[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1426083783' post='2714162']
I guess I am saying that, when I started, I wanted to play everything that every bass player ever played; Teen Town, Silly Putty, Schooldays, Donna Lee, Portrait of Tracy, Joe Frazier, Hot Water etc etc. Now, I just want to be able to play bass at standard where I can do my thing within a Jazz setting. A lot of time could be wasted learning things that, for me personally, amount to little more than party tricks.
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I learnt to play by learning (by ear) bass parts to songs by bands I loved. As soon as I got to a point where I felt my technique was good enough to allow me to do the things I wanted to do I stopped learning other peoples stuff altogether.
I never had any interest in learning to play all the standard bass players party pieces as I just couldn't see there was any point in doing so other than for purely "look what I can do" dick swinging reasons.
A lot of what is regarded by many players as "essential stuff to learn" is in styles of music I hate & would never ever want to play so the effort involved in learning them just so I could say I could play them seemed totally pointless.