Where is my emotion?

[Metal_Boy16]

Heres the situation. I play bass for a local emo-core band (emo=emotional). All the band members are 14 almost 15. We just started high school. Whenever we play, all my band mates get into the music and get really emotional (hence the emo-core name). For some reason, I just cant get out my emotion. My band mates play their hearts out; I just stand there and play bass, no moving around, no emotion, just blah. This only happens for our music. I can break down and cry when I hear other peoples music, or jump into the mosh-pit when I hear some aggressive stuff. Our music is ALL ABOUT EMOTION, but for some reason, it just doesnt get to my heart. I try, but the connection just doesnt seem to be there. Im kind of an introvert; I generally keep to myself, unless around my good-friends; but I feel all my emotions through other peoples music, but not my own. Its like having full-capable wings, but not being able to fly whatsoever. All of our songs are about girls, love, and sorrow. I experience firsthand all of these subjects at a very emotional/confused time of my life, being a teenager. I should be weeping from sadness or joy on stage, but Im just standing there, moving my arms, hands, and fingers. The way I see it, music is the only good way for me to express myself, yet I cant do such a thing, so I cannot be a successful and happy musician. Without any emotion put behind my music, Im not a musician; Im just some teenager playing bass. This is a bass-playing problem, but I feel it is also a life problem!

No emotion in my music=no decent way to express myself=big problem with life

I need my emotion! Please help me find and fix my problem!

[Basshappi]

Hey Metal_Boy, First of all if you love playing bass then you do not have a "bass playing problem". Just because the earth doesn't move or you do not get tied up in knots of teen angst when you play your music doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with you. I have played in many bands in which I did not really "feel" the music. Also, one's musicality takes time to develop.

 

I take it that these songs are your bands' original music(?). If so did you have the opprotunity to develop your own lines or were your parts dictated to you? This can have quite an impact on how you feel about the material. It can difficult, especially for a young musician, to to deal with others telling you how to play your instrument.However, keep an open mind and listen to the suggestions/criticisims you recieve from other musicians and evaluate them. as you gain more playing experience you will be able to tell when such comments have merit and when to "stick to your guns". Remember playing in a band is a team sport!

 

As to your stage presence, I would recommend that you watch a few concert films of The Who. They were one of the most rambunctious bands of their time.They played (for the era)rebellious, in- your-face rock& roll. Running around, smashing guitars and amps,kicking drumsets apart. But John Entwhistle just stood there, calm as a rock, playing some of the most over the edge basslines ever. Maybe with everyone else in your group shedding tears and tearing out there hair in fits of passion, your "eye of the hurricane" demeanor may be an excellent visual contrast. Just a suggestion!

 

All in all, remain positive! I have no doubt that you will be able to sort these issues out in due course. Until then, focus on becoming the best bassist and musician you can be!

 

Good Luck and keep us informed.

[Yogi]

This has got to be one of the weirdest posts I've ever seen on a music board.

 

You are a unique person. Why would you expect you should react to any given situation just like someone else? Shouldn't you, being unique, expect to have your own unique response?

 

Just because your band is striving really hard (to an absurd degree, it looks like over here) to fit into the nebulous EMO genre, that doesn't mean that the behavior of the players in said genre should match up exactly. Jumping around, or not, has very little to do with music anyway. It has to do with performance.

 

Do you love the music your band is playing? Does it motivate you to do your best? Does it speak to you? If so, who CARES what your physical response is when you're playing it. If you don't love the music, why are you in the band? You'd be much better served looking for a band who is making music you love.

 

I'm curious to know what this "EMOTION" you're looking for even MEANS. Last I checked, there is a pretty large palette of human emotional responses - is EMO the only genre that contains emotional performances? That seems like a really strange pre-supposition to me - I would think that anyone that would really want to go through the difficulties in life that are required to play music regularly would be doing so largely because of some emotional investment on their part. As you jealously watch the "emotional" contortions that your bandmates seem able to conjure up, you might ask yourself how much of that is honest emotional response, and how much of it is posing.

 

If you know in your heart that you're playing music for the right reasons, it doesn't matter whether you're standing stock still or hopping up and down like a rat on crack. Don't worry what everyone else is doing, worry only about yourself. And if your band really expects you to do whatever it is they are doing, then it sounds like they want an actor, not a musician. In that case, ditch 'em, and don't look back.

[Cup]

MetalBoy!!

 

Wow, that post is full of emotion. If you want it that much....You've got it. In abundance!

