How did you go from beginner to badass to band member? (long read)

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Hello @damonjc and all you delightful Bass Buzzing BadA$$ Friends ,

My advice and what worked for me was pure honesty. I replied to an AD on Craigslist. The ad stated that this person has been writing songs for over 25 years and was looking for like minded individuals. When I responded , I spoke my truth.

I explained that I am very interested in meeting up , that I am a beginner , and the originals have caught my eye. I added in my response that I have zero interest in bass solos and I am judgment free.

What I made clear was this:
If you are looking for a dependable bass player , I am your guy. If you are looking for someone to play whole notes in time , I am your guy. If you are willing to work with a rookie , I am your guy. If you are looking for a bass player that will quickly pick up cover tunes , I am not your man.

This particular person explained song structure , when to play what notes on what word , and when to hold a note or go full on sharp staccato mode. So it was almost a full two months before I ever introduced a 5th or an octave to these songs. When I practiced , specifically to these songs , I practiced memorizing the pattern. example: I practiced the patter of G > C > D > G. I would start on the 3rd fret , then the 10th fret of the A string , and then the 5th fret of the D string. Literally, only practiced those patterns as whole notes. Early on , I might strike the last note twice before repeating the bar.

Now , months had gone by , I was feeling more confident with two of the original tunes. During our practice together , I asked this simple question," During the chorus section , do you mind if I try something?" All I added was this basic 3rd pattern to each root note. So in the same example , G to the 3rd > C to the 3rd > D to the 3rd > and back to the G without the 3rd but two strikes on that G. As you would imagine , it was sloppy , my notes had that rookie buzz , but my attitude towards experimenting soared. That simple afternoon opened doors to all of Josh Manā€™s instructions for adding 5ths and octaves to song structures. Within about tow or three months of practicing , that same song , G then 5th than octave back to the 5th and that became a part of that song > two strikes on the C , two strikes on the D , and then a repeat on the G again. When I look back as I share this , I remember how difficult it was for me at the time. Those added G notes on the 1st bar and 4th bar were so difficult and I am remember how I would block out the band and intensify stare at my fretboard. I still remember when I was able to play the 5th , octave , and 5th to ALL four of those notes. Like Finally

So in closing:

  1. be honest
  2. camp out on whole notes - striking the whole note twice or in a rhythm totally works
  3. donā€™t stop playing when you miss a note , no wrong notes , just leading notes before you find the correct note
  4. slow your practice down when alone
  5. when you are practicing alone , write down questions/ clarifications for next band practice. And ask questions for sure
  6. these points below are from my own personal choices: follow your gut brain!! if you donā€™t feel a good vibe , pass on it.
  7. if band practice is at 6pm , have your bass in tune and ready to play at 5:58pm
  8. do not drink alcohol during your first practice. Be polite and all that jazz but donā€™t drink right out of the shoot
  9. turn your amp down!! You and your bandmates donā€™t need to hear your nervousness at loud volumes. If there is a drummer involved , add one earplug in the ear that faces the drum kit
  10. remain professional , sounds ridiculous but remain professional. The sloppy bandmates will weeded themselves out and those elementary ā€œjokesā€ will only build unwanted tension within the group. Poking fun sucks A$$ so remain professional

Again , these statements above are just my opinion and observations. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will happily respond. Something that definitely helped me with my practicing was ā€œplayingā€ along to backing tracks here on YouTube. Just remember KISS , Keep It Simple Silly

Stay Groovy ,
Cheers

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As someone who has hearing loss and tinnitus from the military. Iā€™d argue for wearing proper hearing protection all the time (not just in one ear) including rehearsals. Hearing loss is permanent and isnā€™t cool. Full stop.

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Thank you for sharing your story @Nebel. It is inspiring. And thank you to @travis.thepadre.reed for taking the time to give such a detailed response on what worked for you.

Summarizing what you badasses have posted:

Playing with other musicians has been the most significant factor in your development and growth as a bassist. (It seems there is an answer here for people who question what to do after completing the B2B course).

  • Those of you who are in a band appear to have done that early in your journey. All of you appear to spend a significant amount of time in daily practice despite family/work obligations (i.e., you make the time).

