2003-03-24 - 11:18 p.m.

Progressive Frustration

I'm reaching hard to find something to report here. All my usual frustrations remain at usual levels. No new frustrations have been located. Um... I've become reacquainted with the notion of muscle memory. How's that for news?

I've been messing with my bass again, following along in a Hal Leonard beginner's book on the theory that if I don't try to play any Rush songs, I'm less likely to become frustrated and give up. So far it's working, in that I have a sense of steady progress. However, I'm playing some really basic songs and struggling like mad to get them right. I'm not just having a little trouble with my tone or something, I'm reaching for strings with my left hand and not finding them. But when I do pull out the Rush I learned in high school, it's like magic. I can play most of Tom Sawyer but not the basic "learning to play eighth notes" exercise. Gronk. This is the twenty-first century. Shouldn't I be able to just plug a bass playing microchip into my brain and be able to do this? Work and practice are so last century.

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