The Summer of Bass

In July, my sons performed together in their final music camp concert, along with their dad. He was not part of the camp but he played bass with them, and I am sure they had the time of their life.

As an introductory statement, father-of-my-kids is a guitarist, Guillaume is a guitarist, my oldest son Marcus is learning the guitar right now and my youngest, Otis, is a drummer (and he also likes to shred any guitar that is slightly dropped – at least not standard – at his own pace). I have tried to play the piano when I was very young, around six, but after too many years of not showing any interest or improvement, this project was dropped. This was the end of my musical career, or so I thought.

A few years back, two years BC (before Covid), I took singing lessons, and I really enjoyed it. Along with this, I tried to learn the guitar but quickly dropped because at 35, I felt that I was almost dead already, so it wasn’t really worth engaging seriously in anything new.

Years went by, and out of nowhere, I found myself into this pedal making thing, and not understanding anything those rectangular things were doing (still don’t). Two speedrunnings later (Political Science certificate isn’t over yet, but I feel like trashing all of my 80-ish African violets), I decided that I was young enough to start the guitar again. So I did, and consistently played for three weeks, enough so that my fingers are now sturdy, until someone put a bass in my hands and I thought I was so cool! And with that many guitarists around me, learning guitar does nothing great for my self-esteem.

And just like that, I had ordered a brand new short scale bass and joined an online lesson community.

Just before I received my bass, I got super excited, yet quite scared. My sons and spouse don’t have unrealistic expectations and useless opinions, but others… I also wonder if I’ll ever be able to actually play, for real. Playing along one string rhythms is easy for now, but what if? That’s it, all the what ifs are crashing my party.

In a nutshell, I am Emilie, 41 years old, and I just decided I would start playing the bass. Let’s see what the future is made of for me!

What about you, is doubt messing with your musical endeavors?