ambient

It’s actually quite a widespread and very much misunderstood problem for musicians. Isn’t it why Kate Bush stopped performing? I spent three years studying at one of the London music colleges. I have anxiety problems anyway, mostly due to my ASD. I’d been playing professionally for a few years beforehand, and never really had a problem with performance anxiety. I had a major problem with it at uni though. We used to have live performance workshops each week. I would get so nervous though, I’d literally be trembling with nerves. It was the same in exams. Of the four or five tutors I had, only two understand and helped, the others were; to put it frankly, hopeless. As people have already said, meditation, and being fully prepared can help. The Alexander technique is good too. Alcohol doesn’t in my experience work. I don’t drink, but I’ve encountered people who do, and I’ve seen people using it to suppress their nerves, it actually makes it worse, and definitely has an adverse effect on the performance. I think it can become that you drink to relieve nerves, it makes you mess up, so you get nervous, so drink more......etc.

Have you tried hypnotherapy? Both my aunt and my brother have used it successfully, one for fear of heights, the other flying. I suffer terribly from anxiety problems, I use propranolol, it can help for performance anxiety too, lots of classical musicians and opera singers use it. You’d need it prescribed.

Not playing particularly no, my gigs over the last three years have mostly been solo gigs too. The only one I was very nervous about was one I did with Steve Lawson. I find meditation beforehand really helps. The thing I’ve always disliked is the period before and after the gig, having to interact with people. Especially if you’ve just played solo, people assume you’re this super-confident person, and I’m not. If you get nervous playing, just make sure you’re well prepared. It’s only music at the end of the day. If you get so nervous that you don’t enjoy it, then why are you doing it?

Have you seen this guy? I bought one of his albums last year.

Have you seen the orchestra of the enlightenment? I’d never heard of a theorbo until I saw them. I believe the neck is hinged.

There’s often little room for anyone. I occasionally play with a trombone player, we're usually squashed into a corner. Oddly though they tend to make room for us once we start playing, nothing quite like a trombone slide moving in and out, just a few centimetres away from your head to make you reconsider sitting in such close proximity to the band.

Just videoing stuff on my phone, messing with it in iMovie, and improvising a soundtrack to it. This is short, instagram friendly and badly played on piano.

I did some gigs with a worship band a few years ago. I stopped after a while because I felt like a fraud doing it. I was only there because they were paying me £50 every Sunday morning. The MD was playing keyboards, he would announce the key; A minor, D major, or whatever. Then he’d hold up his hand as we were playing with different numbers of fingers showing to represent the next chord. I believe it’s based on the Nashville thing?

I was at uni with a guy who did have perfect pitch, he also had an amazing ability of recall. He could hear you play something once, then just know it. I don’t think he ever bothered learning anything for an exam, he just listened to everyone else play it, then reproduced it. It was scary. He could play amazing jazz piano too, despite never having had a piano lesson in his life.

I’d disagree. Whilst I agree that is a useful skill to have, it’s not really going to help someone to know what they can play or maybe can’t play in a song. I think the most important skill a bass player can have is knowing the notes on their instrument, and knowing how they work within the context of what the band is playing. If someone says this is a II, V, I in D, then you need to know what you can play over that. It’s pretty basic stuff, even if you only play the root note and basic chord tones. That root note and chord connection. That’s often the eureka or lightbulb moment for students. When they see how what they’re playing is connected to the chords being played. With regard to dep players, that has more to do with it being their job. I’ve done it myself, most function bands have pretty much the same songs in their repertoire. The only thing that can change is the key, it’s pretty easy if you do know what I said was in my opinion the most important skill, to just play a part in a different key at the drop of a hat. Just my opinion of course, no doubt others will have a different idea. 😊

Apparently I’m wrong and it’s not in D 😊, but yes, it’s just playing the major 3rd and 5th. So yes, you’re right, though I’m sure someone else will come along and argue otherwise.

👍

A minor is the relative minor, it can be called the aeolian mode, built on the 6th degree of the scale. So in C major it’s A minor. Same notes, just starting on the A. Is this some sort of test? I thought I’d had enough of H&T tests during my MMus. Are you going to admit that the key is D major? I mean consider the A7sus4 chord, with an A and F# played on the bass, that implies, to me at least D major: D, E, F#, G, A. There’s no C# because that would spoil the suspended and open quality that they’re going for using the sus chord.

Jonas is one of my favourites too, he’s just amazing.

I don’t need to use Google. A mixolydian is derived from D major, it’s the 5th mode, the notes are the same, which is what I was implying, the two are related. Post a picture of the sheet music that you offered to post earlier; I can read music by the way, since you asked the other guy, let’s see what key yours is in.

A mixolydian is D major.

I mean where’s the F# if it’s A minor? You can get complicated, I’m not exactly a novice with harmony or musical theory. I’m guessing you’re hearing the A tonality because they’re playing A7sus4. It’s an A7 chord though, the dominant of D, again suggesting the key is D.

So where’s the F# come from? The reason there’s no C# actually played is because they’re playing a Sus4 chord, so the 3rd; C# is replaced in the chord by the 4th. Like I say, I don’t know the song, I’ve never heard it, never played it. I did a search and found that. The key sig is D major. The relative minor is B minor, though the chords suggests to me at least D.

It being an A7 would suggest D. It’s a sus4, so the third C# is replaced by the 4th.

I don’t know the song, this is all I can find, the key sig is D. That might of course be wrong.

Not at all, I don’t play normal bass, so my hand isn’t in that position for long periods of time thumping out notes. I move my right hand about covering the full playing area. I’m also sat cross legged in the photo, if I were playing real bass then I’d be standing or sitting with the bass strapped at a comfortable height so as not to cause tension. When I was an undergrad I’d practice 12 or 14 hours a day, I did that for three years with no problems.

How high (or low) do you have your bass? Stand in front of a mirror, or video yourself playing, and check that you’re not putting undue stress on your hands.

You can download a 30 trial version. That’s 30 days of usage too, only days where you actually use it count. https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/download

Thanks, it’s only £19 or so on the App Store too, so I’ll probably go for it. I’m a big fan of pen and paper too 😊, at the moment that’s what I’m using to plan out what I’m going to do.