Missing my mojo

[Bassulike66]

How many of you lads and lasses out there have ever lost your mojo / enthusiasm to gig or even pick up a bass??

I am currently experiencing this, i just cannot be bothered to pick up a bass or even go to rehearsals and i am considering in jacking it in all together.

Any advise on getting the juices flowing again would be greatly appreciated...

[megallica]

I dropped out of gigging / practicing for five years as I started to see it as a chore and really couldn't be bothered. I found that playing the right songs with the right band to a receptive crowd can work wonders to restoring enthusiasm and I'm happily two thirds of the way to that point. The guys I'm practicing with are accomplished but without much ego and open to song suggestions and arrangement ideas.

[ChunkyMunky]

Take some time away from your instrument and find a different angle. Find things that inspire you, doesn't have to be musically related.

[RhysP]

I refuse to use the 'M' word because it's a load of American bollocks, but I lost interest in playing years ago.
I started playing other instruments which helped for a while but I can't even be bothered doing that now. I've spent thousands on guitar gear over the last two years trying to reignite the passion but nothing works. Even when I do pick up a guitar or bass I feel detached from the whole process - to use another American term I feel like I'm phoning it in.

It's not just the playing either - I don't listen to much much music these days or even go to gigs, which is something I always loved doing.

Maybe you just don't want to play anymore.

Edited January 12, 2016 by RhysP

[interpol52]

I stopped for about 5 years too. I had been in bands constantly for about 20 years and I just lost interest. I did the occasional gig standing in for a friends band during those 5 years but the bass would go away again in its case again straight after.

Oddly enough it was Scotts Bass Lessons that got me back into it, then this forum helped too.

[JTUK]

Easy to get jaded and I don't think you should try and force it.
You are either inspired or you aren't...
I took 2 years out as I wasn't enjoying it all..
I came back stronger and more passionate than before but I avoid
gigs/situations which test my patience so out go crap gigs and waste
of time musos or units in order to enable me to want to keep on doing it.

I'm not sure you can play thru this...especially if you don't 'have' to

[Bassulike66]

I think you all have hit the nail on the head, it's become a chore and the enjoyment has gone. The lads would travel a thousand miles to play chicken coup for free, i just don't get it!

It's been pretty full on for the last 5 years and the crowds just seem to be dwindling even at festivals, sound engineers and PA's are getting cackerer!! :-)

[Lozz196]

I stopped playing for about 5 years. Didn`t even buy any music in that time either, took a total break. Have now been back "in" for 20 years, and the last 7 have been the best, since I started playing some 35 years ago.

[12stringbassist]

I stopped playing after a very close bereavement many years ago and was out of action for months on end. It just left me.
It came back. No use forcing it. If you want to start up again, you will.

[Truckstop]

Find some new music to listen to!

[Rubbersoul]

Band went through a rough patch last summer then I had spinal surgery in September. Haven't played a note since and really struggling to find the will to pick it up again . Guess I just got lazy. Need a boot up the arse I think and it's coming in the form of my singer calling down next Sunday to discuss the future. It sucks because for so long it was my main focus and I seem to have lost it completely.

[kevvo66]

It's hard to stay focused I love my bass but sometimes it bores me too death even thought of buying another electric guitar problem if I buy a guitar that be it for bass playing I think guitar will always be in my blood for a change really you can have the best gear in the world but if you ain't feeling it you ain't feeling it. I only play know when rehearsing or gigging or learning new songs

Edited January 13, 2016 by kevvo66

[blue]

You'll have to examine why you want to put the bass down. Maybe it's just not for you.

What do you want out of playing bass? You need to answer that.

Me;

I love getting people on the dance floor.

I love live performance

I love gigging, the more the better.

I love the attention

I love getting paid and making a living from it.

I love being in a band with competent hard working, trustworty people.

I love rock and roll.


*I have all of the above.

Blue

* I didn't always. I learned from my mistakes.

