ANyone played bass in this type of trio?

[squeally dan]

I am a guitar player learning bass for my wedding/r&b/funk band. I originally thought I would be playing bass with a drummer/singer, keyboardist, and a sax player. THe keyboard player now wants me to continue playing guitar, but he wnats me to play bass when he needs two hands for a solo and can't cover the bass for a few seconds. He wants me to play guitar but have a bass in a stand. He also wants to run a Y-cord out of the bass amp so we can run my bass as well as the keyboard that he will have designated to play bass on in to the bass amp. He says he has done this in another band and it worked. He wants to match the key bass and the bass guitar tones so they will sound very simmilar. SO some songs I would play all bass, but on songs that need guitar I would play guitar and only swtich to bass for a few seconds while he solos. This would save us having to hire a full time bassist or guitarist and we would make more money. Has anyone here ever done this, and will it work? I think it would be cool if we can pull it off.

[wazzel]

Nope, but I did play in a Ben Folds Five kind of thing with me on bass, a piano and drums. It was fun tho short lived.

[namraj]

I play in a wedding trio that is bass, guitar and lead vocals (he also plays guitar and piano) everything else (snyths, horns, piano, drums etc) are programed before hand using a backingtrack kinda idea, but all backing tracks are created by us before hand. that works well so sack the keyboard player and program him :P jks x

[BassChuck]

The closest I've come to that was playing in a dixieland band at a theme park. I played BG for all the tunes and also did the trumpet solos. When it was time for a solo I played trumpet with my right hand and bass with the left only.

I think what your Keyboard player is suggesting is a little odd, the sound of the group will really change from BG to keyboard covering the roots.

FWIW, I've never played with a keyboard player who didn't love the idea of controlling the bass notes. They just have to get used to the idea that in a band setting, someone else might have a little control over something.

[Bassic83]

I've covered keys before, but in a little different fashion. I play keys on some songs while I play bass with my left hand. Right hand keys, left hand bass...I'm formerly a keyboard player, so my right hand is strong enough to do it. People get amazed and all, but it's really not that different from playing just keyboards alone, you just flip your left hand over so it's playing the bass parts on a bass, rather than the lower octaves of keys.

[rooted]

Get a double neck guitar/bass. That would make the switch pretty easy.

[Marcury]

Haven't done this kind of thing and honestly it sounds like a PITA. I think your best bet would be an octave pedal. Since it's only for short stints, you could switch it on and play bass lines that way. the switching things sounds like a recipe for disaster. And since when can't a keyboard player play bass lines when he solos anyway?

[Medford Bassman]

I've done the doubling thing before, it is a PITA. it's alot of work to make the switches all night at a show. While it's not nice fun to split the $ another way for another player , it sure would lower your stress factor. Of course, if you stick to just bass with this keyboardist, it sounds like you may be battling with him over what you're playing.

Good Luck.

[Bassic83]

My advice is, either quit the band or replace the keyboardista. He sounds like he's trying to become the defacto musical director. It's a power struggle thing, and he knows he's not quite up to snuff in the musicality department.

[Deacon_Blues]

Yep, I agree that doesn't sound really smart. Either you will hire a guitarist, or then you will split up. Doing things a certain way against your will never work in the long run.

In my old band, in which I at first played guitar, the keyboardist had to play bass on the keys when the bassist couldn't make it to the gig. He (the keyboardist) hated to do it...