uk_lefty Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 There is a running joke I'm my band that on a tune with two solos I mimic the guitarists solo under his and steal his thunder. The drummer and singer think it's funny anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I tend to make an impression on 'you're only the bass player' types. It's usually headstock-shaped and always an accident. Oops! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 5 hours ago, jonnythenotes said: one of the regular guitarists, turned to me and said, "something funky in A minor," then after a short pause he added, "Oh, just 'A' for you as it doesn't make any difference to the bass." If they are going to be like that I'd have flipped to Bb for the solo, just to make him look bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 9 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said: If they are going to be like that I'd have flipped to Bb for the solo, just to make him look bad! I've seen this done by the bass player and other guitarist, it was really funny! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivansc Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 (edited) better yet, ring the changes round the circle of fifths every four bars or indeed keep changing to the relative minor of the minor key you are already in. Am to F#m to Dm to Bm, etc.... he would soon get the message. They just don't get how much control WE have over what THEY are playing, do they? Edited February 8, 2018 by ivansc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I've only ever played in funk, hip hop oriented and other types of dance music bands so I've never come across any snotty attitude from other players as they know it's the rhythm section wot drives the tunes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I am still buzzing from a comment made by our lead guitarist last night, we were working through some stuff and I asked his opinion on one little transition piece, his reply was ‘just go with what sounds best to you, it’s always spot on when you do’. I have been playing 18months and while I work very hard at it I am far from the level he is at. He has been playing thirty years and is a genuinely superb musician (and doesn’t realise just how good he is). This was on top of a comment after our last gig when he said anyone listening would think I have been playing 18 years not 18 months. So decent guitarists do exist. We have two, so I should keep quite I guess as it appears they are quite rare! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Not sure about the ‘poor relations’ moniker; every band I’ve been in has had a ‘weird uncle who smells a bit and keeps goats’ experience from me. They’ve been bloody lucky to have it too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 1 minute ago, paul_5 said: Not sure about the ‘poor relations’ moniker; every band I’ve been in has had a ‘weird uncle who smells a bit and keeps goats’ experience from me. They’ve been bloody lucky to have it too! Second line of my CV there... Weird Uncle who smells a bit and keeps goats... ...genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I'd have said ok but I'll do it in A flat , that would limit his noddling skills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I guess I am lucky, the guitarist / singer / songwriter / dictator of Yodaclub has said on many occasions that when he writes a new song he is always really excited to see what bass melody hooks I will come up with, at mixing stage it's usually me saying "don't you think the bass is a bit far forward in the mix!" To be fair he is a very considered guitarist as is the drummer and keyboard player which is probably why we sound like we do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I don't have these negative experiences of guitarists. If a guitarist didn't know how to play for the band and for the song, I would be out the door sharpish. But then I also would not go to a jam night to perform or to observe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerstodge Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Years ago I was told by the cokeheaded guitarist.. “ it don’t effing matter if they can’t hear you out front, bass players are a waste of space”.. oh yea and that was my last gig with his band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolverinebass Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 26 minutes ago, rogerstodge said: Years ago I was told by the cokeheaded guitarist.. “ it don’t effing matter if they can’t hear you out front, bass players are a waste of space”.. oh yea and that was my last gig with his band. Also, the invalidation of his dental insurance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 (edited) 52 minutes ago, EssentialTension said: I don't have these negative experiences of guitarists. Same , if you rule out banter . I can't imagine any guitarist who really thinks like that about another component in the band being any good as a band member , either musically or personality wise , so if I did I guess it would not be for me anyhow , even at functions level Edited February 8, 2018 by lojo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJWW Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I returned from a long hiatus from music and started attending local open mic nights with my bass. I quickly made some new friends and musical contacts from this however as I am not a lead singer I have been seriously constrained and unable to do much beyond busking along to Beatles songs and a few others. I never get to really say what I play, just follow others which is quite soul-destroying to be honest. I have never been on the receiving end of the type of 'banter' above but I think open mics are generally very conservative affairs so I only go along nowadays in order to run through new additions to my band's set which is very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 6 hours ago, thebrig said: Here's another example to illustrate bass players being the "poor relation in a band" In the band I play in, I’m normally stuck at the back behind one of the guitarists who is 6ft 5in, but at one gig recently, there just wasn’t enough room in the tiny little corner I was in, so I had the audacity to move to the other side of the stage into the only space available, which happened to be right in front of the other guitarist who was also well over 6ft, so he easily towered over me seeing as I'm only 5ft 8in, but he was not happy, afterwards he complained that I had cramped his style, especially when he was doing his solo's, when I questioned him about his ego, he just said, “no one in the audience wants to see or hear the boring bass player, they only want to see the guitarists doing their solo’s”, and he mean’t it. Why are you in a band with a plonker like hat? Suggest you leave immediately. