Stupid advice or stupid things you've done (bass wise).

[madbassplaya]

I see beginning bassist post questions all the time like: "so and so said to do this. Is that a good idea?" and more times than not it's a bad idea.

I'm curious if you guys have used any bad advice and thought it was the gospel or if you've done something kinda stupid yourself by accident?

Here's my stupid story:

When I first began playing, I was 15, I wasn't on TB and I didn't know how to set up a bass...I barely knew how to restring it. I had just restrung my bass though with some super heavy gauge strings and the neck needed an adjustment. I was scared to mess anything up so I took the bass to the shop I bought it from and had their luthier/tech look at it. By the way, this guy is legit and I trust him with any job that I need done. The Tech set it up and he said, your board is getting dry next time you restring this bass use some lemon oil. I said ok and took my bass home.

The next time I restrung the bass I went out and bought some lemon juice. Put it on my bass and wow not only did it shine, but it smelt great too! I noticed though, that after it dried my board didn't look any better, it actually looked worse. I did this for about 6 months. I took the bass in for a set up and told the tech I had been using lemon juice (like he had told me) and it was making it worse and he laughed at me.

BIG difference between lemon oil and lemon juice. 2 months after he did that set up I could have swore he said lemon juice.

[MRDOOM]

When I first got my bass I borrowed my sister's electric tuner(she plays violin), only thing is, I didn't realize that the tuner had an input jack and tried to tune my bass by holding the tuner up to the little amp that I had. Also tried to play my bass with her bow, didn't work.

[Justbleazy]

- Hmmmm......playing my bass without tuning it.
- Thinking I blew out my amp because the 9V battery in my bass died.
- Sending in a bass because my bass would not make any sounds, but come to find out the battery (again) went out.
- Trying to "strum" the bass like a guitar.
- Trying to do fast runs with a pick during my first week of playing the bass.
- Not paying attention while restringing my bass and snapped a string (D string Chromes Flats)
- Jamming ear plugs into my ears that helped with the audio protection of my ears but physically made my ears hurt.
- Was told to only listen to bass lines when practicing.
- Was challenged by a GC employee to play a 5-string after telling him I've never played one. I played a 4 string in front of him and he was impresses and said something like, " That was nice, BUT.........try out THIS 5 STRING BASS!!!"

After I found out the pattern and started jamming, he stopped talking to me altogether. Even on various visits, he still wouldn't talk to me.

[IncX]

lol

Lemon Juice rocks!

[Drop-the-One]

spinning a bass backwards with a store-brand strap. Strap broke, almost killed the drummer

[bassistjoe93]

- Took me several $20 sets of strings to figure out you needed to leave 3 inches of string to wind around the peg. I kept cutting them perfectly even with the peg and kept asking myself why they kept snapping and wouldn't work!
- Not bringing backup 9V batteries to a gig where I was playing an all active bass (and not bringing a backup bass!) I was useless after the first 20 mins.

[C.Linton]

Tried to defret my first bass using a chisel. Proceeded to quickly insert said chisel into a meaty part of my palm area just below the first (pointer) finger. Lots of blood. Very stupid.

[Depth_Charge]

Sound checks done in the arvo, so I swapped the batteries in my bass ready for that nights gig, and rather than return the basses to my room, I leave them on the stand.

We go across to the Palace Hotel to have a drink and a 'look'.

Come back late we hit the stage in a panic the guitarist/singer starts into the first song.

I've got no noise, no signal so start adjusting volume and EQ on my bass, my amp, checked the mixer...everythings fine ***!!!

Drummer starts his bit....Im losing it now...

Guitarist notices me so repeats the intro whie I rush over in a panic saying "I got no noise man", looking at everything.

He takes one look at me, shakes his head, points and says "plug in man" before turning his back to me mouthing something.

I plug in. POP! My EQ is all over the place coz I messed with everything. We mix from stage. Thats probably the worst situation I've been in. It a few songs to dial me back in, and it took me half a set to recover from the embarrassment.

