"YOU'RE LATE!"

[Stinsok]

I read a post (maybe here) where a chic singer kept telling the bassist he was too loud. He turned down (still bitchin,) turned off(more bitchin,) later carried his head to the car and faked playing (she was oblivious, but still blamed him.)

[Nashrakh]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I raised that question in a thread not too long ago.

I figured it meant that I can naturally adjust my own volume to appropriate levels.
Though, Im sure other arguments could be made.

Oh yeah I remember that one...

Yeah I guess you're right. Actually my guitarist is very concerned about hearing me, and if anything he tells me to turn up in rare cases (for example when it's just the two of us playing vs. full six piece band setting). However our keys player with a heavy left hand often thinks I'm too loud lol (see a pattern here?) and the drummer sometimes can't hear me properly... In their defence there is an issue with amp positioning in our rehearsal room though...

[oerk]

Originally Posted by Craig630

"Listen, unless you can name the 5th of C you need to just shut the f up."

-At this point I turn everything up to full blast, hammer the G in 6 different octaves, flip him off with both hands and scream into the mic "there's your 5th you f-ing c-nt! Get over yourself" put my stuff in my bag and walk out, never to be seen again.

Heh. A bit childish, but made me laugh!

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Nashrakh

Oh yeah I remember that one...

Yeah I guess you're right. Actually my guitarist is very concerned about hearing me, and if anything he tells me to turn up in rare cases (for example when it's just the two of us playing vs. full six piece band setting). However our keys player with a heavy left hand often thinks I'm too loud lol (see a pattern here?) and the drummer sometimes can't hear me properly... In their defence there is an issue with amp positioning in our rehearsal room though...

With our band, the singer/guitarist often has his guitar too loud, and our other guitarist is often too quiet.
They both switch between ryhthm and lead.
We keep our keys player in check, if he starts getting heavy with the left hand we let him know, and he reworks stuff to get out of my way.
Our drummer can be heavy handed, and cause us all to turn up too loud.
We're working on it, though.

Originally Posted by morgansterne

yes, please, don't stereotype the educated musician as complainers and snobs. I played with a berklee grad drummer who never complained or said anything condescending, and I never complain (ok, not much).
I'm a total snob about it really, but I just don't say anything to that effect to my bandmates. I never bring it up at all.

Ive played with plenty of educated musicians myself, though Im completely self taught. I know a bit of theory, but Ive never had an educated musician use that as leverage to say that I dont know what Im talking about.

[Wolfword]

Seems like I'm lucky to have a guitarist who asks me to turn up, lol.

But it doesn't susprises me, I'm using a 35W practice amp almost exploding vs his 130W Marshall.

[Russell L]

Been accused of missing notes when it was the keyboardist.
Been accused of being too bassy when it was the eq of the whole system, including too much bottom on the guitar, keyboard, and even vocals.
Been accused of low feed back when it was the bass drum.
Not with those bands anymore.

[Eric_71]

I think the key to all of this is that you need to be a replacement for an absolutely wretched bassist. That's the situation I'm in right now, and though we've only had one real practice so far, they seem to think I'm really good. Man, do I ever have them fooled.

Then again, I've listened to some of their old recordings, and the guy I'm replacing really was that bad.

[kcole4001]

I think the key is, we all need to play with actual musicians, rather than just goofs who own instruments.
People who care about the sound of the whole band, not just themselves.
We also need to remember this ourselves when we get carried away with twiddling around with our own tone.

I'm very happy with the guys (and gal) I play with, I won't play with the idiots in the area.

[Mastermold]

Originally Posted by Craig630

TLDR; I'm no longer in this band. Anyone looking for a mediocre bassist in Portland, OR?

Good! Life's too short to play with people like this.

[4dog]

Dont ever join a band that has a keyboardist that plays synth like a piano, they will ruin your life.

[BayStateBass]

Some of these are funny.

Not quite the same thing, but reading the stories of the people who have been questioned about their notes/scales, etc... reminded me of this time, at band camp......

No, but really, my band was doing a new song, I don't remember which one it was but our rhythm player hadn't looked at it at all and was winging it. He asked me to kinda let him peek at my root notes and follow the changes.

Now we're playing the song and everything just sounds plain bad....

Turns out he had no idea that standard 5'ers are strung BEADG, he thought they were EADG and something else......

We had a good laugh.

[xgator4u]

Originally Posted by viper4000

When you find that right group, the guitarist will turn his bass EQ down when asked, the keyboardist will not play with his left hand, and you and the drummer will sync into a silky smooth groove you only dream about. Oh, and the singer will help on load-ins and outs.

