Am I the only one not in a band?

[Sibob]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='118600' date='Jan 11 2008, 03:35 PM']Because, for along time, everything good in my life came to me because I played. That is no longer the case but it still feels like the safest place in the world to me. It helps me make friends, it is a creative outlet where I have no other, it earns me money, it relives stress, it brings me affirmation where I need it, it keeps me interested in what is going on in the world of music and art, its fun, its totally absorbing, it gives me a social life that sees me coming home with more money than when I went out (unlike most people's), it takes me to places I would probably otherwise not go and introduces me to people I would otherwise not meet (even TheBigBeefChief)..... and because I can.

So why wouldn't I?[/quote]

+1

Couldn't have put it better myself!

Si

[Doc B]

Strangely enough I was considering posting a very similar thread to this one!

Bass guitar was my first instrument and still my favourite.

Since I moved away from Sheffield in 2002 I haven't been in a band for more than a few months at a time. Mainly it's because I haven't found the right people who are willing to work on orginal material but only as a hobby as I have a day job (well, usually I do but I'm unemployed right now).

My main problem is that I only learned bass to start playing and writing in a band with a mate when we were teenagers so I can find initial jam situations quite difficult - but I can write intricate and imaginative bass (and guitar) parts once I'm back in practice. So many people expect session player ability without paying for session players!

I have also got fed up with fielding responses from people who's first question is 'how old are you' in response to my add beginning: 'Out of practice 33 year old bass player....'

The most annoying thing was joining a band last year, buying and selling gear to get a sound that would work and then for the singer/guitarist to fall off the face of the earth and 'lose the plot' as the drummer so nicely put it in a text!

I do have some nice gear now though - Status Groove with graphite neck and a Nemesis NC410 combo! It's bit excessive for home use though.

Although I have a mini studio set up at home, I tend to get most inspiration when I'm playing with others - so I haven't written much in the last few years.

I am now not actively seeking a band as it's just a pain really - much as I'd love to get back playing with others. Finding people who are happy to try and work on new ideas is hard.

I have no plans to stop playing bass though - I'll always enjoy it and have invested too much time and money!

[SwordRaven]

Playing bass for me is something I've done since I was 15 (Sudden Realisation: SIX YEARS! ) and it was a response to everyone loving guitar to death. I also have massive manly fingers so bass is perfect for me about 18 months ago I decided to pick it up again after an absence of about a year and put myself on musofinder for a laugh to see if I could find a band in the area. I found one a record three days later and have been there ever since and loving it!

I moved onto 6-string basses about a year ago but still have yet to really get used to playing them (can't slap at all anymore)

A lot like the one chap above, playing bass represents everything good that has ever happened to me so I never need an excuse to play.