Question for today... has this happened to you? #2

[floaded27]

yesterday i was at a rehearsal for a musical concert that im going to be in in december. The guy i thats doing it is my first teacher and he's very advanced, but i feel comfortable working with him because he helps me out a lot and knows where i am musically and tries to push me to the next level. so i get there early and he tells me to plug up and we start working on one of the songs "whats going on". I didnt have it that well so he was breaking it down for me.

Now one by one other musicians start showing up. cats that been playing for years, have done recordings with other people and stuff. so my teacher asks one of the guys to play piano while he sets up the sound system. so then all the others join in. I feel soooo intimidated. everybody else seems to be flowin and im tryin to do my part but i feel the struggle. Then another bass player shows up, and its a small world because hes the bass player for a group that i auditioned for to be a backup bass player, but we hadnt officially met before. So now im nervous as heck because hes a monster on the bass, and i dont want him to think im hopeless on it. Now even more intimidated, im just tryin not to mess up too badly.

u know how it felt when you were a kid in the room with a bunch of adults and they wanted you to leave so they can "talk grown folk talk". Thats how it felt, like they was just waiting for me to get off the bass so they could start making "real" music. I know it was all in my head, but thats how it felt. So when i was told to unplug, so the other bass player can plug in to work on the next song which was "Spain" (thats a really difficult song) i stuck around and got to see them in their learning process, mistakes and all and it made me feel better seeing that we all still learning something. but it even seemed like some of their mistakes sounded even better than my playing stuff correctly.

i just felt like i was out of my league. i kinda was, but i need to be around better so i can get better, so i guess that feeling just comes with the territory. how do i get over that?

[Quebass86]

Yes, I have been there before and I am sure I will be there again....it was a concert in my situation as well. We were doing some combined songs with 4 other churches along with our individual songs....One guy came in with a 7 string Ken Smith and played it like butter! He was real cool and humble though and was open and receptive when I asked him some questions and pointers. He took time and explained how he approaches learning songs..he said you need to develop a system and then expand from there. He breaks down the changes, chords, etc before even beginning to add his licks and stuff.....I was at a musical about two weeks ago and there were about 7 of us bass players with different groups. The fun thing was we all supported each other when a different one was playing an noted something unique that we liked for each one..We had a guy that had been playing 6 months to a guy who had been playing for 15 years....

You are correct, in order to be better you have to be around better and I don't mind that. I know that as I learn there are others looking at me wanting to learn what little I know...don't feel frustrated or intimidated...just allow yourself to be open and receptive...be a spounge.....some people just have the natural ability and some of us have to work extra hard...again we do it for the love of God and He will continue to be faithful in blessing us with the desire and ability through our hard work.....play on my brother play on....

[malthumb]

Floaded27,

Your situation sounded uncomfortable, but manageable.  You have the right frame of mind.  Be around better so that you can be better.

I've been playing for a long time, but I still don't consider myself too advanced to be humbled.  I just found out a couple weeks ago that I'm not even the best bassist on my block!  It turns out that one of my new neighbors is the bassist for one of the mega-churches in Detroit.  I may have to start hangin' around with him and steal I mean trade some licks.

One of my most humbling experiences was about 6 or 7 years ago.  I was messin' around with some basses at a Guitar Center.  I THOUGHT I was jammin', crankin' out some Gap Band lines, some Ohio Players lines, some Brothers Johnson lines some Fred Hammond lines,.......

After a while I heard somebody else just burnin' up a fretboard.  Not playing anything in particular.  Just free-stylin'......I looked over to see.........Fred Hammond!  I couldn't help but wonder if he heard me mangling one of his basslines and decided to put an end to it  .

Anyway, I went back to playing scales.

Peace,

James

[bassthumpa]

Floaded27,

Your situation sounded uncomfortable, but manageable.  You have the right frame of mind.  Be around better so that you can be better.

