Why do you play? Who are you playing for?

[Katoosie]

I play for myself, ever since I was a teenager I wanted to play the bass but due to my living circumstances I was unable to do so. Now I got a bass as a gift from my then fiancee and the rest as they say, is history

 

[Volker Kirstein]

I play because I must, and I play for me. That it can bring joy to others is bonus.

I play bass because the lower end of the audio spectrum excites me. I understand it in my bones. I love pouring the foundation for people to hit the floor and boogie. Bass intros (Bob Seger/Heavy Music, John Fred/Judy In Disguise, Temptations/Ball Of Confusion, etc.) and bass breaks (Free/All Right Now, Van Morrison/Brown Eyed Girl, etc.) have always stirred me to move, and I enjoy making others move.

Dance, my puppets, dance!

 

[Funky Phantom]

Different strokes, for different folks. You don’t have to play for any one reason.
There’s music that lends itself to ‘chops’, and there’s music that’s based on ‘groove’.
Some is for displaced aggression, some is for social change/awareness. Some is theatrical
some is ‘good time’ stuff. Some, like the Avant-Garde, is more experimental.
Personally for me, I listen to divergent styles, but they all groove.
I don’t care what ‘style’ of music you play, or how ‘hard’ it is to play, if it doesn’t groove
the other stuff doesn’t matter. How busy, or how difficult it is to play is based on the chops
of the player. If all you can play is basic stuff, but you can make it groove, that’s cool.
If your’e a little more advanced, you can play hipper stuff, and still make it groove.
The thing about bass is, it’s a more subtle instrument, not in your face like drums
and guitar. So when a really hip bass player does something cool, the other bass players
notice, and appreciate it. A lot of people don’t notice it. It goes over their head.
You can’t not notice Eddie, or Jimi, but it’s easy to miss Rocco or Andy West.
The reason I play is purely for the fun of making, and playing music.
I also enjoy the social interaction with the other players (most of the time).
All the little goofy b.s. in the studio. I recorded some songs a few years ago,
and I left the machine on during the entire session. When me and the drummer went back to listen to the songs, we were dying laughing at the
stuff being said by everyone. We got almost as much fun out of that
as we did from the tracks!

 

[pie_man_25]

I just wish i could do a lot of that stuff better...

Don't we all?

 

[40Hz]

He’s very close to where my head is at, the main difference being I don’t “just happen” to play bass. That was a conscious and deliberate decision on my part.

I play an instrument (ok instruments) and got involved with music because music is one of the very few things I’ve ever encountered that makes absolute sense to me. It’s something that appeals to both the brain and the body. And the most fascinating part of it is how it’s an art form that exists only in time. With painting or sculpting the goal is to produce an object. You end up with an artifact. The object or “art” occupies physical space and has continuity in time. It’s there. You can touch it. It’s in the room whether somebody is in there experiencing it or not.

Photography, or at least natural photography, come closer to music in that it freezes a individual’s experience of a moment in time onto a physical object that occupies space.

Music is composed of vibrations in the air that have frequencies and durations. But they exist only in the moment when they’re being played, either live or from a recording. And then they’re gone. There’s no spatial dimension to music. It exists purely in time. And mind.

I find that fascinating.

 

[dmt]

I play for me, to express myself. Like the OP’s quote, I find that music for the purpose of showing one’s facility with technique tends to be boring (not that I’m not guilty of doing it myself, lol).

Honestly, I also play for the imagined approval of others, such as, say, for a long lost relative that I might think would dig something. And of course I’m guilty of showing off for the people in front of me sometimes, too.

But ideally, I’m mostly just feeling it, whether by myself, or, when playing with others, feeling that connection of the group (or at least members of the group) becoming one

 

[JRA]

i didn't read the article/interview --- only the quote in the OP:

works for me! i don't think the quote is earthshaking/blasphemous. big whup. a lot of us are musicians who play bass.

 

[Flamingo21]

I play for me.

Having bandmates appreciate my input is great and all, as is an enthousiastic audience, but basically I play for me. If I don't make music, my life is lacking something.

It can be (and has been) many instruments, but bass probably fits me best.

 

[Bander]

in fact some musicians sometimes give the impression that they play music mainly for the specific purpose of impressing other musicians. This whole side of music-making is something which I’ve always found incomprehensible."

I'd say that was the primary motivation for me, and my entire musical network and peers for most of my life. I'd rather an accomplished professional take notice in something I've played and acknowledge it, than a crowd of 5000 (which I've played many times). I play in bands, including a lowly bar cover band, and there is admiration from the laity, while that mental mechanism is deep in my mind, at work at all times, as if a professional may walk in the room or crowd at any time, and I want to measure up.

 

[lfmn16]

Great another educated but unfeeling vs pig-ignorant but “playing from the heart” thread.

It’s actually possible to know what you are doing AND play with feeling.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

The Ladies

 

[nilorius]

I play the fretless 5 bass because i love this instrument and i have choosed to play and learn it for all my life. It's something unique for me and i will always give everything from my heart and brains to play it better way. It's wierd, but playing bass together with good, smart and qualified musicians will sometimes give better emotions than making sex with a women i love.

 

[RickyRocknRoll]

Playing, for me, is the only place/time I truly, sincerely feel i'm myself, who I am and what I enjoy the most in life. Plus, it's fun to play. I have my recluse times but i'm a social animal too, so being in a few bands, hanging out with the boys at band practice, having a cold one, laughing when it's time and being serious when it's needed. Plus you meet a lot of nice folks along the way, when playing in venues/festivals, you discover new bands and admire the talent that's out there. There is nothing like a crowd dancing, cheering and having fun while i'm on stage, whatever genre of music I have to play. It's a privilege to be part of those folks night of entertainment: they decided to go out and come where you play, isn't it great?

