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What was the most time you left playing for?

#21
1991 to 2001 courtesy of college, ex wife etc... I buried myself In playing some serious hard thrash bass literally taking my anger out on my bass. Back at it again after 6 years of slowed down playing nothing buy finger exercises and basic blues. In a good place personally but work wise is killing me. Music is a pressure release for me.
 
#22
30 years, more or less. Bands in high school and college, almost tried to make a go of it for the long haul, but chose to head off to med school instead. Training, real job and the next thing you know, my '77 P-Bass (purchased in '78) is vintage. Long story, but got the itch again, frustrated by what skills I'd lost, so took some lessons, and now am playing in two praise bands and a cover band and having more fun than in my teens- whoo-hoo!
 
#23
14 years from 1995 to 2009

Our original band, after playing every 2 weeks for 3 years to pay for recording our CD, split up just after recording finished, at least we have a copy each from the masters lol.

Then in 2008 I bought Guitar Hero to have some fun,as I sold all my bass gear.
Then I thought if I have to mash these stupid buttons so fast I may as well get a guitar.
Got a Squier strat, then got a MIM Jazz, Hartke Amp and cab.
Then this year I bought 3 more basses and a Les Paul.
Am in an acoustic trio, will be joining a new blues/originals band in the new year too.
To paraphrase Boz.....Bazz is the buzz hehe
 
#24
20 years. Did not intend to but moved to a new city to start a professional career and never got in with many musicians. I also traveled for business alot and the got married and had kids. My nephew borrowed my gear and had his run. When he got married I got my now vintage P back and never intended to do more than doodle on headphones while watching TV. But then a friend called me to jam (translation, we have a gig coming up and we fired the bass player) and now we practice once a week and gig atwice a month. Love to be back.
 
#27
17 years. 60+ hour work weeks, gone from home sometimes for 2-3 days at a stretch, a wife who requires a lot of care due to illness. Funny thing is that it's the things that drove me away from the bass that drove me back. A need to to do something I love and enjoy so much. Took 2 years to get my playing back to where it was before, but I recently joined the praise and worship scene and I'm loving it!!
 
#31
I never really quit but I did quit practicing and progressing as a player for the last ten years of my career in the US Air Force Band in Washington, DC..I really found the job to be completely unrewarding or challenging. So instead of pressing on and finding an alternate musical outlet, I discovered sailing and devoted the next ten years to getting really good at it..I have been practicing again for a year now. It feels good to back as a student of music. I guess I needed a break to recharge.
 
#33
I gave it up for 15 years after my gear was stolen in 1984. I concentrated on playing ice hockey and competed in pro-am leagues in the Northeast U.S. and Canada. Several of my friends ended up playing and coaching in the NHL. I even had a chance to play pro in Europe but my wife was pregnant and didn't want to move. A seriously leg injury in 1999 forced me to stop skating so I went back to music. I was able to get back on the ice after a few years but I wasn't the same player that I once was. Injuries and age took their toll and finally stopped playing hockey 6 years ago.
 
#34
25 Years ! Great thread, OP. I didn't realize how many people had similar musical 'career paths' to mine.

I started 'jobbing' when I was 16, as soon as I could drive myself to the gig. Played with lots of great jazz 'jobbing musicians' for 20 years. I tapered off toward the end but quit playing entirely when time conflicts with the day gig (real estate) became obvious. IE "should I go play that $50 gig or stay here and make this $3K commission?"

Fast forward 25 years and a move from Minnesota to North Carolina. Looked up an old friend and musical collegue from MN on google/facebook/whatever just to catch up and see what he was doing. Was shocked to learn he now lived an hour down the road from me in NC. After a brief re-introduction he asked: 'What are you doing next Saturday night? I need a bass player for my big band'. One day later after a quick trip to GC and I had a bass and an amplifier for that Saturday night. First time I had touched a bass in 25 years! Turns out it's like riding a bike (a little wobbly at first but doing wheelies by the end of the gig).