Learning songs is important. Those of you playing in a band use your songs as the foundation of your practice. (Your ability is what stood out to me in the ā€œPost Your Coversā€ thread, thus prompting my initial post).

  • In learning songs, start with songs with simple bass lines and build a repertoire to play along with.
  • Although not explicitly stated, the message from everyone seems to be to not focus on playing tabs exactly as noted, but understanding the structure of the song and chord changes, etc.

Practice with a backing track/drum beat. Develop your ability to maintain the rhythm and groove.

Record yourself. Watching and listening to yourself play will help you improve.

Wear ear plugs. :face_holding_back_tears: I also have tinnitus @Barney. It sounds like cicadas in the summertime. This is the one thing that will hold me back from playing with others. I have damaged my hearing and have hearing loss. Iā€™ve watched my parents completely lose their hearing and are unable to talk with their grandchildren. I see that in my future. When I wear ear plugs I just feel off. Even as I read all of these inspirational responses (again, thank you to everyone), I often think I may just have to be content playing solo at a very low volume.

Lastly,

Itā€™s all in good humor. I donā€™t take myself too seriously.

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I think you summarized the gist of things pretty completely and accurately.

Kinda sorta, mostly, but not really. I make a point to pick up my bass and play 5-6 days per week. But many days thatā€™s just putting on some music in the evening and playing along with relatively simple songs for 20 minutes or so. Even that little playing is valuable in its own right, but also often turns into a 40 minute practice. (And I make a point to take a day off and not touch my bass at least one day per week.)

However, early on I practiced that diligently more often.

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Another thing:

Take time to play badly. To do things wrong. To make it messy and sloppy. Make silly, frivolous noises. Just play around and donā€™t take things seriously.

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This is good advice, and i think it ties in with something I said about the fact that we play music for the fun and enjoyment. Make sure to take time to just goof around and have fun playing.

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Once you feel like you want to jam put up posts/profiles on craigslist and bandmix.com
Folks will probably find you.

If you arenā€™t sure just say ā€œlooking folks to jam withā€ youā€™ll h get lots of replies. If itā€™s just a jam decide on 3 songs for everyone to learn and give it a go.

If a band hits you up congrats! Just make sure they know you are green but willing to work your butt off. The. Do the same pick 3 songs, learn them in a week or so and play.

The most important thing is to find people you like hanging with. It helps if the drummer has a good practice space. If you find a drummer with a great setup itā€™s huge.

I got really lucky finding the folks in my band. We got a long and they basically drafted me :hugs:

If you join a band who is actually playing gigs you are going to have to learn songs FAST.
YouTube tabs are your friend here. Donā€™t focus on perfection but rather ā€œgood enoughā€.

Also if you can pick songs donā€™t pick anything super hard. Youā€™ll be really thankful for simple chuggers early on.

Well thatā€™s my $.02.

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^^^^
This

And hence my comment and pic of hearing protection further up this thread. Rather than those cheap squishy orange / yellow foam earplugs (often used in industrial situations), hunt out musicianā€™s earplugs. They attenuate sound, protecting your hearing, while letting enough through that you can hear whatā€™s going on. The only problem I have with them, but Iā€™ve learnt to live with, is they they tend to cut out much of the kick drum, meaning I need to be laser-locked onto what the drummer is actually doing - Iā€™m taking my cues from a) knowing the songs (practice, practice, practice), and b) the high hat and snare.

Incidentally, as a general point in the band situation, when playing covers, it very useful to actually agree, up front, which version of a song youā€™re actually going to use are the basis you your cover. By way of example, there are three or four versions of Billy Idolā€™s White Wedding, Republicaā€™s Ready To Go, the Stereophonicā€™s Dakota, to name just three of the songs we do. One of our band members still hasnā€™t managed to learn the right version of White Weddingā€¦itā€™s really frustrating when three people go for the transition between bridge to chorus, but one thinks weā€™re going into another verse!!

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Honestly, Iā€™d give it a go. Iā€™m the first one to beat myself over the head and saying ā€œyouā€™re not good enoughā€, and itā€™s a daily struggle to overcome that. That being said, playing with others has boosted my confidence.