Oh yeah and this one time I left my ESP LTF F104 on its stand and my then 5yo daughter tries to grab it. It leans towards her she feels the weight panics, lets it drop and it smashes strings down flat on a wooden floor. I thought the bass was OK, but looking at the underside of where the fretboard joins the neck just the other night, I notice little dark smudges or stress marks in the wood all along the neck, so I think it wore some damage I just didn't realise at first.

I'm gassing for a Musicman now so its gonna go soon anyway

[Gearhead17]

Pushed all of the bridge saddles back as far as they could go so I could tune to ADGCF on my 5 string. I convinced myself this was a good idea.

Listened to a GC guy tell me a BBE rack unit will solve all my problems.....it only created more.

Listened to a different GC guy tell me, "make that damn smiley face on the EQ. You are a bass player, not a guitar player." Gee , thanks.

Let my Mesa 400+ heat up quicker with the cooling fan off and forgot to turn it back on. Pop goes the power tubes!

Tried soldering and EMG tone control setup on the bass and ended up melting a circuit board or two....

[kcole4001]

Originally Posted by Gearhead17

.............Listened to a guy tell me, "make that damn smiley face on the EQ.....
......

Me too.
Worst advice ever.
I then proceeded to spend several years selling/trading amps to find a decent tone.
Disclaimer: this was well before the internet.

[TolerancEJ]

Originally Posted by Gearhead17

..."make that damn smiley face on the EQ. You are a bass player, not a guitar player."....

lol Maybe I'm still doing something stupid...

Quite honestly, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with my amp EQ, so I always keep it in sort of a "W" pattern. No one's corrected me or said anything otherwise about my sound, so I must be doing something right.

[Gearhead17]

Originally Posted by TolerancEJ

lol Maybe I'm still doing something stupid...

Quite honestly, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with my amp EQ, so I always keep it in sort of a "W" pattern. No one's corrected me or said anything otherwise about my sound, so I must be doing something right.

As long as it works for a band situation, you are fine. I tell everyone to learn what each knob does when boosted and cut. Once you understand what the knobs actually do, you can start manipulating your tone to your liking.

[naruki]

Traded a Source Audia Bass Envelope Filter for a Chunk Systems Agent 00Funk.

[Waffles and Scotch]

Didn't know there was a difference between instrument cables and speaker cables...for about 3 years...

[Russell L]

I played a note during a Grand Pause in Rigoletto at the concert. Goddamighty! Idiot! Just couldn't stop. I got glared at. Talk about wanting to sneak out the back door.

[Stumbo]

Always looking for people who played better w/o taking into account the "hang" factor. Better can soon turn into bitter when drama rears it's ugly head.

[bassistjoe93]

Oh I also passed on an opportunity to buy an original 1962 P-bass for $2000... but as a 16 yr old, 2000 might as well be $200,000!

Not bass related but:

My dad also suffered a similar situation where a guy offered to sell him a 1938 Martin D-28 for $6000 at a small bluegrass festival in north Georgia. As a 19 yr old though my dad couldn't fathom spending that (and it was before the internet)... nowadays it'd be worth more than our house!! Still get a scowl from him when I bring it up.

Guess it's a family tradition!

[bassman314]

Selling my Akai Unibass...

[XtheDeadPawn]

I tried tuning my E string to a D and before I realised it (I wasn't looking at the tuners just the TUNER) my A string came unstrung and nearly took my eye out. This was a couple weeks after I got my bass because I didn't think to get a tuner with my bass. If your keeping track I made three mistakes.

1. I wasn't looking at the tuner I was turning
2. Didn't notice that the pitch wasn't changing (I was staring at the tuner)
3. I didn't get a tuner in the first place with my bass.


Ah to be young and stupid oh wait I still am.

[brydo]

Stupid things I've done:

1. Buy a fretless
2. Don't play the fretless
3. Sell the fretless
4. Miss the fretless
5. Go to Step 1