leezo666 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I had to fill in on bass for my friends death metal band at the very last minute a couple years ago and the only advice I had was and I quote ''dont worry all you have to do is find the dirtiest, filthiest, shi**iest settings on your amp, tune as low as possible and beat the cr*p out of your lowest string, trust me no one will notice'' I did owe the guy a favour so I just stood as far out of sight at the side of the stage as possible and did what he suggested. Its safe to say that this was possibly the longest 30 minutes of my life and I wont be filling in for any one as im getting off the stage again favour or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I have one coming up in July which sounds like the opposite to this thread but as the weeks have gone by with no set list with the keys written alongside each number it's looking more and more likely that it will be a total busk on the night. "you will know them anyway" I have been told but I know from seeing the band before with their normal bass player I have never played 50% of a 2 hour set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK Jale Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Done my share. It's anything from transcendent to ground-swallow-me-up time. Best ever was maybe a last-second fill-in for a (mostly) German band at a festival in Spain. Rock covers, sort of. It was a cool anarchic kind of do, and the crowd was going utter freak out mental bananas. Ace! This weekend I have a no-rehearsal folkie function gig and it could all go BADLY wrong but I've got a lot of those tunes hardwired in so we'll busk it fine. The ability to turn on a sixpence and play tunes I've never heard before is what makes people think I'm a good player. Little do they know, that's usually as good as it gets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Never done a stand in before, but I've got one next thursday. All I know is the time and location, I haven't even been told whether or not I'm playing bass or trumpet for it. Could be interesting since I've not played trumpet since late december which was also one I was originally meant to be bassing for, but got asked otherwise having not played trumpet since may I've got a pretty big one coming up in July too which I was asked to do last night, but I've been given the sheet music and a CD of recordings, and I can rehearse weekly too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Oh yeah I've had one before in an orchestra where I'm section leader of the french horns, turned up and the double bassist approached me and said "errrr yeah, you're playing double bass for this one, you can use my bass and bow, music's on the stand" - Scariest moment of my life considering I hadn't played with a bow for 2 and a half years.... I now alternate between double bass and french horn, depending on which section's struggling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 [quote name='Pete Academy' post='1233462' date='May 16 2011, 07:11 PM']What are your experiences of stand-in gigs? Did you ever do one at last minute and had to busk it? Did the band supply you with a set list beforehand, then didn't stick to it? Did they spring different and unfamiliar songs on you, that were hard to busk and made you feel uncomfortable? Did they change the keys of the songs you had learned for the gig?[/quote] Done a couple for a mate at pretty dhort notice. First one I went to his and ran through the set top & tails. Most recent was at a couple of days notice. Basically the same set but a few extras. Went & watched them the night before to get a feel. All pretty standard rock cover fare and easy enough. my biggest problem being a few my lot do, but in different keys or arrangements so had to pay more attention on those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 (edited) [quote name='Doddy' post='1234251' date='May 17 2011, 01:21 PM']It's on these kind of gigs where I find 3 things to be really important. Firstly,knowing[i] a lot[/i] of tunes,and secondly/thirdly-having a good ear and having a solid grounding in theory. Sure,you can get by with your ear alone but if you can preemp the changes and understand various common progressions(I'm not just talking about just root notes,I mean the full chords or at the least major/minor) then it will be much easier than watching the guitarists hand or that split second in the first verse where you are listening for the chord before you play it.[/quote] +1. Having the usual Bass lines under your belt as well... Like the Stevie Wonder lines, Disco Inferno etc...etc... The rest of it is just all buskable chords. Knowing all the Sinatra/show tunes and likes always comes in handy when the brides dad wants to get up and sing 'That old black magic' or 'Fly me to the moon' ...yer it does happen. If you have [b]good relevant pitch[/b], you should get through any 'Busking' gig. As for people putting in extra solos and drawing out last chorus etc - i can't see the problem with that, unless you have spent hours huddled around your CD player learning it parrot fashion. Who wants to do that? Its all about listening, not just the tunes, but what every one is doing. Some of the biggest train crashes i have heard have been on reading gigs... There are a couple of Functions bands i dep in that seem to have different players & singers every time i turn up. A combination of reading & busking - everybody seems to do the job without any problems. Otherwise they would not have been booked i suppose. Garry Edited May 18, 2011 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikeg Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Yup, at a concert with my band i got asked to play bass for a 10 year old band. Was great fun, and the sad thing was they got better recepted than mine did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) due to a combination of all day drinking and winning a bottle of Jack, the bassist in the band we were supporting at a biker rally sat down a few songs in to their set and fell asleep. He wouldn't let go of the bottle of Jack, but gave up his Ricky which I finished the gig on. We did a mixture of their own material and some rock standards. Didn't know most of the tunes but followed the guitarist and busked it, and it worked out all right in the end. Edited May 22, 2011 by MacDaddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 [quote name='Dave Vader' post='1234047' date='May 17 2011, 10:33 AM']Yeah, all of that, and of course the dread 5 words... "We do it our way..." Which of course means "we don't know how to play it so we made some bits up that are in fact very wrong"[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 [quote name='chris_b' post='1234552' date='May 17 2011, 04:50 PM']Have a good memory. As long as you get the second verse right they'll usually forgive you the first verse.[/quote] That is my guiding principle when doing deps playing material that I don't know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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