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Started By
Message
Have any you musicians 'lost it'?
Posted on 11/20/21 at 9:03 am
Posted on 11/20/21 at 9:03 am
I'll try to keep this short.
I've been playing bass since I was 16, and I'm 43 now. I've done a couple of tours, showcases, radio interviews, pretty much everything but get signed. In 2010 I moved to Chicago and never really connected with any bands. I moved back to Louisiana in 2013 and joined up with a studio project that was going awesome til it wasn't. My last gig was a reunion show in 2015.
Since then, I might pick up my bass once every two months and pluck some bullshite. I just don't have the drive or spark to join a band or anything like that. It's like the most important thing in my life is now this albatross that I can't get past. I've lost creativity, and it's so frustrating.
Have you experienced this? How did you get back to what you once were? Am I just doomed to stare at my bass on the wall for the rest of my life?
I've been playing bass since I was 16, and I'm 43 now. I've done a couple of tours, showcases, radio interviews, pretty much everything but get signed. In 2010 I moved to Chicago and never really connected with any bands. I moved back to Louisiana in 2013 and joined up with a studio project that was going awesome til it wasn't. My last gig was a reunion show in 2015.
Since then, I might pick up my bass once every two months and pluck some bullshite. I just don't have the drive or spark to join a band or anything like that. It's like the most important thing in my life is now this albatross that I can't get past. I've lost creativity, and it's so frustrating.
Have you experienced this? How did you get back to what you once were? Am I just doomed to stare at my bass on the wall for the rest of my life?
16
Posted on 11/20/21 at 9:49 am to Donkus
I've been through slumps lots of times. Been learning to play guitar for 45 years. At 61, I'm playing more and writing better than ever.
What seems to always help me more than anything, is to jump in to a new style and try to master it.
What seems to always help me more than anything, is to jump in to a new style and try to master it.
Posted on 11/20/21 at 11:28 am to Donkus
I'm totally burned out and haven't picked up an axe in months. I have a really nice studio and haven't ventured inside it since August. I even had a song get picked up for a movie that was just released and haven't watched the movie outside of the scene that the song is in.
I'm about to be laid up for a few months due to surgery, so I'm hoping the time off will stoke the fire. We're moving our main recording studio out to an island in the San Juans and scheduling some weekends with just ourselves and the wives. I'm hoping that will be the real medicine, but I'm much happier on stage playing live than toiling relentlessly in the studio.
We'll see how it plays out...
I'm about to be laid up for a few months due to surgery, so I'm hoping the time off will stoke the fire. We're moving our main recording studio out to an island in the San Juans and scheduling some weekends with just ourselves and the wives. I'm hoping that will be the real medicine, but I'm much happier on stage playing live than toiling relentlessly in the studio.
We'll see how it plays out...
Posted on 11/20/21 at 1:34 pm to Donkus
I play bass as well. I am just not motivated unless I am playing with others. Just boring to play bass by myself.
You should get in a new band.
You should get in a new band.
Posted on 11/20/21 at 3:43 pm to Donkus
Kind-of in the same boat. Started playing drums in 1987. First garage band in the early 90s. Moved into the church gig thing in the late 90s.
Joined a band in 2001 and did the recording/touring thing for a short time. Played a showcase for Warner Bros. in 2002 that went nowhere and the band fizzled.
I’m a lefty, so two reconstructive surgeries on my left ankle (2012 and 2020) changed everything. I just turned 49 and my drive has tapered off significantly. I can still play (had a 3-1/2-hour cover gig last weekend in Covington and it went well) but…I dunno. I just don’t have much desire to maintain my skill level anymore.
Joined a band in 2001 and did the recording/touring thing for a short time. Played a showcase for Warner Bros. in 2002 that went nowhere and the band fizzled.
I’m a lefty, so two reconstructive surgeries on my left ankle (2012 and 2020) changed everything. I just turned 49 and my drive has tapered off significantly. I can still play (had a 3-1/2-hour cover gig last weekend in Covington and it went well) but…I dunno. I just don’t have much desire to maintain my skill level anymore.
Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:10 pm to Donkus
Just cycles of life. Don't fight it, go find what else you enjoy. Pretty common in the 40's.
It will come back when its ready
It will come back when its ready
This post was edited on 11/20/21 at 4:11 pm
Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:18 pm to Donkus
I went through a slump when I was in a relationship in college and didn’t have any active music projects. As long as I have bands that are wanting to get together and at least practice, I stay on my game. Granted, I’m a 30 year-old with roommates, one of whom plays in one of those bands.
