Hi Patrick, after playing electric professionally for some years now I've recently started playing DB, I completed a bachelors degree in music last year with honours, I have a teacher and am making pretty swift progress having already worked on things like ear training, reading etc previously and obviously working on simandl and bottesini's methods, I'm faced with a decision, though, I think i'd like to pursue DB professionally (keeping electric more on the back burner) and work mainly in jazz but do some amateur symphony work to keep my bow and reading skills up, the problem is i'm 26 and wondering whether it's too late/risky to go down that path? Any advice?
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Some Possible Career Advice
- Thread starter BassBluesNRoots
- Start date
I'm not Patrick, but just my 2 cents.
If you absolutely must. If its the only thing you envision yourself doing and you are
just totally dead stubborn about it. Otherwise, I would think about music as something
you love to do, but make a living some other way...
If you absolutely must. If its the only thing you envision yourself doing and you are
just totally dead stubborn about it. Otherwise, I would think about music as something
you love to do, but make a living some other way...
That's not what I really was aiming at, i've already made that commitment on electric, i'm asking is there still time for me to turn pro on upright.
Yeah, I hear you. You're 26 etc. I'm saying, if you really are powerfully compelled to do so, than just go for it. Time? Depends on how quickly you learn. You're not a beginner...
if you were a complete beginner, I would say maybe not. But, that being said, I know folks who've been playing for 15 to 20 years, and make it into the finals at major symphony auditions, yet still don't have a job. Not to discourage you. I would say, making a actual living...in the US particularly, but also in Europe at the moment, can be a challenge. So, risky? yes. Hopefully things will look up, musically in the next 10 years!
if you were a complete beginner, I would say maybe not. But, that being said, I know folks who've been playing for 15 to 20 years, and make it into the finals at major symphony auditions, yet still don't have a job. Not to discourage you. I would say, making a actual living...in the US particularly, but also in Europe at the moment, can be a challenge. So, risky? yes. Hopefully things will look up, musically in the next 10 years!
Hi!
There's never a bad time to enter the market of playing the bass. 26 is young and you have the rest of your life! As EkSpain says, commitment is the underlying factor for all endeavors. Certainly to be a classical orchestral bassist, it helps to get on that train early, but there more experience you have the more marketable you will be in any genre of music. So it is never to late to learn, try, do, practice, gig, and mostly, have fun!....
Best to you!
Patrick
There's never a bad time to enter the market of playing the bass. 26 is young and you have the rest of your life! As EkSpain says, commitment is the underlying factor for all endeavors. Certainly to be a classical orchestral bassist, it helps to get on that train early, but there more experience you have the more marketable you will be in any genre of music. So it is never to late to learn, try, do, practice, gig, and mostly, have fun!....
Best to you!
Patrick
Hi,
I started learning bass when I was 23, changed my career from industrial chemist to musician at 26, was a full time pro at 28 and in the same orchestra for the next thirty-two years. Music has given me a more satisfying life and life style than that of a chemist. Times are tougher now for you younger guys than they were for me but, like others have said above, if you understand the risks and and still feel driven then go for it!!! Work hard and work smart.
Best of luck,
DP
I started learning bass when I was 23, changed my career from industrial chemist to musician at 26, was a full time pro at 28 and in the same orchestra for the next thirty-two years. Music has given me a more satisfying life and life style than that of a chemist. Times are tougher now for you younger guys than they were for me but, like others have said above, if you understand the risks and and still feel driven then go for it!!! Work hard and work smart.
Best of luck,
DP