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
project_c Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I went to a blues jam once, it was hilarious. A group of tragically single sweaty men with long hair and expensive guitars clambering over each other to get to the stage, so they could reel off a series of predictable licks that nobody has been interested in hearing since about 1985. One bored looking drummer and a bass player in the corner, playing the same boring honky tonk line on repeat for 6 hours while all the guitarists whack off all over the stage whilst flooring their wah pedals. Horrible. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 2 hours ago, project_c said: I went to a blues jam once, it was hilarious. A group of tragically single sweaty men with long hair and expensive guitars clambering over each other to get to the stage, so they could reel off a series of predictable licks that nobody has been interested in hearing since about 1985. One bored looking drummer and a bass player in the corner, playing the same boring honky tonk line on repeat for 6 hours while all the guitarists whack off all over the stage whilst flooring their wah pedals. Horrible. Yep that's fairly standard ime, long hair but mostly bald on top, Marshall t-shirts and boutique valve amps loud enough to melt your face. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josie Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 The blues jams I've played in (Matt & Phred's in Manchester several times, Bourbon Street Blues Bar in Nashville twice, Carlisle Blues Festival once) the lead guitarists have almost always have been young smart-a****s who assumed that the bass player would know whatever "song" they fancied playing, and sometimes were annoyed at me asking what key it was in. (In fact one didn't know what key he was playing in and had to show me where his fingers were on his fretboard.) (Carlisle was an exception, as the singers were internationally recognised and used to working with musicians who really did know the full standard repertoire. I was well out of my depth and it showed - but I didn't make a total fool of myself, and oh boy am I glad I was able to do it.) On the other hand, in the band I'm in (I don't think of it as "my band"), I'm the only one who takes any real initiative in suggesting ways of developing and arranging the songs. Even the guy who put the band together to play his originals seems to just be grateful and accept anything I suggest. So it's almost always me developing an expressive bassline (as best I can) and telling the others to listen and pick up on what I'm doing with the phrasing and dynamics - which they sometimes sort of do, a bit. Equally frustrating in a completely different way :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 I long ago learned to avoid 'jam sessions' led by a guitarist, because you will spend the whole evening in 12 bar hell and I avoid R&B bands for exactly the same reason. Not all guitarists are like this of course and I'm pretty lucky at the moment being in two bands with players who just as happy to be lead by whoever has the strongest idea. I'm too old and grumpy for second class treatment and would just as soon not play. I did my season in purgatory (R&B/Soul covers band) a few years ago and 'never again'. They did try to rehearse without me once though. The sax player later said that he didn't know what the bass really did, but without it the entire band fell apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 13 hours ago, project_c said: I went to a blues jam once, it was hilarious. A group of tragically single sweaty men with long hair and expensive guitars clambering over each other to get to the stage, so they could reel off a series of predictable licks that nobody has been interested in hearing since about 1985. One bored looking drummer and a bass player in the corner, playing the same boring honky tonk line on repeat for 6 hours while all the guitarists whack off all over the stage whilst flooring their wah pedals. Horrible. This has been my experience of jam nights too, even the ones that start off with the best of intentions are ruined when the usual suspects start turning up and start fretfapping . Awful musicians playing awful music, no thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 14 hours ago, Dan Dare said: Why are you in a band with a plonker like hat? Suggest you leave immediately. I have literally just left the band, I feel so much happier now and I will take my time looking for the right people with no ego's to play music with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 Where do you guys meet these people? I've been gigging for 40 years and never had this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 (edited) 59 minutes ago, peteb said: Where do you guys meet these people? I've been gigging for 40 years and never had this issue. Mostly through musician websites like JoinMyBand and BandMix. Edited February 9, 2018 by thebrig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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