I’m just frustrated that both projects aren’t gigging right now as both projects are training some new members and don’t have enough material solid to be confident performing the gigs we’ve been offered.
On the flip side, I have gone through creative slumps. What helped break through my most recent musician writer’s block was trying out writing a different genre of music. I had been writing songs for the same band for 5 years, all the same genre, and I was having trouble coming up with song ideas that worked for that band. Everything sounded wrong.
However, once I stopped fighting it and let myself write the songs I wanted to, I got those songs out of my system and new ideas for the genre I had been struggling with suddenly flowed freely again.
If I were you, I’d ask myself what kind of music that I want to play and what kind of band I want to be in. Think about the topics that resonate with you right now and be true to who you are today. Identity where your passions are, and the inspiration will follow.
I’m just frustrated that both projects aren’t gigging right now as both projects are training some new members and don’t have enough material solid to be confident performing the gigs we’ve been offered.
On the flip side, I have gone through creative slumps. What helped break through my most recent musician writer’s block was trying out writing a different genre of music. I had been writing songs for the same band for 5 years, all the same genre, and I was having trouble coming up with song ideas that worked for that band. Everything sounded wrong.
However, once I stopped fighting it and let myself write the songs I wanted to, I got those songs out of my system and new ideas for the genre I had been struggling with suddenly flowed freely again.
If I were you, I’d ask myself what kind of music that I want to play and what kind of band I want to be in. Think about the topics that resonate with you right now and be true to who you are today. Identity where your passions are, and the inspiration will follow.
This post was edited on 11/20/21 at 4:36 pm
Posted on 11/20/21 at 4:54 pm to Donkus
I’m not a musician but rather a visual artist but I’d say I "lost it" in that regard.
Posted on 11/20/21 at 5:15 pm to DavidTheGnome
Would you agree that contentedness is the enemy of creativity? There’s the old saying that one can’t write the blues from the back of a limousine.
Posted on 11/20/21 at 11:47 pm to Donkus
I dont know anything else that I'd rather spend my time doing than writing and recording.
As honest as I can be, when I write something that I'm proud of there is no more satisfying feeling to me. Thats when I really feel like I'm here for a reason. I'm a jack of all trades and master of nothing, and I'm horribly picky, self critical + never satisfied..so it doesn't come easy for me. Its been over 10 years since I put anything new out.
But I'm close now, working on an EP with a brand new project that I'm hoping to be done with by next summer
As honest as I can be, when I write something that I'm proud of there is no more satisfying feeling to me. Thats when I really feel like I'm here for a reason. I'm a jack of all trades and master of nothing, and I'm horribly picky, self critical + never satisfied..so it doesn't come easy for me. Its been over 10 years since I put anything new out.
But I'm close now, working on an EP with a brand new project that I'm hoping to be done with by next summer
Posted on 11/20/21 at 11:54 pm to SEClint
quote:
As honest as I can be, when I write something that I'm proud of there is no more satisfying feeling to me. Thats when I really feel like I'm here for a reason. I'm a jack of all trades and master of nothing, and I'm horribly picky, self critical + never satisfied..so it doesn't come easy for me.
Same for me. I hear a lot of people say it's hard work to write. I love doing it, But I really love to hear other people doing something that I write. That's the best part for me.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 12:30 am to auggie
Writing is easy. Writing something that sounds original yet personal, fits with the project you’re working with, and feels so good that you overcome your self-consciousness enough to want to share with others, is VERY difficult. That moment when a new song you came up with first starts to come to life is one of those moments of pure magic that music only can give you.
This post was edited on 11/21/21 at 12:31 am
Posted on 11/21/21 at 12:59 am to Donkus
In a similar boat as well, part of it though is my work schedule. I do shift work and work evenings, so hard to get together with any serious minded musicians my age up here as most of them are 9-5ers. I pick up different interests to try to stoke some fire and at least do some learning, but without being in a band that's gigging honestly it's hard to keep pushing forward. When you're younger you've got all this new material you can go after and tackle and it's great. But now, that just doesn't cut the mustard.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 2:29 am to kingbob
quote:in a way its creating life, or possibly something that can live on.
That moment when a new song you came up with first starts to come to life is one of those moments of pure magic that music only can give you.
Why I first got into music, was never the lifestyle that came with it. I wanted to connect with people who lived and felt as i did.
