Have these Lockdowns improved your bass playing?

[dave_bass5]

Just now, ezbass said:

I’m sad and happy for you at the same time. You’ll still stay with the forum though?

Cheers. There is enough non bass specific chat on here, as well as friends, to keep me around. Once a bass player always a bass player, so never say never. I handed bass duties over to a mate and the band sounds so much better for this adjustment. We sorely lacked keys so its the right move. 

I must admit i was getting in to a rut with bass and no gigs/rehearsals during the first lockdown. All this gear and no reason to use most of it. I was getting very twitchy and itching to rehearse again, as i love making music. The keyboard changed all that as i could/can now write again and having to learn all the band songs on keys, as well as re learn how to play etc, has kept me busy and very much sane. I’d say i have more enthusiasm for playing music now than i have had over the past few years.

[BigRedX]

7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I went back to keyboards (after 25 years)  and have no intention of playing bass in the near future (although i have played bass recently on a recording i did with a mate).

I lived for playing bass with the band, but sitting on my own at home i just didnt feel it. I wanted to do some recording but bass on its own is boring to me. Tried a bit of guitar but couldn't really get in to it. A happy ancient caused me to buy a new small keyboard, and then 2 weeks later a big one. To me its a more complete band in a box. I can sit for hours playing it, and any instrument i want is right there in front of me. Its actually changed how i feel about playing in bands. Now I’m happy making music at home, where as before i needed the band. We have rehearsed a few times since i changed, and its great fun, but I’m now more contingent with not rehearsing as well, 

I’m not selling off all the bass gear, but most of it, especially  the rig. Still keeping a few basses, and ive recently got a Yamaha DBR12 for keys, which sounds great with bass as well. 

Very much this. For me bass is an instrument I play as part of a band. With no band activity in the foreseeable future, there is little incentive for me to play any of my basses. 

[dave moffat]

Moved house in May (Still unboxing stuff). Didn't feel much like playing anything at all for a couple of months busy getting things sorted round the new place. Just started learning again then had a stroke, thankfully largely recovered in time for xmas/new year last thing to come back was proper control of/feeling in my fingers. @Newwiekins got me a little Vox amp for Christmas which started to motivate me then a couple of emails from Luke at becomeabassist.com ramped up my motivation a bit more.

I feel I've improved, things certainly feel easier and my knowledge and understanding is better but also feel I should/could have done better

[dave_bass5]

20 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Very much this. For me bass is an instrument I play as part of a band. With no band activity in the foreseeable future, there is little incentive for me to play any of my basses. 

Yes, same, and i also got stuck in a rut in that i would  always sit and play the same songs (that the band were doing) over and over again. It got boring and i couldn't get myself out of it. My view was why learn new songs when the band wont do them. All I’m doing is playing along to recordings. I know this is not the norm, but its how i thought of things. Benign a very band minded person it was always about what the band will do. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by dave_bass5

[Al Krow]

@EBS_freak and @Barking Spiders I note that you good gents' locations are not a million miles apart. Do you bump into each other from time to time and what are the neighbours like? Just asking for a friend 😈

[dave moffat]

As someone said earlier everyone is different. I'm really undisciplined and would probably be a nightmare for bandmates, I tend to hear a piece of a tune or a bassline then try to work it out before becoming bored and progressing into something else, same with practice exercises I start out OK at which point I get bored and I hear something in my head and start freewheeling 'off piste'. The more I become familiar with the bass the worse I become for doing this kind of thing.

[dave_bass5]

8 minutes ago, dave moffat said:

As someone said earlier everyone is different. I'm really undisciplined and would probably be a nightmare for bandmates, I tend to hear a piece of a tune or a bassline then try to work it out before becoming bored and progressing into something else, same with practice exercises I start out OK at which point I get bored and I hear something in my head and start freewheeling 'off piste'. The more I become familiar with the bass the worse I become for doing this kind of thing.

Yep, thats me. Too easy to ‘noodle’ when I should be doing something constructive. Same with any instrument for me though. 

[casapete]

40 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Very much this. For me bass is an instrument I play as part of a band. With no band activity in the foreseeable future, there is little incentive for me to play any of my basses. 

