Ok @joergkutter - I’m using this post as inspiration. First jam next week. Thanks for sharing this, and I’m grateful the forum keeps these older posts around - it really does help to see that other folks have taken this journey before, and that you had a ton of nerves too.
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This is great, @KenKnight ! Grab that chance/any chance to play music with others!! Yes, it is nerve-wracking, but that’s part of being “invested” as opposed to not caring at all. You might get some scratches or perhaps a bloody nose (figuratively speaking 
), but smile at your mistakes and move on (don’t stop playing because of a mistake!).
I think the best advice I can give is: play fewer notes than you think you should play (i.e., keep it simple) and LISTEN to what everyone else is doing/playing.
Having taken the plunge is (in hindsight) absolutely the best thing I could do to move my bass playing forward. I understand this is different for everyone, but I could not have progressed as much as I have without going out and playing with others!
Best of luck, man!! And have fun!!
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Are you still playing with that group?
Did you ever get copies of what was done in the studio?
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I guess this was for me, Eric?? (I think you just replied to the thread…)
Man, you have one hell of a memory 
Not least because this goes back to around Sep 2020. Since then, there were some hiccups (covid, some artistic differences between our guitar player and the sound guy, no “real” singer, …), but recently we did finalize two tracks. Since we haven’t been able to find a good singer, our guitar player sang himself… well, let’s just say that wasn’t straightforward to get that recorded, but thanks to Melodyne we got something.
So, pretty much all instrument tracks are from Sep 2020, a few overdubs from Mar 2021 and the vocals and mixing just recently.
It is what it is… I would play a few things a bit differently now, with 1.5 years more bass experience on my CV 
But, yes, I am still playing with these guys, and, no, I didn’t get the stems or tracks yet to do my own mixes.
We might try again soon with some more recent songs (read: a bit more going on in the bass department )
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This rocks! I remember all this from back in '19, amazing you’ve stayed on board with these guys this whole time, and have created some great music! I’m bummed I’m on my laptop right now, gotta go listen to these on my desktop with real speakers, so I can actually hear your bass playing. Congrats!
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So good to hear from you, man! Nice to see you pop in every now and then 
How are things in Colorado??
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Man, I love Colorado, but was getting cabin fever up there in the mountains lately, so I’m road tripping it again, lol! I’m in Utah right now, thinking I’ll do a big circle up into Canada this time, while it’s summer, see some national parks, stay in kooky small towns, and have some adventures!
I’m getting this itch to play bass again though, when I get back. Like bad. Like joining another band type of itch. That’s probably why I love seeing what you’re doing so much, and hearing how your bass playing has evolved over this time.
So did you guys go into a studio to record? Or just record tracks together / on your own? Do you practice regularly with these fellows, or just whenever you’re all free? Any gigs or shows or anything like that? I’m just super curious, because this is actually a neat story, and one that you stuck with, and your music is pretty legit there! I’m happy for you 
This is not easy to actually pull off in the music world!
What’s your experience like, looking back on it all? The title of the thread is about your first time playing bass with others, so, this is a pretty inspiring thread, actually! Always great catching up with the crew here on B2B 
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Enjoy that road trip, @Vik - that sounds like a cool way to spend a summer
Yes, the bass on these recordings was recorded already a while back, and I am quite sure I could play it “better”, mostly meaning “with more conviction”, now.
Yep, we got to record in a studio, with an engineer… quite the learning experience. Maybe we get to go again - our rehearsal room “hotel” is driven like an association, and you can apply for studio time every now and then.
No, no gigs yet. Partly because of Covid, but partly also because the bandleader is still trying to get a keyboard player and a singer on board - constant work in progress. I don’t mind so much, I do want to play live at some point, but the whole thing is just a great possibility for me to grow my bass chops in a band setting.
I think I must have written quite a bit more about this in some other thread. The main thing for me is that I don’t think I would have come as far as I have with my bass playing if I hadn’t joined that band. I am probably not so good at playing covers of well-known tunes, but I have developed a lot og skills by having been handed chord changes and having had to develop bass lines to go along with them.
You had had a pretty wild and furious band experience yourself. I think you should dive into that type of experience again (after your road trip )!
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Well @John_E it finally happened lol. After over 2 years of practicing in my room, I finally got to play with real people; in a room with a drummer and guitarist / singer.
I answered an advert of Facebook and gave them a link to a few of my covers on my YouTube channel so they’d know what level of bassist they were dealing with.
They’re both really very good musicians and were really accommodating with my skill level.
Dragged along my little Rumble 100 and Zoom B1 to keep things super simple and low key.
I didn’t know any of the songs before I arrived. I just turned up, scribbled down the chord progressions on a notepad and gave it a go.
We did some James Gang, The Beatles (I know right!), Paul Rogers. The 3 hours just flew by. I hadn’t really appreciated the joy of playing next to a live drummer and a bunch of cranked amps. Way too much fun.
Very happy to have invested in a pair of dBuds earplugs. Super small and unobtrusive. It was not far off 100dB in that room for sure. The guy was playing through a 4x12 cab!
I got invited back and now have a list of 5 songs to learn for next week.
Huge thanks to @JoshFossgreen for giving me the tools to be able to confidently turn up to a room of strangers and start playing. Far beyond where I thought I would get.
Also a big thanks to all the ‘post your covers’ regulars for whom that outlet set me up for success last night. @JerryP @Paul_9207 @dlamson13 @Growl @Al1885 @Ed etc. I genuinely mean this, I think the covers thread gave me the fundamentals to turn up and give it a go.
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Congrats, Barney - way to go!
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Congratulations Barney! That’s awesome! Maybe you can video a bit of the next practice session so we can all live vicariously through you.
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That’s awesome Barney! I’m glad it was a positive experience. Your Rumble 100 was able to keep up?
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This is so dang great to read.
Thanks heaps for sharing, and bravo for getting out there.
A drummer!
Amps of great volume!
Humans to play music with!
This is what is good in life!
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Big congrats to you @Barney I’ve said that you were gig ready a few months ago and that’s what gonna happen in a few months. I’m so happy for you. I can tell you that playing through a headphone won’t be the same again ever! Lol.
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Way cool!
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That is great-good to get the bass out into the wild isn’t it.
Now it will consume you 
How do the earplugs go- do they improve the clarity as well as reduce volume?
By which I mean that I find that I can lose what is happening when it gets loud and am wondering if they help with this?
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This is fantastic @Barney !!!
You’re my new role model to get this going!
You will get there… one song at a time my friend, one sone at a time.
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Good question. I have hearing loss and tinnitus, so I’m pretty serious about protecting my hearing. I wear foam earplugs 8+ hours a day for work every day.
I wanted something that was designed (unlike foam ear plugs) to reduce the overall volume but keep all of the frequencies. The marketing blurb calls this acoustic filtering.
Anyway I read a bunch of reviews of ear plugs designed for musicians. This reviewed favorably, wasn’t insanely expensive and they are very small; so it hardly looks like you’re wearing anything. If you google ‘musician ear plugs’ you’ll have a bunch to choose from.
These guys have a slider so you can toggle between -12dB and -24dB. They worked for me.
Thanks everyone, this whole learning bass thing has far exceeded where I initially thought it would go.
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In that small room @Paul_9207 it was OK. I was running it at about 80% so maybe taking my Rumble 800 might be the answer. Or the guitarist could turn down his 4x12 cab lol 
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Good luck with that…
Bring the 800 and show hims what’s what.
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