solo4652

I've been talking to a guy about joining his "collective". Here's what he said in his first message to me. Seems a bit of an odd suggestion that "finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the Holy Grail".

"Hi there,
Firstly it’s great to know that there is a Soul, Funk & Groove style bassist in the area,
Most are Rock or blues influenced.

I, and many of my musician friends have been looking to get a really good funky soul
Band together for a while, without much success as decent bass players are very rare,
And finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the holy
Grail."

He'll be the band leader, lead singer and keys player. He's 63. I went to his house for a chat and he told me all about his extensive history of playing drums and singing going back as far as his teens. I asked if he has any video links he could send me. He said;

" I don’t think I have anything from the digital era! I have a video, but haven’t transferred it to any other format. I can ask my daughter whether she knows of any phone footage of our performances, I have cd’s and tapes of demos and things like that, it’s not really something I’m into!  Listening to myself or watching myself is not my idea of fun, I’m very critical, that’s the problem."

Too many red flags?

Stumbled across this recently. Good fun cover of Fat Boy Slim's Praise you. Particularly like percussionist.

Praise You (Fat Boy Slim acoustic cover) - YouTube.url Praise You (Fat Boy Slim acoustic cover) - YouTube.url

2 hours ago, gjones said:

It sounds like you haven't been sacked from your band, in reality it sounds like the guitarist they auditioned, recruited them for his own Rock/Blues band. it sounds like the drummer, singer and new guitarist, have formed a totally different band, in a different genre, with different members and (I assume) with a different band name.

 

A band that you wouldn't want to be in, even if they had asked you.

 

If I were you, that's how I would look at the situation.

 

 

Yes - That's I think you're probably right. In reality, it isn't the alleged major change of musical direction that I (maybe/probably) wouldn't have been interested in that angered me, it's the sly and underhand way that I was replaced and ousted that grated my gears. For me, that's not an acceptable way of behaving in any walk of life. I've moved on, and I'm already talking to another band about possibly joining them. 

On 30/05/2025 at 08:34, solo4652 said:

Yes - agreed. I've removed myself from the WhatsApp group. I've said what I needed to and purposefully left the door open for people to ring me if they feel the need. Time to move on.

No reply from my WhatsApp group message to the band, which suits me just fine. I banged out a "bassist available" ad on one of the Facebook musos groups and I got this reply:

"Hi there,

Firstly it’s great to know that there is a Soul, Funk & Groove style bassist in the area,
Most are Rock or blues influenced.

I, and many of my musician friends have been looking to get a really good funky soul
Band together for a while, without much success as decent bass players are very rare,
And finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the holy
Grail.

We are all knocking on a bit (60-63), and have had lots of experience in various bands
Playing various types of music, but we all like soul, funk, jazz, groove influenced music
Where bass and drums are the driving force, the engine room of the band, so to speak
And everything else fits in around that groove!

I hope that this could be something that you might find interesting, and maybe consider getting involved in."

We're going to meet up for a chat. One door shuts and.....

31 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

If it were me I'd remove myself from the WhatsApp group ASAP and put it all behind me, negative response or lack of response will only drag things out longer. Contact the singer and ask the question, and then move on either with or without her 👍

Yes - agreed. I've removed myself from the WhatsApp group. I've said what I needed to and purposefully left the door open for people to ring me if they feel the need. Time to move on.

I haven't yet been removed from the band's WhatsApp group. I've just posted this on it:

"[Drummer] has informed me that I'm no longer in the band. I'm gobsmacked, and I'd like to fully understand what's happened. 

[Drummer] and I set up the band with a particular vibe/sound in mind - soul/funk/groove-driven tasteful songs, not rock. Songs were chosen, band name chosen and [singer] recruited on this premise. [Drummer] tells me the band has now decided to go down a different musical path. How come? Is everybody on board with this? What is this new musical direction that the band has adopted that [drummer] tells me I won't like?

