Considering having a break from all bands, will I regret it though?

[SevenSeas]

Hey everyone,

I am really stuck and I'm sure i'm not the first person to have this problem. At the moment I play in four bands and gig quite regularly, always every week. I'm getting to the point though where I feel like I'm spending too much time with bands and not enough time practicing the 'right' stuff. I do this alongside a full time job, so my schedule is quite full.

Anyway I got back from work today and picked up my bass and realised that I was so tired, I couldn't maintain the concentration needed to sustain a good practice and decided to put my bass down. I've realised that If I stopped doing a lot of the gigs, I would have much more time to practice but would I miss out by dropping out of gigs?

I play in a mixture of folk, pop, blues kind of bands (which you can listen here , www.andrewdalerichards.com) they're all great guys and girls but I've wanted to pursue jazz for a while and after going to a local club(of which everyone was amazing) I realised I sure as hell wasn't good enough and if I wanted to get into the 'jazz world' I'd have to make it a full time commitment.

So I'm torn between playing in bands or focusing full on studying my instruments more.

Who else has been in this situation and what did they do?

[neepheid]

Perhaps it's time to pare back the number of bands you're in rather than jacking it in altogether?

I read this out to my wife and she said "Stay in the one that challenges you the most?"

[Stan_da_man]

Four bands? Divide that by two.

[rogerstodge]

Four bands!! Way too many, the gigs must clash like crazy, i've been in 3 and no way did it work.

[SevenSeas]

It's surprising as I've done about 50 gigs so far and i've had no clashes, luck I guess.

[xilddx]

[quote name='AndrewRichards' timestamp='1367520434' post='2066436']
Hey everyone,

I am really stuck and I'm sure i'm not the first person to have this problem. At the moment I play in four bands and gig quite regularly, always every week. I'm getting to the point though where I feel like I'm spending too much time with bands and not enough time practicing the 'right' stuff. I do this alongside a full time job, so my schedule is quite full.

Anyway I got back from work today and picked up my bass and realised that I was so tired, I couldn't maintain the concentration needed to sustain a good practice and decided to put my bass down. I've realised that If I stopped doing a lot of the gigs, I would have much more time to practice but would I miss out by dropping out of gigs?

I play in a mixture of folk, pop, blues kind of bands (which you can listen here , www.andrewdalerichards.com) they're all great guys and girls but I've wanted to pursue jazz for a while and after going to a local club(of which everyone was amazing) I realised I sure as hell wasn't good enough and if I wanted to get into the 'jazz world' I'd have to make it a full time commitment.

So I'm torn between playing in bands or focusing full on studying my instruments more.

Who else has been in this situation and what did they do?
[/quote]

I'm in three bands, but they rarely clash.

If you want to change genre to a tricky one because that's your passion, you gotta so what you gotta do. Why tf you think that not playing in any bands at all is going to benefit you is beyond me though. Just play in the best band and ditch the rest. Then get the best tutor you can and study hard. Just make sure you're prepared for years of hard work and make sure it's the right sort of work.

Randy Rhoads toured with Ozzy and kept up his classical studies and had a tutor while he was on tour. Before that he did the same while playing in local hair metal bands while teaching at his mum's music school.

You really need to consider the business aspects of what you are doing though, there's little chance of making money being even a very serious talented musician, let alone in the jazz world. So make sure you keep your day job

Edited May 2, 2013 by xilddx

[SevenSeas]

Great advice xiddx, it's a tough one.

[xilddx]

[quote name='AndrewRichards' timestamp='1367526812' post='2066581']
Great advice xiddx, it's a tough one.
[/quote]

I know, but do make sure you follow your true path, your real passion. Be sensible but don't compromise. You'll regret it later if you do. Just be prepared to be selling fried chicken for a long time

[chris_b]

50 gigs and no clashes is good going.

Why do you want to practice as well as gigging with 4 bands? IMO, 1 good gig is worth a week of practice.

Recharge your batteries, keep gigging, stop playing at home, get a month's worth of early nights and see how you feel then.

[shizznit]

I had a break for 4yrs. I left a rock band that I was in for several years and after all the touring and managerial bullishit I had to deal with I just wanted to clear my head for a while, make time for studying and practicing and find my feet again musically. It was a lot of fun when it was going good, but I am not a natural rock musician and I felt that the time I spent with that band took my focus off the style of music I prefer to play.

