This chapter picks up at the crossroads.
This story is about more than even I realize, but it centers, for the most part, on picking up the bass guitar. The dream itself started over three and half years ago when my second daughter was born. Before we had children I spent most of my time outdoors, most of it skateboarding. There was also kung fu, there was some surfing, some biking...you get the picture. After the first child, outdoor access was limited some but it was still there. However, the second child felt like the fourth and the "outdoors" necessarily faded to a view from a window. So I eventually picked up the bass to satisfy my drive to progress at something.
I started with youtube videos, using videos to learn some songs. For a while I was satisfied to fluff my way through recognizable chord progressions unaccompanied. But when I discovered that I could make my way through some some songs playing along with the record, my appetite began to stretch. Sometime later two friends I was skating a backyard ramp with invited me to sit in on a jam. I was horrible. I kept time. That was good. But I stayed on a single note like a wallflower at a new school exclusively for beautiful people. And my appetite soared to new life with an insatiable hunger for playing with other people.
So here we are now, at the crossroads. As I write the first of my blog entries, I may be out of a band...my first real band. But this isn't a sad blog. Neither is it an angry blog. Nothing is personal and there is only love between me and the fellas. I mention the crossroads to emphasize a point... I had meant to start this blog months ago...many months ago. I meant to start this blog when I originally began my first search for a band. But...stuff...work...family...learning songs...auditioning...laziness...procrastination...excuses...blah...blah...and here am I starting this blog as I start a new search. But it works. It works because this series follows a dream... And where do dreams really start???
I should digress a moment to elaborate what I mean by "dream". When I say dream, I mean it in a shamanic sense...it is an exercise and practice of personal power. I have a dream for my bass playing. I might eventually share it with you. My wife knows it. It's ambitious. But I'm not attached to it in the sense of a career goal. The truth is, I already have everything I want. I have a strong marriage. No one will write a book about us, trust me, our marriage is the stuff of most peoples' marriages...but it is strong and we are grateful for each other. My kids are bad ass, and that's a fucking awesome thing. And I already have a career. I'm currently a multi-thousandaire and it's fucking fantastic. So this dream isn't about what I want to be when I'm all growed-up, this dream is about living most effectively. In the shamanic sense, all living is dreaming...but that's a future blog... For now, suffice it to say that people and settings may change but the dream stays the same.
I commit this page to my love of playing bass guitar and the pursuit of all things bass. Moreover, I commit this page to the practice of dreaming... To the meandering of dreams... To the actors inhabiting the dream... To the aspirations and practicalities of the dream... And to the appetite for progress that the dream is really all about.
Thank you for reading. Stay tuned, David
This story is about more than even I realize, but it centers, for the most part, on picking up the bass guitar. The dream itself started over three and half years ago when my second daughter was born. Before we had children I spent most of my time outdoors, most of it skateboarding. There was also kung fu, there was some surfing, some biking...you get the picture. After the first child, outdoor access was limited some but it was still there. However, the second child felt like the fourth and the "outdoors" necessarily faded to a view from a window. So I eventually picked up the bass to satisfy my drive to progress at something.
I started with youtube videos, using videos to learn some songs. For a while I was satisfied to fluff my way through recognizable chord progressions unaccompanied. But when I discovered that I could make my way through some some songs playing along with the record, my appetite began to stretch. Sometime later two friends I was skating a backyard ramp with invited me to sit in on a jam. I was horrible. I kept time. That was good. But I stayed on a single note like a wallflower at a new school exclusively for beautiful people. And my appetite soared to new life with an insatiable hunger for playing with other people.
So here we are now, at the crossroads. As I write the first of my blog entries, I may be out of a band...my first real band. But this isn't a sad blog. Neither is it an angry blog. Nothing is personal and there is only love between me and the fellas. I mention the crossroads to emphasize a point... I had meant to start this blog months ago...many months ago. I meant to start this blog when I originally began my first search for a band. But...stuff...work...family...learning songs...auditioning...laziness...procrastination...excuses...blah...blah...and here am I starting this blog as I start a new search. But it works. It works because this series follows a dream... And where do dreams really start???
I should digress a moment to elaborate what I mean by "dream". When I say dream, I mean it in a shamanic sense...it is an exercise and practice of personal power. I have a dream for my bass playing. I might eventually share it with you. My wife knows it. It's ambitious. But I'm not attached to it in the sense of a career goal. The truth is, I already have everything I want. I have a strong marriage. No one will write a book about us, trust me, our marriage is the stuff of most peoples' marriages...but it is strong and we are grateful for each other. My kids are bad ass, and that's a fucking awesome thing. And I already have a career. I'm currently a multi-thousandaire and it's fucking fantastic. So this dream isn't about what I want to be when I'm all growed-up, this dream is about living most effectively. In the shamanic sense, all living is dreaming...but that's a future blog... For now, suffice it to say that people and settings may change but the dream stays the same.
I commit this page to my love of playing bass guitar and the pursuit of all things bass. Moreover, I commit this page to the practice of dreaming... To the meandering of dreams... To the actors inhabiting the dream... To the aspirations and practicalities of the dream... And to the appetite for progress that the dream is really all about.
Thank you for reading. Stay tuned, David
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