Funny you mentioned that, I actually shot a few reviews already. I also shot a couple of bass review. The Editing is killing me, as I have no time to do that. I’ll get down to it, hopefully soon. Hey I’ll send to you and you can tell me what you think.
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Happy to, really … but do expect honesty! I’m not good with flattering 
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I expect nothing less. That would be a good benchmark too.
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I’m looking forward to it!
But I don’t believe anything that has no measurements. It needs to have an “objective” component, whatever that is…
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Coming off of a gig hangover (ok it was an open mic we played 10 songs at). 2 weeks of not wanting much to do with bass. I did get more into playing with synths, songwriting, working in Studio 1, and even trying out a Chinese Erhu. But yea other than goofing on my new Fender VI I haven’t played much.
Being in a band was rough this year. My other band mates have spotty interest and dedication and my guitarist is starting to make comments he doesn’t need to make. It’s taken a real toll on my drive to play.
I’m not sure what next year holds but I’m realizing I’m more of a musician than a bassist. With that comes a balance of practice time vs songwriting and playing with other instruments.
Goal wise I think I need to just can TV watching as a whole and I’ll have more than enough time.
I almost tried out to play bass in a new band but I decided prog rock and folks that play way too loud on stage aren’t my interests.
This year I want to chase the more melodic aspects of the bass. I’d like to complete at least 2 of my own songs. I’d also like to get more into music theory and increasing my knowledge. I think most of that work will be on Piano or in the DAW so I’m not sure if that fits here.
Bass wise I want to learn my covers better so I don’t have to put up with negativity. I’d also like to just get more familiar with the bass and playing by ear rather than memorization.
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Have you tried bandmix.com yet? It’s sort of like a dating site for musicians. Might be worth checking out and grabbing a month membership to get in touch with some folks.
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Get after it, man. 
Walking bass takes work, dedication and practice, but the upside is immeasurably great. It unlocks and integrates so many aspects of playing and composing.
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That wasn’t meant for me @MattyD . It was to encourage others to leave the house and play with other people. I’m in a band. Have been for over a year.
It’s all good. 2 hr+ set list. We fired a couple of people and now everyone is on the ‘let’s work hard to be the best we can be’ program.
10 gigs in 2025. Hands down the most fun part is playing live and loud.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSQs9zhDaeJ/
Also this is the wrong answer Loud is awesome.
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Not sure how well it does for video but when I ran my audio podcast I used https://www.descript.com/ it lets you edit audio like a word document and can even remove filler words (I had 600+ in my first episode).
My other takeaway from my podcast is you only have like 5 mins of interest so short reviews (maybe yt shorts) might be the best way to go.
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Your bass goal: leave that band!!!
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You’re not the boss of me 
. I think that’s my plan this year though. My playing is getting close to what I consider to be minimally acceptable to start playing with others and not feel like I’m wasting anyones time.
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“I’m not ready yet”. I went to Victor Wooten’s music and nature camp last summer and I can’t tell you how many times I heard this line. Folks were like, “I’ve been playing bass for 10 years, I’m going to Berkeley for music but yea I’m not good enough to play in a band”.
My opinion is it’s better to join a band when you suck. Everyone sucks just in different ways and degrees. But being in a band is social pressure, “oh crap I have a gig in 2 months I need to ignore my ADHD and just practice”.
Honestly if I didn’t join a band I still wouldn’t be able to play a single song. I now (arguably) can play close to 40 songs without music in just over 1 year.
Do I still suck? YES. But at least I suck on stage and every now and then I see a tapping foot 
Also a good band is a bit like a family. You struggle together. I enjoy hanging out after practice for a couple of beers to just chill and talk about music. It’s like this forum just IRL.
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You are completely right. I’m not good at putting myself out there. If I’m going to, I need to do it in a way that I’m comfortable with. Being able to get in and feel like I’m contributing instead of trying to hang on for dear life has been important to me. Ive spent the last several months way more concerned with mechanics and technique (and starting to learn guitar) than simply doing covers that were too easy for me and not picking up anything new from.
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I find that statement VERY motivating!
My issue is that I a) don’t want to play with people my age (basically old f@rts - I did enjoy a little music project with 20-somethings though), b) I don’t want to end up in a cover band EVER, and c) I wouldn’t know which style I would like to play.
Since I play bass, I became more “diverse” in terms of musical taste, which makes life much more beautiful … and complicated!
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Hahaha nice! Yea we had 10 “events” this year. Some of those were open mics or non-paid gigs.
Loud is alright as long as the venue isn’t too small and it doesn’t make you sound like trash. I seriously was all psyched to audition for this band, I went to see them live and they were all out competing each other for loudness, the mix was absolute sh** and it was a small 3000sqft venue. It was sonic torture.
At one point the drummer ended a song with what can only be deemed as molesting his ride cymbal he beat that thing for 30 seconds straight. It caused me physical pain even with my fingers in my ears. It’s a shame too because the studio albums from this band are quite good.
I realized that I wouldn’t be able to audition without expressing my feelings about their sound and that just wasn’t a place I wanted to be.
I’m a bit spoiled my drummer tunes down and knows how to control his loudness enough that most practice sessions I don’t even need plugs (although I probably should).
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Here’s the thing just be honest with where you are at. Artists need thick skin as all art is subjective. The right band will understand and help you grow.
Just remember they probably need you more than you need them. Apparently bassists are hard to come by these days.
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- Get back to recording a few bass covers
- Master at least one Morphine song on the two string
- Get to know my (new to me) upright, and record at least one rockabilly and one jazz-ish tune
- Focus a LOT on boring scale mastery across upright and sax and improvise - something
- Continue on banjo and learn a couple full songs (non bass but part of the deal)
- Sax - keep up what I restarted and focus on more mastery stuff (boring but really needed)
- One sax/bass cover
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I think those criteria will severely limit your options to play with other people and improve.
You want to play people half your age, playing original material in a style you haven’t decided on. 
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As someone who has tinnitus I disagree. I think I’ve said this to you before, but feel free to ignore it. Hearing loss isn’t cool. Playing loud is fun but yeah hearing protection is where it’s at.
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That is a great summary!
Also, I have stage fright and s#ck at playing, which likely attributed to my impossible criteria, subconsciously at least
The age criterium seems no problem though: I have met several people 1/3 of my age in the park and at venues that wanted to start music projects with me. Of course, they don’t know me as well as you do
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