When I decided that I was ready to go public again I was revived and in good health musically. My studying paid off and I think I returned a better song writer and performer. I have to admit, at one stage I considered giving up music all together to focus on other things, but once I felt that I was making progress and improving as a musician I felt that I still had a lot of things I still wanted to achieve and I now had the tools and the knowledge to pursue them.

But, the most important thing I learnt during my hiatus was not spreading myself too thing and committing too much time to many people. You can get burnt out very quickly and your studying and practicing will begin to slip. You have to strike a balance between both.

[Lynottfan]

I would take a break, at the end of the day we "Play" music, when play isn't fun, stop. Recharge, learn new stuff, seek out new people to play/jam with, it could well work out to be the very best thing for you.

[Cat Burrito]

I took a break between 2000 - 2004 and I've come back to playing with more enthusiasm ever since. I guess it depends on how much of a distraction all 4 bands are. I felt I needed a total break but many just scale it back. I was struggling with three bands a while ago but cut it back to one as I just wanted a breather but to still perform. Ultimately only you know yourself

[SevenSeas]

@Chris_ B;

I think there is a big difference between practicing at gigs and practicing your own material. I could do a thousand gigs but what good would that be if didn't sit in my bedroom learning the fundamentals such as; scales, sight reading, etc (theres more) but these two things for example have to be developed my practicing rather than playing gigs. (Until you're doing sight reading gigs of course)

@shizznit

True, having a break for four years must of been a long time, I can't imagine being away from my instrument for that long, I have a quite a few goals I need to achieve in the next year, so putting my instrument down, doesn't seem possible at the moment.

@Lynotfann & BurritoBass.

I agree, I think I need a break, i've got gigs booked until July so once they're done I might have a cooling off period to re-charge my batteries.

Thanks for all the comments!

[shizznit]

[quote name='AndrewRichards' timestamp='1367533826' post='2066742']
@shizznit

True, having a break for four years must of been a long time, I can't imagine being away from my instrument for that long, I have a quite a few goals I need to achieve in the next year, so putting my instrument down, doesn't seem possible at the moment.
Thanks for all the comments!
[/quote]

I was still playing...even took delivery of an MTD-535 during those 4 years, so I was still fanatical and passionate about the instrument. I just didn't want to play with a band for a while. I did some session work once in a while, but I mostly just sat back, studied and listened to thousands of hours of different styles of music. I kinda rebooted and bounced back as a better musician.

[JTUK]

Beware of burn-out. Take the fun route, you'll last longer.
I can't for the life of me the point of 4 bands if it is draining you...
It appears the passion is missing but you feel you MUST push on...so if you can't
see the wood for the trees, make\sure it pays WELL and ditch the rest

[chris_b]

Andrew, Good luck in your quest.

I'd keep one gigging band going though. The most versatile one. I'd need to gig the improvements and new techniques that I was learning.

[Roger2611]

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1367531489' post='2066695']
I took a break between 2000 - 2004 and I've come back to playing with more enthusiasm ever since. I guess it depends on how much of a distraction all 4 bands are. I felt I needed a total break but many just scale it back. I was struggling with three bands a while ago but cut it back to one as I just wanted a breather but to still perform. Ultimately only you know yourself
[/quote]
I was gigging 3 nights a week every week for 6 years (luckily just the one band) but I got to the point where I hated it, it had destroyed at least one relationship and I hadn't seen friends in years....so one day I quit and walked away, I sold my bass (seriously regret that move) and didn't pick up a bass again for 6 whole years and, to be honest, I didn't miss it for one second, during the intervening years I set myself up a mini studio and wrote dance music...just for the hell of it! anyway about 4 years back I finally felt ready to go back to playing live again only with strict controls over how much I was doing, I now play in 3 bands but still limit the yearly gigs to no more than 30...I am enjoying it more than ever and playing better than ever.

Bite the bullet and take a break if you feel it's right for you....you can always come back whenever you are ready

[Lozz196]

Yep, I took a break from 1991 - 1995. Didn`t play at all, didn`t go to see any bands, didn`t buy any music. I`d been in one band with a control-freak singer, then joined another with the same, and just wanted a break from it all. Plus, bands/gigging were getting in the way of going to the pub and getting legless.

Started again in `95, buying a Strat and doing lead gtr/lead vocs, neither of which I`m particularly suited to, but it got me back into music. That band fizzled out in `97, but in 2001 was asked to play bass in mates band, and have been in bands ever since.

Nothing wrong with a break, I`m more into music that I ever was, though that maybe due to not drinking anymore, so I don`t have the feeling that bands/music etc gets in the way anymore.