musicbassman

This is all fine and dandy, but often - particularly if you're auditioning for a job in an already long established covers band - the song has gradually morphed over the years into something rather different than the original - this especially applies to the rhythmic feel of the number. You can start playing the original bass line and it immediately clashes with the bands current rhythmic interpretation of the number - although they'll claim they play it 'just like the original' This can also be a problem if you're doing a one-off dep gig with no rehearsal time - they'll start playing the number at a function and you can't understand what you're hearing - sometimes the number is almost unrecognisable until the singer comes in - takes you a moment or two to simply get the feel, meanwhile the band are giving you dirty looks.............

Here's a few things to consider when pricing- How good is your band compared to other similar bands available in your area ? (no, honestly) Were you recommended to the client? Are you booked up most weekends or are there big gaps in your diary? How many in the band? Just playing for dancing or putting on a big showband style presentation? How far away is it? (Time and fuel) How long are you going to have to be at the venue? (Lot of hanging around at some gigs, many hours sometimes) Direct or through an agent? First class buffet and drinks provided or a packet of crisps?

This absolutely, and the same should apply to any bass part - no matter how simple it might appear on first listen - there's always something to hold your playing attention, or there should be. Prime example - Higher and Higher - (Jackie Wilson) - just one repeating bass pattern, but so many people seem to play it sloppily or with slightly the wrong feel!

That statement you made contains all the information and job description necessary for your drummer - It's a covers band? = YES So you're going to be playing popular covers that people know, so you get gigs? = YES So are you going to play shoegazey obscure album covers? = NO! No band can demand that punters stay and listen to the band's personal favourites, they'll just vote with their feet. And there's no fun in playing to an empty room.

Gibson EBO bass = A 1950's Bentley or Daimler - never mind the speed, feel the smooth ride!

........recently left Pentangle tribute band - didn't fit in.............................

................understands the Circle of Fifths..................................

Bass player, very experienced mature ex pro. Currently depping with long established 60’s band in Surrey, this due to finish end May. Looking for further dep work any style Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, or a permanent position in top quality well established functions band, ideally 20 - 25 dates a year, or would consider job share with another bass player if much more than this. Absolutely reliable, good appearance, good ear, very quick learner. musicbassman@hotmail com

I've had exactly this issue recently with a band I'm depping with - it's all straightforward 60's covers but line up includes two guitars plus keyboards, drums, bass, vocals - we've been squeezing onto fairly small stages lately and this means I have one of the guitarists amps right next to my bass rig. Both guitarists are very very loud and the drummer is possibly the loudest drummer I've worked with in a while - result is that I really have a problem hearing myself - but roadie says bass is plenty loud enough out front. I'm having to work by eye on the fretboard sometimes rather than my ears! The bass tone is very nice when isolated, so that's not the issue - quite a bit of the bass is pick playing also, so I think there's plenty of definition there. Maybe it's just having the guitarists amp so loud and so close that it's dominating what I can hear, and maybe you were in the same situation? Next gig I'm going to raise my cab up about 40cms by putting it on a heavy box I have - I'm hoping this will help a bit. Top of the cab will then be chest height rather than waist height as at present.

Wow - the ultimate humiliation - being pulled off stage by your Mum! He's not a singer, he's just a very naughty boy..........etc.

Well, we've all experienced the dreaded 'hollow stage' effect where the whole of an insubstantially built stage is acting as a giant resonating soundbox for the bass and sending out all sorts of false information to your ears about tone, volume and harmonics. Some bass players might claim that putting castors on your cab (i.e. the same as a dolly) can really exaggerate this unfortunate effect. Personally I don't think this alone would make much difference, but other BC'ers may have different opinions. Discuss.

Half from the Jazz, and half from effects used judiciously and discreetly, I would say Always like listening to this guy, he's a master of fluency and precision.

Serious respects to you for doing this - sounds like very hard work.

Thanks for the heads up on this casapete - nice one.

...........audition two bass players at the same time?????????????? This is truly just about one of the most bonkers things I've ever heard. Muppet doesn't even begin to describe this guy.

Yep, this is so true. And, at an audition, NEVER tell the keyboard player he's playing a wrong chord - even if it's clearly wrong. You'll never get the gig - you're a threat. And always look for the positives in any of the players in the band you're auditioning for - a couple of gentle favourable comments can work wonders. "Hey, Mr drummer, I like the way you didn't speed up in that number" Wow, that guitar solo was REALLY loud - I love it when my ears bleed like that!"

Cue a very old muso joke: How do you know when it's a drummer knocking on your door? ...........the knocking speeds up.

What's with this obsession with tuners? Don't you trust your ears?

Here's something from a couple of months ago on another thread: So, for a covers band, always try and join an already well established band with solid gig and personnel history If a recent 'audition' for a new start up covers band I went to is anything to go by, I'm going to be looking for decent gig for a good while yet.................. So, I turn up on time at the audition, having learnt (or refreshed my memory) of numbers the bandleader says he wants to run through for my audition. - Drummer listens to song for first time ever, and starts trying to work out drum parts. - Keyboard player announces he might already be leaving the band because of work pressures (!) - Lengthy argument between drummer and guitarist about someone else's wife, and what she did or didn't do. - Huge sulks from keyboard player when I merely suggest that one of the chords he's playing might not be correct? And these are guys in their 50's, who apparently have been gigging for years in various bands...................a complete waste of time, they're never going to be gigging.

London, late 1977. I’ve been working as a ‘pro’ bass player (not having to get up in the mornings) since ’73, but am frustrated at having to keep on taking gigs just because they’ll pay the rent, to hell with finding a band with talent or potential. So here’s yet another band doing the smarter end of the functions circuit – well paid work in those days – looking for a replacement bass player. They don’t want to give me a set list – fair enough, they want to see how quickly I can learn a number on the spot, including quite complex harmony arrangements. So I’m asked to go to rehearsal studios in Walthamstow. The band seem OK, although the front singer seems very intense, to say the least. The audition is pretty demanding but going OK, until it comes to ‘Jive Talkin’ (BeeGees) The bass on this is all synth bass, and has a low C as a root note (first fret on the B string on a 5 string these days) Back then I was using a standard 4 string like pretty well every other bass player, and after they’d played the song to me on a tinny cassette player I said I’d obviously have to play it an octave up from the record…………..whereupon the singer suddenly goes absolutely apoplectic, throws his mic down, calls me a useless c*** and storms out the room. It all goes a bit quiet, and then the guitarist says………”yeah, all the bass players we’ve tried come unstuck on this one”………………………… turned out the vocalist was insistent that the bass should ‘sound just like the record’, and had vowed to keep searching until they found a bass player who could make a bass guitar sound like a Moog bass. Tall order. – I mean, why not just get the keyboard player to play it? Cheap mono synths were readily available by then. I never quite understood what was going on there, and needless to say I was relieved not to get to gig with a possibly slightly unhinged singer. .

Regardless of whether you're playing an upside down RH bass or not, the 'one finger per fret' concept is pretty well essential, IMO. So if you have a smaller hand, you'll really need a shorter scale bass to make progress.

............and platform shoes...................

I was gigging pretty solidly throughout the early '70's in various bands, but have very little photographic evidence. Similar story for other musos of that era I know. Such a shame, I really regret this now. Why no pics? - well, buying a roll of film and then having it developed was quite a big deal financially, and there were usually other more important things to spend gig money on - like food, and petrol for the Transit.

That 'lesson' with Carol Kaye.....................is he for real ??? Jawdroppingly appalling and clumsy technique - and he allows someone to put this up on Youtube ??? Carol Kaye is so polite.......like to imagine what she was really thinking............................

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