Bassists in demand?

lowender · #1 01-16-2006, 02:35 PM

Hello folks
I read an article in an old Bass Player and also it came up again in conversation recently that us bass players are a rare and lucky sort in that there are plenty more gigs around than there are bass players to fill. Would anyone out there have an opinion on this?
Are we really that much in demand?
Also would you say bass players or drummers are in more demand in general nowadays?
Being a drumming bass player it would be interesting to discuss.
In particular any freelancing tips would be welcome in this thread also.
Thanks

g00eY · #2 01-16-2006, 02:54 PM

i dunno about that. at least at my church. we had a conference over Thanksgiving and i was supposed to play that night, but i had dinner with my family that particular night, so they easily replaced me. we had 4 people that were local to our church, and could play bass well. not only that, but i just handed down an old bass to another kid who wants to learn. so pretty much my church has a lot of bass players

.

astronauts_suck · #3 01-16-2006, 02:57 PM

I would tend to think that drummers are the hardest to come by, at least in my area. It's damn near impossible to find a good drummer around here, yet I can name plenty of bassists without having to strain my head.

FeelTheGroove · #4 01-16-2006, 03:04 PM

I always notice in music classifieds, that for every ad looking for a guitar player...there are probably 2 or 3 looking for a bass player. Bass is a less popular instrument, especially for kids these days that are first taking up an instrument. For example, thats why a Musician's Friend catalog has like 10 pages of guitars and maybe 3 pages of basses. There are definatly more gigs available for good bass players, especially outside of rock music. (jazz, blues, etc.)

unatratnag · #5 01-16-2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowender

Would anyone out there have an opinion on this?
Also would you say bass players or drummers are in more demand in general nowadays?

Sure, if you're searching for jobs, I'd say keep your eyes and ears open. The most important thing IMO is to network. You play a gig with one guy and he might rope you into another if he digs your sound/finds you easy to work with *shrug*

Tomixxx or something like that posted some goods tips on setup/studio etiquette that's a good read if you're getting into that scene.

loendmaestro · #6 01-16-2006, 06:49 PM

I'm in 4 bands right now. Could be more but I don't have time for everyone. Thank god some of them are "part time gigs". I was in a music store the other day & a mom was shopping for a bass with her son. She asked me about basses and I said: "Get him a bass & he'll NEVER be without a gig."

tommixx · #7 01-16-2006, 07:00 PM

From my own experience I can only say that it seems like there are plenty of people who play bass just as there are plenty of people who play guitar. The difference is there are people who play bass and there are people who are bass PLAYERS. Everybody wants to play with a PLAYER. When you get in a situation where you are playing with PLAYERS you will know the difference quickly. I don't think there are as many great drummers (I should say I KNOW there are not a lot of great drummers out there!!

) as there seem to be guitatrists. I know quite a few really gifted guiatrists and keyboardists but I don't nearly as many really good bassists or drummers. I work all I want to and turn down things all the time so I can only attribute that to there being more of a demand than there is supply.

If you are good on bass AND drums you should be turning down work too!!

Peace,

T