Top 3 Things That Keep You From Playing Your Bass

[mgoldst]

festool.

[MikeC]

Festool mentions go in the GAS thread.

[bmc1013]

I’ve had to minimize my practice time due to lateral epicondylitis in my right elbow. A cortisone shot didn’t help.
It’s sad because I was making progress and now I feel like I’m struggling.

[Mac]

Sorry to hear that @bmc1013 .
Sounds very painful and I know that the injections can be too.
Hopefully you will improve and get back to some normality

[sshoihet]

@John_E

Today my three are:

I just installed all of Kontact Now so that’s not going to help

But I’m at starbucks for a few hours and I really can’t play bass here

[buzzroberts]

@sshoihet

But I’m at starbucks for a few hours and I really can’t play bass here

Well you CAN, but you’d likely be invited to see the other side of the front door… Thanks for the laugh!

[howard]

@buzzroberts

@sshoihet

But I’m at starbucks for a few hours and I really can’t play bass here

Well you CAN, but you’d likely be invited to see the other side of the front door… Thanks for the laugh!

It’s been a lot of years since then but I have in fact dragged a bass to a coffee shop and busked

With my current bandmate on guitar, in fact. And practice amps which we lucked out and found outlets for.

Made no money but they didn’t kick us out either and it was fun.

[sshoihet]

@howard

It’s been a lot of years since then but I have in fact dragged a bass to a coffee shop and busked

With my current bandmate on guitar, in fact. And practice amps which we lucked out and found outlets for.

Carrying a bass on my bicycle is a pita i ended up working on some transcriptions

[Ant]

John this is very relatable. Every time I finish a song I’m like…”what now?” It feels like a completion point so I’m sure there’s something going on psychologically where our brains are telling us “ok you finished your task, it’s time to chill”.

What I do to combat this is just start listening to music until I hear a bass line that really grooves or catches my attention. Usually that gives me the little spark I need to get back to work.

Currently in that situation now where nothing feels inspiring, so it’s back to all songs shuffle for a while!

[howard]

@Ant

John this is very relatable. Every time I finish a song I’m like…”what now?” It feels like a completion point so I’m sure there’s something going on psychologically where our brains are telling us “ok you finished your task, it’s time to chill”.

I generally have two issues around this. The first is that it is very difficult for me to be happy with the idea that something is finished. I’ll tweak a mix forever if I let myself; I have to literally force myself to stop and declare something done.

Then, once “done”, I’m with you. “OK! That was a lot of work, whew. Now what? (crickets chirping in the background)”

[athosmr2003]

For me, it’s lack of time like most of you, but the more important right now is that my right hand is still bothering me. It might be time to get it checked out like @John_E suggested a couple months ago during the Zoom meeting.

[mr.crispy]

• Work. I can noodle during meetings but at some point they actually expect me to write some programs.

• Kids. I can noodle during down times but at some point they expect me to do father things.

• ADHD. I can noodle when I’m supposed to be doing other things but at some point I say “time to really practice” and my brain says “lol…nope”.

In all seriousness, I’ve learned over the years that a little bit of playing is better than no playing. I got a super cheap bass that I can keep downstairs that I won’t care as much if the kids or puppy messes it up. I can play while I’m on meetings because 9 out of 10 times the meeting has nothing to do with me and doesn’t require any participation other than to say “hello” at the beginning and “have a nice day” before I click the leave meeting button.

I’ve also learned that I need deadlines and/or rewards for everything if I want to be motivated. I pick a song or something I want to focus on every Monday and that’s what I work on all week. Sunday is the day I have to have it figured out by because I’m going to be picking something new the next day. If it’s a huge thing, like right now I’m focusing on slap and that is going to take more than a week, I set a list of specific goals and when I achieve those goals, I get a reward. The size of the reward is appropriate for the goal.

Ultimately, if I could spend the majority of the day taking care of my kids and the rest of the time playing bass, that would be the best.