Do I mess up sometimes when Iā€™m playing with the band? Yeah. Do I feel like Iā€™m crap? Absolutely. But guess what, the others make mistakes too. And I donā€™t care about that, neither do they, we are just humans. The music does not fall apart because Iā€™m playing a wrong note, if I was to stop playing it would.

My teacher told me, the note you just played, doesnā€™t matter anymore, only one that matters is the next one, so make a mistake, smile and keep grooving.

Also, 99% of the audience wonā€™t hear if you make a mistake.

Now, Iā€™m trying to make my weakness my strength. Iā€™m terrified of standing out because Iā€™m messing up, so to overcome that fear, I practice my material a lot and Iā€™m putting in many hours and I have a strong focus when Iā€™m rehearsing. Itā€™s also a need to prove myself.

I recently got my grades from my bass teacher. Sure, itā€™s my first year, so itā€™s beginner friendly. But he awarded me a 60/60 points and wrote that he never gives 60 (he also teachers at a conservatory here) but in my case he could not give any less. Iā€™m always prepared and when he thinks the homework he gave would last for weeks as it does with others, Iā€™ve crushed it in a week. So again, Iā€™m trying to turning my fear of failing into something positive; I fucking want to do this, I want to become a bass player.

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This is something Iā€™ve realized that has given me a lot of context and less pressure in tough portions.

The drums and bass are both holding down rhythm. Generally, itā€™s a redundant system. One of us can make a mistake, and if the other stays on, we can self correct back into line with probably no one else noticing. Things usually only fall apart if BOTH of us make simultaneous mistakes.

Often, making that little mistake and getting back in synch tightens things up because it tunes you back in to what the other is doing.

And dropping a note is almost never a mistake. Itā€™s just an extra rest.

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Thank you all for the great responses and tips about how you started playing in bands and whatā€™s important to you. Itā€™s been really insightful!

A lot of great answers and tips have already been shared, but hereā€™s my journey back to playing in a band. I stopped playing almost 20 years ago after being in various garage bands during my youth, mostly playing metal. Back then, I never learned anything beyond what I needed for the band I was in, and I made a lot of ā€œmistakes.ā€ I basically just played what sounded right to me, and of course, the riffs the guitarists told me to play. I never learned any theory and only played with a pick, but I had pretty good timing and was relatively fast, even though my technique was terrible. I guess thatā€™s just something young fingers can handle!

Since I put music aside, Iā€™ve missed it from time to time, and in 2022, I bought an Ibanez SDGR and started playing a bit by myself. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lot, and I didnā€™t enjoy playing; instead, I felt frustrated that I was so bad and my fingers wouldnā€™t do what I wanted. I think itā€™s comparable to a soccer player who picks up soccer again as an adult ā€“ it usually ends in injuries! Luckily, I didnā€™t sell my equipment, and in the summer of 2023, I started playing a bit again, but this time, cover songs. I learned a few simpler songs, and the joy of playing started to come back, but I still felt like I didnā€™t know anything, and I still hadnā€™t played with my fingers, and my left pinky finger was more of a hindrance than a help. I realized I needed to start from scratch. I came across Bassbuzz and went all in to become as good as I could be when I signed up in September 2023. I completed the course and loved it. The support from the forum here is also incredible, and I started to feel like a bassist. Unfortunately, I was very unsure if I was good enough to take the step and join a band, which resulted in a question on the forum about when youā€™re good enough. There were a lot of great answers, and I recommend reading ā€œWhen are you good enough?..and other similarly strange discussions.ā€ - Lounge - BassBuzz Forum.

