@Barney almost killed me there.
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Ba-dum-tish
Imposter syndrome just means you’re self aware. Everyone that is to some extent self aware has it to some similar extent I suspect.
The opposite phenomenon for those that aren’t was documented by Dunning and Krueger 
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Or Nickelback.
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Myself, I have always loved music. Never played anything as a kid. My parents did not support anything growing up, pretty much just taught us right from wrong, and to leave them alone.
At 18 I got Married, joined the Army and was gone for 12 years.
Bought my son a drum kit when he wanted to learn and 6 months of lessons.
When my son lost intrest after a month, I took the remaining lessons and loved it. Jammed with friends a few times and it was a natural high.
Now trying the bass, my elbow wont let me play drums anymore.
Im 62 and im going nowhere musically. I only know the feeling I had years ago making music and would love to get together and jam again. I dont care what I play, I like most all music.
Would absolutly love to perform a song for my wife and daughter, im sure I will never do it, but it drives me forward.
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I tell you what I will promise though @mgoldst post anything in the 'Post your covers! or Post your practice fragments! or Post your original songs/compositions! and I will enjoy watching it from end to end. Scouts Honour 
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@mgoldst - if you don’t post a cover that fades over to your above talk video in the middle and then back to the end of the cover you are missing a great opportunity here.
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I have to add to this that, if my teenage self could see me playing the bass right now, he’d be pretty think it was pretty cool.
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I don’t know if what I feel is imposter syndrome, but I definitely have moments of asking myself: What am I actually doing here? And: Who am I kidding?
I wanted to play bass since I was 11 and it lasted for years, but my father didn’t agree at the time. In his opinion, it was an “inappropriate” instrument for a girl, plus he considered bass “lame”. I had a choice of a classical guitar or nothing. It was so wrong. I quit after 2 years of attending to a music school.
Then in my second year at uni (I was 20) I was close to a boy who played the electric guitar (for ~5 years and he considered himself very good). I shared my story with him - about my unfulfilled dream and asked what he thought about it, if I could start now. And he - my friend, almost a boyfriend - scoffed at me. That I’m obviously stupid, that it’s too late to learn, proper time was at high school etc. And he told me to take care of more serious matters. As I considered him an authority figure, I gave up thinking about it for almost 14 years.
Having more life experience now (I am 35,), I know that as we only live once, we should do what we love and try hard to make our dreams come true. But I also know that I will NEVER be a REAL musician, I will never be a bassist. Because for that, it is truly too late.
(I call myself a person trying to play bass. )
I’ve actually come to terms with it, but I still feel so out of place when I go to the guitar center or even while having lesson with my teacher (who is a real artist).
Important note: it only concerns me and hope I will not offend anyone!!
The photo illustrates me, while visiting the guitar center
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I am so sorry that two different men in authority positions steered you so very very badly. That’s awful.
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I did not stand a chance with my father
(I wasn’t getting pocket money and in Poland paid work for children under 16 is illegal), but I regret that I listened to my friend. I was very young, very naive, and had very little life experience.
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On the plus side @Hann you’re 16 years ahead of me. So imagine how awesome you’ll be on bass by the time you get to my age.
The past is gone. The future is BASS 
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I am aware of it…
I’m just ranting a bit, because that’s the purpose of the thread 
I am glad that I started now and did not wait any longer (and I’m sure I would start sooner or later anyway, bass IS my calling)
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Correction: YOU ARE A BASS PLAYER!!! 1,000%
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You’re a bass player, period.
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Hann, you are a REAL musician, a bass player, because you want to be and you’re working hard to be.
It’s shameful behavior by your father, but many got little or negative support from their fathers. I got no support to learn guitar when I was a young teenager. I had to save every penny I could to buy a crappy $40 acoustic and a beginner book. And then I got nothing but grief from my dad for “wasting money and time.”
But I wanted to be a musician and I worked on that guitar until my fingers bled.
I knew I’d never be famous as a guitar player, but that didn’t matter. I was happiest when I was playing, by myself or with my friends.
Being a musician is a life choice. You have made yours. Be happy. You’re playing now.
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Thank you for sharing that. I think there’s a big pile of us that feel that way-me for sure anyway. I had a really bad experience with music as a child, and it really put me off even trying to learn.
There were many roadblocks ( Many of them were self-inflicted ) to me learning anything about music.
-still fail miserably at reading music
-giant sausage fingers
-lack of natural ability
-multiple sclerosis leading to hand numbness
-memory problems
-fear of failure and humiliation.
See, that last one is the real issue. That’s the bad one. Being afraid to let other people hear me play, or to play with other people in any setting- because not being able to play well/define chord structure/read by sight/remember what i was just doing is a very real thing for me.
I’m very lucky, i really am. I’ve gotten to attempt to do something i always secretly wanted to do, and sometimes it doesn’t even sound like it’s my first time picking up my bass-and that’s a huge gift.
But that doesn’t take away that fear, or the ways i can self-sabotage to cause myself to just give up.
Thank you so much for opening up. It’s always good to know that it’s not just me.
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Ha, I feel I have been an imposter for most of my professional life I guess, feeling like an imposter when you endeavor anything just means you have a conscience… and it likely also means “you are clearly not an imposter”, which just shows that most of this is a trick your mind is playing on you.
A lot of good input here! Let me just re-iterate:
- being able to and having the opportunity to play music is a gift we should cherish; no matter at which level, which genre, which instrument or with whom
- find the right people to play with - they are out there, whether you are 20 and trying to become a professional, or 60+ and just want to have fun
- immerse yourself into everything “music” as much as you want, or don’t. Trivia is fun, but there is no reason to know the names of all members of the Cure to play their music etc. No reason to learn all modes to have fun playing music (see threads elsewhere) and so on
- playing with others is the ultimate; but nowadays, almost everything can also be done from the comfort of your home/man cave/shed - ordering stuff, finding sheet music, finding backing tracks, sharing music, getting input, getting instructions, … so even if you feel shy, insecure, challenged by imposter syndrome - you can still enjoy music and playing music to the fullest.
About feeling insecure - this is still one of my favorite quotes:
No one can make you feel insecure without your consent (Eleanore Roosevelt)
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