The things you hate they say about your playing

[crow01]

I was watching this movie about Mozart. After a recital I guess who would be some kind of king, tells Mozart. "It was good but you played too many notes". He was like ***!

I wonder if they told Jaco the same thing after playing a concert.

Well some of the things I hate or at least annoys me:

- Went to an audition. Played their songs putting my own style and stuff. The singer stops and says..."mmm too many notes".

- They say: "Is that a Squier?"

- They say "you are not playing with a pick". I say "I could". They say "that's okay, thanks for coming"

- They say "you don't have a full stack, tubes, thanks for coming" (Craigslist postings thank you for making my life easy)

- I ask several times if they have a bass rig. They said no. I bring all my gear. I start getting stuff out of the car. The singer says "but we have bass rigs".

- They guitarist says you are too loud. Yeah but he is way louder. Maybe the problem is he is so loud he cannot hear himself. I ask him to raise his amp. He says no that's ok.

- By the way we are touring in 2 weeks. I say cool, how are you getting funded. They say they are sleeping in the van. (DIY touring? No way man)

I think hating starts at the posting, if they would put as much info as possible, it would not waste people's times. Craigslist...maybe they should start charging for postings, make it more regulated.

Whatever...

[Doc Labyrinth]

Amadeus

[The_Basstard]

They say: Root notes man just stick to the root notes.
They say: I said root notes...
They say: ******* ROOTNOTES MAN!!! AHHH **** IT!! GET OUT!!!

[aus_bass]

At an audition:

Lead guitard: Wow man that's great, but can you play it umm, not so funky ?
Rhythm guitard: Yeah, you're making us sound bad.
Me: thanks guys, but you're not what I'm looking for ! (as I start packing up)

[Puarija]

"Do you know so and so? He plays a 5-string."

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by crow01

Well some of the things I hate or at least annoys me:

- Went to an audition. Played their songs putting my own style and stuff. The singer stops and says..."mmm too many notes".

First thing on your list? Not trying to break your balls, but you might wanna pay attention to that.
When I bring my Squire, they go "A Squire, really? Wow, sounds great."

[Iv@N]

-they say "You know, I know this guy who has a 6 string bass. I bet he's better than you."
- "Why were you "tuning" your GUITAR the whole song?" - Portrait of Tracy
- I hope you get a bass with more than 4 strings, you can't do anything just with that

[NJL]

people actually say all that stuff? no one has ever said anything like that to me.. i guess i'm lucky.

[Toshiro]

"you sound like Phil Lesh".

It was meant as a compliment, but I absolutely can't stand Phil's playing.

[hitch]

"thats a nice Lackland you got there".

[The Universe]

"Too jazzy"

That one annoys me to know end when playing rock gigs. Reminds me of the bit in the movie The Commitments about the "jazz haircuts"

[PBass101]

"You have too much midrange" - Metallica-obsessed guitar player who boosts his "bass" knobs and cuts everything else

Me - "I have to have something to cut through your sludge"

[hitch]

Originally Posted by The Universe

"Too jazzy"

That one annoys me to know end when playing rock gigs. Reminds me of the bit in the movie The Commitments about the "jazz haircuts"

Nice! Forgot about that one.

[Jake of Bass]

I've had it a few times over the years where know-it-alls will come up and say stuff like "I used to play the bass myself for about 6 months, maybe 30 years ago now" then proceed to spend the next 15 minutes lecturing me on all the things I need to do to improve my playing like they're some expert, but only referring to the Beach Boys and the merits of their bass playing.

Them: "And what music do you listen to?"
Me: "I've been learning a lot of Coltrane and studying a bit of Jaco. I also like other stuff like Tool and sometimes get into a bit of electronic music"
Them: "That's easy stuff. Now, The Cars, there was a great band. And you should get everything by Creedence Clearwater Revival and learn the entire catalogue. That's real bassplaying."

[garmenteros]

I get asked to add my own vibes to the songs but then the lead guitar wants to tell me what to play, telling me that songwriting has to be as simple as possible so people can remember lyrics and sing along.

[vicvarado]

Originally Posted by PBass101

"You have too much midrange" - Metallica-obsessed guitar player who boosts his "bass" knobs and cuts everything else

Me - "I have to have something to cut through your sludge"

...but I know how you feel

[deego]

I hardly ever have moments like this, but, one comes to mind specifically.

A couple of years ago a friend had a someone visit (another bass player) and I was sitting in our rehearsal room messing around on the fretless.

The guy walks in and says, "hey man, you should play it more like this..."

I hand him my bass, and he proceeds to start slapping on it. I'm not morally against slapping on a fretless, but I'd think he should have kept his slapping (and the inherent fretboard wear) to his own instruments. IMO

[PBass101]

Originally Posted by vicvarado

...but I know how you feel

Same guy once effectively told me that I had dialed in too much treble, mids and lows on my EQ. I can't make this stuff up. Oh well, I guess that's what happens to you when you only first start playing with other people after eight years with a guitar in front of a computer screen learning nothing but Kirk Hammett riffs.

I've promised myself that once I'm out of college and have moved on from having to play with this bozo, I'm never playing with another guitar player who uses the word "nasty" to describe how good he sounds.

Same guitar player has also recently suggested we name our band "Garbage".

[ysand]

"Doesn't look metal"
"Why do you wear your bass so high?"
"Why don't you play with a pick?"
"Whoa, you should learn to slap like him" (after seeing a wanker-slapster onstage)

[Valerus]

Originally Posted by ysand

"Doesn't look metal"
"Why do you wear your bass so high?"
"Why don't you play with a pick?"
"Whoa, you should learn to slap like him" (after seeing a wanker-slapster onstage)

Just about sums it up.