 

Just keep playing music...We all have bad days. I don't mean to trivialise your situation, but I bet you feel differently tomorrow.

[dcr]

You don't have a problem. Just be yourself.

[jeremy c]

The most important thing is sincerity.

 

As soon as you can fake that, you've got it made.

 

I would guess that your bandmates are acting the part at least as much as they are feeling it.

 

Every kind of music expresses emotion.

 

It sounds like this particular so-called style demands a physical display.

 

Maybe you should practice your moves and facial expressions.

 

After a while, even you will believe your act.

 

If you don't want to do that, just play and if your bandmates give you any trouble, tell them to....that'll show them you can give an emotional response.

[Connie Z]

Hi MetalBoy14,

 

It seems to me that your emotion is very evident... in your "writing." People seem to express feelings in many different ways, and all of it either verbally, written or with some type of music/art, or a combination of all.

 

In my humble opinion, the best way is verbally or with writing. What your bandmates are projecting on stage to me, is more "feeling" the music, with bits of "expressing emotion" mixed in.

 

There are tons of reasons why you may not be comfortable "letting yourself go" on stage, and it's not necessary that you do what they do. From what I've seen in local bands and on TV where you see a stage show (not a music video), the bass players are usually pretty still.

 

I move around a bit, but when I am really feeling the groove, believe it or not, I am not moving around a lot. I do move, but not a lot. I don't know if it's concentration, or what. If I play rhythm guitar, I can move around a lot... jump around if I wanted to. But not on bass.

 

And an important piece of this, is that in your audience, there are probably a bunch of teenagers who will "relate" to what YOU are projecting, as well as the teens that relate to what your bandmates are projecting. When people come up to you, (and they will), and say, "Man, I really dig what you guys are doing up there," take it for face value. They really dig what you are doing, and the way you are doing it.

 

I am 44 years old now, but when I was a teenager, I had a whole lotta stuff going on in my family life. When I look back on it now, and after spending a lot of money on a good therapist , I can see that I was very depressed.

 

I was lucky that my Mother brought us as a family into her therapy sessions, and there I learned the whole concept about verbally expressing my feelings... and what a great tool that was to stay mentally healthy.

 

I wish I would have had music back then, but I had quit school and given it up. I used narcotics instead to stave off the bad feelings. I was very much into escaping from the mental pain. I am super lucky that I didn't end up as a mental pile of mush from some of the situations I got myself into. (I did end up in the hospital once, and I do have some brain/memory issues that I believe are left over from those days.)

 

Escaping into music would have been WAY better!!!

 

So my suggestion today for you... is to see if you can express your emotions in other ways, and just be confident and happy in your bass playing, no matter how much you "let go" on stage.

 

Teenage years are soooooo tuff sometimes, but also sooooo awesome sometimes, and as you said, you should be weeping with sadness, or with joy... but maybe just not on the stage.

 

I'll have to learn more about EMO-CORE music, before I could really speak knowledgeably about it.

 

I think you are awesome, and I wish you were in my band!

 

... connie z

[Gogrick]

Emotions come naturally and are expressed differently by everyone.

 

Most importantly, don't try to entice emotions like sorrow out of yourself, it can be dangerous. That is to say, training yourself to think negatively (that whole 'woe is me' attitude) can have some severe impact on your life.

[doc taz]

From another metal d00d:

 

I certainly don't thrash around all the time like I do when playing the thrasher stuff. (See the "Taz super aggro..." thread for action pics.) Even then, I don't do it for every song. I believe that there is a time and place for certain visceral (as in physical) emotions.

 

Every time I read across something like this, or hear of it, I'm always reminded of the way guitarist Alex Skolnick handled himself at the Thrash of the Titans gig he did back in 2001, in San Francisco. He was the coolest dude up there, and just did his thing. I felt that he was honest in his emotions, and didn't do anything to detract from the musical performance. (Judging from the pics I've seen, anyway. I wasn't there.) I suppose where he is musically may also have had something to do with his stance there (he's more of a jazzbo now, though he hasn't given up on metal completely).

 

From my end, I'd look like a damn fool if I skanked around onstage while playing Latin numbers!

 

I think that if your friends appreciate you for what you are artistically, they'll forgive your initially shy reactions. Besides, it might be an interesting visual element to your show.

 

Do tell us anything, whatever happens.

