It's all about the bass (1)

Recognise your Prize.  

It’s all about the bass!  Well, for me it is for sure.  One of the things in my “bucket list” included playing bass regularly, better still to play a 5 string bass regularly, and even better - occasionally a 5 string fretless bass!

I love music, and I love playing music.  I’ve been playing an instrument for as long as I can remember, from starting piano lessons at 5 and then violin at 8, and turning my hand to playing keyboard, strumming an acoustic guitar and playing the harmonica along the way too. 

Whatever music I listen to I rarely pay much attention to the lyrics if there are any, rather I find myself listening to a series of phonetic sounds to complement the music being played.  And of all the sounds it’s the bass line I am listening out for.  That is unless there is a violin solo going on (but more of that in another post).

So when a friend of mine asked if I would like to play bass in their band I immediately jumped at the chance!  I had a cheap bass guitar and an old combo amp, and I had even played a few gigs more than 10 years previously, so I immediately embraced the opportunity. I hadn't been playing anything regularly for a while so I was quite excited at the prospect of playing again.  

"To succeed in life we must stay within our strength zone, but continually move outside our comfort zone.”~John Maxwell

It wasn’t until after I had obtained a copy of the music that we would be playing and started to practice that I remembered: we don’t use music on stage.  Not only would I have to learn the pieces, I would have to remember them to be able to play them on stage without music!

Now, some people seem to be blessed with a good memory and can recall names and faces, song lyrics and place names with ease.  I am not one of those people.  In fact, I would put it this way:

“I have a great forgettory.  If you want something forgetting, let me know and I’ll forget it for you.”

My passion for music and my eagerness to play bass led me to confront my self-doubt and to start working diligently to learn the pieces, and to memorise them to be able to perform on stage.  On one of my early outings, a member of the audience asked the sound crew to turn the bass up because they couldn’t hear it, only to discover that “the bassist isn’t playing” because I was struggling to remember the notes.  However, I persevered and found ways to help me remember my part, and I now play regularly throughout the year!

“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed.  The vision pulls you.”~ Steve Jobs

So how do you discover what your passion is?  Well, your passion usually has a Prize.  That’s a Personally Rewarding, Inspiration Zone Experience.  The Inspiration Zone is rarely found inside of your comfort zone, and you have to go beyond the place where you are comfortable in order to find Inspiration to pursue a meaningful Prize. 

“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!”~ Søren Kierkegaard

Think about the Prizes you have won, think about the reward obtained from winning each prize.  Then think what you had to do to achieve them, and you’ll see that the more rewarding prizes are found further outside of the Comfort Zone.  What’s more, the further outside your comfort zone the prize is found, the greater the inspiration required to pursue it. 

Oh, and I have now upgraded to a 5 string Overwater and a 5 string fretless Ibanez that I play regularly.