This is me too. I’ve always (perhaps wrongly) viewed playing bass as being part of a group, and without other people readily on hand I just don’t get the same feeling about jamming along with tracks and on line stuff. I think for me it’s always been about playing live, and currently without the whole touring / band environment it all just feels a bit uninspiring. I have been having the odd hour or two with my Yamaha session cake headphone amp ( about the only good thing I’ve gained from lockdown) , and will need to ramp this up once I find out when our gigs look like recommencing. Bit worried my fingers will need some getting used to bass strings again too.

[JapanAxe]

TLDR: Yes.

I initially struggled to motivate myself but started keeping a Bullet Journal which (among other things) helped to make me accountable to my own goals.

I have a folder called Bass Challenge where I keep sheet music of songs I want to play properly but have never really cracked. Last night I was working on Master Blaster and New Born, both of which I have gigged at various times but only played messily.

I’ve also been working through the James Jamerson transcriptions in Standing in the Shadows of Motown. I have a Trello board for all these numbers and I am steadily moving songs through the categories Challenge > Familiar > Nearly there > Sorted.

On guitar I’ve spent time on my country playing and on Beatles and Bowie material, as well as the set of a band I am looking forward to playing with post-pandemic.

I’ve also been teaching myself keyboards with the aid of a Udemy course.

Then there are the six electronics projects I’ve completed, and daily Spanish using Duolingo.

Even so, there are days where I’m just too tired or can’t be bothered, and I no longer beat myself up about that.

[EBS_freak]

49 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@EBS_freak and @Barking Spiders I note that you good gents' locations are not a million miles apart. Do you bump into each other from time to time and what are the neighbours like? Just asking for a friend 😈

In 5 weeks time I haven't left the house for a year. I don't bump into anybody it would seem.

[Al Krow]

21 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

TLDR: Yes.

I initially struggled to motivate myself but started keeping a Bullet Journal which (among other things) helped to make me accountable to my own goals.

I have a folder called Bass Challenge where I keep sheet music of songs I want to play properly but have never really cracked. Last night I was working on Master Blaster and New Born, both of which I have gigged at various times but only played messily.

I’ve also been working through the James Jamerson transcriptions in Standing in the Shadows of Motown. I have a Trello board for all these numbers and I am steadily moving songs through the categories Challenge > Familiar > Nearly there > Sorted.

On guitar I’ve spent time on my country playing and on Beatles and Bowie material, as well as the set of a band I am looking forward to playing with post-pandemic.

I’ve also been teaching myself keyboards with the aid of a Udemy course.

Then there are the six electronics projects I’ve completed, and daily Spanish using Duolingo.

Even so, there are days where I’m just too tired or can’t be bothered, and I no longer beat myself up about that.

Brilliant!

That Jamerson tome (along with many others!) has been sitting on my shelf untouched for several years. Your post has certainly encouraged me to dust that off. What would be mega useful, if I could trouble you, is for your thoughts on which of the numbers fall into the "easy" "med" and "difficult" categories based on how you've found them? I think that would be a good way for me to approach working through the pieces. Please feel free to PM to avoid de-railing the thread, if that would be better.

[dave_bass5]

19 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

In 5 weeks time I haven't left the house for a year.

WOW!!!

[Doddy]

I'm surprised at the number of people who haven't played in a year. I was wondering if the idea of being in a band and hanging out with mates (and collecting gear) is more of the driving force than actually playing the instrument?  It's cool if it is, but I just find it surprising when there is so much to learn and play on the bass.

I don't always sit down and spend hours playing every day (it's difficult with a 3 year old running around), but I try to pick the bass up for at least a few minutes a day to keep my hands working. There might not be any work about, but my motivation is to not be sh!t when they start up again.

[EBS_freak]

20 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

WOW!!!

Im in training for Elon's Mars mission.

[BigRedX]

9 minutes ago, Doddy said:

I'm surprised at the number of people who haven't played in a year. I was wondering if the idea of being in a band and hanging out with mates (and collecting gear) is more of the driving force than actually playing the instrument?  It's cool if it is, but I just find it surprising when there is so much to learn and play on the bass.

I don't always sit down and spend hours playing every day (it's difficult with a 3 year old running around), but I try to pick the bass up for at least a few minutes a day to keep my hands working. There might not be any work about, but my motivation is to not be sh!t when they start up again.

For me playing an instrument - any instrument - is a means to and end, not the end in itself. And that end is writing songs that can be recorded and/or played live. Unfortunately as you can probably tell from my incoherent ramblings on here I'm not much good with words, so I rely on a songwriting partner for the lyrical side. At the moment it is not possible to work directly with any of the people I write with, so my motivation to pick up any of my instruments has been low.

