Regret

[Nothingman]

 

OK, here’s an interesting one. 

 

What is your biggest regret as a bass player?

 

That one thing you look back and think damn. 

 

It could be turning down an opportunity, selling that bit of irreplaceable bit of gear, or leaving that band. 

 

For me it was a few years ago when I packed up music and sold all my gear. 

 

I then had a couple of years off before falling back in love with it all again. 

 

Amps, cabs, pedals and basses all sold. 

 

The regret I feel for that period is immense. Down and out and packing up. It left a massive hole in my life. 

 

Some people believe in living a live without regret, I don’t. I feel these are important lessons and provide an opportunity to grow. 

 

I’ve only sold 2 basses since I came back into the music world. A Squier P/J the bass that got me back playing and a Epihone JC. The latter one I do regret selling. 

 

Chances are Ive bought a pedal off you if you been selling cheap ones on here. Hardly use them but fun toys to have round. These things I’ll never consider selling now.

 

I don’t want to live with another period of bass regret. 

 

So, Basschat, what’s your one big bass/music regret? 

[miles'tone]

No regrets. It's a journey. 

[tauzero]

Not joining Pink Floyd. I mean, it would have been nice to have been asked.

 

Alternatively, a few bandless years after being very disillusioned by a singer/guitarist with a huge ego. I just couldn't summon up the will to find another band for some years.

[dclaassen]

No regrets, but I would like to have my 63 Jazz back….

[JazzyJ]

I really regret selling my 1976 Thunderbird which was bought for £500 about 1980. Sold it to a music shop in York for £300 to pay the rent. Subsequently heard that the new owner had broken the headstock. Never mind...

 

 

[neepheid]

Starting as late as I did.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

2 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Starting as late as I did.

Me too 

[Leonard Smalls]

I sort of regret that time 30-odd years ago when there were a number of record company scouts coming to see us at the Bull and Gate, and we thought that if we got completely off our faces we'd play much better.

We couldn't...

And worse, we thought we'd played really well!

However, it probably did me a favour in the long run.

[Aidan63]

Swapping a 1962 blonde EB2 for an archtop guitar that turned out to be a dog. To be fair the EB2 was a bit of a dog but it would now be worth something whereas the guitar got stood on and ended up as firewood. I regret losing touch with the guy I swapped it with much more though, as we lost touch and I can't find him and his family now, haven't seen them for 22 years (days before mobile phone ubiquitousness), their son will be a man now.

[Thump]

I only regret not playing bass in my younger days. I only switched to bass around 2015 yet i have played guitar since i was 14. I'm 44 now. I still have some guitars , just the ones that mean something to me personally. My epiphone les paul , daphne blue strat , telecaster with incredible birdseye maple neck i bought in california , and my explorer that is tuned down to C with 13-56 strings. 

 

Now it's all about bass , i have no interest in playing my old guitars anymore but i just can't part with them either. The ones i could have all been traded in. 

 

I suppose it's a long winded way of saying i regret not starting earlier in my life

 

[Burns-bass]

Not persevering with DB 18 years ago when I started.

[ahpook]

I was all lined up to audition to play in performance with Glenn Branca.

 

But this was during my drinking years, so never got it together, made my excuses and blew it out.

 

There are many, many regrets from this time in my life, but of the musical ones, this one still pricks, and pricks deeply.

 

So it goes.

Edited November 12, 2023 by ahpook

[Lozz196]

I regret not taking it more seriously and not realising the direction I should have taken. Would have been dependent on other factors though.

[Silky999]

30 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Starting as late as I did.

This is my only regret……kit comes and goes which is sometimes a good decision, sometimes bad and the same can be said of bands and opportunities. Time, however, is irreplaceable and unfortunately you only notice the lack of it when it’s running out.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Silky999

[Staggering on]

I should have switched to DB and EUB much sooner than I did in 2015 when I bought a used EUB. That was sold when I found a used Yamaha SLB200  and then I went to England in 2018 to attend the BC Double Bass Bash at Bicester and came home and bought my first DB, I now have two of them and still have the SLB200 and play in three bands and occasionally help fill out the bass section in a youth orchestra, youngest players are 71 years younger than I am!

