The world of depping

[kiat]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Nice set list, most are pretty standard fare for covers bands, but for a reason, they’re decent songs that get a crowd going.

They do down well I'm told!

 

3 minutes ago, Franticsmurf said:

Decent set list but also lots of information to work with. 

It's definitely helpful. I'm paying attention to the recorded songs that fade out, as I'm pretty sure they won't on the night! Will be checking with the drummer who is in top of the songs and has more time before the gig (he plays in their other band I just started depping with).

2 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Looks pretty typical, should go down well at a younger venue. 

 

Let's dance is great fun to play but sooo easy to get out of synch if you aren't paying attention (don't ask).

 

Enjoy!

Thanks for the tip. It's a long record and I don't think they'll play it that long, so hopefully be less opportunities to get out of sync! 

[Mokl]

One thing I've learned through depping is a greater appreciation of some bass players and lines I'd never have given a second thought otherwise. Being forced to learn material and being exposed to genres out of the usual familiarity zone is also a great way to freshen up the playing, I've found.

[Burns-bass]

I’ve had the set list for Saturday now. Nothing challenging, and I’ll chord them all out in the next few days and embed them through active and passive listening.

[chris_b]

I'd prefer specific versions to included on the list.

 

Actual YouTube versions or mp3's. I've seen people turn up knowing the original studio version only to find they were supposed to be playing the live arrangement from 20 years later!

[Stub Mandrel]

2 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I'd prefer specific versions to included on the list.

 

Actual YouTube versions or mp3's. I've seen people turn up knowing the original studio version only to find they were supposed to be playing the live arrangement from 20 years later!

 

The 'gold standard' is a link to the exact version.

 

Beware I found an official lyric video and it turned out to be a semitone flat! Annoying but not terminal!

[police squad]

some annoying key changes in that set but it's a good list of crowd pleasers

As a Police fan, message in a bottle in b flat minor, is even lower than Sting does it now (which is in b minor and sounds all wrong)

Edited Tuesday at 05:44 by police squad

[kiat]

15 minutes ago, police squad said:

some annoying key changes in that set but it's a good list of crowd pleasers

As a Police fan, message in a bottle in b flat minor, is even lower than Sting does it now (which is in b minor and sounds all wrong)

I'm on the B-string a fair bit because of the key changes. Also some handy open strings are no more. On the other hand I'm glad Brown Eyed Girl and Crazy Thing Called Love are original key, they'd have been a pain to change as they are fiddly and I play them in another band.

 

[police squad]

1 hour ago, kiat said:

I'm on the B-string a fair bit because of the key changes. Also some handy open strings are no more. On the other hand I'm glad Brown Eyed Girl and Crazy Thing Called Love are original key, they'd have been a pain to change as they are fiddly and I play them in another band.

 

agreed mate

[markbunney]

14 hours ago, kiat said:

Great to read all the comments, tips, experiences, memories and choices!  Hopefully depping will be a bigger part of my playing life from now on for all sorts of reasons that many have mentioned already.

 

The dep setlist for this Saturday. A few days into a week's notice and seven basslines I already knew.

 

All those different keys are my worst nightmare!!

 

I’ve depped a few times and all the songs have been in the original key/recorded version.

 

i really struggle to practice & rehearse if I can’t play along to the original version.

 

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, markbunney said:

... i really struggle to practice & rehearse if I can’t play along to the original version.

 

Can you not change the key of your playback system..? Any track in Reaper, for instance (other DAW's are available...) can be transposed up or down, without changing tempo. Worth looking into..? 

Edited Tuesday at 08:15 by Dad3353

[TimR]

Crazy Little Thibg - check with the drummer for the triplets run down. Not all drummers can drum

 

Sweet Child could be interesting. 

 

Other than that, it looks fun. 

[markbunney]

16 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Can you not change the key of your playback system..? Any track in Reaper, for instance (other DAW's are available...) can be transposed up or down, without changing tempo. Worth looking into..? 

Thanks, I’ll I’ve a look into it.