Edited January 13, 2016 by blue

[colgraff]

Playing bass is like sex within marriage. It gets harder to maintain enthusiasm as the years pass and other pressures fill your horizons. To flog a dead simile further:
1- Get a band on the side that consists of inappropriately young people who could benefit from your wisdom.
2- Experiment with different genres
3- Experiment with different numbers of people. So try the big band thing, try the one man band thing.
4- [Insert other not very subtle euphemisms here]

Most import, don't 'get divorced' just because someone says it might not be for you.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

It sounds to me that your issue is not so much with playing the bass itself, but with playing bass for a band which is not giving you any spiritual reward. I've been there - I quit the band. Not an easy decision but I found my lack of enthusiasm was starting to poison my relationship with music itself, and not just that of the band. There's no need for it to be unpleasant and you might even get a nice farewell gig out of it!
After leaving the band I never stopped playing as such but found it a bit uninspiring to sit at home and play unaccompanied. It's difficult when you're used to playing with others, particularly with a great drummer. After about a year or so I ended up depping for a mate's covers band and am now the full-time bass player (I say full -time, our gigs aren't as frequent as we would hope!). It's just covers, classic rock and pop, but it's great to play out of the comfort zone, and it's great not to have to bash heads writing material all the time. And needless to say it's a wonderful feeling to have a roomful of people up and dancing to a song they know and love.
Of course it may all pan out differently for you but I honestly think the first step is a clean break from your current situation. Onwards and upwards.

[Nicko]

Is it just me that never had enthusiasm for picking it up in the first place? I regard the actual playing of the instrument as a necessary evil of the reason I'm in a band:

1. to let the deeply hidden creativity out
2. to have fun
3. to take my mind off the day job
4. to spend time with a group of like minded people who otherwise have little in common
5. to actually do something I might eventually excel at (unlikley but you never know...)

[RockfordStone]

i stopped playing completely about this time last year after a 10 year straight run of doing nothing but playing bass and working with bands.

i found i just got sick of it, i didn't enjoy playing bass at all, i was doing it to maintain bands, and then when they stopped working i just jacked it all in.

sometimes you can just get bored of it, and when it becomes a chore then it's worth putting it down.

that said, one of my old bands is getting together tonight for a jam which im looking forward to, but my drive is more about making music rather than playing bass these days

[TimR]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1452643544' post='2952067']
Find some new music to listen to!
[/quote]

I agree. Or a change is as good as a rest.

If you're playing the same tunes to the same crowd and the rest of the band aren't up for changing 5 or 6 numbers out, then it may be time to move on.

[gafbass02]

Following this with interest. After around 25 years near constant gigging and thinking and caring about very little else; I feel like I've finally reached the end. I always expected a 'grand finale' but actually I've more just 'petered out'. I currently host two open mic nights every week, plus gigs and rehearsals/other spot work.
It sucks, because the money is very handy! And as jobs go, sure can't complain!!
But, my enthusiasm has just gone. Seven years ago I moved to a town where the music scene is disasterously cliquey to the point of total self defeat. Same people playing the same songs to the same people in the same pub, week in, week out, frequently badly too!
So many local musos just seem to be jobless bums who think owning a guitar and smoking pot all day makes them a 'pro' instead of 'unemployed' and that the world owes them a living, there's virtually no cross population between venues or cliques and anyone new is treated with suspicion and disdain.
Not to mention the fact that there are so many loonies and excessively 'eccentric' oddballs that some evenings feel more like a YouTube freak show, and sometimes intimidating when some of the 'less together' ones get ansty.
(Like the guy who (really) thought he was Noddy Holder last week, apparently he is a delusional psychotic, he couldn't understand why bands didn't want him to play with them.
I've started to find my Facebook feed full of musos I don't really know and an endless stream of futile 'come to my gig' posters, usually five or six metal bands on in a night, all of whom are convinced that anything else is 'selling out man' etc etc
Musician adverts are full of 'death doom core' start ups and the regular older boys still banging out 'sunshine of your love' and 'wild thing'.
It feels like I'm surrounded by poor quality musos or great musos that are lazy and drink/drug dependant, leaving me high and dry in the middle to do mediocre work where I can grab it. The guys I left behind when I moved were all driven and brilliant, that was a much bigger place too.
I've had a brilliant run, sold a ton of albums, played HUGE, legendary venues, toured, had fun, lived the life and loved it, owned hundreds of guitars and basses, been successful and been a frontman and guitarist and bassist over the years (mainly bass) in so many genres.