Here I am a year and a half later. I retired from real estate and am playing 2-4 nights a week with several excellent jazz groups. Have to admit it: I was just damn lucky! I've never had more fun. Life is Good!
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#35
I played trombone through school, and then when I graduated high school, I realized I didn't wanna do that anymore, and there was very little call for being a horn player at that time anyway. I knew guitars had too many skinny strings and everyone and their dog wanted to be a guitard hero, so I gravitated towards bass, playing for about a dozen years. I got burned out on dealing with other musicians, especially guitards and diva singers with little to be diva-ing about. I had to move and scale down what I owned, so I sold all my gear, really only missing my Charvel 2B.

Pretty soon 15 had passed, and I found myself emigrating from CA to KY for work. After putting in tons of overtime over the past many years, I found that I didn't have to do that anymore and had lots of free time in the evening, where I was basically wasting that time. I started looking for things to redeem that time, and found that the IT guy at work played bass, mostly teaching himself. Since we shared that, I started thinking about getting back into playing bass, and in January of this year I found an Ibby SR200 at a pawn shop...which I should have passed on, but that's another story. So I'm fiddling around with bass again, realizing how much I just plain forgot: theory, songs, technique, all of it. But I keep at it because it's fun again, and started thinking "Man, it'd be fun to get into a band again. Maybe I'll look into that next year." I'm looking at the wall in Guitard Center and see an ad for a situation that's exactly what I was looking for...year from now. After thinking and praying about it for a week or so, I called them and set up an audition. That was about three months ago. Things are definitely headed in the right direction; they were gigging before losing their last bass player (which has spawned many jokes about how the bassist is their Spinal Tap drummer equivalent). The bigger problem is finding places to play...and I've gotten to work on that, building the press kit that they didn't have. there have been starts and stops but it's moving in the right direction.

Yeah, I'm itching to play life big time, but its gonna happen and I'd rather be as good as we can be, rather than not being ready and sucking.
 
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#36
I took about 10 years off as well. Just got tired of the grind of - driving a ton of hours for little pay and putting up with band related drama and BS. It was really the drama and BS that forced me to take a break. Sold most of my gear but never sold my bass. You'll know when if/ when you want to get back into it. You'll get the itch again just don't rush into the first thing you find. Sometimes I wish I had not taken all those years off as it slowed my development as a bass player but just as soon as I think that I realize that I needed that time off to recharge my musical and mental batteries.

I'm back at it now for the past 5 years and loving it. Playing in some fun bands and meeting good musicians. One thing I learned from my time away from bass was that I have no patience for "wannabe's" and attitudes. Nothing is worth putting up with that - find a project with good musicians and good people - regardless of the musical style and make it work. Finding good musicians who are also good people is rare. Even if you find some don't play the music your familiar with it's worth your while to join the band just because there will be no drama. When you surround yourself with good people and good musicians good things happen. That's why I find myself in a country band right now - it's not the music itself- it's the people playing it that makes it all worth it.
 
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#38
15 years.

Didn't play a single note or even touch my bass between 1996-2011. Contributing factors - work, graduate school, having children, many moves, the dissolving of my main band in the early 90s and resulting funk from that, not having any friends that played music in the city I lived, and, regrettably, the presence of a miserable and incredibly nasty now-ex-wife all combined to keep me from playing. I have my wonderful current wife to thank for getting me back into this hobby, by encouraging me to go to open stages and jams, reconnect with music friends, and find bands to get back into among other things. I'm now finally back to playing originals again (yay!) in my third band since restarting, and having an absolute blast. I can't see myself ever putting down the bass again.
 
#40
Didn't play bass at all for 6-7 years, from 1999 through about 2006. Was busy jump-starting a career and raising little ones, and just played acoustic guitar on occasion. When my kids got older I came back to the bass--took a year for the rust to fly off, but since then am better than ever.
 

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