chris_b

I'm sitting on Friday's gig and standing on Saturday and Sunday's gigs.

So I'm playing the Sadowsky on Friday and the Sandberg Superlight for the rest of the week-end.

24 minutes ago, stewblack said:

. . . . worrying about mistakes benefits no one. I might think I'm being conscientious and professional berating myself for every slip, but in truth I'm just making myself tense and stressing about stuff which has gone.

 

Focus on the next note not the last one

Always this. Unfortunately with so many people filming bum notes can be broadcast around the world before you've even finished the gig!!

Last week I was surprised to hear the whole band play a different sequence of bars to the original, which was the version I'd been told to listen to. It's now on Facebook for everyone to see and makes me look like I cocked up!!!

I was in a duo with a guitarist and Amazing Grace was in the set. One night he started it in 4/4 (should have been in 3/4!) and I had 3 mins of hell, firstly trying to understand what had just happened, I didn't even recognise which song he was playing. I should have sat there and let him play it on his own, but I tried and failed to fit the old bass line into the new time signature. He did apologise afterwards!

You can talk without being able to write. Likewise you don't need to understand the rules of grammar in order to express yourself. But, know the rules and you'll be expressing yourself in more interesting ways. What you write and say is always enhanced by the extent of your vocabulary and your knowledge of grammar.

Same with music. Understanding theory reduces your limitations. You'd think the old blues guys knew no theory, but they did know the relationship between 1, 4 and 5 chords and 8, 12, 24 bar sequences, minor and major, 7th chords before a change to the 4 chord, so they did know enough theory to make their music work.

Knowing more and knowing why is always a good thing.

3 hours ago, okusman said:

 . . . It was a little bit squeaky bottom, but you realise pretty soon that there is a pot of material that 95% of musos have somewhere in their head…

If everyone can count to 4, communicate with each other, keep eyes and hears open and start and stop together, you're 80% there.

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

Look after your backs folks, you only get one!

This.

And start looking after them when they are fit and healthy.

Don't end up a disabled f#ckwit like me, who only started to be sensible after I herniated a disc.

1 hour ago, gjones said:

Made chord charts and notes on every song.

Got to the gig that night, which was 50 miles away, to find I'd left all the notes in the rehearsal room.

 

I've done that, several times.

I had to chart out several songs on one gig. Just before kick-off I asked the BL about one of them and his answer stopped me dead in my tracks. His arrangement was totally different to the YT link he'd given me. The other 3 charts were wrong as well!! I always bring a pad so I was scribbling down the new arrangements as we went on stage.

Nervous? Not worthy? Doubting yourself?

They asked you to do this. They must think you're OK. Believe in their judgement. Just do whatever it was that got you the gig.

I wasn't on the gig, but 10 years ago my band turned up to a gig (can't remember the name) in Sussex to see the security staff and the management having a fraught and loud "discussion".

At  the end of that the management told the band they had given all the cash to the security guys and wouldn't be paying the band! They could play or go home! The band were already setting up, so they packed up and went home. I felt sorry for the bass dep, and we never went back.

A couple of my gigs have a low key and laid back vibe to them. I perch on a bar stool for those and we all sit on a wine bar trio gig.

I stand for the covers, reggae and rock/blues stuff though. I bought a great 3kg bass for those gigs.

I did a gig last week with a drummer who forgot to pack his snare stand! He spent the night balancing the snare between a stool and the bass drum!  I have a terrible memory, and given half a chance would forget my head. I fixed that by never unpacking my gigging gear at home. I also count 8 boxes/bags into the car and out again.

My permanent home practice gear is 1 or 2 Barefaced One10's, a TH500, whatever bass is at hand and headphones from the laptop. I am thinking of going silent with something like a Palmer Pocket Bass amp.

Does anyone know if Sandberg make a Superlight 5 string P bass?

I've been searching the web and can't find any indication that they do.

ps

If the band doesn't mind you sitting on a stool (chairs would be out IMO) then do it.

Have you tried the Mbrace Stage Guitar Stand? It's going to be my long stop if my back gives out.

https://www.imuso.co.uk/itm/mbrace-stage-guitar-stand

Just now, diskwave said:

Im not a bad player, read etc, good ear blah blah but four years ago I got a call from guys I had played with many years ago...anyway they needed a dep for a very well paying posh private party in a flippin grt manor hse in Oxford...two weeks away, only catch, it was 60 odd tunes from the 60's...Tons of tricky old Beatles that type of stuff....No charts, nothing. Probably about the hardest I'd ever worked...Great fun but my old brain was treading water like crazy and I made a few muck ups which the lead didnt miss either...oops.

I was asked to do a wedding and the BL sent me a list of 96 songs! I asked if we really were going to play all those songs, and could he list the songs he was likely to play. A new list came back of 80 songs!!

There were a lot of classic 60's hits and Elvis and other 12 bars, so I only had to chart about a dozen songs. Not that bad, but when we got to the gig I discovered the guitarist sang half the set and I hadn't been told about him or his songs!!

I still get songs thrown at me that weren't on the list, but most bands I dep with are pretty good at sticking to the set lists and arrangements. . . .

. . . . but there's one bandleader who seems to make up the songs as he goes along! That was a problem on the first couple of gigs. I was unfamiliar with the set, the stage volume was unbalanced (guitarist too loud!!) so I had trouble following. I got an email telling me to learn the songs! If I didn't put in the hours they wouldn't be able to use me in future!! What an a-hole. I know the songs better than he does. No toys out of the pram, I asked the BL to get the guitarist to turn down (he only did it!!) and that fixed everything. I can hear when he's gone off piste and now I'm their favourite bassist.

I'm in 3 bands, but regularly dep for about a dozen more. I like playing most of the songs, they are all great players and I like the variety. If there's a good drummer (and there usually is) then I can deal with anything that crops up. I'm usually digging them out of a hole so I'm already in their good books and if I get the gig right I get called back. I also get a fast track into any side projects. Every gig is an audition.

Depping is all about keeping the phone ringing, expanding your list of contacts and having fun.

We got short changed when we were on a percentage of the bar take. At the end of a well attended gig we discovered they were only counting cash purchases and didn't include credit card purchases, which were the majority of the take for the night! As you say, B*stards!!!!

DOB basses are God's way of telling you you have too much money.

Buy a bass because it does something better than your current bass, not because of a date in a calender!

I'd say it was James Jamerson.

4 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I've changed the pickups in every Sandberg I've kept. Aguilars if it's passive, EMGs for active.

I'm interested. What Aguilars in what basses?

Hate bad people, don't bother to hate songs!!

In the last 10 years I've played at least 50% of the songs listed so far. Played but never "murdered". 

If it's a good band, good audience and we're getting paid, I'll happily play them as many times as I'm asked.

I have to admit, I do a mean Mustang Sally.

What you need to do is stroke the strings.

If the cross section of the string is a clock face you need to be playing between 5 to and 5 past 12 o'clock. Play with a light touch. This technique isn't an aggressive way to play.

Maybe tastes are different in Lithuania, but as you are already doing session work, I'm surprised that you're not already being asked to bring a Precision. I'd already have one, but I'm biased.

I'm 6'2" and would rather have a Mono M80 Vertigo hit a door frame than any other gig bag I own.

They are total protection.

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

 

. . . .  High brick walls made it a rather insalubrious place to wander, and in the dark, even frightening, with a tunnel through under the railway line back towards Staines centre. How things change, eh..?

Now rebranded as Staines on Thames!! That probably didn't change it much, though.