Something odd happened today in the music store. I'll first say i'm a bass player of 2 years with a squire jazz bass (that I love) and recently have felt like my playing has been going... well, down hill. Anyway some i'm down town and i'm like hey why not go to the music store.
My towns small so the only bass they cary is this kinda "low budget" typhoon bass. I went over to play it (for fun and to sort of show off) and what do you know i can play the dang thing 100 times better then my jazz bass. I'm all like wow! the store guys watching me play and even seems kinda impressed!
But why was the bass better? the difference in the neck, the price, the pickups,the strings,or the fact I was in a store full of watching eyes? Well i have come to the conclusion it was all of those things and not because they were all better but because it was different. Is it possible the reason i was getting worse was because my brain was so bored of the same routine over and over again, and this sudden change in every thing woke up my brain and I played to my peak performance!? Any way it was really awesome and i felt pretty cool rockin' it out at the store! from now on i'm going to try to mix up my usual routine a bit more i think. what would you guys say? that change was the cause of all of this?
,Will P

Could be why we own so many types of guitars and amps. Variety.

Maybe your bass is ready for a setup/tuneup.

A poorly setup instrument can make itself a chore to play.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

thanks for the information.

Maybe with all those eyes watching you and feeling some pressure it elevated your playing. Pressure is funny it could bust pipes or make a diamond.

Ya know what's interesting......?

You can put a male animal in a cage with a female and it will do as expected until it is in a state of depletion, exhausted. Then, when the subject female is replaced with a new one....

Well, it's like what happens when Popeye has a can of spinach:
Wham, bam, thank you Ms. hamster/panda/ring-tailed lemur/whatever.

This is true. I don't own more than one of any model. I only have one Strat. All the rest are a variety of different guitar manufacturers. You will play better AND differently when you play different guitars. Plus, you'll have a lot of tonal variations in you pallet. Owning 5 Starts or Teles is very limiting. Same owning 5 LP's. Many guitarists hate Fender, or Gibson just because it's different and far removed from what your used to. I'm a guitar $@!&# and I'll play anything, cheap, expensive don't care. It's all fun.

My next project is going to be a cigar box guitar.

I have a variety of stuff too. I started playing late, and I like to recreate the sounds I have heard my whole life. That takes different stuff. I enjoy playing parts I have always liked. It's a kick to be able to do it.

Another vote for setup ... that can make an amazing difference. But there's no getting around the neck, body, balance and even sound having a big influence on your playing either.

I love my Fender basses but in terms of pure speed, I go for my SG bass. I'm small with short fingers and the SG is relatively light with a short scale and narrow neck.

The 83 J-bass special (Japanese model with P- and J- pups) has a modestly wide and long scale neck. Terrific for when I want something that at least vaguely resembles a double bass. But for modern, fast fretless sound, I have a narrow neck, short scale Ocean fretless.

The axe definitely influences your playing though of course an experienced player can also play on most anything.