4000 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 2 hours ago, Bassassin said: I'd still be a bassist - it's the only instrument I'm good enough on to consider getting on a stage with. That said, I've always been predominantly a writer/composer. I play guitar well enough to write with & to record, given an indefinite number of takes. If I could change anything, I'd never have stopped playing keyboards (drifted away in the early 90s) or drums, which I dabbled with when I shared a house with someone who had a kit. I'd also focus on learning some actual theory - I'm painfully aware that everything I know I just sort of picked up along the way. Having those skills would add a lot to my writing & recording - I often feel musically stagnant and hampered by my limited vocabuary & ability, These days I lack both the motivation to resume playing other instruments, or the focus to study theory. That might change going forward but I doubt it. Pretty much same here really. I’m a writer who plays bass as my first instrument and guitar as my second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 2 hours ago, Happy Jack said: Although, and famously, none of The Beatles had any formal musical training worth mentioning. Indeed - and for a long time I'd remind myself that McCartney claimed he decided not to learn to read because he worried that it might affect the way he wrote. Which sounds like a good excuse about as much as it sounds like bollox! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I started on guitar, and still play a bit. I think I'd keep with my original path, guitar then bass, but not taken the odd year of three out here and there, and been a bit more positive about switching to bass - I still nursed ambitions of being a guitar hero, and it took me a little while to start acknowledging to myself that I wasn't actually that good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubit Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 If I could wind the clock back, I would have taken guitar lessons in school. I have always loved music but never had the urge to play until later on in school. I more or less self taught from then. I really wish I had taken professional advice and tuition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 Some interesting themes here. I came from an 'unmusical family' according to my parents. I struggled at school but music was a favourite lesson. I remember doing a musical aptitude test in year 9 and coming out near the top. Mr Harris had a trombone that needed a fiver deposit to secure but my folks said no. (My parents said no a lot). So the itch was always there. A life in the RN meant being very unsettled and occupied. When I left and became a copper in Plymouth I was on my beat looking in Manson's in College Avenue. Ralph sold me a Hohner Jack and the rest followed on. I thought that bass would be easier than guitar (our rhythm guitarist makes me realise that it's not the case). The point I take from this is that all we can ever do is now. Those most successful are those that apply themselves in the now. The now becomes the past with a purpose. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozkerr Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 I arrived at the low end after dabbling with several different instruments - piano and violin as a kid, both of which I hated largely because of the utterly uninspiring teachers I had, followed by bugle, trumpet and marching snare drum. I was quite passable on those, and if I'd stuck with the trumpet I might be a reasonable trad jazz musician by now. I still play the snare on occasion. Used to sing pretty well, too. Then I went to university (well, it were Hatfield Poly, but it were a university to us, etc). One of the lads in the house next to ours had bought a bass - no idea what it was - and it was sitting there gathering dust, like so many students' instruments do. An impromptu jam started up one evening and I had a go on the bass. I was surprised to find I could easily manage some simple stuff by ear but thought no more of it. Shortly afterwards, I started knocking round with the technical manager of a theatre in St Albans, who'd been a pro for a while - he was in the Dogs D'Amour at one point. He suggested I should give the bass a go, but me being me and Knowing It All, decided I was meant to be a guitarer. So I tried it, couldn't get on with it and promptly gave up. Then life intervened - career, marriage, house, kids - and music went to the back of my mind. After my marriage broke down and I'd got over glaring at the world through the bottom of a bottle, I realised I didn't Know It All after all. I bought an Ibanez GSR200 and was instantly hooked. Looking back now, I should have followed my instinct and taken my mate's advice. If I had, I'd now have thirty years' playing under my belt. But better late than never! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 I would love to have been able to play the drums, but man alive, given my levels of GAS over the years I shudder at the amount of money I would have hemorrhaged on drum kits and hardware. I probably would have ended up with a kit like Mike Portnoy. A mate of mine quit playing drums about a year ago, he had a phenomenal amount of top-notch gear that sold for peanuts; he always maintained that drum kits were like cars, you take 'em out once and they lose half their value, so I suppose his selling price saw that. It honestly must be party time if you're buying drums at the moment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: I shudder at the amount of money I would have hemorrhaged on drum kits and hardware. Our drummer has no kit. He has cymbals, a snare and a snare pedal. He uses the kit provided in the rehearsal studio and borrows this if we have a UK gig - and we rent his kit with the backline locally for the non-UK gigs. I suspect he's parted with the least amount of gear cash over the years out of all 5 of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 10 minutes ago, Twigman said: Our drummer has no kit. He has cymbals, a snare and a snare pedal. He uses the kit provided in the rehearsal studio and borrows this if we have a UK gig - and we rent his kit with the backline locally for the non-UK gigs. I suspect he's parted with the least amount of gear cash over the years out of all 5 of us. Isn't it generally a case though that most drummers don't have to space (or soundproofing!) to keep a kit set up at home and as a consequence they don't strictly play the drums, they just play the drums at jams and gigs? I mean, good on him that he can just survive on breakables alone; the drummer from the last band just bought a very cheap kit and used