[quote name='51m0n' post='748310' date='Feb 17 2010, 12:29 PM']Some awful truths (massive generalisations) you need to get your head around:-
#1 Punters often cant make head nor tale of bass - they can tell if its wrong, sometimes....
#2 Punters main concern is having a good time, not checking out the various and clever references the bassist is making
#3 Puinters couldnt tell good bass gear from bad, or good bass tone from bad, if the groove is there they are happy, although they generally wont know why, why on earth would you expect anything different?
#4 Punters do not see bass as something to concentrate on in a mix, they aren't trained too (why would they be, and yes it requires some training)
#5 Punters concentrate on melody, lyrics, guitarists, keys, horns, drummers, before bass - get over it!
#6 Consequently most punters think a band is bad for any other reason than the bassist being utter plop, even if the truth is that the band is plop because the bassist is rubbish.
#7 Punters think bass is easier to play than guitar, keys, drums, and far easier than singing. In some genres they are not far off the truth, however much we like to think that isnt the case, if only because the parts are simpler.
#8 The vast majority of venues/sound engineers are massively compromising your bass sound FOH, so no one can hear anything other than a whumwhum,whum even when you are above the 12th fret on your G string. The kick drum will be like a sledgehammer between the eyes in comparison. Thems the breaks kiddo, tough!
This is a massive generalisation, but still very true, there are some genres where this is less the case (dub, funk) but even then it still holds true for a large proportion of paying civilians out to have a good night.
Enjoy that you played well, held the band together, were tight, enjoyed the music and made people happy, do not fret if no one mentions any thing about what you played precisely, since they wouldnt have picked it out anyway.[/quote]
I agree with all the above. By the way I've been playing for 23 years - semi pro for 18 of them, I just wondered if others felt the same as me. I have got over most of this stuff, it just niggles sometimes.