Hello!

[Sparks]

Hi, just joined up. Played a little bit of guitar, bit of singing, bit of bass in my teens. But then did a lot of other stuff for many years, a lot of racing push bikes (that I got pretty good at). But kept an acoustic guitar around just for fun. Last year I got asked to play acoustic and sing at a relations wedding ("small, low key, singalong at the end" - turned into "formal wedding, 100 odd people, sing me down the aisle" - scary!!!). But the music bug was really biting again.

Then in Jan got contacted on Bandmix by a local band looking for a new bass player. So I go the Warwick out of the attic and blew of the dust and learnt a couple of songs and auditioned. We got along so suddenly I'm in and having to learn a couple of dozen songs! Just did my second gig with them on Saturday, and loved it. We are your typical Blackpool covers band, but plenty of gigs on the calendar and lots of enthusiasm to vamp up the set.

Have initially come on the forum for help as I'm basically blagging at the moment! (or 'getting up to speed'). Actually toughest thing is trying to sing backing and play bass - I can do either ok at the moment, but my brain is struggling to do both

Thanks, Mark.

[baldwinbass]

Hi Mark,

well you've come to the right place for advice! Welcome

[itsmedunc]

Ah! The North! Sometimes it seems there's not many of us! Bass and backing. Sometimes, I can do it really well and other times the brain goes! Beer helps for me! Or, maybe I just think that...

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Sparks' timestamp='1463410936' post='3051107']
Have initially come on the forum for help as I'm basically blagging at the moment! (or 'getting up to speed'). Actually toughest thing is trying to sing backing and play bass - I can do either ok at the moment, but my brain is struggling to do both
[/quote]

Welcome Mark (Sparks)

You've come to the right place. Blagging is part of the routine here, I think it would be fair to say. In fact I'd go as far as to say the ability to blag is an essential part of the toolkit. You'll fit right in. Enjoy.

[Dandelion]

Welcome to the world of Bass and puns. Blaggpool ha ha. I wish could sing and play bass....
I wish I could sing or play bass.

[luckydog]

Welcome, Mark (Sparks) - I'm fairly new here myself - I've found peeps helpful and its just a good place to hang and jaw about things bass.

Nope, singing is not natural to me either, so have to think about it and that distracts from playing and both suffer - I totally respect those who do both well.

Proper technique for singing: get someone else to do it !

Enjoy !

LD

[Sparks]

Thanks for the comments. I used both options to get through the backing singing on Saturday - some beer and getting the singer to do a bit more work ('sorry, missed my cue...'). Also made the mistake of discussing my weakness with some of the audience at half time - so every time I did try some backing they exploded in distracting encouragement...

[discreet]

[Marc S]

Welcome Sparks

Glad you're back into playing music. Keep it up, and keep the enthusiasm too
I stopped playing for many years - but I've been playing again for 8 or 9 years, and am now more enthusiastic than ever
Recently, I've spoken to quite a few musicians who gave up because of family commitments etc
each of them said they're enjoying music much more the 2nd time around - I wonder how many of us experience this?

Don't worry that you're "blagging" - I think many musicians feel this way
You are learning sir - just learning, honestly. In fact, the best way to view it, is as a continuous learning curve
As long as you're enjoying what you learn and play....

EDIT: Singing is not natural to me either
I can do some singing whilst playing - but nothing too taxing

Edited May 19, 2016 by Marc S

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1463645304' post='3052979']
Don't worry that you're "blagging" - I think many musicians feel this way
[/quote]

I'd dare to say that most do to some extent. If not, they're not really trying.

You hear of musicians getting jaded doing the same old stuff. In Blue's thread about four hour gigs elsewhere he describes long bookings where instead of a set list, the band leader calls the tunes and they all crack on. No two nights would be the same in that scenario. It makes sense. You might have to remember tunes that you've not played for a while making each booking unique and therefore more exiting than a "fixed" set list. Quite a good strategy for time served musicians as opposed to "hacks".

PS, I am a born again bassist myself - no religious inference intended. It is much better for me the second time 'round.