Then came the easy part, once I had the basics down and a bit of self-belief. There are many groups on social media where musicians look for other musicians, and I posted an honest ad in one such group. The next day, I was contacted by a guitarist who wanted me to join a band playing blues/rock covers from the 60s-80s. They were all a few years older than me and had played music their whole lives. A bit nervous, I showed up for the first rehearsal the following week. I didnā€™t know any of the songs they played, but I came prepared, arrived early, brought about three extra cables, batteries, etc. I approached the tasks very humbly and played as best as I could on the songs they played. They were all much better than me, but as the guitarist said, itā€™s more about who you are and the effort youā€™re willing to put in than what you can do right now. I continued to practice diligently and always arrived first at every rehearsal. Unfortunately, it wasnā€™t long before our lead guitarist and vocalist had to quit, but by then, I was warmed up, and we got a new vocalist, a very experienced musician closer to my age. From the first rehearsal, he had the same attitude: as long as you put in the effort, the results will come. The following week, the drummer also had to quit due to health issues, and we got a ā€œprofessionalā€ drummer, as well as a new lead guitarist/keyboardist, also a ā€œprofessionalā€ musician. So now I suddenly found myself in a band with musicians who mostly play several times a week. Amazingly, they all think itā€™s great fun to play together, and weā€™ve now rehearsed a repertoire of about 40 songs. Iā€™m really looking forward to playing gigs, probably before the summer.

Along the way, my old band Mecalimb contacted me and asked if we should have a reunion. Weā€™ve now had 10 rehearsals, and the first of two reunion concerts is this Saturday. It became a bit of a long post for a simple conclusion, but I would say that the key to joining a band is to dare to try.

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Way Cool @Johnnyb - All the best with both bands and hopefully the reunion turns into a reunion tour around your neck of the woods - Enjoy those practices and smile when performing

Stay Groovy ,
Cheers

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This is a glorious thread.
Totally made my day, got me stoked on music, and on all of yā€™all out there making music happen in the real world.

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Agreed, it got me motivated to get a profile up on bandmix over the weekend.

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My post B2B journey started with joining a friendā€™s band who needed a bass player (in fact that was the whole reason I learned bass and took Beginner to Badass in the first place). I went through the program in 30 days and then learned all the songs my friendā€™s band had in their setlist. While I couldnā€™t play them all well it was still a great experience to continue my development after the program ended.

Unfortunately I never played with the band as it fizzled out before I played with them the first time. So I hunted around and found School of Rock here in the Boston area. I signed up for their adult band program and continued a similar exercise of learning the songs they sent out for the band program. Unfortunately they ended up combining 3 adult bands into 1 and there were 13 people in my band and 3 bass players (including myself). Iā€™d go weeks between playing more than 10 minutes in the rehearsals as they tried to make sure everyone was playing while also working on songs that needed attention. After a couple months I dropped out of the program as it wasnā€™t worth the money or time.

That led me to a local music school called Loudlands Music. They had just started their adult band program and limited their bands to 5 members. I went through 2 ā€œsemestersā€ with them and learned a ton. Similar to the School of Rock they end their semesters with a live performance which was a great experience. After 2 semesters with them I decided to start my own band!

Iā€™m still grow as a bass player (previously was a drummer and grew up playing piano) but having a blast and the constant playing in a band has helped a tonā€¦and the experience with Loudlands gave me the confidence to know I could play in a band.

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That is awesome. I also did SOR. Overall, I liked it. The lessons were not helpful (basically teaching the songs), and it was kinda expensive. But an independent music school sounds great. Iā€™ll search around for something similar to Loudlands by me. Thanks for sharing.

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Again, a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share your experience, most recently @Johnnyb (thanks for adding the link as well) and @dangolano (and welcome to the community, I hope to hear more from you in the future). Edit to add @MattyD as well. Iā€™ve read many of your posts on other threads - nice to meet you.

Iā€™m just going to echo what Gio said:

Iā€™m going to do it. Iā€™m going to put myself out there. Iā€™m just terrified of making my hearing loss worse.

When I did wear earplugs I always felt off and so I never wore them drumming in the 80ā€™s-90ā€™s, which of course has contributed to hearing loss. And when I wear them now I just feel off, similar to what sunDOG said above,

something is missing. So I just practice without and at a very low volume.

But reading through all these responses is just too motivating to not at least give it a try.

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Give it a try, itā€™s the best thing :slight_smile: Try using IEM and Backbeat, then you can have the sound you want and also feel the bass. BackBeat - Play Bass, Feel Bass ā€“ BackBeat Technologies LLC.

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What do you use, specifically, for hearing protection, please?

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I use these for every concert I go to and when I find a band, Iā€™ll either use these or Iā€™ll pick up a set of IEMs.