Motivation when not in a band

[Rich]

15 hours ago, Bluewine said:

I wouldn't give up on bands, however I tell anyone who's looking to gig to stay away from start ups. Most "start ups" never see their first gig.

 

Trouble is... if nobody ever joined/formed start-ups, where would the new bands come from? Up until recently I was in three bands, of which two I joined/co-formed as start-ups... one of them has now been going for 25 years and the other one finally called it a day last year after a good 12 year run. So it's not all gloom and doom -- yes many of them fizzle out before getting anywhere, but if you don't try you'll never know.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Rich

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Count Bassy said:

Thanks for your thought folks.

I should have made it clear that I've only ever been in cover bands, and never attempted writing or recording (which might be a good reason to try it I guess).

Writing and recording isn't for everyone. I tried it when i was younger but i was rubbish at it so decided best leave alone 

Nothing to stop you polishing up on your technique or even learning new styles. Always handy when auditioning.

Dave

[dave_bass5]

16 hours ago, barkin said:

If you're not motivated to play, why force yourself? I like playing bass n stuff. But I like doing other things as well.

This is my thinking. When my band of 15 years split i was glad to not have to play bass for a while. Obviously i didnt have to stop, but i wanted to. I was so used to playing live that without that reason i just didnt bother.

I then got a guitar and thought id learn to play that properly, just for my own amusement. Now i had time on my hands i also got a digital multi track and was going to go back to writing songs etc. In the 6 months i had off i didnt touch the bas once, nor did i miss it. It was only when my GF/singer decided she missed it and we started up again did i pick the bass up again. Since then Ive enjoyed playing bass much more than i did in the past. I now sit at home learning all manner of songs, songs that we will never play. If the band split id continue doing this. I think i just needed a break.

[Bluewine]

8 hours ago, Rich said:

Trouble is... if nobody ever joined/formed start-ups, where would the new bands come from? Up until recently I was in three bands, of which two I joined/co-formed as start-ups... one of them has now been going for 25 years and the other one finally called it a day last year after a good 12 year run. So it's not all gloom and doom -- yes many of them fizzle out before getting anywhere, but if you don't try you'll never know.

I get it, however, if someone's main interest is gigging your chances are a lot better joining an established band with gigs on the books than joining a "start up". Now finding that established band and winning an audition is another discussion.

None of the start ups I joined ever gigged.

Blue

Edited January 10, 2020 by Bluewine

[NJE]

I’m at a similar point, I have for the time being had enough of being in bands and the pressure that brings as I am normally pushed into lead vocals as well.

I have a plan to go and learn a list of songs that I have always wanted to learn but never needed to for bands, things like hit me with your rhythm stick, sir duke, a couple of Vulfpeck tunes etc.

I may even record/video them to really analyse my playing and see how tight I can get them as a real challenge.

I also dabble with guitar and want to give my acoustic a little more time, learn a new song/chord a week sort of thing.

[Dan Dare]

12 hours ago, Bluewine said:

None of the start ups I joined ever gigged.

Most of those I joined have (the two I play in at the moment, for example). It helps that we're all established players. of course.

[nilebodgers]

I haven’t played in a proper band for a long time and the problem I have with learning stuff on my own is that once I have cracked the interesting bits I feel like it’s  job done and I often don’t go on to work out the arrangement and all the duller bits that comprise the full song.

The discipline of working things out to actually play the whole song minus band is definitely something I struggle with.

[PatrickJ]

When I left my band (which was forced through personal circumstances) it was a huge relief.  I was sick of playing the same old songs for years and the lack of commitment to rehearse new material.  

I was practicing regularly, a least an hour or 2 4 or 5 days a week.  Since leaving that discipline has dropped, I've barely picked up my bass this year favouring instead to spend my evenings binge watching the Black List.

Without a specific event to work towards, gig, rehearsal etc I find it hard to keep momentum.  Maybe I should do the Rockschool grades or something. 

Edited January 11, 2020 by PJ-Bassist

[dmccombe7]

26 minutes ago, PJ-Bassist said:

When I left my band (which was forced through personal circumstances) it was a huge relief.  I was sick of playing the same old songs for years and the lack of commitment to rehearse new material.  

I was practicing regularly, a least an hour or 2 4 or 5 days a week.  Since leaving that discipline has dropped, I've barely picked up my bass this year favouring instead to spend my evenings binge watching the Black List.

Without a specific event to work towards, gig, rehearsal etc I find it hard to keep momentum.  Maybe I should do the Rockschool grades or something. 

Make up a fantasy set list and learn the songs. I do that with Prog songs mainly because its the one covers band i've never managed to put together so playing my fav prog songs is still great fun for me.