WHEN YOU FIND THAT RIGHT GROUP.

Alas like the eternal quest for "that" tone, THAT Group is elusive.

[hrodbert696]

Originally Posted by BayStateBass

Some of these are funny.

Not quite the same thing, but reading the stories of the people who have been questioned about their notes/scales, etc... reminded me of this time, at band camp......

No, but really, my band was doing a new song, I don't remember which one it was but our rhythm player hadn't looked at it at all and was winging it. He asked me to kinda let him peek at my root notes and follow the changes.

Now we're playing the song and everything just sounds plain bad....

Turns out he had no idea that standard 5'ers are strung BEADG, he thought they were EADG and something else......

We had a good laugh.

I've had this happen too... people get really confused trying to follow hands when you're playing a 5er.

[xgator4u]

LMAO, yup, or when you play a 4 string tuned BEAD, or just drop the E to D
really screws um up.

Maybe they should just learn the song ?

[Flabass]

Originally Posted by Craig630

Yeah, it wasn't the first time he pulled that "let the musicians blah blah blah" isht. But I'll tell you about the last time ha did

We were going over a new song he wrote. Real simple number, just bouncing between C and G in an alternating bouncy feel. I got bored and walked up G, B, C in time. He stopped everyone right there (something he did at least twice per practice), throwing his hands up and screaming "*** are you doing??? That's not how I told you to play the song!"

Yeah, but bouncing between two notes is boring as hell, I just want to spice it up a little.

"That's not what I wrote. Play what the musicians tell you to play, you don't know what you're doing."

You're playing a Gmaj, right?

"Yeah"

Tell me why walking to a C, using a B is wrong here.

"I'm here to play, not teach you how to play, it sounds like ****."

I think it sounds good, tell me why it's wrong.

"Listen, unless you can name the 5th of C you need to just shut the f up."

-At this point I turn everything up to full blast, hammer the G in 6 different octaves, flip him off with both hands and scream into the mic "there's your 5th you f-ing c-nt! Get over yourself" put my stuff in my bag and walk out, never to be seen again.

I saw an ad for a bassist the next day on craigslist from them. 3 months later and they still haven't played a show.

Ths was my first experience with a band... Tell me it gets better.

Same experience. I was in a country band playing 1-5 on almost everything. Added some spice on a song and the guitar player stops and tells me I'm not playing it right. He wasn't nice about it either. Not the first time he got angry at someone in the band.

Mid practice I stopped, told him to get another bass player and walked out. They have gone through several bass players, keyboards and drums through the years.

I just chalked it up to experience.

[NWB]

Originally Posted by hrodbert696

I've had this happen too... people get really confused trying to follow hands when you're playing a 5er.

Or an unlined fretless!

[jive1]

I always wonder about those guys who hear imaginary basslines in their head. Apparently this isn't that rare of a condition.

I was playing a gig, and the speaker in my bass amp blew. I went through the motions for the rest of the song and the next one. I told the guitarist it's time to take a break so I can check out my rig. He looks at me and says that he could hear my bass just fine. I strum the strings to show him that there's no sound coming from my amp. He looks at me genuinely perplexed.

[Craig630]

Originally Posted by oerk

Heh. A bit childish, but made me laugh!

Childish maybe, but he started it!

[Bassmanbob]

Just last night at our sound check, I played something in the low register (between A and E), and then there was this big low hum. I held my strings and even turned my amp off. Still there. Then it stops when the PA was turned off. Turned everything back on and it all happened again. I just got a Genz Benz Shuttle Max 9.2. The band leader, our drumer, was blaming my new amp (eventhough it was turned off after I played).

As it turned out, he had placed his new microphone-- one of those wrap around the head microphones-- on his floor tom. It was his stupid mic sitting on the floor tom that my playing set into a constant low feedback.

Let's just say a little humble pie was eaten last night by our drummer/band leader.

[rtav]

Originally Posted by morgansterne

yes, please, don't stereotype the educated musician as complainers and snobs. I played with a berklee grad drummer who never complained or said anything condescending, and I never complain (ok, not much).
I'm a total snob about it really, but I just don't say anything to that effect to my bandmates. I never bring it up at all.

+1

The people I play have all of the majors in music (I'm the lone exception in the band), and they've never been snobbish or used their education to beat me (or anyone else that I've seen) over the head. It's not so much a matter of graduating from Berklee as it is graduating from Douche U.