EDITED: I'm so behind on my responses. I'm absolutely gonna get to you all. Promise 
UNEDIT:
I was doing a light practice session the other day on my 6 string bass (playing along with some of my favorite cds/mp3s)
I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection off the glass of a framed BB King poster i have in my studio while playing along with an Al Green song. The sudden view of the unsuspecting self in the unadultered reflection's image, plus the way my deft fingerwork eased through such an amazing song, plus the feedback i get from other musicians, plus seeing people shake their asses when i play, plus the way other musicians and i can just pound out new songs when we need, plus the way i can be told to learn songs and show up for a gig without a practice session....this all made something click in my head that i never really gave much thought:
I am extremely happy with my bass playing and where i am musically.
Not that i'm gonna ever stop learning. Not that i ever want to stop improving, nor do i think i'm 'perfect', far from it. I hope to never stop learning and improving. It's just that, if you asked me 10 or 15 year ago where i'd expect my bass playing/musical ability to be today, i probably would have given less of an outcome as a "best case scenario". To have surpassed that makes me feel really good about many of my life-choices in the past. Shit that got me a lot of flak from a lot of people.
I love the way i can play pretty much anything you throw at me. I love the way i can truely play any style or any genre. Not just emulate, but understand and create in almost any genre. (I'm not a bass superman, and there are things that i do need to improve)
I used to play songs who's basslines impressed other people. Primus, Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Rush, Yes, Zappa, Zorn, Return to Forever, and many more. The whole time i was breezing through those songs impressing others, i was listening to other things that probably wouldn't impress anyone if i played, but i was in awe. Stuff that i thought was incompatible with my style, and stuff that i honestly thought was a bit beyond me, as far as Bass Playing goes.
I would pine over songs by the Beatles, James Brown, Al Green, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Prince etc. I'd just listen. I wouldn't even attempt to play them. I would sit there in awe over some of the most amazing things i'd pick out of the songs, things that most musicians seemingly wouldn't even catch on to or notice.
There was so much more going on than just a really cool/impressive bassline. In fact, most of the bass lines were seemingly simple. Very unimposing or repetative. Or so they seemed. But, when you applied the bassline to the inner workings of the song as a whole, songs with beautiful structures that hide depth in simplicity, you find some amazing musical statements.
And then you take someone who's 'unimpressed' with such a song, someone who foolishly underestimates such a song, someone who is more impressed with me pounding out one of those songs i mentioned before, and ask them to play one of these songs. They can't cop it. They can't follow it. And even if they do manage to struggle along, it's empty. It's like they're going through the motions. The song is dead. It's like a souless player piano automatically churning out selected notes in a selected order; like those crappy MIDI songs that people put on their crappy websites.
They may know exactly what to play, but don't fully get the importance of what's being played where, and more importantly, what's not being played where. They don't understand how what they do/don't play directly affects and interacts with what everyone else is doing. That leads to chaotic yet empty songs.
During this pseudo-epiphany, i noticed that wait, i do have an understanding of how these things work. At some point in the last few years, things i used to be aware of but not understand, things that used to put me in awe are now second nature to me.
I'm really glad i had this little moment of self realization in a time where i was getting very frustrated with myself and my place in life. It's a nice little kick in my own rear end. Like, "No, you're not fooling yourself, now get your ass in gear." Which leads me to my next problem.
While i'm not saying i'm perfect and unflawed and all my problems are cause by other people, but FUCK i can't stand working with musicians. Oh my god they just dont fucking get it sometimes. Ok, maybe its just the one's i find, or maybe it's the type of musician i attract, but i dont fucking know man, they are so fucking impossible to work with and they seemingly have no idea about anything outside their little fucking shell of self dellusion. (This definitely excludes the people i'm working with in Hungry Mob. They got their act together. And of course this is a sweeping generalization that is by no means all-inclusive)
They fucking bitch and moan about DJs and electronic music taking away work from 'real' musicians, yet do nothing to analyze why. They do nothing to take from those valid forms of entertainment. Fuck, most of the time i'd rather go out where a DJ is spinning than to see a real band playing. I think that's horrible for me as a musician to say, but it's true.
DJs play for the audience. Musicians play for themselves. (Again, another sweeping generalization, but you understand). Even the most arrogant DJs' goal are keeping the party going and have people dance and enjoy themselves. Musicians want people to watch THEM and to enjoy THEM and THEIR music. Fuck you, get over yourself, or get off the stage. If you're not doing it for the audience, get off the stage. You can entertain yourself in your own basement.
