This is Great @lee_editorial
Ironically enough I just watched Josh’s (sorta new) video on ‘if I learned bass over again’.
The parallels in his video and your journey with a band are inspiring.
It reminds me, as @JoshFossgreen pointed out - you have to show up.
We have watched you grow, get better and better, cycle through members, and do all the normal things that we often forget are part of the process to getting what you want.
Congrats, this is awesome!
@John_E
Thanks so much for the kind words John, I really appreciate that! Yeah its been a weird way of doing things- but I don’t think I could have gone another route. The concept of me finding an existing band that wanted to play the specific 90s songs I am interested in, and then agreeing to let me join them would be a long shot. Especially if they placed an ad and I was competing against a few other people who could actually play bass and were experienced and talented. I still feel like an imposter most of the time, but I’m finally getting there. Most of the time I feel like I am right on the edge of falling out of my comfort zone, but its always an exhilarating experience!
Phil
@John_E
Thanks for mentioning the Josh video as well. Just watched it and was really impressed. Some of those topics reminded me of a lot of posts I’ve seen on this thread over the last several years. New players hitting the wall, getting discouraged, losing motivation to keep playing or practicing, comparing themselves to others, etc. It made total sense just from my personal experiences. My “why” started really early- just wanting to get competent enough to experience the joy of playing with others in a band. I’ve definitely thought many times over the last 2 years that if I didn’t have this once a month motivating factor of learning a couple new songs and practicing my current list- not sure how inspired I would be to stay with it. That goal of not wanting to show up unprepared and stumbling through things is a great motivation to keep at it pretty much every day. (and of course the eventual goal of getting out live in front of an audience). But I certainly realize everyone’s why is different- and as Josh said its really important to eventually discover what your’s may be!
Dang! I think this is the best line up so far.
@eric.kiser
Thanks Eric, I appreciate that! Yeah I feel the same way, EXCEPT… for the lead guitarist! Unfortunately I had to part ways with him about a week after this last rehearsal. He was a good player, but over time was very difficult to be around. He had a short fuse and would lash out at people. Just one of those people without a filter that just say whatever pops into their head with no regards to others.
One of the wise sayings I saw quite a while back on another forum is that when you play in a band, you need to have at least two out of the following three things going for you: the music, the money, or the hang. (translation: either you enjoy playing those specific songs, or you are getting paid to play, or you enjoy the people you are playing with)
Over time, it just became not fun with the vibe he seemed to have, and this whole project was supposed to be fun! So the search is back on again- just placed a new CL ad and have been in contact with 3 or 4 people so far, so hopefully we can find someone who is a decent player but also with the personality to match. Great connection with the rhythm guitarist, drummer and singer- so if we can find that final missing piece, it should be awesome.
It will be 2 years this month since we started, so I guess this shows that it can sometimes take a while to get there. But so far the journey has definitely been worth it!
Thx 4 sharing the vids. Great work in progress