Music as a hobby is something many people love to have. There are many aspects that create the way we do it. I myself am a hobbyist in guitars and bass guitar playing. This had taken years to get to the point of a few years of paying gigs and playing with many bands. This process was not easy. The time it has taken to get this far has been years. Over 20 of them so far. It is not that way for everyone but this is my experience.
So yes it has taken me years to get as far as I have gotten in music. I used to just strum around for fun and have a few little garage jam bands that just hung out drank beer and smoked pot while we jammed a rhythm together. That was fun times. I don’t smoke pot anymore and haven’t for a few years now. But I have not quit playing music. I still strum around with people any chance I get. Until recently I even played in a paying band doing cover tunes. That was a great thing to do while I could. Now I don’t play in that band as much as I loved it. I now play at open jam nights whenever I get the chance.
I have never been a great musician or guitar player and barely thought I knew the bass guitar. A couple years ago some friends found out I loved music and played a bit and said come play. Well I just switched what I knew on the guitar to the bass. It wasn’t a hard change to do knowing the fret board on the bass became fairly easy. Now I am at a point where people just call out the primary notes and I play. Some I don’t do too badly with others I am great and somethings I just can’t do. I am still and always will be learning.
Now playing any jams I can with others is the best thing because it is the best learning tool after you have some basics down. I won’t turn down a chance to play with people unless there are personal issues and sometimes you just have to squash those and just play. I know I have and will just to have some people to play with although those people are few and far between. It’s not about the people it’s about the music.
Music is therapy to everyone. No matter how you look at it, it can have an effect on you mentally and socially. Hell, it even can be physical. I know playing a 1 hour set or a 4 hour night the lights can get hot and standing and interacting while playing is another form of exercise. It comes at any direction you play from. If you’re sitting at home just strumming or if you are out at a friends or even a public jam it’s all relative to change or create a mood or atmosphere. You always want to see the best from it. You can write your emotions down and in ways others may or may not see it and have the best or worst song ever but you got something and you got it out. That is the basic therapy behind it. If you are playing with friends you have things that pass the social aspect on and that is another therapy. The live playing with people is a stretch of ego and release to show others what you can or will do. That is more work but still therapy in some ways. I know live I get to the point that I start putting on the full stage act when playing and depending on mood depends on the act I put out there. God moods I can just bounce around like nothing and walk across the stage and back. Pissed off I can jump around and head bang and put my mean face on and glare at those not on the stage with me. It’s all about emotions.
Now I say all about emotions like it’s a good or bad thing and in reality it’s neither. It’s just expression of how I feel like portraying myself for that one to five minutes playing a song. It means nothing but it does release something. And in the end of the song, set, night or whatever the play allowance is I got up there and did it and that’s what counts.
Now it’s not easy to learn an interment. It takes time and dedication to trying. Not all of it is hard and none of it is easy. You just have to do it. After a while it’s just something you do. I know playing guitar for over 20 years I still am not great at it but I can learn anything fairly quick so long as my hands will do it and I can run the rhythm. Not all are easy but I can ‘fake’ it. I try no matter what. Now on the bass it was like jumping in knowing what I was doing. There are technics I have no clue how to do and lots of songs I can’t play like they are played. They just are not something I can pick or finger like they should be. I am learning and normally start with a pick then finger then any way I can play it after.
I have learned how to play nearly 100 songs over the past couple years, Some I can remember how to play and others I have forgotten and occasionally they come back to me. Not all of them but many of them I can still play. Others I learn on the fly. As an example just the other day I had a couple people over to play just as a jam and I didn’t know any of the songs but learned them as I was given cords and an idea of the rhythm to play them. Some were great others need lots of work. I think I learned 20 new songs in 3 hours. I may have only retained 10 of them if I am lucky but I will work on learning them again until I can play them like nothing. The ability to pick up the songs that fast got me an offer that if I could learn the songs I could play in a new band with new options and maybe even help host open mic jams. This is called opportunity from hobby’s that pay. It doesn’t pay much if at all most the time but it’s the best kind of hobby. My career path is the same thing just not in music. And both are self-taught and have gotten me through my adult life.
So directions I seem to think most people need to look at about music is a few simple steps that I know will further you into being a playing musician or at least someone that others will want to have sit in and play with. Let’s look at this as progressive steps:
- Learn your instrument. Even if it’s the basic cords in the first position.
- Practice at least 1 hour a day.
- Find some simple songs you and your friends like and learn them. Choose at least 3 songs
- Play by yourself and with friends. Don’t eliminate anyone.
- Build yourself up to play with anyone and in front of people
- Go to open mics and local shows and meat other musicians
- Social media and other online options like craigslist are places you can search out other likeminded musicians to play with
- Keep practicing and learn another 3 songs.
- Play practice play and repeat.
- Never give up
These are the 10 basic steps I try to follow regularly. Although there are steps in this that are not needed you always want to do these other steps
- Learn something new every week
- Practice as close to daily as possible
- Learn new songs as often as possible
- Play as much as you can
- Practice
- Practice
- Practice
That is the best steps I can suggest. Practice is the most important part. You can cheat on how you learn a song. Go to online cord and tab sites or YouTube videos. These are all options you can use to learn your favorite songs. Don’t jump into something you can’t play right away start with some 3 or 4 cord songs and work from there. Start with the basic rhythms then maybe learn the leads or progressions. It’s easier on bass than on guitar unless you are strictly a power cord player then it’s basically the same thing. Get help or take a lesson if you get stuck. There are many tools and most are free but don’t be afraid to get professional help getting past something you might have problems with. Lessons are not bad but hope to have a friend that can get you past it to save $10-$25 for an hour with someone that teaches. Don’t give up.
The worst thing you can do is take criticism to hard and give up. I know I have done that many times and it only stunted and dragged out my desire to be where I am now compared to where I could have been 15 of 20 years ago. It’s not an easy path but if you put your all into it for a while it gets easier and if you don’t stop its just gets better and so do you.
This was not the exact direction that I was expecting this to go when I started this. Yes it was supposed to be a reflection of what I have gone through and why I love to play open mic jams. But, this was also supposed to be a small pep-talk based on my experiences. The thing is just as writing something here it’s not always going to be what you are aiming for and come out different than you expect it to. It does cover all the points I was aiming for so that is good. It leaves room for me to write about this again in the future and see how it comes out different. I know I have written about similar in the past but only a bullet point in this. Now I have many other points I can elaborate on in the future and write about the open jams or playing with others or even how the opportunities have come up from playing with people. I just have to take the time both in real life and on here writing to remember to take my hour or so a day to practice and write more on Steemit to keep everything progressing. That is the way life is. You have to make the effort and take the time and not give up and it works with everything.