[Tedly Nightshade]

Check out Clapton- he looks like a cigar store indian on stage, but you can feel and hear plenty of emotion. That emotion is the result of all kinds of truly heartbreaking and mindshattering things that drive a person to the brink of suicide, and usually it's sometime well after age 14 when a person can really channel that pain into music. You may think you're in pain now, I did when I was 14, playing at cutting my wrists and all that, but it takes a little while to really have your world completely shattered. By the way, is that really what you want? It's a high price to pay for art, and no guarantee of worthwhile results.

 

The real visible "emotion" is more like "histrionics", and those are usually detrimental to the music- usually. Anyhow there's so much fake and trumped up emotion going around in music that when you hear the real thing, it can really be a chilling experience... excuse me if I doubt that your histrionic bandmates are in the throes of anything especially genuine.

 

And yeah, Entwhistle, John Paul Jones, there's a solid tradition of rock steady bassists in the midst of the storm there, a very valuable underpinning.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Metal_Boy16]

We play stricly original material. I love the music we create in our band, no doubt. No one tells me how to make my basslines; I either follow the guitar and switch around, occasionaly, to play that note's octave, or create something melodic and 'flowing'. To be honest, I do not really care about my 'stage performance'. I just can't feel the music in my heart. I think I may be taking my playing too seriously, so I can't have fun on stage and I can't concetrate on the song's message (emotion). I think I might need to losen up a bit. I don't know how to do this, though. Our music is about girls, love, and sorrow, yet when I play, I just don't feel those things. I should though, because the song IS about it. I feel the emotion easily when these subjects are in the songs of a different band, but not my own.

Some good emo bands, if any one wants to hear: Thursday, Poison the Well, Thrice, and Finch. We sound the most like Finch, except we scream, a lot; More than we sing. Oh, and no, I do not sing/scream. I just play bass, and I'm "techy" of the band, too.

No I do not want my "heart/mind shattered". I am not some self-pitied crybaby. I just want to be able to release the emotions I have, whatever they are.

[Connie Z]

Originally posted by Metal_Boy14:

I just want to be able to release the emotions I have, whatever they are.

That is an important question.

 

What are your emotions when you are on stage?

 

... connie z

[Tedly Nightshade]

"Originally posted by Metal_Boy14:

I am not some self-pitied crybaby. I just want to be able to release the emotions I have, whatever they are."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That is an important question.

What are your emotions when you are on stage?"

 

Metal Boy, I wasn't trying to call you a crybaby. I just have noticed that a lot of the best art comes from this kind of total ego annihilation.

 

Robert Johnson: "The blues is a lowdown shakin' chill- ain't never had them, I hope you never will."

 

There's a Steely Dan song with the ironic line "I play just what I feel". It's a joke on how a lot of people think the emotion and performance thing works. When you get good, what you are feeling on stage, or not feeling, doesn't interfere with the emotion transmitted by the music, which can be infused into the music in some other time or dimension or something. I can't tell you how many times I've put out one mood in the music while I'm actually feeling at the moment things like "oh shit my hands hurt, I hope that one jerk isn't going to do whatever" etc. etc. To listen to a playback, you'd never know that- you get what was put into the music when it was written, or something like that.

 

But then it is possible to really blossom into consciousness and live the music live- but that is a pretty advanced state, and I don't think it's possible without going through such crisis as to get in touch with the world soul, or something.

 

If you can record a gig, even on a minidisc or whatever, boombox, whatever they have these days, go by that, and not by how it feels at the time. What it feels like at the time can have not much to do with how it comes across. How it comes across is the important thing, and that seems to be your main concern, and rightly so.

[dcr]

Well, that sheds light on things, MB14...I think the crucial thing here is 14. You don't understand love, pain, & sorrow the same way you do algebra--just sit down & get it. It takes time & experience. I guarantee you that NONE of your bandmates have it either.

 

Your only problem is that you perceive a "norm" & you look in yourself & don't see it there. That's FINE. Just BE YOU. If you don't feel all wobbly about pain & sorrow at this point of your life, FINE. Do you like the music? Then that's all you need. Enjoy it for what it is. Don't try to make it what it isn't.

[doc taz]

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

There's a Steely Dan song with the ironic line "I play just what I feel". It's a joke on how a lot of people think the emotion and performance thing works.

Trivia answer: Deacon Blues from the album Aja.

Now back to the show...

[getz out]

Wow, MB14, you're thinking WAY too much. Just play.

 

The past couple of years, I have been playing strictly original material. I don't see a difference playing my songs versus cover material. It's all just music, don't read too much into it.