Who decided that I wouldn't like it? Was this a unanimous decision? Why wasn't I asked?

[Drummer] tells me that a new bassist has been recruited behind my back, while I was on holiday. Is this true? Again - was this a unanimous decision? I'm struggling to believe that everybody agreed this was a proper way to behave.

I'm not here to argue - rather, I'm trying to get a full understanding of what's happened, and why a group of people seems to have decided to act in such a discourteous and underhand manner. Anybody can ring me to explain further, although probably no need for [drummer] to ring since he's already spoken to me."

42 minutes ago, Rich said:

Jesus wept. How did you find out?

To be honest, it's probably a good job you found out so early on that he/they are capable of such disgraceful sh!tbaggery. You may have dodged a bullet further down the line. 

Yesterday, a day after I returned from holiday, I posted a message on the band's WhatsApp group saying: "I'm now back from holiday. Any news?" Drummer then rang me to tell me that the band didn't feel I was the right bassist for them, now that the band's direction had suddenly changed. He was right to assume I wouldn't want to go with them, but it should have been discussed with me and I should have been given the choice. Futhermore, to recruit a replacement bassist behind my back was completely unacceptable. Today, I'm smarting, I'm angry, I'm gobsmacked at some people's lack of consideration and sense of socially acceptable behaviour. I don't know waht the singer thinks - I've not asked her to comment. I don't want to put her in a difficult position and effectively ask her to tell tales out of school. 

I set up my band with the drummer. We agreed right from the start that it would be a wine-bar vibe, not a rock band. Songs were chosen, band name was chosen, singer recruited with this in mind. Two guitarists came and went. I went on holiday 2 weeks ago knowing a new guitarist was going to jam with the band. He turned out to be a rock/blues guitarist keen to play long solos. Drummer decided that was good and that I wouldn't want to go there. So, while I'm on holiday, the band recruited a replacement bassist who is happy to play rock/blues. All this happened without anybody speaking to me. How cowardly and underhand is that?

Have we done Tokyo Groove Jyoshi?

A local music venue has posted this on Facebook:

"We need your help now more than ever!!!

Along with 100s of other music venues in the UK we are really struggling with the increased bills and drop in numbers due to the cost of living crisis.

We are putting on a show next weekend called [----], it's going to feature some of North Devon's incredible covers bands who are all donating their time to help out this iconic music venue......"

What do we think?

I've been told that my neck/arm/hand problems are due to Cubital Tunnel syndrome which may or may not have been exacerbated by playing bass. Cubital Tunnel Syndrome is similar to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but affects nerves at the elbow rather than the wrist/hand. Anybody else struggling with this?

Very first jam with potential new band last night. Line up: Myself on bass, drummer, lead guitar, rhythm guitar/keys, lead vocals. Nobody had played with anybody else before, so odds stacked against us. Lead vocals couldn't make it because of her husband's poor health. Maybe we shouldn't have met up, but drummer (who is self-appoointed band leader) decided we should. He pressurised/bullied lead guitarist into singing, and guitarist was pretty unhappy to do so, becoming visibly upset towards the end of the session. Guitarist's playing and singing were not good at all. I stood off to one side watching all this unfold. At one point I said to drummer - "I think we're asking an awful lot of [guitarist] - I have the 6 songs here on my laptop - why don't we play over the top of them and in that way have some lead vocals to guide us. That'll help [guitarist] to focus on his playing" Drummer: "No. I want to hear the instruments clearly, even if it means we have to imagine the vocals in our heads (sic)" In the car park afterwards, I told the drummer I wasn't happy and that I'd speak to him today.

I suppose the obvious way forward is for all five of us to meet up and see how we get on with the lead vocalist there. Take things from there. 

On 15/02/2025 at 18:38, bass_dinger said:

I am curious whether the band is still running, and what the final outcome was.

 

And did the the BL's wife learn the bass? 