 

i don’t currently use a DAW or anything like that. I generally play along to the track on my headphones on the Katana go

[BigRedX]

IME playing along to the recorded version always gives you a false sense of ability as the original part is there in the background as an unconscious safety net. Also the songs are EXACTLY the same every time, and while that should be what the band as a whole is aiming for, the reality is often a quite a bit different. In the days when I was playing covers, no matter how well I thought I'd nailed the bass line when practicing at home, in the rehearsal room with the rest of the band it would become rapidly obvious that there was still some way to go.

[Belka]

14 hours ago, kiat said:

Great to read all the comments, tips, experiences, memories and choices!  Hopefully depping will be a bigger part of my playing life from now on for all sorts of reasons that many have mentioned already.

 

The dep setlist for this Saturday. A few days into a week's notice and seven basslines I already knew.

 

Looks like a fun setlist - good luck with it. 

One thing to watch out for - with all those key changes I'd hazard a guess that the guitarist(s) is/are using a drop pedal/key change function on Kemper - from my experience they use the wrong preset, or forget to switch tuning at least once per gig - sometimes they realise and correct it, other times they don't  - if they don't (if it's just one guitarist with no other melodic instruments to indicate he's in the wrong key) you might have to transpose on the fly.

Edited Tuesday at 09:00 by Belka

[Kiwi]

18 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

IME playing along to the recorded version always gives you a false sense of ability as the original part is there in the background as an unconscious safety net. Also the songs are EXACTLY the same every time, and while that should be what the band as a whole is aiming for, the reality is often a quite a bit different. In the days when I was playing covers, no matter how well I thought I'd nailed the bass line when practicing at home, in the rehearsal room with the rest of the band it would become rapidly obvious that there was still some way to go.

Most of the time its about surviving the night with as few screw ups as possible.

[Stub Mandrel]

47 minutes ago, TimR said:

Crazy Little Thibg - check with the drummer for the triplets run down. Not all drummers can drum

 

Sweet Child could be interesting. 

 

Other than that, it looks fun. 

 

Played Crazy at a jam then at a dep and it just felt awkward ascthe drummers didn't leave any space. Felt so good when back with a drummer playing it properly. 

[chris_b]

20 minutes ago, Kiwi said:

Most of the time its about surviving the night with as few screw ups as possible.

 

If we play in any band we have to do better than "surviving the night". The "practice till you can't get it wrong" approach has to come into play for every gig we do. We are only playing songs with repeated sections joined together by bridges. It's all about patterns, and rhythms. For bad memories or not being given enough notice, chart everything.

 

I don't know about 50% of @kiat 's set list, but it's not rocket science. I've taken a copy and my challenge to myself is to play every song on that list by the end of the month.

[police squad]

there's only 4 songs on that list that I haven't played but whether I could get away with them now...............

The Wham! song has a great bassline but I've only ever sung it, so have no idea how to play it

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, markbunney said:

Thanks, I’ll I’ve a look into it.

 

i don’t currently use a DAW or anything like that. I generally play along to the track on my headphones on the Katana go

 

If you use VLC for playback, you can raise or lower the pitch (Tools | Effects | Audio effects | Advanced). Or, if you're using Youtube, you could try this: https://transpose.video/. Note: I have no experience of the latter.

 

We play Sweet Child a semitone down, I use a pitch shifter (Zoom MS-60B+) as I play it with other bands and at open mics in D.

[basexperience]

20 hours ago, kiat said:

Great to read all the comments, tips, experiences, memories and choices!  Hopefully depping will be a bigger part of my playing life from now on for all sorts of reasons that many have mentioned already.

 

The dep setlist for this Saturday. A few days into a week's notice and seven basslines I already knew.

 

I've depped now for a good 20 years, with increasing amounts in the last 10 years or so. I've done a couple of weddings already this year, and even had to turn a couple of last minute ones down last Saturday or risk being treble booked.

 

This setlist is so familiar, and that's a good thing! Also - they've given you great key information. Excellent work.

