Ya know, I believe you actually. I can even say I was there too. It was something I always wanted to do growing up. And I didn’t do it. I thought it was past me. But my friend said “let’s start a band dude” randomly, and we did. We had no idea what we were doing, we were bad even, but we had fun. Biggest thing is we enjoyed it and had the desire to go forward. It was something we thought was past us. We are dudes in our mid thirties who all played a bit in High School. All I can say…it isn’t just a dream or an idea @PamPurrs. You REALLY can make it happen…you just have to do it and put yourself out there and not worry about it. You wanna hear our terrible recordings? I will show you if you want. At your current level though Pam, you could ABSOLUTELY perform live!
I understand regret. I have significant regrets, including regretting not sticking with it back then and keeping the band going with my friends. I have serious, major regrets about that. If I let myself dwell on that, yeah, it’s depressing that that is like 25 years of music that I missed out on. Half my life.
The thing is, by encouraging others to do things like play live or jam with others or just make covers and put them out there, they may be able to miss out on having to regret things like I do 
That is true. I actually stopped frequenting TalkBass because it was like that.
So just for those out there who question themselves or have doubt about if they can be in a band, play with others etc…This is me when we STARTED. I hadn’t touched a bass in YEARS, and wasn’t good. I’d say not even at a level that completing B2B gets you. I played this bassline for MINUTES, without fills or changes or anything interesting. Doing this HELPS you improve though, but look, it REALLY doesn’t take much to play with others. Just listen to this.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B89JilmSq7gzcG9jZlVUbDVpdEU/view?usp=drivesdk
We wouldn’t react like this if Gio or Josh shared a video of a live performance , right? So why would we do it with anyone else?
I for one, thank the opportunity to have this mix of experienced and non-experienced players. I never belonged to a serious band and most likely never will. I think it’s awesome that more experienced players are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with us mere “beginners”/amateurs. Also never saw this kind of posts as attempts to show off but genuine sharing of experiences.
I personally don’t like this “beginner” snobbism. It reminds me of talkbass but on the other side of the spectrum. If anything else, it hinders our own progress.
It just that the preponderance of members here (myself included) have never played in a band (other than perhaps a stint in the high school band), let alone performed for a live audience. I may not have made myself completely clear in my comment, I am not angry about this thread, I just don’t know how beneficial these videos are to beginners. But they are interesting and I encourage everyone who does get the opportunity, to post their videos.
What WOULD be beneficial for the experienced band performers like @kerushlow to post are tips and advice for those of use who MIGHT someday try out with a band or even perform on stage (shudder).
I’ve thought about putting myself out there as an available bass player, but am scared to death that someone may actually call me.
Speaking on the subject, I personally don’t see a problem with people putting on the videos of their live performances.
Regardless of skill, we’re all musicians here, and we ought to be supportive of one another. I don’t really feel the ‘superior than thou’ vibe here. And even if there was, I wouldn’t take it personally.
Because ultimately, my only competitor is myself. I don’t worry about playing better than someone else, I don’t worry about playing like someone else; I worry if the player I am today was better than the player I was yesterday.
Personally, I like having the mix of newbs and experienced people alike.
Neither do I, @Sp33dSnakr . . . 
. . . I’ve been here for two years now, and this is one of the friendliest Forums I’ve ever been on.
I sure hope it stays that way.
There is no need for anyone to leave a Forum, or to ask a moderator to lock a topic just because they don’t like something that somebody said or posted (unless it was a direct personal attack on them, of course).
Very simple idea: . . . Everyone is free to participate or not. If you don’t like a topic, or a member, then just don’t read what they have to say. When I was a moderator, I kept pounding that drum, so to speak.
And if anyone REALLY can’t stand another member, there is always the option of “ignoring” them by going to their home page and changing the “normal” setting to “ignored”.
Cheers
Joe
I wish you told me that before. I was about to ignore @howard because he’s such a Yamaha fanboy…then he gave me some good advice and I bought a TRBX504 (coming in two days). So now I’m a Yamaha-Weeb too, and it’s all his fault!
…It’s like being assimilated into the Borg. But with bass. And cookies. 
everyone should ignore me at all times
True this 
Just to keep the thread off the original topic… 
Just want to also add that in the 6 or so months since I joined this course and community about 99% of the discussion here has been positive, collective and supporting - I really hope it stays this way too as regardless of skill level this kind of community it invaluable!
Back to topic… I realised I currently have no intention of playing live/in a band, the idea of making that a near goal actually makes me anxious just to think about it!
The extent I’d like to get to is comfortably recording myself at home and just casually jamming with friends.
I can re-assess my goals at any point so there’s no pressure to reach this hypothetical landmark of playing on a stage if it doesn’t fit well with me right now 
Okay, then I’ll ignore this advice as well. Oh wait… Nice paradox 
For me, the forum is one of the reasons why I decided to take the B2B course. I had been lurking as a guest for a while, and I noticed how many friendly people were posting here, and how enthusiastic everyone was about the course. This is truly a forum by the community for the community, and it’s a strong community. People may leave and new people will join, but I’m sure the community will not change (much).
All good points made all around. So first to the point of this post, IF a B2Br DID join up with a band/group/street perform solo, etc… and DID play live, that is cool, that is something to celebrate and share. This isn’t a place to criticize it, nor is it for anyone to show off. If you had the itch to perform, part of you WANTED people to see it. So this is just expanded audience and we are helping and supporting our fellow low Enders who did decide to take that step. And if they want advice and critique, they can ask for it. The performance I posted, my stage presence isn’t great, I stay too still, look awkward, and we are all playing our own songs WAY too fast lol.
Advice is also part of this thread and welcome. If you DO want to perform, or even just play with some others, lots of people have a lot of advice I’m sure. I can give what I know and experienced. I’ve never been on the end of the guy who was auditioning for someone else, so I understand the anxiety there. Also…that might not be your best or only option. There would be a lot of questions to ask there…I’ll do that in another post though, so we can keep this one on topic, but keep an eye out!
Oh, so you’re a bass player 
A bass player who grew up on Flea, Les Claypool and Cliff Burton! So I guess I am being boring relative to them, but not in general lol!
I just stumbled into this thread by accident but have been feeling for a while that there should be place where us newbies could hang out, interact and be new to bass. I checked the practice piece thread and most of it is pretty advanced stuff and a lot of discussion on the side that goes way over my head. Of course on internet forums like this pretty much every question has been asked once already but it can become tiresome to search through hundreds of posts. And it really isn’t that much fun. So I do share your sentiment and might just start a new thread for current learners only 
There’s no problem in asking the same question again! People will generally answer again and/or redirect you to the right threads 