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Rate Yourself.....
- Thread starter DWBass
- Start date
The more you learn, the more you réalise the mountain of knowledge is infinite.
As a guy who plays music, I'm competent. As a performer I might go so far as to call myself an expert. As a guy who knows music I am intermediate at best.
I'm usually competent, but after six months of not having practiced, I'm no better than intermediate.
BTW, the sequencing of ratings does not seem logical. Intermediate and Competent seem to mean the same thing.
BTW, the sequencing of ratings does not seem logical. Intermediate and Competent seem to mean the same thing.
- Dec 13, 1999
- 11,736
- 8,941
- 70
- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
Literally the apex of this whole thing. The carrots of humanity. Hey, I learned a long time ago never give yourself a poor rating.
Not to me. Competent means you can do any job not expected of a specialist and intermediate means you're still learning to be able to do that.
That's always been my usage, anyway.
There are a few aspects I'm very good for, some that I'm pretty good for, others less so, some that I just about get by on and plenty that continue to elude me. So, in the absence of an 'all of the above' option, the only other truthful answer might be 'Improving'.
YMMV
YMMV
I'd just like to point out that it's a short trip from Virtuoso to Carrots.
The more I learn the worse I get. In a sense I am way better than in the mid-80’s but the more I play and see others play better I suck.
I'd like to imagine I'm intermediate? I'm probably more of a beginner. Darn my lack of evolution!
Good enough to get myself in over my head on a regular basis, and then fake my way out of it
I haven't progressed much since I learned the pentatonic scale 
- Jan 26, 2014
- 768
- 1,555
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist;DNA Amplification, GHS strings
I voted intermediate. I guess it really depends on the genre. I would think I'm a little over adequate playing rock/metal, not expert though. I've gotten a lot of compliments from other bass players, but I'm still pushing myself to improve. Funk averages it out to intermediate. I listen to them and, honestly, I'm jealous of the feel. I just don't have that in me. Maybe if I played a bunch of it, it would get better. I've played some flea stuff but when I listen to guys that really play funk, it blows my mind.
It’s relatively easy to go from zero to beginner. It takes more time to go from beginner to intermediate. It takes a long time to get from intermediate to competent. At this point, you’re maybe 90% of the way there. Still, going from competent to expert takes a very, very long time - just to cover a less than 10% more. To get from expert to virtuoso, you need also need to be born with something special and put in tons of time.
I'm playing at 9 services at 5 different church locations within 3 weekends. Yes, December is a busy time for church musicians, but whatever I am, I'm in demand. Not a virtuoso, but a fair number of people seem to think I'm pretty good.
It’s funny. I know so much more about music, songwriting, theory, technique etc.. now, but honestly I think I was best when I knew just enough (scales, fills, whatever). It felt more honest.
