Do you have any bass rituals?

[awilkie84]

Originally Posted by MD

Before I put my truck in gear, I check the back...

"Bass, amp, cab, gig bag, stand, stool"

OK.

I hope the bass is in the gig bag when you do this. :P

[SactoBass]

Yes. Before every gig, I go through a three phase ritual as follows:

PHASE ONE
I begin by putting the bass still in its case lying flat on the floor with the case open, and hovering both of my hands about three feet above the case while I chant ancient mahamrityunjaya mantras for two minutes and 30 seconds. I then stop, look in both directions (left to right), then yell "HEI" followed by taking a deep breath in, and then forcefully exhaling as slowly as possible. Only then am I able to move on to Phase Two of the ritual.

PHASE TWO
Utilizing the secret code, I open my Cryptex lock box and remove the revered contents: my 12" by 12" mojo cloth. I proceed to wipe down the bass with it, knowing that this cloth is mojoizing the bass in its entirety with each swipe. This mojo cloth was made exclusively for me and was anointed with powerful mojo substances and sold to me via mail order from a guy wearing a suit and tie on TV at 2am who accepts VISA.

PHASE THREE
After the Phase One chant and the Phase Two mojoizing, with the bass still lying in its case on the floor, I am then ready for the third and final phase of the ritual. I have a group of six lesbian nazi hookers who were abducted by aliens and forced into weight loss programs march in unison slowly around my bass humming the theme song for The Monkees. At the end, they all stop momentarily, they close their eyes, tilt their heads back, raise their hands as high as they can, and walk out of the picture.

I then grab my bass and go rock out. Works every time!

[Macrocosmcwh]

Originally Posted by SactoBass

Yes. Before every gig, I go through a three phase ritual as follows:

PHASE ONE
I begin by putting the bass still in its case lying flat on the floor with the case open, and hovering both of my hands about three feet above the case while I chant ancient mahamrityunjaya mantras for two minutes and 30 seconds. I then stop, look in both directions (left to right), then yell "HEI" followed by taking a deep breath in, and then forcefully exhaling as slowly as possible. Only then am I able to move on to Phase Two of the ritual.

PHASE TWO
Utilizing the secret code, I open my Cryptex lock box and remove the revered contents: my 12" by 12" mojo cloth. I proceed to wipe down the bass with it, knowing that this cloth is mojoizing the bass in its entirety with each swipe. This mojo cloth was made exclusively for me and was anointed with powerful mojo substances and sold to me via mail order from a guy wearing a suit and tie on TV at 2am who accepts VISA.

PHASE THREE
After the Phase One chant and the Phase Two mojoizing, with the bass still lying in its case on the floor, I am then ready for the third and final phase of the ritual. I have a group of six lesbian nazi hookers who were abducted by aliens and forced into weight loss programs march in unison slowly around my bass humming the theme song for The Monkees. At the end, they all stop momentarily, they close their eyes, tilt their heads back, raise their hands as high as they can, and walk out of the picture.

I then grab my bass and go rock out. Works every time!

OK I would kill to have a beer with you! Hahahahahaha Ever in Arizona?

[RobJ]

I always wash my hands before touching my bass and that's at gigs or rehearsal. I don't recall when that first started but it's been a bit of an obsessive thing for me for at least the past 30 years. Aside from that I usually do some tendon stretches on my hands and wrists but that's hit or miss depending on how tight they feel and how much I've been playing recently.

[4OnTheFloor]

Originally Posted by cableguy

I usually at least try to tune.

+11

[SactoBass]

Originally Posted by Macrocosmcwh

OK I would kill to have a beer with you! Hahahahahaha Ever in Arizona?

My wife and I were in Lake Havasu City in early June of this year hangin out with my daughter and son-in-law on their boat and at their vacation home. That was right after visiting Tatooine......places in Death Valley where George Lucas filmed in 1975 for the very first Star Wars movie...my son got a kick out of that, as did I.

We didn't have any beer.......only tequila.