I really lost my way in the process, I hate that too. Cause art suffered, and life goes by fast. frick..I was 20 then 30 then 40 before I even knew it. All the members of my first band are dead. Except for me.
Tbh I'm at a club tonight, im on my 4th drink and I'm deep in thought with nostalgia. My 1st guitar player is dead now, he was more talented at 14 than I am in later years. I miss that guy.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 7:04 am to Donkus
I stopped playing and putting anything out after performing opening with Dax Riggs for many years because Katrina killed the project I was in (we were a Duo. based out of NOLA)
I would pick up my guitar throughout the years but never had any real output just jamming on riffs I've been working on since I was 12. I also got into production more and more and slowly learned Ableton. I started dabbling in electronic production and even have added my live tracked guitar and bass.
Well just this year I received some inspiration from an unlikely source. Believe it or not, the pop/alt act Twenty One Pilots caught me off guard with their 2019 album called Trench.
The production is superb (one of my favorite albums from a production standpoint, NOLA's own Paul Meany produced it) and showed me that you can do live instrumentation, synth, live drums and programmed, and dip in and out of genres as to not corner yourself into a genre which to me could hinder creativity.
All that said I fired up my Ableton, got some new VST gear, got an APC Key 25, and I'm forcing myself a December deadline to turn in my album to Spotify,Apple, etc.
So like a poster earlier said, life has "seasons" or stages, just let it go and it'll come back to you when you're both ready.
And you'll be better. When I sat back down in front of my laptop after coming back, certain production and composition techniques I could never quite grasp started to click and I'm better now at everything I do.
I would pick up my guitar throughout the years but never had any real output just jamming on riffs I've been working on since I was 12. I also got into production more and more and slowly learned Ableton. I started dabbling in electronic production and even have added my live tracked guitar and bass.
Well just this year I received some inspiration from an unlikely source. Believe it or not, the pop/alt act Twenty One Pilots caught me off guard with their 2019 album called Trench.
The production is superb (one of my favorite albums from a production standpoint, NOLA's own Paul Meany produced it) and showed me that you can do live instrumentation, synth, live drums and programmed, and dip in and out of genres as to not corner yourself into a genre which to me could hinder creativity.
All that said I fired up my Ableton, got some new VST gear, got an APC Key 25, and I'm forcing myself a December deadline to turn in my album to Spotify,Apple, etc.
So like a poster earlier said, life has "seasons" or stages, just let it go and it'll come back to you when you're both ready.
And you'll be better. When I sat back down in front of my laptop after coming back, certain production and composition techniques I could never quite grasp started to click and I'm better now at everything I do.
This post was edited on 11/21/21 at 12:34 pm
Posted on 11/21/21 at 9:41 am to Donkus
Whether music or some other type of career aspiration such as a lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer or professional fishing guide, it is usually around the mid 40s when reality sets in and you realize it’s not going to happen.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 10:00 am to Donkus
Wrote 3 full albums of music. Got a wife and 3 year old now and just can’t find the time to be motivated to write music. Just no down time to sit down and bang stuff out on piano or guitar. Same boat I guess
Posted on 11/21/21 at 10:19 am to musick
quote:
When I sat back down in front of my laptop after coming back, certain production and composition techniques I could never quite grasp started to click and I'm better now at everything I do.
Production is a skill that I have tried very hard to learn and cannot seem to grasp. The programs feel so counter-intuitive. I struggle so much to record basic things.
Posted on 11/21/21 at 12:32 pm to kingbob
You really need to check out Ableton Live. It's not like any other DAW software and it's so easy to sketch ideas and jam once you realize that time is eliminated until you want to lock down an arrangement.
Ableton really changed the game and I could teach you how to start putting together a song in 30 minutes, the interface and clip launch session view is GOAT
Ableton really changed the game and I could teach you how to start putting together a song in 30 minutes, the interface and clip launch session view is GOAT
This post was edited on 11/21/21 at 12:33 pm
Posted on 11/21/21 at 2:28 pm to Donkus
Yep
Moved back to Louisiana after being gone for two decades. Wanted to put together a rotating tribute band that would cover two artist per year.
Can’t find musicians and the ones I come in contact with have no desire to put that much time into a project.
Definitely has caused me to give up.
Moved back to Louisiana after being gone for two decades. Wanted to put together a rotating tribute band that would cover two artist per year.
Can’t find musicians and the ones I come in contact with have no desire to put that much time into a project.
Definitely has caused me to give up.
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