Last year I hadn't really noticed the lack of actual playing since I was involved with the mixing and production of a number of musical projects (and with not being able to attend any of the studios in person to do this it took considerably longer than normal). However all but one of these are now complete, and this thread in particular has made me aware of the fact that I have nearly touched an instrument since March of last year.

[Baxlin]

I’m not sure lockdown has actually improved my bass playing, but it’s certainly opened my mind to playing styles of music I’ve not touched before.  Doing ‘bass backing tracks’ searches on YouTube has kept me occupied for hours........

[Lfalex v1.1]

During lockdown,  I'm working more and harder than ever. 

In my spare time,  I've managed to invest some time/effort into Chapman Stick/upright playing. 

The end result is that my ear for music and plucking hand dexterity have improved dramatically. 

I've long since given up on bands and don't write material per se, so my motivation is left unaffected by the lack of rehearsal. I play to "relax" in the same way that others might watch TV or read a book.

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Brilliant!

That Jamerson tome (along with many others!) has been sitting on my shelf untouched for several years. Your post has certainly encouraged me to dust that off. What would be mega useful, if I could trouble you, is for your thoughts on which of the numbers fall into the "easy" "med" and "difficult" categories based on how you've found them? I think that would be a good way for me to approach working through the pieces. Please feel free to PM to avoid de-railing the thread, if that would be better.

PM sent.

[Happy Jack]

21 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

Personally, I've been working on new skills - video, audio, 

That's me too. Thanks to a history of having all my gigs video'd by @Silvia Bluejay plus a couple of on-going studio / distanced / green screen projects, I've had more reason than most to keep playing PLUS I have learned the basics of video editing from a standing start with lots of material that I can practise on.

One thing I have learned - which may be applicable to many on Basschat - is that having all this kit lying around anyway (instruments, amplification, electronics, computers) means that for very little money it is usually possible to break into a completely new area. 

Silvie and I discovered that all we needed for a decent home green-screen facility was £20 worth of green material and some bulldog clips ... we already had everything else that was needed. You don't even need a camera, your smartphone will do the job for you.

Similarly, already owning a decent PA built around a Behringer XR18 (for use with the bands) meant that when we bought Reaper to use as an entry-level video editor, we actually had everything we needed to turn the Junkyard (my music studio) into a full-on 16-track recording facility. And bear in mind that we chose to buy Reaper (£70) because we could afford to and we thought we should; the product is supplied free on an evaulation basis, and it's up to the user to decide whether and when to pay for it.

 

[inthedoghouse]

4 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

For others, it may be that sense of achievement playing that piece under pressure on a stage. I get pleasure out of playing on stages - others don't.

That's me.  And it's all about playing with others to the best of our ability and the reward at gigs that comes from the effort we all made. 

I just need to find a decent band to join now ...

[christhammer666]

ive picked up the bass once in the last year and I think that was for around 10 minutes

[odysseus]

4 hours ago, Jack said:

 

I guess it's the same as bass. You've said that you essentially play bass to 'zone out' and relax, great. I play bass to get up off my backside and do something creative rather than just zoning out.

It's both really... it's the getting off my butt and being creative that takes me somewhere else, and outside of the daily stuff.... as opposed to just zoning out, where real ale fulfils that side of things 🙂

[Lfalex v1.1]

43 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

That's me too. Thanks to a history of having all my gigs video'd by @Silvia Bluejay plus a couple of on-going studio / distanced / green screen projects, I've had more reason than most to keep playing PLUS I have learned the basics of video editing from a standing start with lots of material that I can practise on.

One thing I have learned - which may be applicable to many on Basschat - is that having all this kit lying around anyway (instruments, amplification, electronics, computers) means that for very little money it is usually possible to break into a completely new area.

 

Good to hear you're using your time constructively, but please, no Fripp/Willcox style antics..

Edited February 11, 2021 by Lfalex v1.1

[Happy Jack]

31 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Good to hear you're using your time constructively, but please, no Fripp/Willcox style antics..

My boobs aren't big enough. 😉

[Paul S]

32 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

My boobs aren't big enough. 😉

But at least they are real, Jack.

Disclaimer, I have never seen HJ's boobs, this was said purely for comic effect.