How common are bassists in your area?

TheYoungBassist · #1 07-29-2011, 07:29 PM

In my area here in Texas, there are not many bass players. I don't know of ANY bass players in the town I live in or the surrounding towns.

Everyone in my school that wants to start a band come running to me to play bass. I don't blame them, but it gets a bit annoying.

So how hard is it to find a bassist in your area?
Anyone think they know why there aren't as many bass players as guitarists or drummers?

MCT · #2 07-30-2011, 01:20 AM

Not too common in our town's rock/punk/metal scene, but we have a lot of bluegrass and country players. Dalton, GA.

N.F.A. · #3 07-30-2011, 01:36 AM

A metric ton of them around here.

Ironderby · #4 07-30-2011, 02:04 AM

You wont notice them like guitarists, we have an area where the metal head kids hang out in our city, so you normally see guitarists, with their gig bags on their way to band practice, most of them are crap. But anyway, there are probably 1:3 bass:guitar ratio

**JxBass** · #5 07-30-2011, 03:55 AM

In Portland area: bassists > bands > gigs ... mathematically speaking

hrodbert696 · #6 07-30-2011, 04:32 AM

Hard to say. I seem to run into guys that play bass on a fairly regular basis, and I haven't had piles of people begging me to join their bands, like there's a serious shortage. On the other hand, I also sometimes hear comments that more bassists are needed. I guess we're somewhere in the middle - not dropping from the trees like guitarists, but not phoenix-rare like keys players or decent drummers.

LiamPodmore · #7 07-30-2011, 05:14 AM

In my town there are rougly 5 people who play bass. Me, my bands guitarist, a guy in a slightly famous band called Our Fold, and 2 of my friends, one of which is just starting out.

Liam

mexicola17 · #8 07-30-2011, 05:22 AM

There's actually more bassists in my area than guitarists (me included) or drummers.

Hutzbordello · #9 07-30-2011, 06:18 AM

out of all of my friends who play its more bassists, one more guitarist than drummers of which there are two.

youd think wed all be in bands with each other...

**powmetalbassist** · #10 07-30-2011, 06:47 AM

Depends what you mean by bassist. Every idiot around here plays guitar. So a bunch of the really bad ones get handed a bass and told to shut up by the other idiots who are only slightly better then they are at guitar.

If you mean real bassists, who understand the instrument and how it can and should be played then they are rare.

Chef FourString · #11 07-30-2011, 07:03 AM

In my part of Texas (Hill Country) there are very few bassist around. Everyone either plays guitar or a guitar. I have to tell people to stop asking me if I want to play with them. All they ever want to play is country and not the good kind either. I'm glad I have the friends I do to play with. We play what we want, not what people want to hear.

DwaynieAD · #12 07-30-2011, 07:06 AM

most around here are "i play guitar so i can play bass" bassists, but there are a few that really impress me too

DwaynieAD · #13 07-30-2011, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hutzbordello

youd think wed all be in bands with each other...

my cousin is a very good guitar player and singer, his best friend it an amazing drummer, they have a mutual friend who is a very good guitarist, they all know me and i play bass

no band has happened in the past 10 years

Rodger Bryan · #14 07-30-2011, 07:19 AM

In southern CT, the bass population is healthy. (I'm halfway between NYC and Boston) Electric, jazz, orchestral, many doublers. Very fine players are lurking in the bullpen- working full time and gigging weekends.

GypsyMan · #15 07-30-2011, 07:42 AM

I live in Denton Texas; home of UNT, so you can't sling a Dead Cat without running into Bassists that are better than me!

bolophonic · #16 07-30-2011, 09:01 AM

We have phenomenal bassists around here. The bar has been set extremely high.

groooooove · #17 07-30-2011, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheYoungBassist

In my area here in Texas, there are not many bass players. I don't know of ANY bass players in the town I live in or the surrounding towns.

Everyone in my school that wants to start a band come running to me to play bass. I don't blame them, but it gets a bit annoying.

So how hard is it to find a bassist in your area?
Anyone think they know why there aren't as many bass players as guitarists or drummers?

how old are you?

i felt like that when i was in highschool and stuff. but now i know that theres tons of them. theyre everywhere.

TheYoungBassist · #18 07-30-2011, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GypsyMan

I live in Denton Texas; home of UNT, so you can't sling a Dead Cat without running into Bassists that are better than me!

I live about 45 minutes from Denton

TheYoungBassist · #19 07-30-2011, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by groooooove

how old are you?

i felt like that when i was in highschool and stuff. but now i know that theres tons of them. theyre everywhere.

Highschool class of 2015. Freshman this year.

Mykk · #20 07-30-2011, 09:57 AM

My two locations, Central Arizona and Los Angeles:

In Arizona, bass players are rare. Good musicians are rare. Good bands are even rarer.

In Los Angeles, everyone here plays something. Even if they don't play anything they are still in a band. Bass players are plentiful, but if you ask the working bands out here. A good, reliable bassist who "has their act together" is extremely rare.

But at the same time, bands in LA expect the bass player to have pro multi-thousand dollar equipment, transportation and commute 1 hr to the rehearsal, get set up 15 minutes before everyone else, perform a rehearsal like it's a filled stadium show, look like their favorite rockstar, do enough drugs to have a free mind but not a dependency, and than tear down and load your equipment by yourself and repeat this for 3-4 nights a week not counting shows.... and they want you to do it for free, most bands even want you to pay for this experience in "studio rent"

So really, I'm not surprised that bass players in LA come across as flakes when they stop showing up.