Hey everyone!
I’m still sort of new here, so this will be a bit of an introduction-heavy post. That said, I do have some questions for y’all that, IMHO, warrant a separate discussion—and I’d genuinely love to hear your takes.
I’m Alex, 33 years old, and I have no prior musical education or experience. In a couple of months, it’ll be two years since, out of the blue, I felt a strong pull to get a bass. A few months later I got home with a sweet Cort bass in my hands. Since then, I’ve ping-ponged between months of consistent practice and months of completely abandoning the instrument.
While being around the community during my learning periods, I got the impression that most people who start playing have a clear bassist role model or a specific genre/style they want to learn.
I’m not like that. Before this journey, I hadn’t heard of Flea, Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, or any of the modern-day social media bass influencers. I didn’t fall asleep dreaming of one day crushing the intro to “Hysteria.” Nor do I have a singular style that I listen to or aspire to play.
That being said, music has always been a significant part of my life. My mother worked as a music teacher in school her entire career, and my dad has several guitars of his own (both acoustic and electric). Family gatherings would often end up as discussions about people’s favorite bands—and half the time, they devolved into arguments 
. Several years ago, I even picked up dancing, and I can’t imagine my life without it nowadays.
When I start thinking about what I’d like to learn to play, I usually don’t have an answer off the top of my head. I love Thundercat, but he’s an absolute nut job—playing not a 4- or 5-string, but a 6-string Ibanez! I remember falling in love with the debut album by Vega Trails (a double bass and saxophone-led band—I highly recommend giving this album a listen; it’s gorgeous 
). Now I wonder how crazy it would be to try and play it on a regular bass. Or there’s this sick bass line from Desmond Doom. Or instead of the obvious Gorillaz choice, “Feel Good Inc.,” I preferred “Kids with Guns”—which, btw, I consider to be a really great beginner song. And then there are these ONE & TWO recent finds I’ve been digging.
While I don’t know exactly what stirred my interest initially, I do have a goal, albeit a bit vague. I’d like to someday have enough technical skill and understanding of music theory to jam with people, no matter what genre the session takes us into. With my musical taste being all over the place, that goal seems to fit me.
With all of that said, lately I’ve been feeling like the odd one out—like I have a strange path and a strange goal in mind. I worry that this goal isn’t really quantifiable and that it might hinder my progress, or that I’ll quit altogether.
So I turn to you, beautiful people of the BassBuzz forum. Is there anyone here with similar struggles or worries? If so, how successful do you feel you’ve been on this path? Or am I just stuck in my head, and everything is fine—and like everyone else, I just need to put in the hours?
