Music goals & ambitions for 2026?

[Al Krow]

I suspect lots of us will make new year resolutions, but do we have any particular music related hopes for ourselves as bass players and/or for the bands we're in for the coming year?

 

What are yours and why those particular goals? What do you see as the main hurdles to achieving them? 

 

Are there any tips we can give each other to help make some of these goals & ambitions a reality?

[Al Krow]

I'd be happy to get the ball rolling!

 

My main music goal is actually the same both for me personally and the band I'm in: I'd like me and my crew to get "off book" so we can all play our rep without needing to look down at tablets or notes! I'm sure that this will improve our on-stage performance no end in terms of being engaged and communicating with each other, and equally with our audiences?

 

Main hurdle: we've got about 6 hours of material, which gets rotated to keep things fresh for us and our audiences. Where there's a melodic element to a bass line or many chord pattern variations that actually seems to be quite a challenge, certainly for me! But I'm guessing making this a priority and maybe aiming to get chunks of sets off-pat will be a do-able way of getting there?

 

The second goal for me, as band leader, is to add another 5 function gigs to the 15 or so we managed to do this year. For this one, the main "hurdle" is getting our 2025 showreel finished - and that's on me to finish up the video edits, and then getting signed up with a couple more agencies.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Al Krow

[Steve Browning]

My band could really do with a decent agent that can access Europe as well as the UK. We do ok but want to get out and about again. 

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

My band could really do with a decent agent that can access Europe as well as the UK. We do ok but want to get out and about again. 

 

Are you playing covers or originals Steve? And already currently signed up with an agent or getting gigs mostly off your own bat as a band?

[javi_bassist]

My main goal for 2026 is to stop buying music related gear. I have my expenses below my earnings, but still, too much money. 

Other than that, I think this next year I will probably have less gigs than in 2025, so I will keep on studying jazz and improvisation.

Apart from that, I also want to start playing my synth again and keep on with guitar.

[Merton]

Keep working on my consistency, articulation and musical vocabulary. And spend £0.00 on musical gear (except strings)

 

[BigRedX]

Complete and release my band's album. 

 

We have 4 songs finished, another 4 that are currently in the process of being mixed and 5 more that still need vocals recording and then mixing, plus one instrumental that needs a bit of additional production. That's almost 60 minutes worth of music. However once we've got over 40 minutes complete which means getting the vocals recorded for 2 of the songs that currently don't have them, then we'll probably release those and save the rest for the next album which hopefully won't take another four years to complete!

[tauzero]

Finish the move into the music room.

 

Get some recording done of solo work.

 

Finish at least some of the hardware projects I've started (cab, basses, electronics).

[Lozz196]

Am looking forward to getting my paws on the Sandberg Lionel Superlight I’ve commissioned, which fingers crossed will land by Xmas, other than that all I want for music and 2026 is rehearse with my non-gigging band and have a laugh.

[Jackroadkill]

I just want to get a band formed again.  It's eighteen months since my last (and favourite) band folded and I'm keen to play gigs again.

[upside downer]

Mine is to pick up the bass more often. No band situation currently so no real pressure but I'd just like to get back, playing-wise, to where I was a while back. Will be making the effort to find time for practising. Life has got way too hectic over the past couple of years and fun seems to have taken a back seat. No longer! It's time to recalibrate. 

[PaulThePlug]

Pick up the bass a bit more often...

[Roger2611]

To actually play bass live again, Yodaclub seem to have gone on a semi permanent hiatus now, Acme Sewage Company had a lousy year in 2025 with our singer / guitarist out for pretty much the whole year with a back problem, 2026 marks 50 years of Acme, there are plenty of gigs on the table, let's hope we can do them!

[Steve Browning]

48 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

Are you playing covers or originals Steve? And already currently signed up with an agent or getting gigs mostly off your own bat as a band?

About 75% originals and without any agent at present. 

[Skybone]

I like the idea of trying to find another band / project, but it's probably just wishful thinking on my part.

 

Could do with playing more and with "constructive" practice.

[colleya]

Get the ball rolling properly with my band Tea Time Funk Club

 

I think we've got something really good going and they're a super talented bunch.

 

This year I want us to find the right venues and get our foot properly in the door. We've got 4-5 bookings already so hopefully things will snowball from there.

 

Personally, I've been working hard on my playing and practicing a lot more, so I want to keep that up. Gigs in the calendar always helps me with motivation in that department too.

