Do you consider yourself an "expert" bass player?

[deanovw]

I have been playing for 25 years and can just get by.

I always seem to sound better when the other musicians are much better than me.

[paul_5]

[quote name='deanovw' timestamp='1337495315' post='1660730']
I always seem to sound better when the other musicians are much better than me.
[/quote]

So did Miles Davis...

[deanovw]

Did he? Well I am in no way comparing myself to him. He was very good.


[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1337495766' post='1660734']
So did Miles Davis...
[/quote]

[JTUK]

Let people make up their own minds, they will, anyway

It is no use banging on about great something is... let people be surprised that you are better than they thought. and if that happens, be grateful.
And then go home and work on it somemore..!!

[chardbass]

In my experience you're either not as good as you think you are, or way better.
Very rarely can you rate yourself accurately and neither should you.

[Musky]

It's said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something - that's about 15 months with 8 hours practice a day, or roughly 10 years with 20 hours of practice a week. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29#Synopsis

At my current rate of practice I calculate I should achieve mastery sometime around 2212.

[Prime_BASS]

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1337472739' post='1660669']
There is a great danger that they may believe a fallacy that bassists know to be false;

[b]Intermediate guitar ability = Utter bass awesomeness[/b]

I myself have a great deal to learn after playing for a... err... long time.
[/quote]

I didn't understand that either.

I like to believe I can get by in most situtations, and that I'm good, but no expert. I make it look like I know what I'm doing and that I'm doing more than I am though.

Anyone who calls themself an expert is deluded.

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='chardbass' timestamp='1337497525' post='1660754']
In my experience you're either not as good as you think you are, or way better.
Very rarely can you rate yourself accurately and neither should you.
[/quote]

this

speaking as a 'visual artist' it is one of the most common things to hinder progress of art/design professionals is the misguided self doubt and excessive and mostly unwarranted self criticism of their own work - similar priniciple applies to musicians

a healthy degree of self criticism is fine but dont let it get you down to the point where you devalue your own worth and talent

consequently dont let it go the other way either or you could end up singing with The Faces

[discreet]

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1337497904' post='1660759']
It's said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something - that's about 15 months with 8 hours practice a day, or roughly 10 years with 20 hours of practice a week. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29#Synopsis"]http://en.wikipedia....ook%29#Synopsis[/url] At my current rate of practice I calculate I should achieve mastery sometime around 2212. [/quote]

I've heard this too, but by your reckoning I must have done at least 35,000 hours... 'mastery'..? Hmm - not sure!

[lowdown]

If you phone is always ringing, and you are getting booked on a regular basis,
You must be doing something right.
There is always a lot of 'experts' that talk good, but sh*te at delivering,
and that's in any business not just Music.



Garry

[scalpy]

I've been playing for 25 years now, have played on some really nice studios with some really nice players and music is my livelihood. I went to a guitar masterclass with Muriel Anderson, who plays with Tommy Emmanuel amongst others, and after 1 minute she described me as an intermediate guitarist!

[discreet]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1337500337' post='1660829']
There is always a lot of 'experts' that talk good, but sh*te at delivering...
[/quote]

True, and vice-versa. Hence the number of successful 'artists' with no discernible talent.

[Musky]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1337499721' post='1660811']
I've heard this too, but by your reckoning I must have done at least 35,000 hours... 'mastery'..? Hmm - not sure!
[/quote]

I've got to say I'm fairly sceptical about putting a finite figure on it as well as it doesn't take in to account any natural aptitude, but I think the idea is that it's 10,000 hours of proper practice rather than just playing.

[BassPimp66]

I'm a semi-professional. I spend as much money as a professional would on gear (gas!!!) ; I play like a beginner ....

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1337500470' post='1660833']
True, and vice-versa. Hence the number of successful 'artists' with no discernible talent.
[/quote]
thank goodness for BGT redressing the balance!

after all they do have talent

it says so in the title!!

[lowdown]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1337500470' post='1660833']
True, and vice-versa. Hence the number of successful 'artists' with no discernible talent.
[/quote]

But they are doing something right - even if it's just getting Porked by Simon Cowell.


Garry

[Nibody]

I always go for the "Desiderata" approach:

Do not compare yourself to others, for there will always be greater and lesser people than yourself.

I'm good at [i]what I can do.[/i]

Class myself as intermediate. I auditioned for a covers band playing classic rock this week, who were in my humble opinion very good and very tight. Got the gig and was told afterwards they had decided on me after the first song. So intermediate, yeh. Those of you who [i]really [/i]know your way around the instrument, can sight read and improvise in virtualy any style I class as the "Experts". Just gives me more things to learn, Id hate to be at the top of the tree with nowhere to climb.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Nibody

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='BassPimp66' timestamp='1337501157' post='1660848']
I'm a semi-professional. I spend as much money as a professional would on gear (gas!!!) ; I play like a beginner ....
[/quote]

Most pro players buy one or two good instruments and then play them forever, working around any quirks or faults the instrument has. It's us semi-pros that are always chopping and changing, chasing that elusive tone and discussing it all on forums like this one!

I've met people with heaps of talent who have played an instrument for only a few years that I'd call almost "expert". They've put the hours in, learned the theory, learned how to apply it, done the gigs, played in lots of different styles... all in a fairly short amount of time. But I think very few people could be considered expert in every style and every situation.

Let's face it, playing bass in 90% of musical situations isn't actually that difficult. There are a lot of players out there who don't know what note they're playing because they haven't learnt the finger board, just patterns. Don't know what the chords are and don't know what key the song is in, but are belting out their basslines parrot fashion and are getting the audience jumping around. Maybe relative to most other players this guy is an expert

As for me, I've a pretty good idea of what I should know and how it should be applied, but I'm a lazy *** and I've never bothered to put the work in to make it happen.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Fat Rich

[Lozz196]

Expert - no way!

I`m good at what I do, which is solid and steady basslines, locking in with the drums, and holding down the rhythm for the guitars to work on, but I don`t know scales (although I undoubtably play them) nor theory, and although I can play quick riffs, it`s not my thing.

So in my opinion, of my own playing, there is much I will probably never learn about the instrument, so expert don`t even come close.

[Jazzneck]

Me? I can just get away with playing in bands and recording after eons of practise and gigging and I'm very insecure about it, too.

Expert? Didn't The Monkees sing a song called 'Daydream Believer' once upon a time?

[discreet]

It's also about the perception of what a bass player should be doing. To compare Wooten with Dunn (for example) would be apples and pears, yet both are considered to be 'experts' in the context of their particular style and genre.

[steve-bbb]

surprised Jeff Berlin hasnt come on here and mentioned himself yet

[Paul S]

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1337467794' post='1660618']
The more experienced you are, the better your ability to recognise how far away you are from being an expert.
[/quote]

^^This^^

Not just bass playing but pretty well everything in life. I have been asked by the Royal Horticultural Society to review a book that has just been published on a single genus of plants that is within the scope of the small botanical puddle I inhabit. I have accepted, of course - who wouldn't? - but the very fact that I have been asked carries a weight of responsibility and expectation that I find rather frightening. I feel like a fraud. As they say, anyone who builds themselves a pedestal just has further to fall.

[discreet]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1337505006' post='1660902']
surprised Jeff Berlin hasnt come on here and mentioned himself yet
[/quote]

Haaaaaaaa!!

[foal30]

I consider myself an expert at pretty much everything.
f*** all good it's done me though.