First audition in a LONG time

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by A Strohman

Thats not what he said....he said he wasn't sure if it was an audition or a "sanity check" meaning that he already has the gig if he's a competent player. Either way, his preparation should be the same.

Ok, I'll take your word for it.

Blue

[ntenny]

Originally Posted by A Strohman

Thats not what he said....he said he wasn't sure if it was an audition or a "sanity check" meaning that he already has the gig if he's a competent player. Either way, his preparation should be the same.

Yes, that's what I meant. The signals have been a little mixed in that regard, but as you say it doesn't really matter for preparation.

-NT

[ntenny]

Well, it went OK, I think. They had me come in and call songs (chosen from the band's existing book) for an hour-long rehearsal. I made a couple of mistakes that I shouldn't have, successfully pulled off a couple of tricky bits that the others didn't seem to expect, and was able to do some background vocals, which they'd said would be a plus. Fun was had all round, I think, which seems like a good thing.

I know they're auditioning other people, but I was introduced to the owner of the practice space as "the new bass player". Not sure how seriously to take that, but it does sound like a good sign, doesn't it?

Pro tip: When your hand lands on the wrong string, and you end up playing a perfect fourth instead of an octave with the rhythm guitarist, you can make the drummer get a really impressive facial expression as he gets caught in between the two notes. Oops.

-NT

[Wwolof]

The best word here is "fun". Best sign for moving forward.

[bluewine]

This is kind of off topic and not exactly encouraging, but might be of value to some.

Auditioning is tough, sometimes you never know what your walking into. You might walk into a situation that is over your head or into a room of armatures with no value at all.

Some of these issues are different for young bass players new to playing bass guitar and new to band culture.

The new player is usually not equipped to pick up on "red flags ". They haven't defined what they want out of a band and probably don't know what they want. They don't have the experience to make those calls.

Some are blinded by everything from travel time distance to rehearsals to bands that will never see a gig. A lot of times the new bass player is overjoyed to be able to say he's in a band.

From reading some of the audition threads many new players don't seem to know much about the bands they're auditioning for.

We all know that the really good opportunities are not advertised and even a few levels down while advertised the band really already has someone in mind.

The new bass player has little control over most of these issues. However he/she can research the band they're looking at.

Blue