But it feels like the drive and draw has faded away to disdain and disinterest, I'm fed up of doing all the work and being surrounded by oddballs and lazy small minded folk all the time.
I'm 40 this year, and wondering if it's time for a big change!
Rant over, I just needed to 'say it out loud' I guess as I've no friends close enough here to talk it through with who don't rely on me for music in some way.
I think I'm gonna sell up, keep one bass, one acoustic, one electric and amps for each/pa and train up as something. I'm a HLTA, so probably a teacher like my wife, get old, buy a big TV, save for a car with than 80bhp and remember the fun times.

Edited January 13, 2016 by gafbass02

[RhysP]

[quote name='gafbass02' timestamp='1452696098' post='2952526']
Seven years ago I moved to a town where the music scene is disasterously cliquey to the point of total self defeat. Same people playing the same songs to the same people in the same pub, week in, week out, frequently badly too!
So many local musos just seem to be jobless bums who think owning a guitar and smoking pot all day makes them a 'pro' instead of 'unemployed' and that the world owes them a living, there's virtually no cross population between venues or cliques and anyone new is treated with suspicion and disdain.
[/quote]

Sounds just like Cardiff.

[JTUK]

Entirely understandable Gaf.. I think you just take the break that you seem to be screaming out for.
You are not jaded, you sound burnt out

And IF you get the desire again, you may want to rethink the quality of work you do or seek.

I'm in a good region with loads of work but I recognise also the people I wont work with.
If that comes over as 'snotty or up myself' I can't really worry about that perception.

I've set a standard that I want to hit or go above... and I'll take my chances doing that
but I wont deal with the, IMO, crap.

So, no crappy venues/pubs for rubbish money...no small venues playing to 10 men and dog..etc etc

And I do this to maintain my passion/enthusiam/desire and have no wish to kill it again.

I am now back, far better than before.....BUT all the dep work I gave up I haven't yet got back.
I'm not worried so much about that as that is what killed me in the first place, but the vanity/ego aspect
was cool. I like being the guy or one of the guys who people called ...but that was because I was
available.
When I became unavailable, things move on..and other people take your place etc etc .


But there is no way I could go back to how jaded I was.. I realised I was only coasting- if that..
and that is not how I work so it was something that had to be done.

I suspect most people will get the drive back..as that is what propelled them so far in the first place
but you have to stop..IMO..to try and rediscover it.
Let it happen... no way round it, IME.

You can't force passion/desire IMO

Edited January 13, 2016 by JTUK

[spongebob]

I have bad points as well, like so many others on here.

When the band had a bit of a crisis last year, I had a time of thinking if it ended, I'd give up, as I couldn't face starting with another band from scratch again - not that I could even see a band that was worth joining. I've no intention in doing the same old for the sake of it.

However, got some new blood, and it seems to have taken off again. I also had a call out of the blue to dep with a band before Christmas (I used to be in a band with their guitarist), and had a good time with them....having played in the same band for over 3 years, it was refreshing to kind of play away from home a bit!

So from 6 months ago - we've got a reinvigorated band, a dep gig which has led to the possibility of joining another, and I'm having another old bass restored.

Hang in there - if it's supposed to happen, it will. Things have a habit of turning up when you need them.

[JapanAxe]

Quite hard for me to relate to many of these posts as I feel pretty much addicted to playing. I dread the thought of not enjoying playing.

[gafbass02]

Yeah, I've rather prioritised income over quality and sanity! But I always think it's like any job, at some point you'll hate it. I just have to think back to my ten years at 'Richer Sounds' to realise that nothing else is that bad
I reckon a break will help, just to relax the brain and hopefully something worthwhile will pop up. Hopefully on bass. I've really enjoyed a five year trip to the dark side, it gave me a fresh perspective and enthusiasm, but maybe it's time for me to back to bass and crucially NOT being the band leader!

[roceci]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452704666' post='2952668']


Sounds just like Cardiff.
[/quote]

Haha not just me then!