"What's tequila?"

"It's like beer."

[lowphatbass]

Cable inside the strap, even with my Dingwall with a locking jack, it's a ritual. I also like to heat-up the neck and strings a little with friction, this basically means rubbing the neck up and down pretty enthusiastically. I sometimes make eye contact with audience members while I'm doing this, I make sure not to smile.

[M.R. Ogle]

Not really a ritual, buuuttt..

I always wired up everything, checking every connection and cord, then tune up BEFORE imbibing in anything... anything...

Learned my lesson in younger, dumber times. Really hard to troubleshoot a signal path while the rest of the band is standing around watch-tapping (or worse, playing full-volume) if you're slightly baked or into your second round of "Liquid Stupid."

[P. Aaron]

Usually the day before a gig, I decide how to coordinate my onstage wear with which bass...white, sunburst or black & maple? These can be difficult choices. How's the lighting? Stage size...which shoes? Tarting up one's hair, etc.

The look matters so much.

Before heading out, I always check the gear: cabinet, amp, bass, gig bag.

Ditto for having clean hands before going onstage.

[Hilton Marsh]

I alway kiss my wife's boobs before taking to the stage. If she cant make it to the gig (having a baby or doctoring someone) then I kiss them before I leave home. My bass tech always asks me 'have you kissed the "boys"' (my nickname for her boobs), I answer "yes" and he hands me a bass. On one ocassion I said "no" and he produced a photo of my wife's boobs for me to kiss. It's been a ritual since 1996 and I've noticed our drummer is now doing the same with his wife. I'll post a picture of a T-shirt one of our fans had made up that says "Have you kissed the boys yet".

Our band also has a ritual. We meet backstage to toast the gig with a nip of Drambuie and the toast is always the same: " take no prisioners "

[slobake]

Part of my ritual is always calming down our singer before we start. That and asking our guitarist to turn it up, I know this one is hard to believe, he's very shy. I also high five our drummer. We all pray together too.

[jasper383]

My ritual:
Strap on bass.
Melt faces.

Actually, I don't have one.

[rapidfirerob]

+1 on the tuning, a fine idea. I always do a warm up exercise before I play (besides drinking a beer). I now make sure the mic cable is plugged into my DI, as this past August we headlined and the sound man forgot to plug it in after the second group. I also wipe down the stings afterwards, just with a regular cloth. I also double check to be sure my stuff is in the car with me. I'm especially paranoid about the Genz Benz 6.0, as the size makes it easy to overlook (or steal). My old GK 800RB never was an issue in this regard. I too high five the drummer (or both if we have the two of them with us) after the gig.

[SactoBass]

Originally Posted by Hilton Marsh

I alway kiss my wife's boobs before taking to the stage.

That post (and this thread in general) reminds me of when Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Palmer (the famous golfer) were guests on the Johnny Carson show.

Johnny turned to Mrs. Palmer and asked, "what do you do to give your husband good luck on the golf course?"

She replied, "I kiss his balls."

After the audience laughed loudly, Johnny replied, "I'll bet that really makes his putter stand up!"

True story!!!

[chuck norriss]

I study a few days before--try to memorize if I can. Then listen to something completely opposite.
Ritual: Tune my bass several times.

[J.D.B.]

I like to wash my hands before I pick up the instrument. Ten times!

[Ric5]

Do you have any bass rituals?

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I always tune up before I play ...

[davidjackson]

I always have the 'trigger' on my Ashdown amp set to mute until the last few seconds before the first song. Flicking the switch just as the drummer begins the count makes me feel like I have just "locked on" in true Top Gun style and am ready to rock.

It would be far more practical to simply have the volume turned down on the bass but it wouldn't feel as cool.

[davidjackson]

Originally Posted by Hilton Marsh

he produced a photo of my wife's boobs for me to kiss.

I'm not even going to ask...

[enricogaletta]

Probably just cleaning my hand and warmup or just the first one, it just depends!
Cheers.