Preemptive Midlife Crisis

[bnt]

Hi,

I registered on the old forum and posted a message like this, not long before the move here, which means I forgot to introduce myself here, so here goes again.

I'm originally from Scotland (Dunfermline), but moved to South Africa at age 6, and live there till 23. Finished school, went straight to work. No university: no govt. grants there, competition for corporate bursaries was fierce and nepotistic. (This becomes relevant later.)

I got in to bass there at around 16, and bought a P-bass copy someone there had going cheap. It certainly didn't go "Woof", even after modifications, and I found it was made of plywood, and not worth fighting for.

I got it in my head that I wanted a headless bass, after playing one and seeing a few on TV. I also wanted a 5-string, which was rare in South Africa at the time, but a local shop found me the Hohner B2V I still have today. I used it in a covers band, mostly guys I worked with plus my stepbrother on guitar.

I moved back to the UK in 1991 - but haven't been in a band since then: too busy working or looking for work. I was lucky to get the B2V through Heathrow: they saw the truss rod on the x-ray, and thought I was bringing a rifle in to the country. It didn't help that I had it in a hard rifle case - the only one I could find at a normal price. I had the B2V pickups replaced with EMG 40 P/J soapbars by the Bass Centre in London. It still sounds great - not "plastic" at all, though the anaemic Low-B means I've settled on a High-C tuning. I have quite strong fingers, after years of playing Rush songs with no amp, and with new strings this thing has as much Punch as all the Proms in Orange County.

I need to do some more work on my second bass, a Hohner B2Afl fretless, which I picked up 2nd-hand in 1994, and modified straight away. Someone had put frets on the fretless fingerboard, and badly: some were audibly off. I didn't think I was buying a fretless then, but I was considering it: it was one of those "meant to be" moments. I soon had the frets off and epoxy in the slots... then I decided I wanted a natural finish, not another black Steinberger clone... then I got the saw out. I might put some pictures up in the "Bass Porn" section later. All I'll say at this point is: I suspect Steinberger sent their spies my way, before designing the Synapse models...

My "GAS Overdose Moment" came in 2001: I bought a 10-string Chapman Stick, and soon found out that it was not for me. Huge learning curve for a bassist, and (IMHO) it's such a specialised instrument and technique that I'd need to study it intensively to get anywhere. I'm probably going to sell it.

I've lived in Ireland, working at the local branch of a US IT company, since 1999, but here's where the "midlife crisis" comes in: I'm about to quit my job and go into full-time study here. It will be a career change in to Structural Engineering: IT is a young man's game now, and I have no prospect of advancement without bits pf paper, so I've decided to make a break for it and try to get back some of those lost years, as a not-so-mature student.

I'm also hoping to get back in to playing live. A big obstacle for me, when looking at "band members wanted" ads, are lines like "no time wasters"... "must be committed", "must have own transport", and so on. Since the day I left school, I've been reliant on income from work as my sole means of support. It's only now, 20+ years later, where I have the relative luxury of jacking it all in and living off savings and investments... but I'll be studying full-time. So I'm always left wondering: just how are you supposed to play music with other people at all, when you have commitments? I don't know any other musicians here at all, and ads are not helping, but I hope I get to meet more musicians at the university ([url="http://www.ucd.ie/"]UCD[/url], in case you're wondering). Maybe I ought to start a "weekend warriors" project in Dublin ..?

Edited August 1, 2007 by bnt

[OldGit]

I'm also hoping to get back in to playing live. A big obstacle for me, when looking at "band members wanted" ads, are lines like "no time wasters"... "must be committed", "must have own transport", and so on. Since the day I left school, I've been reliant on income from work as my sole means of support. It's only now, 20+ years later, where I have the relative luxury of jacking it all in and living off savings and investments... but I'll be studying full-time. So I'm always left wondering: just how are you supposed to play music with other people at all, when you have commitments? I don't know any other musicians here at all, and ads are not helping, but I hope I get to meet more musicians at the university (UCD, in case you're wondering). Maybe I ought to start a "weekend warriors" project in Dublin ..?


Hey don't worry about that ..
I've always worked and always played as well.
I'm totally committed to my band - but there are limits and parameters that we all work within them ..

You only need to stop doing other things if you want to be a professional..

I know nothing about Dublin's music scene but people on here will .. post a general question asking for the inside info on where bands advertise there ...
Good luck
OG