First gig! (An emotional trip through the eyes of a bassist)

Pillz · #1 12-04-2007, 01:26 PM

Now I am not a writer by any means, so to keep the story short I present you with the Coles Notes of my first gig!

1. A week before the show, one of the speakers in the cab I was using blew.
2. During soundcheck my bass is sounding like a pile of ass, so I'm now stressing because rookie mistake, I don't have a spare bass. So I open up the battery compartment (DAMN YOU ACTIVE BASSES!) and notice that apparently last time I changed the battery I ripped one of the wires out (DAMN ME!!!)
Luckily for me another bassist was kind enough to lend me his bass for the show. He did have these words of encouragement as well "Hey, don't break any strings, I don't have any extras" ... dun dun dunnnn
3. During our first song guess what happens. BAM! Broken string, so now I'm there on stage depressed and thinking wow I just screwed up huuuge. But luckily I'm not hopeless in the be prepared department and unlike my other bassist friend I just met, I carry an extra set of strings.
So the band switches into a nice acoustic song while I change my string, get back in time for the next song, rock the hell out of the rest of the set and then grab a beer and remember the biggest life lesson of the night.

ALWAYS BRING AN EXTRA BASS TO A GIG

But after all is said and done, I had a whole lot of fun, and I can't wait untill our next show!

And one little shameless self promotion
myspace.com/inperfectcursive

But I must say, playing bass, live, with a band you enjoy... AWESOME!

mjolnir · #2 12-04-2007, 01:30 PM

Haha... Congrats on lessons learned and proving that you got yer act together first time out even despite the obstacles.

Cheers.

(chug)

P.S. In my (especially compared to many of the more... seasoned... TB'ers) limited experience, the gigs only get better.

Dave R · #3 12-04-2007, 07:24 PM

Quote:

But I must say, playing bass, live, with a band you enjoy... AWESOME!

Testify, brutha, testify. That's why we all do this, right?

You seem a lot younger than me. I'm 52. And I STILL think playing with a band you love is AWESOME.

alfredpunkjazz · #4 12-04-2007, 07:33 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Man, You're strong and have learned a good lesson... But breaking a string after you're told not to do it... LOL

JeffC · #5 12-05-2007, 11:18 AM

I had a listen to your MySpace page, it's good stuff!

My drummer is from Sutton, lives on old homestead rd. The internet is random like that. Rock on.

Gubna · #6 12-05-2007, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pillz

Luckily for me another bassist was kind enough to lend me his bass for the show.

... and then grab a beer

I hope you bought him one, or at least thanked him. I busted a string or two live before, but always had the back up at the ready (and tuned).

I seemed to have this happen at alot of shows: where bass players would somehow forget "their rig", only once it was a bass. I lent my back up bass once, and my amp got used on more than one occassion. I stopped that - unless it was someone I knew. After all, if you're gonna play bass, it's really your responsibility to get your gear to the gig.

my favorite stories were

"I forgot to bring my amp, can I use yours".
This was after many times of my singer telling the other band it would be okay to use our gear without checking with all of us. too often said band would just crank on the bass even if I told them not to turn it past a certain level on my amp (well, I was paranoid back then of it getting damaged - nothing ever bad happened). Anyway, this time was the last straw and I sent the guy packing - he had to drive back to his studio to get his amp. What's funny about that is that was the bass player who replaced me in the band after I left - and now were friends!

Then there was another time, I think our 2nd gig, somewhere out in Merced, and some kids were playing and asked if they could use my amp - I never even got so much as a thank you.

and the best of all,
my singer said that the other band wanted to know if they could use our gear, and I was skeptical, but some hot chick comes up to me asking if it would be alright. Of course I said yes, but she wasn't the bass player, in fact, she wasn't even in the band! must've been someone's girlfriend.