Term one complete but...

 The first term drew to a close with exam week. It proved to be highly stressful despite all the work I had put in.

For starters, I failed my bass exam. Having been self-taught with only 5 lessons at Ara and playing for only a few months I was still expected to do the following: play all two-octave major scales, all major and minor triads, all minor two-octave pentatonic scales, know every note possible and locate it on my fretboard, compose a groove with fill to a given chord progression on the spot. Big ask, and I knew I was not ready to do all that with confidence. It doesn't help when the tutor makes a video using a 5-string bass whereas I only know a 4-string one, and the instructions were too fast. I find at Ara there is a fair bit of telling and very little teaching.  I know I am capable of doing what tutors want but I must learn at their pace and not mine. I can understand they have various standards but I need time and regularity. The old grey matter isn't as sticky as it used to be, therefore, the only way to survive is to work my butt off.

I sent out a cry for help to the only other bassist on my course. He's a professional with 30 years experience and kindly took the time to explain and repeat and draw patterns I could actually understand. In fact - teaching. Then it was up to me to go away and practise even harder over the next day for my resit. Failing my bass exam had been taumatising as you can get thrown out of the course. I asked if I could switch to singing? No.

Thursday morning was our theory exam. I ended up with an A+ which might offset reduced marks when I eventually passed my bass resit, which followed the theory exam. These two exams were followed by the group performance exam. I had no reason to be confident since Ara had never given me a functioning band to work with. With only the lead guitarist and two vocalists left we had to have loan players on the day. Never an opportunity to practise with them, unused to how they sounded, it was nerve-wracking. Under the changing light patterns in the concert room I mistook which fret I was starting on. I started Dreams on E instead of D so the band had to stop and start again. I felt crushed but made a reasonable fist of the five songs. They must be performed standing up and with no music ie memorised.

The next day we had to do oral and visual presentations on ourselves as musicians. We had been told to use certain sites or software to complete the assignment but as with any kind of digital platform we were told to do it but there is little teaching involved. We are expected to teach ourselves in our own time. Not a naturally gifted computer guru, I get very stressed by this. The less able students are certainly struggling because self-discipline and work is required and they are falling by the wayside, despite a lot of hand-holding in certain cases. Even when some areas are less difficult for me I always push myself to the limit to squeeze every possible mark out because I want to find out just what I am capable of and I might need a few extra marks further down the track.

On the whole, with two 'unknowns' in the mix, I am doing all right. Some superhuman cramming finally got me a pass in bass so to reward myself I have bought a better instrument. I started teaching myself bass with a cheap little precision bass made in China. It has reasonable tone but the action is difficult to play and noone will take me seriously as a dedicated musician if I continue to appear with my cheapie. My cheapie broke down recently. It was easily fixed by the sound tutor but I realised I needed a second instrument.

Having auditioned numerous basses over the course of two weeks and not finding anything decent on internet second-hand sites, I decided to invest in a new professional instrument. It's lovely but weighs a tonne. Its only downside is the weight but that's the sort of instrument professionals use and the weight is probably pretty standard. My shoulders are not happy about this but I'm hoping with time the pain will diminish and I'll develop more stamina. Don't they say what doesn't kill you makes your stronger?

Let me present to you my new best friend: a Fender American Pro II Jazz bass. Glorious neck finish for smoothe slides, perfect action, tapered neck for those of us with smaller hands, warm tone with more tone controls. Not as 'punchy' as my P-bass but should suit any situation. It's beautifully made from California. My mission is now to justify such a purchase by progressing as fast and far as I can before the end of this year.