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What Is the difference between a Professional Bass and a Bass player.

lx_night

lx_night

Sep 3, 2008
631
81
Oklahoma city
#1
What makes a professional a pro.
In your opinion of course
What are the qualities/traits that make someone a professional player.

Many people have different perspectives about how a professional should behave or interact with others, i would like to hear them.

What is your take on this? Discuss. (ill post my opinion later on in the thread)
 
#2
Literally?

A bass player is just a person who plays bass, any person. Hobbyists, novices, people in bands, etc.

A professional bass player is a subsection of the above. These are the people who play bass as their primary source of income.
 
#4
Yakob said:
Literally?

A bass player is just a person who plays bass, any person. Hobbyists, novices, people in bands, etc.

A professional bass player is a subsection of the above. These are the people who play bass as their primary source of income.
Click to expand...

Great point, perhaps i did not express myself correctly.

Let me put it this way, There are some bass players that Are professional but in the eyes of others they are not because of certain reasons.

Besides being able to play or making playing your main source of income, What do you think are the qualities that a Pro must have?
 
#5
This is simple. A pro makes enough money that he can live off his playing, playing is his job. Just like when your a pro skater or basketball player your not flipping burgers on the side.

I make 100$ a month gigging and that pays for my gas and a meal where i am playing but i am young and its just for fun, i am just a bass player. Someday i would like to be a pro, maybe it means i barely scrape by but if i can afford rent , food, electricity etc by playing then i would consider myself a pro.
 
#7
lx_night said:
Great point, perhaps i did not express myself correctly.

Let me put it this way, There are some bass players that Are professional but in the eyes of others they are not because of certain reasons.

Besides being able to play or making playing your main source of income, What do you think are the qualities that a Pro must have?
Click to expand...

None , pete wentz is a professional bass player. His profession and the way he makes money is through his bass playing, if you can call it that. If your a pro it has to be your main source fo income because it is thus your profession.
 
#8
I guess we are in agreement then. A professional would is someone who is good enough to live off his knowledge in music.

In my opinion.
A professional is someone who can excel in his instrument without being limited to one style of music.
Someone who can adapt to different people.
Someone who can follow leadership.
Someone who is humble about his knowledge in music.
And of course, be in sync with the drums!
 
#11
A-Step-Towards said:
None , pete wentz is a professional bass player. His profession and the way he makes money is through his bass playing, if you can call it that. If your a pro it has to be your main source fo income because it is thus your profession.
Click to expand...

So does it matter if the player is skillful/talented or not?

If someone is bad at their profession but still manages make some source of income, then that makes him a professional because he lives from his profession?

Even if the player sucks but gets paid for it he is a pro?
 
#14
StrangerDanger said:
I heard the term semi-pro thrown around about a drummer. Whats a semi-pro drummer?
Click to expand...

These terms mean different things to different people. Per the above, a 'professional' bass player is one who plays bass for a living, and doesn't really connote 'skill' or how well you play (although there is obviously a correlation between the two).

Semi-Pro is usually used to describe a highly skilled player who plays at a relatively high level, but has another source of income (i.e., as good as the best full time players out there, but only playing part time). Many Semi-Pro players were at one point full time 'professional' players.

Next in line down the food chain is the player usually described as a 'part time player' or 'weekend warrior'. These players typically play with other similarly skilled players, and most have never played professionally. These are the guys who need to rehearse with a band and learn the 30 tunes they play over and over again, etc. Most don't read, and most don't have any sort of formal training in music theory, etc.

Finally, there are the hobby-ists, who often don't even play out, and have limited skill or interest in developing into even 'part time player' status.

IMO.... labels are not that useful, but that is my understanding of how these terms are used and what they mean to most players.
 
#15
lx_night said:
So does it matter if the player is skillful/talented or not?

If someone is bad at their profession but still manages make some source of income, then that makes him a professional because he lives from his profession?

Even if the player sucks but gets paid for it he is a pro?
Click to expand...


Whether one sucks is a matter of ones opinion.
They either do, or do not get paid; there is no interpretive emotion to the matter, unless of course this is just a device to justify how bad someone you think sucks based off your own criteria. If that’s the case, there’s really no point to the thread at all.
 
#16
lx_night said:
So does it matter if the player is skillful/talented or not?

If someone is bad at their profession but still manages make some source of income, then that makes him a professional because he lives from his profession?

Even if the player sucks but gets paid for it he is a pro?
Click to expand...

Correct.... although not 'some source of income', but rather bass playing is that person's PRIMARY source of income. That is what is typically meant by 'are you a professional or not?'. If you kick as*, but have another job as your primary source of income, that usually is described as 'semi-pro', which has more of a 'skill' connotation that the term 'professional', which just means it is what you do to make a living.
 
#17
hi.
ive been pretty sure for a long time i was going to get an precision deluxe, but after reading all the terrible reviews about faulty deluxe basses, im terrified to do so.

i play in a semi professional band and im in need of a good bass and i love precision tone and all the deluxe feutures seemd rigt for me( singlecoilpup, activ/passive and so on)
im needing a new one in the next couple of months and i need some suggestions on what to do:P
should i get one of the new ones?
get another model?
try finding an older precision on ebay?

any response is strongly apreciated:)
 
#18
OK, so Im a Weekend Warrior or PTPer who now plays in a 3 piece with a Semi-Pro Guitarist/singer and a Semi-Pro Drummer, also playing with another 4 piece with a Semi Pro guitarist a semi pro drummer and a weekend warrior guitarist/singer and another Weekend Warrior and also building another project where Im writing the songs as a Weekend Warrior bassist with 2 other Weekend Warriors ISO a Weekend Warrior Drummer who I havent met yet.
 
#19
KJung said:
These terms mean different things to different people. Per the above, a 'professional' bass player is one who plays bass for a living, and doesn't really connote 'skill' or how well you play (although there is obviously a correlation between the two).

Semi-Pro is usually used to describe a highly skilled player who plays at a relatively high level, but has another source of income (i.e., as good as the best full time players out there, but only playing part time). Many Semi-Pro players were at one point full time 'professional' players.

Next in line down the food chain is the player usually described as a 'part time player' or 'weekend warrior'. These players typically play with other similarly skilled players, and most have never played professionally. These are the guys who need to rehearse with a band and learn the 30 tunes they play over and over again, etc. Most don't read, and most don't have any sort of formal training in music theory, etc.

Finally, there are the hobby-ists, who often don't even play out, and have limited skill or interest in developing into even 'part time player' status.

IMO.... labels are not that useful, but that is my understanding of how these terms are used and what they mean to most players.
Click to expand...

This. There are exceptions but this sums things up nicely.
 
#20
LX pointed out things some don't consider; when you work for someone else, they are the boss and, while you can suggest things, he's the ultimate boss. If you want to get called back again (and have food next week), you need to have good people skills and understand your place properly. Jimmy M did a good job explaining this several months ago on another thread.
To add to this, I would say taste goes way farther for me than mere chops do. It is an easier analogy to use the guitar world; David Gilmour doesn't have Yngwie Malmsteen's chops, but Gilmour can reach inside you and pull your guts out at will. Very few can do that like him and I'm not a particular Floyd fan. I delight in listening to Tim Schmidt of the Eagles nail 'New York Minute'; it is so memorable, I can hear it in my head now, but I can't even recall something memorable from <insert big name>. Give me a Tim Schmidt any day!
 

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