“Playing Music Shouldn’t Feel Like Work” | Nathan Mays on Music, Burnout & Finding a Better Way

What happens when the career you spent years building starts taking away the thing you loved about music in the first place?

Nathan Mays has been playing bass for more than 23 years, working across country, variety bands, musical theatre and more experimental music while also studying music composition to Master's level.

But after years of gigging, Nathan found himself becoming increasingly disillusioned with the professional music scene. Music was becoming a job — and, in his words, "playing music shouldn't feel like work."

So he stepped back.

Today, Nathan's focus is increasingly on music education, where his experiences as a player, composer and teacher have come together in his own approach to learning bass: Feel, Form and Function.

In this episode of Now That's Bass, we talk about:

• Why Nathan stepped away from the professional music grind• The darker side of the music world that musicians don't always talk about• What real gigs teach you that music school can't• Why chops don't matter if you can't actually do the job• The problem with collecting information instead of actually learning• Why so many bass players practise without a target• Whether "feel" can really be taught• Why pocket changes depending on the music you're playing• Nathan's Feel, Form and Function approach to bass• Why recording yourself could transform your practice• The problem with cookie-cutter music education• Why young musicians need to learn to take criticism• And why Nathan thinks every bass player should learn "Chameleon"

It's a conversation about bass, but also about something bigger: what happens when your definition of being a successful musician changes.

If you enjoy honest conversations about the realities of building a life around the bass — not just gear and chops — subscribe to Now That's Bass for more interviews with working bass players, educators and musicians.

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