 

As far as the who "EMO" genre; I hate labels in general, but that stupid "EMO label drives me nuts. Isn't all music emotional? Silly. Let it go.

 

If you're worried about stage presence, i.e. you think you look like a nerd because you're barely moving, then just work at it. There is a reason they call these things "shows."

 

Just my opinion.

[jeremy c]

If you play your music honestly, it is the audience who is supposed to feel the emotion.

 

If you were crying while you were playing, you wouldn't be able to play.

 

Once in a while I've seen a singer sing a song so personal that they could barely get through it.

 

Even though I am old cynic now, it even happened to me when I was in my 20's singing sad songs about failed relationships.

 

I found out that one of my friends had recently divorced from his wife of 30 years while listening to him sing his newest song on stage.

 

It was an incredibly moving and emotional moment...and he just stood there stock still and played and sang the song. It brought tears to my eyes as I had known this couple since before they even met each other.

 

The other musicians on stage added tasteful accompaniment to the song. I don't know what they were feeling. Does it matter what they were feeling?

 

The music was being presented in a professional and straightforward manner....all music, no mistakes, no acting, no stage mannerisms.

 

That's all they needed to do.

[Warlock1016]

Release your emotions on stage...everybody does it differently. I'm another one who's in the "jump around and do rockstar poses while playing," but I don't always have to do it. Saturday night, we did one where I just took a seat on the drum riser and played from there.

 

The biggest thing I'd say is make eye contact with

someone...anyone...in the crowd. Feel their emotions, the ones your music is generating, and work off that.

 

If you're not really "feeling" the music you play right now, maybe it's time to look at other styles. I'm not saying quit your current band, but find something you wouldn't normally play, and see how that feels. You'll find new people, learn a WHOLE bunch, and might find whatever it is you think you're lacking.

[Cup]

Originally posted by dcr:

[QB]Well, that sheds light on things, MB14...I think the crucial thing here is 14. You don't understand love, pain, & sorrow the same way you do algebra--just sit down & get it. It takes time & experience. I guarantee you that NONE of your bandmates have it either.

 

DCR, surely it's impossible for you, me, or anyone, to try and say 14 year olds cannot understand pain, sorrow or love. If anything people get a little (or a lot) hardened by life's knocks as they get older.

[dcr]

Ah, but I'm saying just that. Not that 14-year-olds don't know about sorrow; hardly! That's about the toughest age to be, emotionally, and the emotions can be very strong. And of course some people have gone through a lifetime or three of hardship by the time they reach 14; especially in areas ravaged by disease, famine, and/or battle. But what I'm saying is that in general there's something a bit wrong-headed about expecting a 14-year-old--or expecting yourself, if you're 14--to have a really deep appreciation of things that come as the result of growing and living and getting older and being hurt and having relationships fail that were more than 3 months old and.... There's a difference between the sorrow of someone losing their first girlfriend/boyfriend after a relationship of a few months, and the sorrow of someone who loses someone they've invested their whole life in and is a part of all their memories about as far back as they can remember. All hurts hurt, but not all hurts have the same depth. Should anyone be surprised that a kid of 14 searches his soul for that kind of depth & doesn't come up with much?!?

 

Frankly, if I saw a 14-year-old kid singing a song about the love of a man and a woman and the pain of their relationships as they gradually grow apart, I'd think it was pretty incongruous. If in addition he was all gushing & sobbing about it, I would think it was downright contrived, ridiculous, maudlin, and very damned embarrassing.

 

Which is the more common experience, as a general pattern:

1) "I wish I knew what I know now, when I was younger."

2) "I pretty much saw what there was to see by 14."

 

Of course, worst of all are college-age people... in general, they haven't seen much either, as a rule, but they're just pretentious enough to think they've seen more than anyone else.

[Cup]

I agree, partially....college students do annoy (I was one myself, and I constantly annoyed).

 

But as for youth = lack of understanding? No, we'll have to agree to disagree. A young Bob Dylan sounded like he meant what he sang. Angst is angst, we laugh at it when it's faked, but when it's truly felt AND understood? We know the real deal!

 

Cup

[dcr]

Actually, what we'll have to disagree about is the claim that I said "youth=lack of understanding." But it's all good; I was on a tear last week, it seemed, of making dodgy interpretations of other people's posts.

[The Bear Jew]

Metalboy...

My band encounters emo acts all the time. We've shared many a bill with groups of five young men who spend their stage time rolling around on the floor, screaming and bashing each other with their instruments. Some of this performance behavior is based in the fine emo tradition established by Fugazi, etc, and some of it is simply stage dressing to make a "better show" for the audience. Sometimes it's cool. Sometimes it isn't.

