an excellent video from (one of my favorite bass tubers) phil conrad:
Good one ! Thanks for sharing!
+1 for #7.
Play with humans.
I just started Module 5 and I feel like Iām close to ready, but manā¦ as a 45 year old introvert, itās scary as hell. I live in a tiny town and donāt know other musicians or even where to start. I guess Facebook is going to be my friend here, but I havenāt told anyone Iāve been playing bass. Iāve just been doing it for my own enjoyment.
Thereās some good stuff in there. But at the end he asks if heās missed anything and Iām like āyes, the last two of the ten things!!ā
100% to this!!
I appreciate the honesty and stating it boldly and plainly.
Hereās my (abbreviated) cheat sheet to getting in with playing with people (for introverts):
-
Find out if there are any open mics, jam sessions, or places in town where for-fun amateur bands can play. (Coffee shops, bars, community centers, pubs, etc.)
-
Go to these events as a scout. Tell no one youāre a musician and just check out the scene to see what itās like!
- chances are youāll see bands play and think āhey, Iām better than that guyā or āI could do this with a few rehearsalsā or some such.
- If its a community event where people are invited in (like a jam session or an open mic) youāll get to see how it works, how people sign up / get on the stage, what types of things people play, etc.
- If this world strikes a spark of interest, keep going, and compliment the performers you like. Mention to them that youāre a bassist. Things will start to happen!
Hello, my name is [xxxxxxxxx] and Iām a bassist.
Itās funny, but I suspect many of us have been there. Iām āoutā as a bassist, have been for a while, but just yesterday my boss was taking the p155 when I was talking about the band Iāve formed and our plans for performing. I was rather annoyed with him, after all, it takes a degree of courage to do this, to put it out there.
I was also fairly early on in the B2B course when I started to think about playing with others - itās true that it really does accelerate your development - and faced the same problem, where on earth do you meet people? I my case I joined a local musicians page on Facebook and also BamdMix, like a ādatingā website for musicians. It was through BamdMix that I met a chap who played guitar and things started to roll from there. On BandMix, you can filter for age, experience, location etc. The guitarist I met had a similar lack of experienceā¦ The challenge here was that I clearly practice more, so it actually got very frustrating, I was better! (This was a revelation!). Anyway, long story short, through BandMix and Facebook, plus just talking to people I know, Iāve put a 4-piece band together. We are playing our first open mic on the 20th.
Am I an extrovert? No. Do I want to do this? Hell, yes! Life is short. Iām on the cusp of having to call myself ālate 50sā. I started playing the bass last August, and I am going stand on stage, I am going to feel whatās that feels like!
This community is great, weāre all here to support each other in the journey. There is no p155 taking (back to my boss), just encouragement, advice and a love of making music.
Youāve got this @cheveedodd! Weāre here for you! Oh, one thing I would say that really helps me is the covers thread. One step to coming out as a bassist is to record yourself and post a video. All Iāve ever had is encouragement from the community. All I ever give is encouragement to others in the community, who are doing the same thing. The songs you cover donāt have to be technical, no one is expecting virtuoso performances. In fact, IMHO, for much of pop and rock, simple is actually better! So check out everyoneās covers, pick a song yourself and dive in! As I said @cheveedodd, youāve got this!
This is a very good video.
I think that last point is fantastic, we are there to serve the song and support our band mates, enabling them to fly! I very much feel this, when Iām playing with my buddies. Lock in the the drummer - I seem to spend a lot of time looking at him, grooving with him, but then just try to lay the foundation of the song, play āin the pocketā, so that the guitar and our front woman can do their thing.
Another point Iād add, is to praise them. Our singer is new to this, itās my job (and the rest of us, to be fair) to build her confidence - personally, I think it takes a hell of a lot of nerve to stand at the front and sing! Praise the guitarist when his tone is just right. Praise the drummer of absolutely kickingā it!
Hell, yesš¤
@cheveedodd , Same here brotherā¦ 50 yo introvert itching to play with people again but donāt know where to startā¦ have to take the step soon to make thing happen!
Thanks for the encouragement @Gio @sunDOG and @qenden
I am definitely going to take all your advice. Iāve looked around for some open mics in my area and there are a few in the next town over. Iāll definitely check them out. BandMix also sounds like it might be good for me.
Sheās doing a great job and sounds fantastic! Pass that along, please! You all do. Fun to listen to and watch you all together. Itās been fun watching you progress to this point! Hope to be there someday!
I will pass that on, @fennario, most kind!
The journey really has been / is fun. I think that there are many of us in this forum that started learning via B2B, and have progressed pretty rapidly. Clearly that is testament to @JoshFossgreenās course, but also to the folks here.
Personally, I canāt believe that Iāve not yet been playing a year. The course provides the foundations, but then itās up to each one of us what we do next.
Yep, same here. Iām 67 and have screwed around with the bass since 2008, I would like to play with others, but my biggest issue is that after 16 years, I canāt mute the stringsā¦ no matter what I do. The fingers, palm whatever just donāt work that way and from all the examples Ive seen on YT or even with the bass teacher that I had briefly. Foam and the Fret wrap product help some, but not enough , especially when I turn the volume up. I wanted to do the B2B course but thereās really no point as I wonāt play with others as āstrings that ringā probably wouldnāt sit well with the other players. Iām doing ok playing for myself (and the cat) keeping the volume down and messing with songs/tabs here and there.
Not sure where module 5 is in the course @cheveedodd, but as an introvert as well, Iām hoping the confidence will grow within you as you continue. Keep it up!!
Thank you. I am now subscribed to a new bass YT channelšø
Thatās fantastic to be in a band in less than a year @sunDOG ; it took me 3!
I mightāve been too vocal in the last band practice to one of our members He took it well though!
This is from our group text chat
ahahahaha
To be fair, it cuts both ways - I sent this to our guitarist this morning. Yep, I havenāt properly learnt our version of a song!
(I do find it frustrating that there are frequently multiple versions of songs, and we often, inadvertently, learn different versions! I use Apple Music, not Spotify, so a Spotify playlist is useless to me
Oh, I also have a habit of pressing send BEFORE proofreading something, hence the typos!
Oh thatās a classic for me too, having joined two already active bands with a rather āaggressiveā take on most of the material
But I find that now, using in-ear monitors, I can spot a lot of mismatches quite quickly. Maybe normal monitors would suffice if the room acoustic was half decent (and the guitars were not always so loud )
@cheveedodd If youāre comfortable with it, try the app āVamprā !!! Itās a networking app where it lets people in the music scene connect, from musicians to producers to even photographers wanting to take pictures at a gig. If nothing else, you can find out about more local shows and see the atmosphere and meet some people. There are options you can put on your profile like what youāre on the app for, whether itās looking for a band or just networking or making friends, etc, there are several different ones to choose from. You can also upload snippets of your demos. I live in a fairly large city and there was only about a dozen locals using the app, but plenty across the state. Worth checking out just to get an idea
I object to āplay with other peopleā for a true beginner. If you are in the intermediate stage and can detect time signature, know what to do when someone says āKey of Gā and know at least a few scales/keys/modes, that is when you should play with others. Otherwise, you will just be confused and frustrated and they will have a bad experience of you.
You donāt need to wait to be good - you need to be Servicable. I believe the ENTIRE purpose of introduction training needs rethinking. The entire purpose of āIntro To Bass 001ā up to āBass 101ā needs to be entirely focused on āHere is the minimum checklist to get through a beginner friendly jam sessionā. Once you are servicable, then you can grow in any direction you need to.