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Why bother, but why not?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Why bother never occurred to this guy..
Sometimes have small goals is the best. My goal on Upright bass is to play in community orchestras, bluegrass bands folk etc. I'm young but I feel like truthfully music has become the Olympics in a way where some people are too late to do anything. Bass guitar is more of an open world IMO but I just do not have time to play much with groups or bands. Today in music as well you have to be giving it 50% or 100%, and if you're giving it 50% all that time you are playing music is your free time and the rest is your job to live. I think having humble goals of simply playing in a church band, cover band, recording for fun or recording with smaller bands is more humbling and fine. This is just my 2 cents I'm content with dedicating more time later in life I'm just far too busy now.
Turnaround
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One band I am in plays out very infrequently, but we practice every week. And we are always learning new tunes. The ones we like are the ones that challenge us to be better than we currently are. None of us are doing it to impress anyone. We are doing it for the sense of accomplishment and the learning. As Dylan once said, "He who is not busy being born is busy dying". Learning is being born.
Embrace the freedom brought with age. As I approach retirement I’ve come to realize any ambition to pursue a career in music is gone. I don’t miss it. I no longer feel an obligation to spend limited practice time developing skills that may not have been a good fit for me, but may have been requirements for some gigs. I’m not burdened by a sense of inferiority because I can’t play like Jaco, Victor or Marcus.
I’m free to dedicate my practice time working on what I want. I can spend hours improvising over the same standard. Today it’s “Just Friend.” Yesterday it was “Four.” Who knows how often I’ll get called for a Jazz gig? The joy and growth are reward enough.
I’m free to dedicate my practice time working on what I want. I can spend hours improvising over the same standard. Today it’s “Just Friend.” Yesterday it was “Four.” Who knows how often I’ll get called for a Jazz gig? The joy and growth are reward enough.
Every time I see something like this I am reminded of a quote attributed to the late great Pablo Casals, master of the Cello and one of the greats of the 20's century. He was in his 90's and practicing in his hotel room preparing for a concert in the town he was visiting as a guest artist. A local news reporter showed up for an appointment and heard the master practicing as he knocked on the door. He was welcomed in and as the interview commenced, the reporter asked why Casals, a musician in his 90's still bothered to work so hard practicing.
Casals answered "Well, I believe I am making progress."
Casals answered "Well, I believe I am making progress."
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Well, thanks everybody for taking all the fun out of copping out
and noodeling around
Now I gotta go study
I'll be eating my Sweetwater bag of candy while I study,
so there!
and noodeling around
Now I gotta go study
I'll be eating my Sweetwater bag of candy while I study,
so there!
Well, thanks everybody for taking all the fun out of copping out
and noodeling around
Now I gotta go study
I'll be eating my Sweetwater bag of candy while I study,
so there!
Feel free to noodle away free of guilt.
The more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing. Therefore, to fill in that nothing, I learn more... but then the more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing and learn more to fill that nothing... it's an endless cycle but I'll stay on that wagon, because...
Learning is the best drug ever! Instead of killing brain cells, it's strengthening them.
You don't have to be in the classroom to "stay in school" so don't be a fool, stay in school.
Learning is the best drug ever! Instead of killing brain cells, it's strengthening them.
You don't have to be in the classroom to "stay in school" so don't be a fool, stay in school.
Hell yes, it wasn't till a bit of noodling one day that I figured out I could play a weird solo take on Ian Dury's 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll'. Same applies to some Sabbath riffs, and two tunes by Siouxsie and the Banshees. A little noodling can make for an explosive increase in repertoire... Just trying to make the thought into sustained action teaches me loads, just trying to find ways to make it sound anything like the original song, even if just in spirit. Sometimes the noodle might be a 40-year-old memory, and nothing else, but it's good enough to make it live again.
My goal is to tell stories about the good old days while playing a jazz solo... A new kind of stand up comic maybe...
My general philosophy is to lower my expectations until they meet my current reality. This presents special challenges as I get older and actually lose cognitive and physical abilities.
I'm about to turn 50 and, this last year, I transitioned from playing mainly a 5-string bass to playing a 4.
My plan is to cut down 1 string per decade from now on. That should help me keep up.
By the time I'm 80, I'll be playing a washtub bass and that should take care of my not only stagnating, but decaying technique.
(Of course, I'm being completely ironic.)
I'm about to turn 50 and, this last year, I transitioned from playing mainly a 5-string bass to playing a 4.
My plan is to cut down 1 string per decade from now on. That should help me keep up.
By the time I'm 80, I'll be playing a washtub bass and that should take care of my not only stagnating, but decaying technique.
(Of course, I'm being completely ironic.)
There is a saying "Enjoy the journey as much as the destination." I find that hard to do in all aspects of my life except for music.
In music there really is no end destination, just a never ending journey with stops marking off ones progress along the way.
In music there really is no end destination, just a never ending journey with stops marking off ones progress along the way.
Reminds me of a Dear Abby (or it could have been Ann Landers) column from many years ago. A reader asked her, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Why should I go to college now and earn a degree? I'll be 50 years old by the time I graduate". To which Abby (Ann?) replied, "And how old would be if you didn't earn that degree?"
Regretting things we didn't do as a younger person is common. Realizing what you might regret not doing 10, 20, or 30 years from now, and making changes now to avoid that in the present, is far less common. I would argue it is sign of wisdom.
I'm a bedroom player. I want to get better just for myself. Better music theory, technical, knowing more songs...but it's all just for me. Better than my bass sitting in corner nit getting any use. And I am Better than anyone who dodnt take time to pick it up. Never going to be the best, but also not the worst. And if I was it doesn't matter. I will keep playing away anyway.