And this is the mentality one deals with when trying to work with musicians. Even trying to get a cover band together is a bitch. Listen to me musicians: The songs you think are cool to cover and the songs regular-every-day-club-going-drunk-Dick-and-Jane want to hear are NOT THE SAME. YOU AS THE MUSICIAN DO NOT KNOW BETTER WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR.
Ever wonder why you play to a room full of a bunch of other musicians who just come to your show so that you come to theirs? Ever wonder why regular people don't show up to you masturbating on your instruments? Because they're out at a club where a DJ is playing shit they want to hear.
Why oh fucking why are musicians so fucking obnoxious? Why are they so resistant to looking outside themselves? Why the hell can't i find any level headed musicians to work with? I know they're out there. I do see plenty of bands with their act together. So maybe it is me. Maybe there's something i do that attracts the pains in the asses. Maybe i'm too much of a perfectionist. Maybe they take my self assuredness as cockyness; as a threat to their own ego.
Maybe i'm just difficult to work with? If that were the case, i'd question why the band i'm in gets so much done in so little time. I'd wonder why they think i'm really easy to work with.
It's tough being happy with where i am and not being able to actuate it, not being able to take it farther on the account of others. It's tough trying to take things into your own hands so there's no one to blame, and finding, "wow, i still need to work with these other people who can still fuck things up for me and still waste my fucking time and still be blamed."
Well, if you made it this far, i'm amazed. Welcome to my brain i guess.
UNEDIT:
I was doing a light practice session the other day on my 6 string bass (playing along with some of my favorite cds/mp3s)
I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection off the glass of a framed BB King poster i have in my studio while playing along with an Al Green song. The sudden view of the unsuspecting self in the unadultered reflection's image, plus the way my deft fingerwork eased through such an amazing song, plus the feedback i get from other musicians, plus seeing people shake their asses when i play, plus the way other musicians and i can just pound out new songs when we need, plus the way i can be told to learn songs and show up for a gig without a practice session....this all made something click in my head that i never really gave much thought:
I am extremely happy with my bass playing and where i am musically.
Not that i'm gonna ever stop learning. Not that i ever want to stop improving, nor do i think i'm 'perfect', far from it. I hope to never stop learning and improving. It's just that, if you asked me 10 or 15 year ago where i'd expect my bass playing/musical ability to be today, i probably would have given less of an outcome as a "best case scenario". To have surpassed that makes me feel really good about many of my life-choices in the past. Shit that got me a lot of flak from a lot of people.
I love the way i can play pretty much anything you throw at me. I love the way i can truely play any style or any genre. Not just emulate, but understand and create in almost any genre. (I'm not a bass superman, and there are things that i do need to improve)
I used to play songs who's basslines impressed other people. Primus, Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Rush, Yes, Zappa, Zorn, Return to Forever, and many more. The whole time i was breezing through those songs impressing others, i was listening to other things that probably wouldn't impress anyone if i played, but i was in awe. Stuff that i thought was incompatible with my style, and stuff that i honestly thought was a bit beyond me, as far as Bass Playing goes.
I would pine over songs by the Beatles, James Brown, Al Green, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Prince etc. I'd just listen. I wouldn't even attempt to play them. I would sit there in awe over some of the most amazing things i'd pick out of the songs, things that most musicians seemingly wouldn't even catch on to or notice.
There was so much more going on than just a really cool/impressive bassline. In fact, most of the bass lines were seemingly simple. Very unimposing or repetative. Or so they seemed. But, when you applied the bassline to the inner workings of the song as a whole, songs with beautiful structures that hide depth in simplicity, you find some amazing musical statements.
And then you take someone who's 'unimpressed' with such a song, someone who foolishly underestimates such a song, someone who is more impressed with me pounding out one of those songs i mentioned before, and ask them to play one of these songs. They can't cop it. They can't follow it. And even if they do manage to struggle along, it's empty. It's like they're going through the motions. The song is dead. It's like a souless player piano automatically churning out selected notes in a selected order; like those crappy MIDI songs that people put on their crappy websites.
They may know exactly what to play, but don't fully get the importance of what's being played where, and more importantly, what's not being played where. They don't understand how what they do/don't play directly affects and interacts with what everyone else is doing. That leads to chaotic yet empty songs.
During this pseudo-epiphany, i noticed that wait, i do have an understanding of how these things work. At some point in the last few years, things i used to be aware of but not understand, things that used to put me in awe are now second nature to me.
I'm really glad i had this little moment of self realization in a time where i was getting very frustrated with myself and my place in life. It's a nice little kick in my own rear end. Like, "No, you're not fooling yourself, now get your ass in gear." Which leads me to my next problem.