I've been playing for a long time, but I still don't consider myself too advanced to be humbled.  I just found out a couple weeks ago that I'm not even the best bassist on my block!  It turns out that one of my new neighbors is the bassist for one of the mega-churches in Detroit.  I may have to start hangin' around with him and steal I mean trade some licks.

One of my most humbling experiences was about 6 or 7 years ago.  I was messin' around with some basses at a Guitar Center.  I THOUGHT I was jammin', crankin' out some Gap Band lines, some Ohio Players lines, some Brothers Johnson lines some Fred Hammond lines,.......

After a while I heard somebody else just burnin' up a fretboard.  Not playing anything in particular.  Just free-stylin'......I looked over to see.........Fred Hammond!  I couldn't help but wonder if he heard me mangling one of his basslines and decided to put an end to it  .

Anyway, I went back to playing scales.

Peace,

James

Man, I would have asked him to show me how to play the tune right!  "Fred... c'mon man, don't let me do your music dirty like this, help a brutha out!"  LOL!

[Quebass86]

Floaded27,

Your situation sounded uncomfortable, but manageable.  You have the right frame of mind.  Be around better so that you can be better.

I've been playing for a long time, but I still don't consider myself too advanced to be humbled.  I just found out a couple weeks ago that I'm not even the best bassist on my block!  It turns out that one of my new neighbors is the bassist for one of the mega-churches in Detroit.  I may have to start hangin' around with him and steal I mean trade some licks.

One of my most humbling experiences was about 6 or 7 years ago.  I was messin' around with some basses at a Guitar Center.  I THOUGHT I was jammin', crankin' out some Gap Band lines, some Ohio Players lines, some Brothers Johnson lines some Fred Hammond lines,.......

After a while I heard somebody else just burnin' up a fretboard.  Not playing anything in particular.  Just free-stylin'......I looked over to see.........Fred Hammond!  I couldn't help but wonder if he heard me mangling one of his basslines and decided to put an end to it  .

Anyway, I went back to playing scales.

Peace,

James

Man, I am rolling on the floor at work right now!! LOL!! Talk about be humbled? I would have been like...Mr. Hammond, can you show me just 1% of what you know right now?

[craigory]

Holy smokes!!
been there before. The main question is.... DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING?
I learn from every and anybody. I kinda' have mixed emotions when someone says "man you bad!" because I know you probably do something I don't and I will like it. Don't be intimidated, learn, learn, learn and be around those who are humble.

[bass_asaph]

its definitely right,learn learn learn and in situations,be humble even if we find ourselves in the midst of beginner players.i think the trick to improvement and betterment is total humility plus i always try to share with other people i know by that i open myself to learning more plus i'd luv someone who's really gud to also show me stuff.

[LaylaMonroe]

Floaded27,

Your situation sounded uncomfortable, but manageable.  You have the right frame of mind.  Be around better so that you can be better.

I've been playing for a long time, but I still don't consider myself too advanced to be humbled.  I just found out a couple weeks ago that I'm not even the best bassist on my block!  It turns out that one of my new neighbors is the bassist for one of the mega-churches in Detroit.  I may have to start hangin' around with him and steal I mean trade some licks.

One of my most humbling experiences was about 6 or 7 years ago.  I was messin' around with some basses at a Guitar Center.  I THOUGHT I was jammin', crankin' out some Gap Band lines, some Ohio Players lines, some Brothers Johnson lines some Fred Hammond lines,.......

After a while I heard somebody else just burnin' up a fretboard.  Not playing anything in particular.  Just free-stylin'......I looked over to see.........Fred Hammond!  I couldn't help but wonder if he heard me mangling one of his basslines and decided to put an end to it  .

Anyway, I went back to playing scales.

Peace,

James

Dude, I can't believe you're still alive to tell the story.  I would've died right there on the spot.

Reminds me of a time back in college...

