmonica, sax and singers, you could get a lot of time in.

Sure, blues might not be your end goal, but it’s a great way to get going, get out and meet players. Next thing ya know, you’re playing $50 gigs in sketchy bars.

And ADHD or ADD can be your secret weapon. Bass playing lights you up? Perfect. Jump in.

 

[Wesley R]

Think less. Play more. That's all I've got.

Bingo!

 

[Topkat13]

What bholder said.

 

[Camarillo]

Meditation.
And studying an instrument needs focusing which is meditation somehow.
I love in Europe, in a big city, so I never struggled to find someone to play with or a teacher.
But there are tons of online resources nowadays, and you can take live lessons online too.
Plus, there are apps for rehearsing online. It’s not the same but I would be a start.
Then I tend to think that the universe will send you what you need, good or bad, an experience or a person that makes you grow. You just have to be aware and train your consciousness (with meditation).

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Discover what your strengths are as a bass player and focus on those. Even if it’s only one thing. I have been playing roughly 6 years and do not know music theory. This bothered me. I tried and (like you), was confused by it. I do know that I have a good sense of timing, improvising, and groove, so I focus on keeping those things sharp. But the bottom line is… whatever you do, have FUN! Music is supposed to bring you joy, not stress or pressure. Just my $0.02.

 

[stringthrough]

Relax and count your blessings. You have a job that puts food on the table and a roof over your head. 1/2 the people on this planet worry about where to get their next meal or whether the missle flying over their head will come down on them. Playing bass is a hobby for most of us. Play, improve over time as we all do and keep looking for playout opportunities.

 

[PiquetBass]

Check out Mark at Talkingbass.com. Tons of free lessons at all levels, along with support materials like tab and standard notation.

I'll l definitely second that.... Mark's got a really easy teaching style that gets you the basics, some of the theory, and a really good grounding for each of the things he's teaching in a lesson.
And you can learn at your own pace, join in the online "hangs" and lessons, and find a whole host of licks, techniques, tips and tricks.

 

[lark_z]

+1 on the Hal Leonard Bass book. 30 minutes a day for me when I started. Then in the afternoon another 30-60 minutes learning songs that I liked.

Re - self pressure. I get it BIG TIME. I started playing with my neighbor a few years ago and he thinks I'm great (surprise!). All the little mistakes that I hear, he never hears. It's too easy to get so focused on ourselves that we over criticize ourselves.

Re - Small town. I really get this also. I lived in the same small town 90 minutes from Houston. It's not easy. The Internet can really help.

 

[bholder]

Meditation.
And studying an instrument needs focusing which is meditation somehow.
I love in Europe, in a big city, so I never struggled to find someone to play with or a teacher.
But there are tons of online resources nowadays, and you can take live lessons online too.
Plus, there are apps for rehearsing online. It’s not the same but I would be a start.
Then I tend to think that the universe will send you what you need, good or bad, an experience or a person that makes you grow. You just have to be aware and train your consciousness (with meditation).

Playing music well (for me at least) is kind of a meditation, yes, of a sort, but not the "shut down all thinking" type - more the "be completely mindful and present to what you're doing", including both sides of the brain equally "in the moment". I need the "math" side to keep ticking along counting beats and chords, but "real time", not in abstraction like it usually likes to work. And the "feels" side has to translate the emotions into the sounds, then hand off to the "maths" to get the fingers to the right places. And it takes mindfulness to do both at once and keep in synch. The moment I start thinking abstractly about it or anything, it vanishes and I stumble...

Or something like that. Forgive my "just finished my first cuppa coffee" philosophy! hehe

 

[ebo]

Go see musicians wherever they are, bars or church’s, coffee shops, street corners. Find community. Online is good as well. We’re happy to be here for you. I play along to bass covers with tabs on YouTube. cover solutions is good but there are plenty of others. Learn the grooves but don’t stress about perfection. Keep bass your happy place.

 

[BobDeRosa]

My whole life has been bouncing from one thing to another wasting time and chasing things that don't matter. I have had good paying jobs but they just feel like a slow death. I feel so much guilt for the time wasted and what could have been. My family has a history with depression and ADHD I seem to have gotten some of it so I take medications for this. I workout often, I eat healthy, I keep my body in check, but nothing seems to help. I always end up back to this mindset. I know how stupid it is to think its over because I'm 28, but I just cant shake it.

You're obviously very smart and the paragraph above shows that you have tremendous self-knowledge, which is a great asset. Workouts and good diet are part of the solution, but have you ever talked to a counselor who might help you properly direct your energy?

 

[jthisdell]

Playing with others is the only way for me to improve. Bass is primarily an accompanying instrument so I need to accompany other players, preferably better players in order to improve.

 

[Chrisk-K]

I don't care about success and fame. I just want to live a decent life doing this in some capacity.

Watch “Hired Guns.” After that, if you are still interested in a job as a bass player, get in a band ASAP. Playing only at home won’t get you remotely close to your goal unless you are Davie504.

 

[fhm555]

Think less. Play more. That's all I've got.

^this^

 

[somatose]

I also recommend Josh from Bassbuzz! I bought my first bass when I was 15 but wasn’t able to take lessons. Then life happened, never made the time for it, but kept it anyways in the hopes that I would eventually play. 20 years later I made the time for learning (but wow, it really feels like I wasted those years). Sometimes I mentally kick myself about it, thinking, “man, I would be SO MUCH better had I started sooner!” So, keep with it =)

Early on, I browsed the many videos online - but purchasing and working through the Bassbuzz course did wonders for both improving my technique and connecting theory to playing with others. IF you do go that route, I recommend playing with the backing tracks in the course extras to really solidify what you learn in the video lessons. Hang in there!

 

[And I]

Seems less about getting good at the bass -- which will come with time and effort -- than about putting less pressure on yourself to get good at the bass and establish yourself as a performing musician. These internal struggles can be tough -- especially for creatives. I would suggest talk therapy as an excellent way to "figure yourself out".

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Get a five year plan of where you want to be in that time and make decisions / plans as to whether it will get you closer or further from that goal. You live in the best of times for learning something new. Free stuff on YouTube, tons of cheap online lessons, etc. Make good use of those, but in my opinion, in-person lessons will get you closer to your goal more quickly. If you're two hours from Atlanta, look at it as "Yay! I'm two hours from Atlanta". Even if you can only swing a lesson per month or whatever might be available, it's worth the drive. The most important skill for a musician, and I wish I knew this when I was starting out, is networking, networking, networking. Make connections, and don't just list yourself to other bassists. A drummer or guitarist is more likely to be looking for a bassist than another bassist.

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

I don’t have time to read the thread so far, but if you can familiarize yourself the a basic knowledge of the keyboard and the fundamentals of music it can help your understanding of everything we do on the bass. You don’t have to learn the piano, just how music works.

 

[Bass Momma]

Look, I’m 71, started bass at 60, with literally no previous music experience. So you’re a minimum of 32 years ahead of me. Take a breath.
You have a computer. You can find a teacher online. I did that for ~8 years. DM me if you want a recommendation. Pick up your bass every day. Keep at it. And breathe!

 

[Killing Floor]

Keep it up. Motivation is challenging without goals. So first thing is to set goals. Play a song you think is out of reach. Break it into a bar at a time and suddenly it’s not. Keep working on relationships with other musicians. Good luck.
Also, you don’t need to be an exceptional player to be in a band.