Hey folks,
I fill in on electric bass for a church worship band from time to time. It's an easy enough gig, backline is provided, and it's a good stretch for my ear to learn new songs every time they ask me to come in.
Anyway, after 18 months of practicing, I'm *finally* at the point where I felt comfortable enough to play a whole gig with only my (unlined) fretless. I thought this church gig tonight would be a good time to give it a go, since all the songs are pretty easy and I will not be called upon to solo. I usually bring a back-up, but I told myself that I would not do that this time, because I figured I would chicken out and play the fretted if I knew it was there.
The lineup was acoustic guitarist & vocals, electric guitarist and vocals, lead vocalist, drummer, and me. It's a decent-sized room and there were about 100 people there tonight.
Starting out, I had plenty of acoustic guitar in my monitor, and plenty of kick drum so I wouldn't focus too much on intonation and forget to lock in.
This worship band has a habit of jumping into things - an extra chorus, changing dynamics on the fly, even quoting other tunes if the tempo & key fit. It keeps me on my toes and it's good for my ear, so I don't mind it at all. They don't really play one song, and then another song, stopping in betwen; they kind of just blend from one tune into the next for an hour and a half, fitting in maybe 10 or 12 different worship songs overall.
Fifteen minutes into the 90-minute set, my wedge monitor suddenly crackles LOUDLY and then goes completely dead! All I could hear were the crash cymbals & snare, which were directly behind me. I waved at the monitor engineer, but apparently there was a problem with the FOH board, and both engineers were in the booth. I couldn't just stop playing, but I don't know any of these songs, and I completely depend on the acoustic in my monitor for structure - and tonight, intonation as well!
Fortunately, I was using a 21' Monster cable, so I was able to sneak over to the electric guitarist's 2x12 and listen to that. He caught on and switched from lead to rhythm whenever we changed parts, and I was able to hear some bleed from his wedge for my bass sound, too (although it was mostly his vocal).
I never did get the monitor engineer to come back up to the stage, and we never figured out what exactly blew the monitor, either. I played the rest of the night the best I could under the circumstances, picked up my $ and that was that!
Apparently, nobody in the audience knew anything was wrong; they just thought I decided to stand over by the electric guitarist instead. I guess I'm not totally useless on fretless, then!
Lesson learned: *NEVER* gig without a backup! (bass AND monitor, haha)
- Dave
