Bands! Up and down like a yoyo.

[NJE]

I have not been on here much recently as I was, and have been, going through a period of complete disinterest in my bass and bands in general and substituted it with mountain bikes!

I was playing in two bands up until recently and despite the music being good and the people good to play with I was losing interest fast mostly due to the lack of gigging and practice.

One band lost a keys player and did nothing for probably the best part of three months over summer, the other band couldn't get a drummer to turn up at practice or a singer most of the time and we havent practiced in nealry 2 months.

So I quit one band last week as I don't have the time to be wasting and I need any band I am in to be making at least a little cash (originals never make money). Because of my lack of enthusiasm and sheer frustration of bands I thought "i dont need all this gear" and because of a lack of funds sold one of my cabs thinking it will be enough for practice as the bands are going nowhere fast.

That was about 3 weeks ago and last night I had a practice with the covers band. I fully expected members not to be there, no enthusiasm and no gigs, and I get there prepared to say I am quitting and no longer have the time and energy for being in bands. I get in the room, everyone turns up, we play and it was dynamite. No practice for months and we were all on the ball and playing brand new tunes all the way through first time at a more than adequate level. Not only that, but there are three well paid gigs coming up in the next two months as a warm up!

So I find myself supercharged with enthusiasm, wanting to practice more and now looking at replacing the cab I have just sold......here we go again!

Why is it that i always seem to get so down about music on the verge of breaking point and selling everything and then something happens and I am right back up again? I have had so many ups and downs with bands and enthusiasm over the years, does it happen to anyone else? is it ever just uncomplicated and easy?

[cheddatom]

Sometimes you just need a break!

[EdwardHimself]

EH had this issue last year. I terminated a band i was in because i couldn't stand the guitar player not being able to play in time. Then the beginning of this year we had a new band and it was all looking up but because i was in one of my "moods" and i didn't think i could play (this is the drums i'm talking about here) very well i decided to quit that one. Which was a stupid desicion since it could have been great.

[neepheid]

I know what you mean - my band broke up a few months ago and I did wonder what the heck I was doing for a while. However, I'm glad I stuck it out. Had a wee ska covers gig with some good friends (and great players) which we basically busked due to similar practice issues to the ones above (1 practice had no singer and the other had no drummer - nasty cold doing the rounds at the time). I held my end up by practising like an idiot for a few weeks (including lunchtimes at work).

Now something new is forming around the remains of the old band (me, singer, drummer). Not sure what's going to happen with the song ideas we have, but had a good get-together a couple of nights ago and the singer had something to sing which helped make the songs seem more concrete. I haven't come up with any killer bass lines yet (have I ever?) as the songs are fairly slow, delicate affairs and need some tasteful playing, but I'm hoping that there will be more upbeat numbers in time where I can cut loose a bit.

I'm glad I didn't go into a full on huff about it and sell stuff

[KevB]

Yep, know what you mean except I haven't started looking for a new project yet. I'd been in a pretty average blues rock covers band over the last six months but there were a few things creeping in that I was getting a bit non plussed by, some fairly unprofessional behaviour which surprised me considering they are all more experienced players than me. I was on the verge of quitting when I got a call to the effect that they thought it wasn't working out so I jumped at the chance to walk away from it. The fact that the band leader gave the job of phoning to the keyboard player rather than have the balls to speak to me directly spoke volumes.

Edited October 22, 2010 by KevB

[johnny_frog]

Had the same sort of thing happening, bandmates not available due to real life intruding, to get round this I'm in 2 bands and doing open mic stuff so I've always got something to do.

[MoonBassAlpha]

I'm in a couple of bands: one is a duo with drums (rarely, as they both live abroad) I really like the material, but the writer hasn't written anything new for a couple of years, and we don't play live all that often.
The other is a three-piece rock and acoustic outfit, the writer writes new stuff all the time and gets slightly more gigs than the other, but I don't like all the material as much.
I play in this band to keep my hand in, it's not ideal, but it keeps me playing.
If someting better comes along, I should be up to pace, it works for me.

[Barefootbassplayer]

Certainly happens to me!! I always get low points where I start looking at the various bands I'm in not progressing and doing all they could be and then something will happen to get the ol' enthusiasm up again and its all smiles!

I've always figured its the same as other areas in life work/relationships/friendships....its never full on all teh time and you definately get low points you need to work through but when ever I get one of those fantastic moments I know there's nothing else I'd rather be doing!

[Cat Burrito]

I took a break from 2000-04 because I lost interest & these days I'm more motivated than I ever used to be. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow

[witterth]

Quote:If you're signed into sky.com, sign out
Close all your browser windows except one
Select Tools and then Internet Options
Select Delete Files, place a tick in the tick box and click OK to delete all files in the Temporary Internet Files folder
Select the Delete Cookies button followed by OK to delete all cookies
Select on the Clear History button followed by Yes
If you have made any changes, Select Apply followed by OK: Unquote

ADHD?