 

[Bonafide]

Lifelong musician. Lifelong gear nerd. Bass is at the heart of it, but the other instruments are vital to the pulse also. 'Why'? If it's what you do, then that's what you do.

When it comes to 'life' and getting to the end of it, reflecting back sincerely, I feel I can genuinely relate to this- "I am grateful to the idea that has used me." - Alfred Adler . Grateful music centered human here.

 

[Jack Butler]

I play for a couple reasons, it makes no difference to me if in the big picture calling me an amateur would probably be too generous.

• It's one of the few things that truly soothes me, where I can totally lose myself and lose track of time just playing in my basement.
• My wife and kids enjoy hearing me play, even if it's just noodling in the living room while they're on their iPads or whatever.
• I love the magic when playing with others, be it a 9 piece band with horns, or one other person. That special something when the result is greater than the sum of it's parts.

I also don't understand why people continually insist that there is some kind of disconnect between technique and emotion in their playing. Sure there are examples of that, but honestly when someone's playing/music has no emotion, it doesn't seem to matter whether they have good or bad technique. And there are plenty of examples (well to me at least, others may disagree) of folks that have both. I think Geddy's playing comes right from the heart, and he's pretty technically competent. For drums, Danny Carey is probably one of the most proficient drummers around, and his playing always moves me. Guitar, Eric Johnson's playing always has me tapping my foot or humming along, but if you've ever tried playing Cliffs of Dover, Righteous, or Song for George, you'd probably agree the dude has some chops. Heck even the poster child for this argument, Yngwie, is a very emotional player in my opinion, whether or not you like his music(although I will admit he can be a tad repetitive.)

 

[Bassist4Eris]

Reflecting on this question, I honestly think the main reason I play is because I can no more stop playing than a compulsive gambler can stop going to the casino. The only real difference is music has no negative effects, and many positive ones.

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I think the reason I started gigging (which is not the same word as "playing") was because I was seeking approval from others. But that has changed and evolved. As I enter middle age, I'm well aware that I'm not going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone any time soon. But I've been the conduit for others' joy many times, and that feels more "real" to me, more "important". I'm deeply grateful to be part of music at all.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

Don't know where else to put this. A friend who is heavily into avant-garde music sent me this interview with an avant-garde bassist, Simon Fell. A couple of his comments struck me as likely to cause a few heads to explode:

"...I’ve never really thought of myself as a bass player in a specialised "city & guilds" way – i.e. excessively interested (if not obsessed) with the mechanics of basses and their construction, technical questions, the theory and history of bass lines etc. Essentially, I’m simply interested in all musical questions, all instruments and their potential – I just happen to (mainly) play the double bass. For me technique (on any instrument) is simply a means to an end, i.e. the realisation of something musically worthwhile. The kind of musicians I feel little connection with are those (and there are many) who seem to see music as a potential way of demonstrating technique. Such musicians are often incredibly impressed by other people demonstrating their technique (rather than making interesting music); in fact some musicians sometimes give the impression that they play music mainly for the specific purpose of impressing other musicians. This whole side of music-making is something which I’ve always found incomprehensible."

As for myself, I enjoy listening to players who have great facility on the instrument; I'm never going to be one of them, and it doesn't seem to matter, anyway. Whatever it is I'm doing when I'm playing, people are entertained enough by it to actually pay me to do it. [Insert Gallic shrug]

It's a great question. I was inspired to play by bassists that were central to their band, and had a unique, recognizable voice. My goal was never to emulate one of those voices, or even to try to learn how to play like them, but instead to become a musician/creator in the "spirit" of those cats. I will never be as great as any of them, but what I can (perhaps) achieve, is some sort of new or different contribution to the art universe, even if it's just a little tiny variation. Not sure I've achieve that yet, but that's what I go for. Something new, good, different that somebody besides me will enjoy. Each new idea is an opportunity to do that. Those opportunities excite me. I play because I enjoy it. I enjoy composing and hearing the finished project. But I'm also a miner, looking for that magic gem of an idea

 

[40Hz]

i don't think the quote is earthshaking/blasphemous. big whup.

Makes two of us. I didn't see anything mind blowing in the interview quote at all. I know a lot of musicians who have expressed similar feelings.

 

[skycruiser]

At my age and experience level I will probably never play live. I have some odd interests, maybe similar to @ElectroVibe above - music composition, structure and chords. My projects currently are in getting my chops up enough to be in a position to implement some ideas related to the reinterpretation of early musical works in a modern form. (yeah, yeah I know this has been done but I think there are some areas that I think haven't been explored...) Probably overly ambitious and I may end up in the grave before I see much of it done (and probably shared with almost no one). Sounds a bit depressing, but that's life for ya. So in the end, I'm am playing almost completely for myself, not necessarily because I choose to but because I'm not sure my musical ideas are very interesting to others, which is fine.

 

[JohnnyDepth]

I grew up around music, then I heard Sabbath and had a $15 nylon string beater a couple of weeks later.

Sabbath still gets me every time. Geezer's bass was glorious, NIB.
I listen to every thing, I just love music.
I played in bands a long time ago, but where I live now, it's really limited and nearly impossible to be in a band.

I do play acoustic with friends & family.
I picked up the bass because for me it's the root of a song and I can come up with a ton of riffs to on the guitar to match a single line.

I play for myself. It's just always been that way.
I love jamming with other people no matter the style, it's a lot of fun, no pressure because nothing is serious.

The bands I was in, everyone wanted to write an album and took it far too serious, which took the joy out of it for me.

I think S.O.D (Storm Troopers of Death) and Primus would have been the types of bands I could have dealt with. Be stupid, have fun, just play.

I also grew up watching Monty Python, so I see humor in a lot of things and that goes in to my playing.