 

I think the key things which help me feel comfortable when depping, in no particular order, are:

• I play a lot of jam nights. Those songs - those core function band songs - these get played a lot. That helps keep them fresh.
• I make notes on iPad and have these on a mic stand in front of me. I'm using Gig Notes now but I was using OneNote. The notes are a sort of evolved shorthand shorthandbnotes with basic chord sequences and cover the gotchas like where the key is different, and include the chords in the right key. I try to keep them to a single page if possible, and note any silent bits or modulations / middle 8 weirdness. This really helps for songs I haven't played before. I might include a small piece of notation for some bass figure which *really* matters to the song.
• A lot of the bands who need a dep are playing standard sets and play them a lot. They'll be great, and that's half the battle when dipping - you need a solid drummer who is picking out something familiar to latch on to, ditto for at least keys or guitar.
• I always make sure I can hear myself well. I'm actually building a small personal monitoring system which will split the DI from my bass so I can feed a pair of in-ears, and I'll mix the ambient level separately, so I can use those if required (you find out pretty quickly during soundcheck if the band are balls-out)
• I get to the venue early so there's less stress full stop.
• I like to help break everything down - it's the right thing to do, and people will remember that you pitch in and don't just blow in, play, and vanish.
• I bring the bass I'm most familiar with, which I know is the easiest to play. That matters for comfort and confidence.

Hope those help. It's a fun thing to do: I'm actually on a pretty large FB bassist-only messenger group which shares deps between bassists and there have been some great ones on there!

[Burns-bass]

6 hours ago, TimR said:

Crazy Little Thibg - check with the drummer for the triplets run down. Not all drummers can drum

 

Sweet Child could be interesting. 

 

Other than that, it looks fun. 

I hate hate hate that song.

[Ed_S]

I've only done my first few dep gigs in the last year, but off the back of them the band I helped out say they now consider me their go-to, and I've also been invited to check out one of their drummer's other projects with a view to joining. Pretty happy with that, tbh.

 

It's their original material that I've been playing, so I guess it's a bit different to knowing a set of covers or standards, but turning up rehearsed, equipped and suitably attired was how I approached it all the same. I was very quick to check before accepting the gig that they were happy for me to play their songs 'as me' rather than trying to mimic their bassist's style; I just don't find that a fun thing to do, and fun plus a couple of drinks was the pay. Fortunately they were fine with that.

 

The one thing I did which might count as advice, is learn more of their songs than they'd asked me to. As it happened, one of the gigs was on a snowy evening which stopped another band on the bill from travelling and unexpectedly increased all the other set times in the lineup by 10 minutes, so me saying that I could play them another three songs was appreciated.

 

After the last gig, one of the singers came to apologise profusely for not having publicly thanked me on stage for helping them out (again, seems to be the done thing with originals; possibly less so with covers bands?) but said that she'd forgotten I wasn't actually in the band! I thought that was thanks enough.

[kiat]

Another dep last night, my 3rd and the 1st with this band. 25 great songs "learnt" in a week. First gig where I read off my tablet: hard to maintain focus on the score, check my fingerboard from time to time, get eye contact with bandmates and crowd, watch the drummer for visual clues. Had a blast though!

[kiat]

1 hour ago, kiat said:

Another dep last night, my 3rd and the 1st with this band. 25 great songs "learnt" in a week. First gig where I read off my tablet: hard to maintain focus on the score, check my fingerboard from time to time, get eye contact with bandmates and crowd, watch the drummer for visual clues. Had a blast though!

Usual process for me is to cut the songs out in the morning from the recording of the night before that I make when there's a reason to (a new band, set or drummer etc) and I have to say I'm cringing at my playing on the 2nd set opening song, Happy Hour - I'm playing it a semi-tone out, the first 3/4 🫣😥🥴.  My mind was convinced that the MD had given us all the correct band key (A) on the setlist, when in fact they all were ignoring it (except the new dep) because they always play it in Bb. Looking at the setlist later I realised that the MD had written down the band key was A, the original was B and the difference was -1. A clue.  At the time I knew it was off within the 1st bar, but kept going, wierdly my ears half adjusted to the discordance, but I knew that something was wrong and tried to figure out the right key whilst keeping the pattern. Stopping for a few moments would have been better.  Painful lesson. Note to self: trust my ears, not what I was told and find the right damn key PDQ!

[TimR]

Drummer: We are sounding pretty tight even with this dep guy.

Guitarist: Listen to my playing, I'm on fire! ...as usual.

Singer: Something is off somewhere, just can't quite hit the notes.

Punters: This band sounds great.

Bass player: Must keep smiling, Must keep smiling. 

 

🤣