Most pitiful thing youve ever seen a bassist do live

[Jebberz]

1st show... coiled bass cord (those like a telephone cord) and amp with casters. The amp was following me on the stage.

[Joedog]

Got to a gig (knew the guys) early. Bass player (kinda goofy) was lifting his Ampeg 8-10 onto the stage (one step) and lost his balance. He ended up on the floor UNDER the cab, with just his forearms and lower legs sticking out. A couple of us lifted it off him, trying really hard not to crack up.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Jebberz

1st show... coiled bass cord (those like a telephone cord) and amp with casters. The amp was following me on the stage.

Thats kind of awesome, you could make that your gimmick.

[DerTeufel]

Originally Posted by Jebberz

1st show... coiled bass cord (those like a telephone cord) and amp with casters. The amp was following me on the stage.

The mental image of this is hilarious.

[Marty Forrer]

Bass players who stand with legs wide apart, bass slung at knee level, and banging their stupid heads seems pretty pitiful to me.

[jbybj]

Originally Posted by Waffles and Scotch

My first band was a progressive metal band (think Athiest's first album). There was this one song that just didn't sound right - no matter what I did. Turns out I was playing a half step higher than where I should've been. The best part is, although it took me a year to figure that out, nobody ever caught it and I got all kinds of compliments on my bassline...

The Los Angeles Philharmonic was rehearsing in the newly completed Disney hall, before their first performance in the new, awesome space. The Conductor, Esa Pekka Salonen, kept stopping the orchestra at the same spot, chastising them for playing the wrong note. The orchestra was confused, and showed the conductor the music sheets. It turns out the music they had used for years, had been transcribed incorrectly, and they had always played the wrong note. Esa had never heard it before they found themselves in the new hall.

[vishuddha]

Originally Posted by Marty Forrer

Bass players who stand with legs wide apart, bass slung at knee level, and banging their stupid heads seems pretty pitiful to me.

I play in the "power stance", and do a slow headbang, but I definitely keep my bass at a reasonable level (stomach area).

[SnowCal]

This wasn't done as a bassist but I did a spectacular stage dive playing trumpet in high school jazz band. Sitting up at the top of bleachers with no back. And we have actual chairs up there. It's pretty tight so me and all the other trumpet players are leaning our chair's off the stage against an acoustic shell to make more room. After a solo I go to sit down and forget to put the chair back on stage. Fell about 8 feet, with the chair, onto my back. And I wiped out the shell. Destroyed it.

I did finish the show.

[NelsonNelson]

I was playing bass in our band at a late night rehearsal acting my stupid self, goofing around and all even though there was a friend of the singer's (or so he said) there that night too, which wasn't out of the ordinary. I thought nothing of it....come the next day I find out it was the head A&R rep from Epitaph records who wanted to sign us to their label....lol

We were offered to sign, but in seeing all the fancy fine print and realizing we would be living off ramen noodles for years on the road...we disbanded.

[fraublugher]

Originally Posted by fender099

Oh man, in one local gig the bass player forgot to loop his cord and yanked it out 3 times in 1 song. The whole band had to stop every time.

Heh , no they didn't.

[thedudebrah]

This weekend a bass player in a band before mine had turned his amp on and attempted to play along to the house music (where is my mind by the pixies) and couldn't hit a single note of it.

[fender099]

Originally Posted by fraublugher

Heh , no they didn't.

Yes, the bass player made them. He took off the bass and started shouting Hold it, hold it.

[morrisonhendrix]

Originally Posted by Webtroll

I like Michael Anthony, but his bass solo at the Monsters of Rock in Dallas however long ago was just plain stupid. Jack Daniels bottle and bass. Do a sloppy riff, drink some Jack, crowd cheers. Do another stupid riff, drink more Jack, crowd cheers. Hell, he could have put the bass down and drank Jack and the crowd would have cheered. I wasn't expecting Billy Sheehan, but it would have been nice if he'd tried or skipped the solo entirely.

I've seen him do that and thought the exact same thing.

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by fender099

Yes, the bass player made them. He took off the bass and started shouting Hold it, hold it.

What a "pro" move - NOT!

[TolerancEJ]

Originally Posted by notverygood

Worst thing I've ever seen was Warrent playing Six Flags. The whole band was awful, but the LG and the BP tried to do this weird headbang/jam thing together and the LG had a double-necked guitar (for no reason). You could tell it was getting too heavy for him, but he kept going. It looked like two nerds trying to high-five each other, but missing. He followed it with a truly bad solo. I blame it on his exhaustion.

Spot on. That's where Warrant belongs. lol

Originally Posted by Cody Stanley

My first gig. I was so nervous I stood facing sideways for most of the set

Understandable: I felt that for my first few shows, myself.

Originally Posted by Joedog

Got to a gig (knew the guys) early. Bass player (kinda goofy) was lifting his Ampeg 8-10 onto the stage (one step) and lost his balance. He ended up on the floor UNDER the cab, with just his forearms and lower legs sticking out. A couple of us lifted it off him, trying really hard not to crack up.

That's gotta suck! If he got up & played the show after being crushed by an Ampeg fridge, my hat goes off to him.

Ok, I've laughed at other peoples' misfortunes enough. I suppose I have to add my own.

All the comments on tuning guitars... My story didn't happen on stage. Rather it happened in music class at school. I had just received my first guitar for Xmas & enrolled in the school's music class immediately in January. The class sat in the practice room and begun playing the first song. The teacher stopped us & asked whose guitar is out of tune. (There were a few other guitarists in the class.) He asked one of the horn players to play a note. One by one, he asked each of the guitarists to play that note. Obviously, all were fine until it came to me. From the front of the room, he guided the tuning of my guitar. The first thing I learned in music class was to tune my guitar. It was so humiliating but I never forgot how from that point.

Here's another one of my own. The one and only time I did a bass solo, I attempted Stu Hamm's solo. Needless to say, with anxiety & nervousness on stage... Musically-speaking I fell flat on my face for that performance. I sucked big time! To make matters worse, that was after the guitarist and drummer just finished doing wicked solos.

[Richland123]

Bass guitarists playing key bass instead.

[DwaynieAD]

Originally Posted by Jebberz

1st show... coiled bass cord (those like a telephone cord) and amp with casters. The amp was following me on the stage.

do this on purpose at every gig. famous in no time.

[tastybasslines]

I saw a guy once sneeze a huge booger right onto his bass during a song at my local bar. He scooped it up with the bottom of his left palm, looked around for a sec not knowing what to do and then decided to wipe it onto his headstock. He wiped the remainder onto his jeans and then played through the rest of the song before getting a napkin to wipe it off. Pretty gross. Not sure if a few extra seconds is worth doing that but I give the guy credit for keeping on going.

[Megas3300]

Originally Posted by Jebberz

1st show... coiled bass cord (those like a telephone cord) and amp with casters. The amp was following me on the stage.

The mental image of this has me smiling in the lab at work... a little too much.

[Richland123]

Originally Posted by Jebberz

1st show... coiled bass cord (those like a telephone cord) and amp with casters. The amp was following me on the stage.

When I was a teenager back in the 70s, I had a Kustom 150 bass amp on casters and used coiled cords and had that happen to me many times.