First tryout

Big Brother · #1 03-29-2011, 08:30 PM

First of all I've never really officially been a bass player until I guess now. My background is playing all the bass instruments in band and orchestra growing up, then keys in a 90s band back in the early 90s. That's really it. Otherwise I just jammed on a cheap Rickenbacker bass I picked up at GC to Grateful Dead and Beatles tunes I liked for fun. I always liked playing it.

I somehow got the bug again almost 20 something years later after seeing someone jamming on the boardwalk a few months ago with a short scale bass and a guitar player and it sounded great.

I kept thinking about it so I registered here, read some, read some more, bought a couple of basses to restock the stable and now 5 weeks later I sent in a quick recording playing 'Snow' and I seem to have the inside track to a newly forming 90s cover band. Tryout is Thursday but looks good after talking with them.

Thanks all, I've read a lot here and the fun is just starting.

I just hope I remember all the roots...

Jim Campbell · #2 03-29-2011, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Brother

First of all I've never really officially been a bass player until I guess now. My background is playing all the bass instruments in band and orchestra growing up, then keys in a 90s band back in the early 90s. That's really it. Otherwise I just jammed on a cheap Rickenbacker bass I picked up at GC to Grateful Dead and Beatles tunes I liked for fun. I always liked playing it.

I somehow got the bug again almost 20 something years later after seeing someone jamming on the boardwalk a few months ago with a short scale bass and a guitar player and it sounded great.

I kept thinking about it so I registered here, read some, read some more, bought a couple of basses to restock the stable and now 5 weeks later I sent in a quick recording playing 'Snow' and I seem to have the inside track to a newly forming 90s cover band. Tryout is Thursday but looks good after talking with them.

Thanks all, I've read a lot here and the fun is just starting.

I just hope I remember all the roots...

somehow i just cannot fathom the words rickenbacker and cheap in the same sentence....

totallyfrozen · #3 03-29-2011, 08:35 PM

If you know the chords, you know the roots. Just get chord charts (or make your own) for the songs that you will be playing.

Good luck

Big Brother · #4 03-30-2011, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

somehow i just cannot fathom the words rickenbacker and cheap in the same sentence....

Authentic vintage Rickenbacker 3001, $110 with a case at Guitar Center.

I bought it in the late 80's before 'used' turned into 'vintage.'

I quit playing the first time around because someone stole it from my garage. Supposedly it is very rare and becoming collectible now, to me it was always the cheap (but solid) bass that pushy wad at GC hurried me out the door with. I never suspected it might actually go up 10x in value.

Got one day to learn these tunes...

Santeria - Sublime
I'm Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage
Come as You Are - Nirvana
Zombie - Cranberries
My Own Worst Enemy - Lit
Under The Milky Way - The Church

Yerf Dog · #5 03-30-2011, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Brother

Got one day to learn these tunes...

Santeria - Sublime
I'm Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage
Come as You Are - Nirvana
Zombie - Cranberries
My Own Worst Enemy - Lit
Under The Milky Way - The Church

KenHR · #6 03-30-2011, 02:31 PM

Awesome, and best of luck.

Only Happy When It Rains is hella fun to play on bass, too!

Dan Kahanamoku · #7 03-30-2011, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

somehow i just cannot fathom the words rickenbacker and cheap in the same sentence....

Exactly what I was thinking.

Dan Kahanamoku · #8 03-30-2011, 03:06 PM

Santeria is an awesome bass line as well. One of my favorites.

pklima · #9 03-30-2011, 03:07 PM

Go for it, good luck and have fun!

Big Brother · #10 04-01-2011, 10:38 AM

It wasn't too hard to learn the songs in a (looong) day and it went fairly well, they seemed impressed enough that I learned all the songs in a day as I was honest about where I was coming from. Santeria actually turned out pretty well and when we got to Everlong they asked me to crank it up for a second go because they were getting into it and wanted to play it again for fun. A one hour tryout turned into a 3 hour jam though and once the songs I learned ran out, I was LOST. Some of them I never even heard OF much less heard before.

It actually was going OK until they started calling out Chili Peppers tunes, I'm not sure if they realized they might be a bit tough to just play on the fly...

I realize more than anything else from this that I have a LOT of work to do learning songs that everyone else already knows, my repertoire is what I learned for the tryout.

I feel like a teenager in love because my hands know what they want to do, just not quite where to go yet.

Jeff K · #11 04-01-2011, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Kahanamoku

Santeria is an awesome bass line as well. One of my favorites.

I agree. Great feel to it, and very fun to play.

Big Brother · #12 04-01-2011, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yerf Dog

Got the job, amazingly.

Quote:

As I mentioned last night, we had planned to audition some more bass players. But we like you and don't see a need to audition anyone else, assuming you decide to join us.

Now the sobering reality of learning dozens of new songs that I've never heard before.