The band found a new bassist quickly, and is still running. I've no idea whether the BL's wife learned the bass. My leaving the band coincided with the return of some neck and shoulder problems I'd been having, so I took 6 months out. Last month, I was appeoached by a drummer friend about helping him to start his own band, and I agreed. Sort of a blues-funk covers band. 5-pice band; lead guitar/BV's, drums, keys/rhythm guitar, myself on bass, female lead singer. Our very first jam session with 6 try-out songs is this coming Friday, 21st February.

I have to not play for a week following a spinal operation. Bad timing since I'm in the middle of learning a lot of songs for first jam with a start-up band. I have tabs for all the songs - it's a matter of practising them now. Does hands-off visualistion help? Sitting playing air-bass with my tabs in front of me, visualising fretting and plucking? Bit like a golfer, rugby place-kicker, crown-green bowler mentally rehearsing a shot?

Can't get more Stones-like than this:

Got to learn this song. Loads of covers out there. Here are three bass covers. Which do you prefer? Just talking about the bass playing, not the singing or arrangement or anything else. Clear winner for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_FabfGxYvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE16Dc2JB3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWFKio5NBV8

Anybody playing this? Before I sit down and write a bassline (can't find anything on the web, and it sounds like a synth bass), does anybody have anything written?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU7_yP8-Lzc

Update:  After another rehearsal with the orchestra, I've decided it's not for me. Fish out of water. I asked for the rehearsal tracks and bass tabs for the last rehearsal to be sent in advance so I could practise at home. Some arrived, some didn't, which was frustrating. Also, to my ears, many of the backing tracks for rock songs really did not sound much like the original rock songs. They sounded like - errmm - an orchestra playing a rock song. All of that, together with my complete absence of experience of playing with an orchestra, meant it was clearly not the right place for me.

A drummer friend has contacted me about setting up a pop/soul/funk band from scratch. Drummer, bassist (me), keys player already in place, with a couple of female singers showing interest. Now then - that's my scene... 

Hi,

Just emailed it to you.

I'd like to thank everybody here for helping me to understand what's going on with these orchestra tabs. A lot of the confusion comes from me attempting to play bass in an environment  that I have no previous experience of. I naively thought it would be like playing in a large covers band but, of course, it certainly isn't!

This is what I'm going to do: I'll ask the arranger to send me the tab for four songs, and to tell me about any key changes. I'll also ask him to send me the rehearsal tracks for those songs. That way, I'll give myself the best chance of going to the next rehearsal and making a useful contribution. I can't sight-read tabs, so to be given a tab sheet sight unseen and be expected to play it there and then is not going to happen. If he can't/won't send me the rehearsal tracks, I suppose I could use Audacity to change the pitch of a standard YouTube recording for re-keyed songs to give me something to practise against, but that's not going to cover any new arrangements. The four songs would be: Riders on the storm, Baker Street, One Vision and More than Words (Extreme). There's also The Chain. If any of that causes any difficulties for the arranger, I'll most probably throw in the towel. 

Arranger's reply to my request for clarification:

"The tuning is all standard tuning, no detuning needed. With that said, as I warned you, some of the arrangements will be different keys due to accommodating the transposing instruments and trying to give them a more comfortable key in which to play. I know you like to write your own tab, which isn’t a problem, but I’d advise looking at what I’ve given you so you get an idea of keys and structure. Once you've joined us permanently, I can let you have access to the Dropbox which has the rehearsal tracks we use during the [rehearsal] sessions."

I've messaged the arranger and asked for clarification. Watch this space...

1 hour ago, OliverBlackman said:

All looks to be standard tuning to me.

 

just follow the tab and you’ll be fine.

You see, this is what's confusing me. Here's a tab for Baker Street in EADG: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/gerry-rafferty/baker-street-bass-1672337 which agrees with this cover on YouTube in EADG.

Sounds OK to me against the original. But it doesn't agree with the tab I've been sent which I think would sound correct if the bass was tuned Eb. Sorry - I'm showing my ignorance here.