Edited 2 hours ago by colleya

[Al Krow]

8 minutes ago, Skybone said:

I like the idea of trying to find another band / project, but it's probably just wishful thinking on my part.

 

Could do with playing more and with "constructive" practice.

 

Being in a band is such a big part of many BC'ers lives! Why do you feel it's wishful thinking for you?

[asingardenof]

Finally buy myself that five-stringer I've been promising myself for years. Ideally a G&L L-2500 Tribute if I can find any outside Japan, otherwise we'll see what's out there when I have funds. Still bemoaning the loss of the Zoot Funkmeister I tried a couple of months ago though.

[colleya]

13 minutes ago, Skybone said:

Could do with playing more and with "constructive" practice.

 

I found that signing up for one of the SBL courses has improved my practice.

 

I'm practicing more because I've bloody paid for it and the stuff I'm working on is more focused.

[chris_b]

2026 would be a good year if I got more gigs, got more deps and (I always say this) improved my networking.

[uk_lefty]

Get some gigs for my new 80s band Risky Business. Ideally first gig before end of March.

 

Get some fresh material in for The Desert Penguins, ideally for the second half of the set. It's a really solid set list but i'd love it if we could shake it up and make picking those end of night songs a bit tougher than just going through the same ones all the time.

[lozkerr]

Get back out on the Edinburgh riot grrrl scene with my new band. The last one folded back in the summer, due to g-word issues. That upset me more than it should have, as we were making a bit of a name for ourselves. But shit happens and there's no point in crying over spilt milk.

 

Plus brush up on keys, get to grips properly with Reaper and <whisper> try to become a little better than utterly useless on the g****r. Just in case it's needed,you understand 🙂

[Mediocre Polymath]

Mine is, like my fellow bandless bassists in this thread, to try and get a new band together/join an existing one. I'm not the most outgoing person, so throwing myself into new band situations is always something I need a bit of a mental run-up for.

 

The other big one is to persevere with my ongoing efforts to learn to read sheet music properly. I'm definitely making progress with this (I started back in August with a copy of Joquin des Pres's book on sight-reading) but it's clearly going to be a multi-year undertaking as I'm starting as a 40 year old with no musical education whatsoever.

[neepheid]

Issuing an album with The Inevitable Teaspoons.  This entails me learning how to mix tracks.  Have dipped a toe in the water but will have to do a lot more next year to get things moving.  Still got tracks to record, so it's not just down to me, but if I don't buck up my ideas then I will end up being the blocker to it being released, and I don't want that.  Lack of skills is a blocker, but that can only be rectified with practice, so it's time to stop pr!ck!ng about and get on with it!

 

Practice more at home would also probably be a good thing.  To that end, I do have a small amp (Joyo Vibe Cube) on order which should be a lot more immediate, a small enough unit to have out in the living room all the time ready to just plug in and play, instead of the rigmarole of taking my TC head out of its bag, draping cables everywhere for power/bass/headphones/aux in, being headphones only unless I also dig out a cab etc.

[Bassassin]

Me & my partner/bandmate are currently 3 songs into a concept album, LastDay, ideas for which have been kicking about for years. Obviously the plan is to generate a few more ideas, & knock them & the remaining years-old ones into another 6 or 7 songs, in a sort-of organised & flowing-into-each-other sequence, sometime before the heat-death of the universe and hopefully by this time next year.

 

It feels like a vain hope but I'd like this to actually be properly mixed & finished, and released out into the world in some tangile form, rather than languishing on my hard drive with 'sod it, that'll do' mixes, and a couple of YouTube uploads with 25 views between them. Not sure how to achieve that, but that part still feels reassuringly distant.

 

Prior to that, progress will be accelerated by good weather - as my co-conspirator has been absolutely snowed-under by work for the last year or so, generating lyrics has fallen to me, at least for 2 of the 3 new songs, and I find I often come back from long, aimless, moderate intensity bike rides with fully-formed, functional lyrics that we both actually like! Who knew? But not in the howling wind, biting cold & pissing rain...

 

Otherwise I'd like to finally find the motivation to offload a bunch of guitars & basses that are gathering dust, finish an unspecified number of seemingly abandoned projects, and maybe, just maybe -get in the practice room with an old ex-bandmate who's back from living abroad for a number of years. Jazz Odyssey is inevitable, but finding out if we still get on as musicians could be fun!

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Bassassin