I'm no singer (no bass player either, just happened upon this thread... lol).  But, I was a watch care member of a small, but musically on-point church.  It was the church Donnie McClurkin grew up in, and he often came back to visit, as did many other gospel music giants.  The church was super small (maybe 100 members avg), so they often had to make do with what they had.  I was serving as an evangelist at the time, and the pastor -- for reasons I'll never know-- loved to hear me sing.  Now, I can hold a note and I'm a heckuva background alto, but I am NOT a lead vocalist or soloist by any means.

Anyway, the pastor would always call me up to do a sermonic solo, and most times, I did a hymn that would be hard to mess up or "I Won't Complain" because even if you did mess it up, folks would be going IN so they wouldn't even notice! LOL!  I usually didn't mind since there weren't too many people there anyway, so no one to be embarassed in front of.

One night during revival, he called me up to sing.  All of my friends from school were there, but other than that, there were only about 50 folks in the congregation.  I went on a limb and sang "Amazing Grace Shall Always Be..." (don't know the correct title).  I reached all my high notes, and all in all, I did pretty well.  When I sat down, a lady behind me rubbed my back as though I had done something.     

Pastor facilitated a worship, offering was done, and the pastor was about to put the guest speaker up.  He then called for Sis. Daniel to come render a sermonic solo.  I was like, who is Sis. Daniel and why are we having another solo???  Then, I felt the lady from behind me get up and walk to the front... I remember thinking, "oh, THAT'S Sis. Daniel... lol"

Sis. Daniel....

Yeah...

Sis. Daniel... as in Melonie Daniel.... as in... the woman who sat behind me and rubbed my back...

 

[B3Wannabe]

yesterday i was at a rehearsal for a musical concert that im going to be in in december. The guy i thats doing it is my first teacher and he's very advanced, but i feel comfortable working with him because he helps me out a lot and knows where i am musically and tries to push me to the next level. so i get there early and he tells me to plug up and we start working on one of the songs "whats going on". I didnt have it that well so he was breaking it down for me.

Now one by one other musicians start showing up. cats that been playing for years, have done recordings with other people and stuff. so my teacher asks one of the guys to play piano while he sets up the sound system. so then all the others join in. I feel soooo intimidated. everybody else seems to be flowin and im tryin to do my part but i feel the struggle. Then another bass player shows up, and its a small world because hes the bass player for a group that i auditioned for to be a backup bass player, but we hadnt officially met before. So now im nervous as heck because hes a monster on the bass, and i dont want him to think im hopeless on it. Now even more intimidated, im just tryin not to mess up too badly.

u know how it felt when you were a kid in the room with a bunch of adults and they wanted you to leave so they can "talk grown folk talk". Thats how it felt, like they was just waiting for me to get off the bass so they could start making "real" music. I know it was all in my head, but thats how it felt. So when i was told to unplug, so the other bass player can plug in to work on the next song which was "Spain" (thats a really difficult song) i stuck around and got to see them in their learning process, mistakes and all and it made me feel better seeing that we all still learning something. but it even seemed like some of their mistakes sounded even better than my playing stuff correctly.

i just felt like i was out of my league. i kinda was, but i need to be around better so i can get better, so i guess that feeling just comes with the territory. how do i get over that?

Man! I wish I was in your position! I love feeling out of my league! That means I'm somewhere I can learn! Right now, I'm learning, but it's mostly on my own. I want to learn from someone else!...even if I have to just watch!

[floaded27]

Man! I wish I was in your position! I love feeling out of my league! That means I'm somewhere I can learn! Right now, I'm learning, but it's mostly on my own. I want to learn from someone else!...even if I have to just watch!

i like it too, but only when its more incremental. if you just learned to play basketball last week, this week you're not gonna try out for a And-1 tournament. but you might just find some kids in a park in your neighborhood with some skills and play with them for a while till you're around their level, then move on to a more skilled group.

not like it was my choice, but i felt like i went way beyond reasonable increase in skill level. So when its like that, sometimes when they show you something simple or explain it, its still beyond your level, so its more difficult to get (or play).