Dave

[Krysbass]

After being in a string of bands more or less continuously since 2008, I’ve been bandless since June 2019.  My last project was a tribute+covers band I started, but I reluctantly had to end it after having to reject around 25 gig offers due to the onset of persistent unavailability of a couple of the 5 band members due to them hooking up with other projects. We had an in-demand but somewhat specialised selection of songs so deps weren’t a realistic option and having experienced a number of commitment related setbacks on our journey I no longer had the energy to yet again replace the 2 unavailable members and carry on.

The saga left me disappointed and even a little bitter at the selfish actions of the 2 members making an otherwise very successful project untenable, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that this is unfortunately par for the course in bands.

Creating my own music doesn’t inspire me  - I only enjoy playing other people’s music and gigging is the endgame of that for me. So for the past months I’ve been doing  a lot of that in my home practice, playing along to songs I’ve never bothered with before and my improvisation skills have progressed in leaps and bounds as a result.

I’ve been doing almost daily checks on Joinmyband too on the off chance that a project comes along that interests me.  Nothing yet, but that’s been a blessing as I’ve been extra busy in my day job lately.  So the home practice continues on my own terms and I intend to do a “bassist available” ad if nothing has come along by April.

[dmccombe7]

You should check Gumtree Musicians wanted and FB usually has musicians wanted in specific areas. I have 2 FB pages for Scotland and one more specific to Central Scotland. 

Try them. I've seen some interesting bands on both sites.

I'm like you and get more satisfaction these days playing covers rather than writing my own material within a band

Dave

[Bluewine]

On 11/01/2020 at 02:06, Dan Dare said:

Most of those I joined have (the two I play in at the moment, for example). It helps that we're all established players. of course.

We were established players with great material. However, they spent too much time on photos, videos and merchandise and nothing on gigs The BL was happy playing basement Rock Star.

I'm sure I'm not the only with this type of experience.

Thank God my band of the past 8 years is run by a husband and wife team, real " go getters".When it comes to bookings and business they're "tops".

Blue

[Bluewine]

On 11/01/2020 at 03:17, Krysbass said:

After being in a string of bands more or less continuously since 2008, I’ve been bandless since June 2019.  My last project was a tribute+covers band I started, but I reluctantly had to end it after having to reject around 25 gig offers due to the onset of persistent unavailability of a couple of the 5 band members due to them hooking up with other projects. We had an in-demand but somewhat specialised selection of songs so deps weren’t a realistic option and having experienced a number of commitment related setbacks on our journey I no longer had the energy to yet again replace the 2 unavailable members and carry on.

The saga left me disappointed and even a little bitter at the selfish actions of the 2 members making an otherwise very successful project untenable, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that this is unfortunately par for the course in bands.

Creating my own music doesn’t inspire me  - I only enjoy playing other people’s music and gigging is the endgame of that for me. So for the past months I’ve been doing  a lot of that in my home practice, playing along to songs I’ve never bothered with before and my improvisation skills have progressed in leaps and bounds as a result.

I’ve been doing almost daily checks on Joinmyband too on the off chance that a project comes along that interests me.  Nothing yet, but that’s been a blessing as I’ve been extra busy in my day job lately.  So the home practice continues on my own terms and I intend to do a “bassist available” ad if nothing has come along by April.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed you find the right band for you.

Blue

[EliasMooseblaster]

Not quite the same story, but I found myself in a similar rut about ten or eleven years ago, once the two bands I had going were dwindling in activity. It became apparent that if I wanted to devote more time and energy to music, I would have to set off without them, so I started loitering around jam nights in town.

Not all of them were worth going to, in hindsight. And yes, you will no doubt wince at the number of times you're asked to do a 12-bar blues, or have to put up with some Bob Dylan wannabe who gets butthurt about the other musicians not knowing Ballad of a Thin Man, or whatever, but at least you'll get to meet a lot of other musicians very quickly. And they almost always need good bass players.

By analogy, if you compare it with answering a band's advert and going along to try out, a good jam night can be more like speed dating. It's still no guarantee of success, but at least you get to scope out more of the local scene more quickly.

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

 

By analogy, if you compare it with answering a band's advert and going along to try out, a good jam night can be more like speed dating. It's still no guarantee of success, but at least you get to scope out more of the local scene more quickly.

Depends on where your located. In my neck of the woods open jams are vehicles for guitarist, blues harp guys , singers to network and play but not bass players.

Blue

[lownote]

I don’t lack jam nights, my problem is that there are now almost as many bassist around as guitarists.  Or multi instrumentalists who also play bass.  Maybe it’s all this online teaching making it popular. 

[Cairobill]

When I'm in the lulls with my band, I dive into the world of Ableton Live and virtual modular stuff like VCV rack/Voltage Modular. Endless fun and very good for the synapses. Fantastic writing tools too.