I answered the Ad - terrified - having the best time of my life

This fluff piece is little more than a huge THANK YOU to Josh and this Badass community, but I’m happy and don’t know anyone else to share this joy with.

I finished the BBA last summer with no clear path forward. At 45, I picked up the bass because I missed playing music (drummer in HS) and I wanted to challenge myself to keep learning and not grow stagnant.

I live in a tiny town in nowhere West Virginia with little to no music scene. I don’t know any musicians and for the past eight months I’ve just been doing exercises, trying to learn songs by ear, taking other bass courses, and checking FB/CL for bassist wanted ads.

Well, one came up… for a jazz (:flushed:) trio (:flushed::flushed:) needing a bassist. The keyboard player is 10 years older, has played music his whole life, and was looking for an established jazz bassist. I haven’t listed to jazz since HS band, I don’t own a fake book… but I had a burning desire to learn and grow.

So -after a few deleted draft responses- I built up the nerve and answered the ad. I was very up front about where I was. I told him I was new at the instrument, don’t know much about jazz, but I was willing to work. We chatted a bit about expectations, he sent me four songs to work on (all standards), and we set up a date to play together.

I put in the work, and made it through two of the songs before that first night. I showed up, we plugged in, and jammed Just the Two of Us for a few reps and immediately he was complimenting me. He told me I was better than bassists he’d played with who’d been at it for decades! (That felt amazing :grin:)

At the end of the night, he told me he was pulling the ad, I was the guy for the job, and he was more than willing to teach me jazz and take our time getting good… however long that takes.

I “knew” that pushing myself and stepping out of my comfort zone was the way to progress, but taking that first step was terrifying. We’ve played a few times now and it’s gotten way easier. Last night I was able to “sight read” a bossa song that I didn’t know and we jammed on it and had a blast!

Thank you BassBuzz!

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This is why I love this forum. For stuff like this :+1:

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There’s a band for bassists of all skill, because if you have the fundamentals you can land a gig.

good going btw

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Man, that’s great! Congratulations for stepping out and meshing with a mentor — and a jazzbo, no less! How way cool! Best of luck to you going forward. :+1:

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That’s just fantastic, congrats!

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Feel-good story of the day! Good on you, Cheeve…

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Thanks everyone!

I forgot to mention that we were about 15 minutes into our first session when I thought… man, I’d love to be able to hit that Eb one octave down. Maybe I should get a 5 string?

:rofl:

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Well, it IS Jazz, so yeah :slight_smile:

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Great story. Have fun!!

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Oh man.
This is such a great post and story…

And this bit here, about the low Eb… this is just part 1 of your jazz journey.
I’ll look forward to part 2 where you say:
“I was listening to some John Patitucci solo records, and thought - man, I’d love to grab that super duper high Eb… maybe it’s time for a 6 string…”

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TRB-JP6 Patitucci signature model, guaranteed future bass :rofl:

I am still kind of sad @joergkutter sold his TRB 5. Made for Jazz.

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giphy

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@joergkutter got a Mayones Custom EP fiver.

He’s much more than OK on the too-many-strings jazz bass front :joy:

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Thanks for posting @cheveedodd - congrats to you and to your continued success!

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That’s awesome, very happy for you! Thank you for sharing!!

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Thanks, Howard. Me too - a little bit… but it went to a nice place!

And, as @MikeC said, I was very well “compensated for” by the recent arrival of a Mayones 5er :smile:

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Brave of you to dare to try, very fun that you’re succeeding. Well done!

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Man, what a great story! Congratulations!

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Gio, Gio, Gio, don’t do that to me. I’m just now getting into 5ers. I have a fretted 30" 5er and a fretless 30" 5er almost finished (by Lignum in Croatia). I also have a 17" Mayones Cali 5 and its brother, a Cali 4). I think I should wait a bit before jumping off in the deep end into 6ers. But I know me. Sigh…

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That is awesome, congratulations :ok_hand:

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