On cue?

[TheAngryPocket]

Am I the only one who believes in following the bassist for cues(chord changes, timing/ rhythm, etc)? The band I just joined is following the lead guitarist. The singer follows him, the drummer cues off the singer, the other guitarist cues of the vocals, and I'm following along, keep ping time by knowing the song. So if one of them messes up, then I guess I'll be the only one able to continue? How have/ would some of you deal with this issue?

[najko]

My band is the same.

It won't get better anytime I think.

[4dog]

Look at it this way, YOU get to play and have fun and toy with the bassline , since noone is properly listeneing to you ang how, i suggest odd punches to keep it all interesting.

[najko]

Originally Posted by 4dog

since noone is properly listeneing to you ang how, i suggest odd punches to keep it all interesting.

The way he put it, that is not exactly the way it works. He must keep on time the most because if he f*ks up, he'll be the one to blame, even though it's the other's fault for not following him. He's meant to keep it simple, I mean, so no fooling around.

[ChrisB2]

Each member should be able to play their own part without being cued or following. But there are times where everyone is not on the same page and adjustments have to be made. Who leads and who follows will be determined by who listens and who doesn't. I've never heard of a rule that the band follows the bassist.... it doesn't matter who's leading, just stay together.

Vocals is king. If the singer goes off, you must adjust to the singer. Sticking to the proper structure when the others aren't is unprofessional and immature. Do whatever it takes to stay together. If they're too sloppy for you, find another band.

[anderbass]

Most of my bands have pretty much ended up following whoever had the best sense of timing. Sometimes it was the drummer, or one of the guitarists/key players, or me on bass.

When I go try out with a new band, its usually pretty obvious who has the best sense of timing. I follow him, but listen to everyone and try to play in a way that glues all the parts together.

[RustyAxe]

When I play in bands without a drummer (bluegrass, Americana, blues) I let the band know from the git-go ... "it's right here". It's inevitable that the singer or lead guitar will sometimes take an "alternate route", in which case I have to adjust, and I expect the rest of the band to adjust to me. Puts a load on my shoulders, but that's fine by me.

Someone's got to be in charge, y'know, and when half a measure is skipped or rushed, it's best to look to the rhythm section to get it sorted out.

[mellowinman]

Whether it is Krystal or I playing bass, it is most likely the band will follow the bass player. The main reason for this is that both of us practice a lot more than the drummer or guitar player, and the drummer is in multiple bands. The added bonus is that, but doing cues, we are forced to look alive a bit more, and put some moves into our performance.

When I am playing guitar, and Krystal is on bass, I try to match her body movements on changes, because it looks great to the audience, and it just makes the whole band tighter.

We have always let our lead player cue endings on songs where he is jamming out at the end, except "While my Guitar Gently Weeps," because he has a tendency to end on the end on the "D" change, which leaves the phrase unresolved, and so Krystal will shake her head "no," on "D" changes, and nod her head "yes," on "C" changes, so he knows when to end.

On "Freebird," he finally gave up on trying to cue us the ending, because it is a set ending, and not improvised at all. We always used to laugh at him trying to indicate, "let's end here," while all three of us were going, "we were going to end here, because THIS IS THE ENDING."

All four of us are good at knowing what to do when someone forgets to stop the train, and how we can get to an end together gracefully. The same goes for when the drummer starts a song, and one of us wasn't ready. We'll just let him play, as if it's a mini drum solo, and Arthur will hold up a finger for "1," and two fingers for "2," and three fingers for "3," and let the "4" be implied, or nod for it.

There's a lot you can do, but this should all be discussed a little. Communication is never a bad idea, and anybody who thinks it is should be fired.

That may sound harsh, but I'm just saying what works for us.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by ChrisB2

Each member should be able to play their own part without being cued or following. But there are times where everyone is not on the same page and adjustments have to be made. Who leads and who follows will be determined by who listens and who doesn't. I've never heard of a rule that the band follows the bassist.... it doesn't matter who's leading, just stay together.

Vocals is king. If the singer goes off, you must adjust to the singer. Sticking to the proper structure when the others aren't is unprofessional and immature. Do whatever it takes to stay together. If they're too sloppy for you, find another band.

This...... exactly. I have never ever "followed" anyone in ANY of the dozens of bands I have played in. I have, of course, locked in with the drummer. But I know the song. Everyone else should too (and it doesn't matter if we're talking about covers or originals, or even "jams"). If something goes wrong, EVERYONE should look to the singer (or lead instrument in instrumental bands) and go wherever he/she/it goes.

[Depth_Charge]

Originally Posted by TheAngryPocket

How have/ would some of you deal with this issue?

By playing with musicians who have a good sense of timing and learn the songs the way we arrange them

I also don't follow. I play as arranged. If something goes awry, follow along best I can by catching what the majority are doing. I find there's usually an "alpha" player in every band everyone else will follow during these times. The trick is to find that player out early on, and follow their queues. Its usually the pay master in the groups I've played in

[Bert Slide]

Originally Posted by ChrisB2

Each member should be able to play their own part without being cued or following. But there are times where everyone is not on the same page and adjustments have to be made. Who leads and who follows will be determined by who listens and who doesn't. I've never heard of a rule that the band follows the bassist.... it doesn't matter who's leading, just stay together.

Vocals is king. If the singer goes off, you must adjust to the singer. Sticking to the proper structure when the others aren't is unprofessional and immature. Do whatever it takes to stay together. If they're too sloppy for you, find another band.

This! In my perfect world the bass player drives the bus, controlling the tempo with the drummer and providing a link melodically with the lead instruments and voice. Work with a few singer/songwriter guitarists who are used to playing solo or a few drummers who've been pals with the lead guitar player forever and take all their cues from him and you soon find the world is not too perfect! You must adapt to the circumstances or split.

[Downunderwonder]

My local community big band plays a lot of swing tunes. Drummer swings but can't play a triplet or a 3 over 2 whatever that's called. Piano drags chronically and rhythm guitar wants to drag along with the drummer's swingingly dragged snare. This makes everyone look at me to put out dead straight four beats dead on..

The setup changes gig to gig. If I can't hear the piano well and the drummer is getting a good earful of me then the band swings. Tough gig.

I never played swing jazz before I joined so I may have a bad handle on it. Sometimes I feel I'm the one that should be slightly behind the beat but that can't happen or the brakes would be thrown on.

[Swakey]

The most experienced player in each band gives the cues usually. But it all depends. If we're playing jazz music, it is always the melodic instrument who'll give the cues. If this is a singer, then it will be him/her giving them to us. But in the same song more than one person can give cues.

And of course the guitarist can give cues, remember the singer can follow a guitarist much easier than the bass because lets face it while the bass is much more important than a guitar, we will usually be on the 'sidelines' when its between a guitarist and a bassist of roughly the same level