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Your music related New Year's resolution

ahbradot

ahbradot

Dec 14, 2019
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Florida
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#1
What will be your music-related New Year's resolution for 2026?

I would like to incorporate using a pick or plectrum for those fancy folk.
When I started out in the 1970s I was finger style, but there were a couple of songs we'd play that sounded better with a pick.
It's been decades since I've used a pick on a bass.
I'm in the middle of buying a brand new Rickenbacker and I think it would be really cool to incorporate the pick.

What do you guys have lined-up for 2026?
 
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#2
Already getting in the swing of it, but goal is to track daily practice in a journal. Just to be mindful of what I'm doing (and not doing). I've started before but inevitably fallen off, determined to make it stick this time. Not a big resolution guy but this feels like a cause that will pay dividends and is easily within reach once it becomes a part of the process.
 
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#3
I bought a lot of gear this year which included my dubious initial foray into pedal culture. I have a custom bass that is still in the works, but after that I will definitely tone down the GAS. I think I will only get two sets of pickups + installation, a couple of padded straps and some cables.

My main musical resolution for 2026 is to make an earnest attempt at.....jazz! Over the decades I've done classic/hard/prog rock, pop, funk, fusion and some country and worship, but never jazz. My keyboard/sax/guitar colleague will sort of be my guide. Right now I am just playing root notes on a few 'jazz standards' but hopefully I can eventually understand walking and improvising/soloing well enough to gig. It could be a failure. We'll see.
 
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#6
Music wise?

My current band has 5 new covers (first scheduled gig is February 27th) we want to evaluate.

1. Fool In The Rain (Led Zeppelin; the challenging part will be getting everyone on the same Jimmy Page, after the whistle blows)
2. Ready For Love (Bad Company; learned it a couple of months ago, so review)
3. Eminence Front (The Who; bass doesn't really enter until the 02:30 mark, but will definitely be a challenge not only to play it, but remember the phrasing)
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles; we get a really good response from the audience when we perform the Golden Slumbers medley, so it's a no brainer to add another tune from them)
5. Why Can't This Be Love? (Van Halen; see #4, with Top Of The World as the reference tune)

Former Slipstream band mate is requesting my presence on a recording of one of his originals, and I've been putting some time in on it... should be ready mid January.

The past couple of years, I've tried to up my game in the musical theory arena... it's always a work in progress.

With all the wonderful isolations on YT (along with YT's slowdown feature), I've compiled a list of RUSH tunes I'd like to complete transcriptions for... just a couple of the more popular ones, from each album. It's work, but way easier than what I had done when I first learned them, many moons ago... on Mom's console stereo/TV... slowing the speed of the LP, the constant lifting of the arm/needle, transposing what you thought you heard due to frequency shift, etc.

Good times, and Happy New Year's, all!
 
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#10
I have two:

1. Sell off a bunch of basses that I haven't played in years and that are just taking up space. I have two favorites that stand head-and-shoulders above the rest and don't need any of the others anymore.

2. Get my music space in the basement set up again -- it's become a storage area in recent years -- so I can practice more at volume.
 
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#14
At 62 I plan on taking guitar lessons to broaden my limited talent and practice more than just watching videos. I only play by ear but really dig Songsterr. The old dog can learn new tricks but with two trigger fingers on my left hand as well as multiple rotator cuff surgeries on the right shoulder along with a tumor removed above the right bicep makes every note a chore. Fingers crossed.
 
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#16
Finish Ed Friedland's Bass Method (I am gradually progressing in book 3) and start on his Walking Bass book.

Finally work on learning new songs by ear again. I read Rush and Opeth above, and those happen to be two bands of which I want to tackle at least one song each.

Play more ukelele and remember what the chords are called. Learn tunes by heart and expand my repertoire.

Get together with a new band in January, and decide if I want to go down that road or not. Currently I am still very much undecided and not too enthusiastic but I haven't met any of the band members yet.
 
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