to gig with that, allowing anyone to use it, so fair play to him. When I went out with Rocket66 recently, the studio kit was thrashed to such a point that it was ready for the skip and the venue kit was literally held together with Gaffa tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 4 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: the venue kit was literally held together with Gaffa tape. We've come across a few of those - a festival in Berlin a few years ago provided a kit with only 1 leg on the kick drum and no drum stool......we worked around it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Sam Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 I started on piano at the age of 8. I then went onto double bass at the age of 13. I then started playing a bass guitar at the age of 15. Still playing bass at the age of 64 and struggle to play my Strat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odysseus Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said: Isn't it generally a case though that most drummers don't have to space (or soundproofing!) to keep a kit set up at home and as a consequence they don't strictly play the drums, they just play the drums at jams and gigs? In my experience many of them don't have transport either.... 😩 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_dinger Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I would have applied myself to learning music theory (rather than learn it by osmosis); and make the effort to learn a new tune every week (rather than simply noodle through what I already know) Wait..... I still can!! It was not all a disaster though - I think that I got my instrument upgrade route right, buying a much better one each time, so that upgrades were exponential rather than simply a change of instrument. Two electric basses, two acoustic basses, two acoustic guitars, four amps. In 40 years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Dave Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Certainly I'd still think of bass as my primary instrument to play in a band but I'd have concentrated on songwriting. Somehow I ended up becoming a craftsman rather than an artist and , worthy though that is , for me it's a poor second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I originally was a guitarist. But back in the day when I was in my first band, the bassist could not really play. I remember one song we were doing.. Funeral Pyre by The Jam, the poor sod couldn't grasp it. I recall showing him how to play the bass part and was sort of cajoled into 'Why don't you take over on bass?' So I did. I would probably have done the same if I had my time again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I am a drummer. Always have been always will be. I have played bass off and on for 20 years but drums will always lure me back. From the first time I ever sat at a kit back in the day I could play, don't get me wrong I am not claiming to be a great drummer I just find it easy. Never had a problem with limb separation, complex rhythms or coming up with grooves for original material,whereas the bass took some getting to grips with 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMG456 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 I would still be playing the bass - I love it but... I should have stuck in at my piano lessons when I was 6 and I should have started on the Chapman Stick in the early 80s. If I had done these I might be quite good at them by now! Hey ho! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocker Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 It would be piano for me. As a child I played accordion, penny whistle, piccolo, mouth organ, then graduated onto guitar [which I still play] and ultimately bass. However I should have taken up piano well over 25 years ago. Wonderful instrument - even simple major or minor chords sound fantastic on a piano. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Probably would have gone with drums rather than bass, tho bass has worked out well and is where I feel at home. I didn't have the space or money for drums when I started. Stupidly I was also put off by the thought of having all that stuff to lug around. Being a bassist just meant I had space left in the car and ended up lugging everyone else's stuff around instead. Missed a trick there 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 (edited) At heart I’m a songwriter, I play solo acoustic gigs fairly regularly and have done for many years. I’ve played bass since 1991 but have dipped in and out over that time. I joined my current band (on bass) four years ago because they needed a bass player and having not played bass for a few years I quite fancied it. When this band ends I’ll probably try to find a bass role in another band, as I get a kick out of gigging. Then again, I might just put the bass aside until the next opportunity arises. If I’d never picked up the bass I’d still be doing the solo singer-songwriter thing. Edited October 26, 2019 by BrunoBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oZZma Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 (edited) On 17/10/2019 at 08:48, Frank Blank said: Same here, I think I’m more naturally suited to drums. Me too. But you don't write songs on drums so... Edited October 26, 2019 by oZZma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 40 minutes ago, oZZma said: Me too. But you don't write songs on drums so... I partook in the songwriting process in every band I was a drummer in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oZZma Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 24 minutes ago, Frank Blank said: I partook in the songwriting process in every band I was a drummer in. Yes but usually you don't write the song STRUCTURE on the drums and then arrange the other instruments later, that's what I mean... I think you do that job on a melodic instrument. Probably there is someone who does it on drums but I can't see the point of a workflow of that kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 2 hours ago, oZZma said: Yes but usually you don't write the song STRUCTURE on the drums and then arrange the other instruments later, that's what I mean... I think you do that job on a melodic instrument. Probably there is someone who does it on drums but I can't see the point of a workflow of that kind. Got you, yes, agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bagman Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 If I could turn back time if I could find a way id take back those words that hurt you 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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