 

Whatever.

 

I can appreciate people doing almost anything onstage as long as it's: a)interesting to see or b)REAL.

 

The problem I have seen with emo bands is that the shows are built up to be a huge deal -- a giant explosion of feelings and emotional outpourings -- that it's practically impossible for any real-life experience to live up to the expectations people have created.

 

You'll find that a lot of things in life are like this, and wonder why your own personal feelings when encountering these things don't match up with the hype that everyone else pumps up... That's because people like to make things into a bigger deal than they are simply because it makes them more attractive. Others will hop on the bandwagon in order to be "in."

 

You're not feeling it, and you're admitting it... good for you! You're an individual, and you're not going along with the screamo crowd.

 

Don't sweat it. Half the people who are hopping around like mad and acting like they're losing their minds onstage are essentially faking it. It's part of the show, and so is all the hype before and after the show.

 

You mentioned that you enjoy your band's music and you love playing... That's great! It takes some musicians their entire lives to find this combination (the right music and the love of playing). Just because you're more of a "still" player than your bandmates doesn't mean anything. Do what feels right when you're playing...

[Dan South]

Originally posted by Metal_Boy14:

Heres the situation. I play bass for a local emo-core band (emo=emotional). All the band members are 14 almost 15. We just started high school. Whenever we play, all my band mates get into the music and get really emotional (hence the emo-core name). For some reason, I just cant get out my emotion. My band mates play their hearts out; I just stand there and play bass, no moving around, no emotion, just blah. This only happens for our music. I can break down and cry when I hear other peoples music, or jump into the mosh-pit when I hear some aggressive stuff. Our music is ALL ABOUT EMOTION, but for some reason, it just doesnt get to my heart. I try, but the connection just doesnt seem to be there. Im kind of an introvert; I generally keep to myself, unless around my good-friends; but I feel all my emotions through other peoples music, but not my own. Its like having full-capable wings, but not being able to fly whatsoever. All of our songs are about girls, love, and sorrow. I experience firsthand all of these subjects at a very emotional/confused time of my life, being a teenager. I should be weeping from sadness or joy on stage, but Im just standing there, moving my arms, hands, and fingers. The way I see it, music is the only good way for me to express myself, yet I cant do such a thing, so I cannot be a successful and happy musician. Without any emotion put behind my music, Im not a musician; Im just some teenager playing bass. This is a bass-playing problem, but I feel it is also a life problem!

No emotion in my music=no decent way to express myself=big problem with life

I need my emotion! Please help me find and fix my problem!

"Weeping from sadness or joy" is not an effective place to be when you're trying to nail a performance. My emotions while playing are usually one of the following:

 

(1) satisfaction, if I'm playing well

(2) fun, if I'm connecting with the other musicians

(3) frustration, if I'm not playing well

(4) boredom, if I find the gig annoying

 

If a bully steals your lunch money, you'll feel an emotion. If a cute girl asks you to go to a dance, you'll feel an emotion. But you DON'T have to feel these same emotions when you're playing.

 

Who is putting these ideas into your head? Your fourteen-year-old bandmates? What do THEY know about emotion that YOU don't know already? Think about it?

 

Have fun and take pride in learning your instrument and continuing to improve. That's all that matters. There's nothing wrong with you. If your bandmates are "weeping with sorrow" on stage, there may be something wrong with THEM. It's a gig, not a soap opera.

[dcr]

What Dan said. EXACTLY.

 

I'm not in the least worried about you. I'm a bit skeptical about the others, though.

[Tom Capasso]

I'm in Dan and dcr's camp. You have experienced 14 years of life. It's perfectly valid. You may have love/pain experiences - we can't see to what degree (and we don't have to know).

 

One aspect is that at 14, you are doing more than experiencing these things. Let's say you date a girl for 2 months. That's part of your experience. But part of what you are learning is how to deal with what happens, and what you want to show. Some of that will come out based on your upbringing, your friends, and who you are inside. Everyone is different.

 

When people close to me have died, I've been sad. I thought about my grandfather every day for 6 months after he died (I was 38, he was 95). But I didn't cry. I haven't had that big crying reaction to anyone that has died. But I've had it when my wife is upset with me. Isn't that backwards? I've come to think of it as me being me. Maybe I'm not able to express my emotions at certain times, but that's who I am.