The biggest regret is that I didn't start DB lessons until last year at age 76 and I still have weekly lessons. I have learned so much and all my playing has improved, why didn't I do that years ago? Too soon old, too late smart as they say...🙄  

 

[Staggering on]

12 minutes ago, Silky999 said:

This is my only regret……kit comes and goes which is sometimes a good decision, sometimes bad and the same can be said of bands and opportunities. Time, however, is irreplaceable and unfortunately you only notice the lack of it when it’s running out.

 

Yup, see my post above, time is getting short for me, I've been playing since I was a teenager in the '60's, I could have been really good by now.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Staggering on

[Linus27]

I thinking generally, I don't have any heavy regrets as overall, I've had a fantastic career in music, more than most people get to achieve and many fantastic memories, experiences and opportunities. If I dropped down dead tomorrow, then I wouldn't have any regrets and made the best of it generally.

 

However, there has to be some right so I think if I could, I wish I still had my 1973 Fender Telecaster bass. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it was a bit of a pig of a bass but it would be worth a tidy penny now. Also, possibly my fretless Warwick Streamer Jazzman. I think also, looking back, I wish I was more disciplined and opened my eyes to other opportunities rather than thinking I'm in this band and this is where it's at.

 

If there's one thing I would change, that I wished I knew back then that I realise now, then it would have been to learn to read. This would have opened up a lot more opportunities to me but again, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[BillyBass]

45 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Starting as late as I did.

 

43 minutes ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Me too 

 

17 minutes ago, Silky999 said:

This is my only regret……kit comes and goes which is sometimes a good decision, sometimes bad and the same can be said of bands and opportunities. Time, however, is irreplaceable and unfortunately you only notice the lack of it when it’s running out.

I was 55 when I picked up a bass for the first time.  I wish I had started 5 years earlier.

[Guest]

I previously had a regret which I no longer have. I previously wished I’d had more confidence in myself and taken more chances to be in a successful band and done that for a living… but now I don’t feel that way at all. How many bass players make a living out of original music for several decades? It’s probably easier to win a lottery jackpot. I also know my personality is not one suited to fame and financial instability.

 

So really my regret now is that I didn’t work harder at the bass and do more with it as a hobby. I now have no regrets that I didn’t try to “make it” when younger.

[Owen]

I wish I had understood where the income streams were before my mid 30s. I just did not consider the whole royalties thing. I am not sure why. 

 

I wish I had had more confidence to write. I did not because I knew that lyrics and singing were not for me and I had no idea where people found melodies. I have now started and am hugely enjoying doing instrumental stuff.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Other regret ..learning to drive 🚗 

It makes things much more difficult . Even if you are " guaranteed " a lift to rehearsals , gigs etc there were always times when I would have been dropped off at awkward places due to other band mate commitments  . 
Having Psycho , partially deaf drummers in the driving seat can be  a bit traumatic 🤢🤮

 

[OliverBlackman]

Regret not paying more attention to rhythmic placement in my earlier years. I’ve got it down now but I would have secured a lot more gigs by having better time.

[MacDaddy]

Regrets? I've had a few, but then again, too few mention.

[ezbass]

3 hours ago, neepheid said:

Starting as late as I did.

 

2 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Me too 

Same. However, I actually jumped from the 6 string razor in my 20s, but I was asked to play guitar again for a new project and I ended up staying with the skinny stringed beast longer than I should have, not picking up the bass again until my 40s. Nonetheless, I did pick the bass up again and that’s what matters.

[Lozz196]

3 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I sort of regret that time 30-odd years ago when there were a number of record company scouts coming to see us at the Bull and Gate, and we thought that if we got completely off our faces we'd play much better.

We couldn't...

And worse, we thought we'd played really well!

However, it probably did me a favour in the long run.

I have a similar experience, also have the VHS of the evening. Sure drinking did make us better, but only in our minds, in everyone else’s ears the truth was heard and it wasn’t pleasant.