Got kicked out of my first band. Just needed to vent.

I'm a relatively new bassist — I've been playing for about 2 and a half years. I never had any interest in learning an instrument before, but things changed when I switched schools. (I'm from Chile, so our school system is different — I'm 17 now.)

In music class, I was learning to play the ukulele, because it was mandatory to pick something, and I knew absolutely nothing. One day, while I was singing in class, two guys (let’s call them Dan, the guitarist, and Vicente, the drummer) heard me and said I had a good voice. I didn’t really take it seriously, since I wasn’t used to compliments like that, but they ended up inviting me to join their band as the vocalist.

I agreed — it was a way to get out of learning an instrument, after all. But they didn’t have a bassist, so I said, “why not?” and decided to learn. And… I fell in love with the instrument. I started taking lessons from the orchestra director at my church, and thanks to him, I learned fast. I dare say I even started to stand out a bit.

There was no pressure in the band — we were all learning as we went. I bought a good-quality bass, paid for all my stuff, and even helped buy equipment with small jobs I took on. My grandpa helped me too. As time went on, we played a few small concerts and everything was going great. I even started thinking I might be a decent musician.

But earlier this year, around March, we were going to play at the beach to raise money for better microphones. One day before the show… they told me I wouldn’t be singing anymore. Some guy I barely knew was going to do it instead. Naturally, I got upset and went to Vicente to ask what was going on, and he accused me of only being mad because I didn’t like the new guy.

The thing is… they never even asked me. After more than two years of friendship, they didn’t even bother to talk to me about it. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I dropped it.

After the show that day… they kicked me out of the band. Their reason? That I didn’t agree with a lot of things in the band — like the name “SexMans” (which I wasn’t a fan of), or some of the songs. We were a cover band, and I always tried to find songs that everyone liked. Sometimes I even played songs I hated just to keep the peace.

I accepted it — stuff like that happens, right? But then they stopped talking to me. They avoided hanging out with me as friends. It was my first band, and it hit me hard.

Months have passed, and it's been hard to keep practicing. Sometimes I go whole weeks without picking up the bass, and when I do, I can only play for 20 minutes before I lose the motivation. These days I stay distracted by teaching Bible classes at my church, but… things just feel different.

I guess I just needed to vent. Also, this is my first post here.