 

I guess the other way to look at this is to look at what music hits you. Not exclusively the words, but the music (either instruments or as a whole). Are there bits of music, lyric lines, odd fills, etc. that strike you? Not that you start crying, but that you feel somewhere in your gut? If so, you feel the music. If not, you may not have heard the right stuff yet.

 

There is a lot to be said for learning your parts well, and learning to be on stage. A great deal of energy goes into that, and it may mask other sensations. Though I have songs I feel more than Dan describes, I'm never so far gone that it's obvious, or that I can't continue.

 

These are good things to examine about yourself. Just don't let them take over your love of music...

 

Tom

[GeorgeR]

You're still very young, and need to take more time.

 

I certainly have to disagree when people suggest one musn't think too much. That's such awful advice!

 

Some of us are just natural born thinkers, that's how we are. Asking a thinker not to think is like asking a Sparrow not to fly! It can't be done!

 

And yes, I've been in bands where this same kind of thing happens - everyone else seems to give external emotion and you feel left out of the loop. Guess that's why I've never 'gotten' the whole rock and roll thing, it all seems so phony, so shallow and dishonest, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Don't let that get you down. You're being honest with yourself, and that's more valuable than all of the theatrics and whoopla in the world. Don't sell that out!

 

Maybe being part of someone's band isn't for you? Even bass, as interesting as we know it CAN be, is often forced to be "dumb" to meet the expectations of others, only to get gigs - lots of people don't 'get' complicated bass.

 

Maybe it's time to consider taking up other instruments, consider writing your own material as well. Don't follow the crowd, don't look at the gleaming lights and iconic popularity and think that's all there is to music, to life even.

 

This may be a stepping stone for your own personal growth. Think about it, and if it looks like it is, take it.

[Metal_Boy16]

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I greatly appreciate everyone's advice. I'm just gonna play, and what emotions that I happen to feel, I will set free. I am only 14, but that doesn't mean anyone can 'dismiss' my feelings as mediocre. I may not have had a lot of experience with love, but if all my love experiences have ended with sadness, does that mean that I, being only 14, have no right to be depressed about it? I do write my own lyrics; 7 songs (just lyrics) so far. The one time my band tried to create a song around my lyrics, I had a good part, but my other bandmates couldn't make much that connected with my bass part; so we gave up. What can I do to make writing songs with my lyrics easier and more productive? We usually start of with a guitar part, but I can't use any of my songs that way.

[dohhhhh6]

Well, most people (from what I understand) make up a song, then go over with lyrics.

 

If you know a little theory, then it'll help you out oodles. Start with a key and a chord progression and work from there.

 

Good luck and keep at it, bro.

[Dan South]

Originally posted by Metal_Boy14:

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I greatly appreciate everyone's advice. I'm just gonna play, and what emotions that I happen to feel, I will set free.

Great attitude!

 

I am only 14, but that doesn't mean anyone can 'dismiss' my feelings as mediocre.

Quite the contrary! When you're fourteen, every emotion feels like a freight train plowing into your chest. I suspect that many older folks would enjoy feeling those pure, rampant emotions again. It's like a pure drug that you haven't quite learned to handle yet.

 

On the other hand, there are things that you haven't experienced yet. For instance, you don't know what it's like to get laid off and wonder how you'll support your family. A lot of older people know how that feels, and it feels pretty scary, so give them a break when they suggest that there may be more to come in you emotional life.

 

To me, you sound like a normal, healthy teen, and I hope that you'll enjoy the heck out of these (relatively) carefree years. When they're gone, they're gone, and you'll probably miss them.

 

I do write my own lyrics; 7 songs (just lyrics) so far. The one time my band tried to create a song around my lyrics, I had a good part, but my other bandmates couldn't make much that connected with my bass part; so we gave up. What can I do to make writing songs with my lyrics easier and more productive? We usually start of with a guitar part, but I can't use any of my songs that way.

Well, in Rush, Neil Peart write all of the lyrics first, then Geddy and Alex put music to them, so it's possible. It takes a lot of commitment and communication on the part of your bandmates, though. This may take more time and energy than they want to invest. The best way is to communicate your ideas as completely as possible. Can you play a guitar or keyboard and sing along? This will give your friends the "big picture," and they'll be able to work from there. Can you make a recording, even a simple one with just voice, guitar/keys, maybe bass and a drum machine pattern? If you present a more or less complete idea, your chances of success will improve dramatically. Test driving a real car is a lot more exciting than looking at a blueprint.