While i'm not saying i'm perfect and unflawed and all my problems are cause by other people, but FUCK i can't stand working with musicians. Oh my god they just dont fucking get it sometimes. Ok, maybe its just the one's i find, or maybe it's the type of musician i attract, but i dont fucking know man, they are so fucking impossible to work with and they seemingly have no idea about anything outside their little fucking shell of self dellusion. (This definitely excludes the people i'm working with in Hungry Mob. They got their act together. And of course this is a sweeping generalization that is by no means all-inclusive)
They fucking bitch and moan about DJs and electronic music taking away work from 'real' musicians, yet do nothing to analyze why. They do nothing to take from those valid forms of entertainment. Fuck, most of the time i'd rather go out where a DJ is spinning than to see a real band playing. I think that's horrible for me as a musician to say, but it's true.
DJs play for the audience. Musicians play for themselves. (Again, another sweeping generalization, but you understand). Even the most arrogant DJs' goal are keeping the party going and have people dance and enjoy themselves. Musicians want people to watch THEM and to enjoy THEM and THEIR music. Fuck you, get over yourself, or get off the stage. If you're not doing it for the audience, get off the stage. You can entertain yourself in your own basement.
And this is the mentality one deals with when trying to work with musicians. Even trying to get a cover band together is a bitch. Listen to me musicians: The songs you think are cool to cover and the songs regular-every-day-club-going-drunk-Dick-and-Jane want to hear are NOT THE SAME. YOU AS THE MUSICIAN DO NOT KNOW BETTER WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR.
Ever wonder why you play to a room full of a bunch of other musicians who just come to your show so that you come to theirs? Ever wonder why regular people don't show up to you masturbating on your instruments? Because they're out at a club where a DJ is playing shit they want to hear.
Why oh fucking why are musicians so fucking obnoxious? Why are they so resistant to looking outside themselves? Why the hell can't i find any level headed musicians to work with? I know they're out there. I do see plenty of bands with their act together. So maybe it is me. Maybe there's something i do that attracts the pains in the asses. Maybe i'm too much of a perfectionist. Maybe they take my self assuredness as cockyness; as a threat to their own ego.
Maybe i'm just difficult to work with? If that were the case, i'd question why the band i'm in gets so much done in so little time. I'd wonder why they think i'm really easy to work with.
It's tough being happy with where i am and not being able to actuate it, not being able to take it farther on the account of others. It's tough trying to take things into your own hands so there's no one to blame, and finding, "wow, i still need to work with these other people who can still fuck things up for me and still waste my fucking time and still be blamed."
Well, if you made it this far, i'm amazed. Welcome to my brain i guess.
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
You added somethign that I also hadn't thought about: the musicians who feels compelled to overplay because he's a bit intimidated by the talent surrounding him. So, instead of being solid with what he can do, he overcompensates and shows the world what he CAN'T do.
I've been there.
And as you also mentioned, there are those musicians who just agree and go along, but they've got very clear opinions that they won't share.
A friend of mine was in way over his head, playing bass on a jazz gig. It pained me to see him struggling like he was. The worst part was these 2 musicians were in the audience and laughing at him, and I knew that after the set they'd go up and tell him, "Great job man. You sound good."
Afterward, I felt obligated to give him sincere critique. He seemed to appreciate that. But, ya' know, another aspect of all of this is "are people receptive to the truth?" But even if he wasn't receptive, maybe 6 months later he'd remember it and take it seriously.
This wasn't even an issue of note selection, dymanics, or the like. The problem was in finding a way to provide a consistent bottom pulse while fumbling through weird chord changes that were happening avery 2 beats.
Any way ...
Live shows. WOW!!!
My absolute favorite live show, to date, is Victor Wooten's. He's a true entertainer. He GIVES to his audience. It's like he's the host of a big party.
Les Claypool's show is fun. He'll do a bad impersonation of Elvis ... anything might happen. He has an awareness and respect for his audience. He's fun to watch. He leaves the stage and lets his percussionists go crazy.
Me'Shell NdegeOcello? N-E-V-E-R will I go to another one of her shows. Great music. But I'd rather stay home and listen to her CDs. I went to her show last year and it felt like the audience was a bunch of folks that she had to tolerate.
Buckethead? The only concert I've walked out of. Guitar shredding from the first moment. Guitar shredding 35 minutes later, as I was walking toward the exit.
NdegeOcello was aloof. Buckethead was simply overwhelming. A little horseradish is great, but a horseradish sandwich just burns and makes my eyes water.
I've got a journal that I keep my notes in. It's ideas for the next time Iget some say in putting on a live show. It's got to be a party.