...with Country music specifically, as a Bass player. If you miss (or are in someother way not on the ONE!) Everyone in the audience knows it and can feel it....especially the dancers! It's a feel thingy...
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- Thread starter Bass Man Dan
- Start date
Funny, looked through all the answers and didn't see what I think the answer is and it's just be honest. This is more of an "emergency" issue than anything else. Every situation is different. If you're not 100% comfortable doing something you're being asked to do, let the team know. If you don't have time to do it, let the team know. If you're a solid, always on time, ready to play kind of player, you won't get replaced with the snap of a finger.
Say something funny like you're too old for this sh.. even though you're under 30 or last minute songs shrink my privates, whatever, break the ice and communicate. It's not a big deal. If you don't have time but like these last minute challenges, say so. If you do have time, do the best you can. Trying will win more points than not and it won't be you're fault if the song flops.
Okay, I digressed, mainly be honest in any emergency situation. Good luck
Lol
Say something funny like you're too old for this sh.. even though you're under 30 or last minute songs shrink my privates, whatever, break the ice and communicate. It's not a big deal. If you don't have time but like these last minute challenges, say so. If you do have time, do the best you can. Trying will win more points than not and it won't be you're fault if the song flops.
Okay, I digressed, mainly be honest in any emergency situation. Good luck
Lol
I'm totally fine picking up last minute requests. For one, as a gigging musician there's very few songs I don't have some idea about. If you know the key than that narrows things down a lot. I'll usually just jot down on my phone the key, the chord progression with numerics (I iii V IV vi) and any change ups. My feeling is if the singer can pull of the singing the bass player should certainly be able to hold it down well enough not to be the limiting factor. In fact, I'm cool doing 1 or 2 a show just to keep things interesting.
Bars care about the revenue. So hopefully these two fans will rack up a significant bar tab, and the manager knows your band brought them in. If so, it will take care of itself.
That's a best case scenario but who knows? Maybe there will be a train wreck on stage causing patrons to leave!
Acceptability of adding music on the fly entirely depends on group dynamics.
In my last gig it was par for the course. At every gig there were always at least a couple (sometimes more) tunes I'd never played before. Usually the rest of the band had played them at least once at the unpaid weekday American Legion gigs that I didn't attend, but sometimes they were new to everyone.
No worries. Every gig he'd have the new lyrics and chords on the night's update of the Band's book. Before the gig we'd plug the flash we'd put in our tablets dowload the book and play whatever tunes he called the number for. That constantly-evolving book had a few hundred songs, some of which we'd play often, some never, and some rarely.
Being able to jump in and make a tune groove (regardless of whether I got the part "right") on the fly seemed to be a large part of why BL was willing to pay my fee long after the band had grown to the point where my fee was usually double the average bandmember's "share".
In my last gig it was par for the course. At every gig there were always at least a couple (sometimes more) tunes I'd never played before. Usually the rest of the band had played them at least once at the unpaid weekday American Legion gigs that I didn't attend, but sometimes they were new to everyone.
No worries. Every gig he'd have the new lyrics and chords on the night's update of the Band's book. Before the gig we'd plug the flash we'd put in our tablets dowload the book and play whatever tunes he called the number for. That constantly-evolving book had a few hundred songs, some of which we'd play often, some never, and some rarely.
Being able to jump in and make a tune groove (regardless of whether I got the part "right") on the fly seemed to be a large part of why BL was willing to pay my fee long after the band had grown to the point where my fee was usually double the average bandmember's "share".
Perhaps I missed it, but did you end up playing the tunes?
That's is highest feat a musician can do IMO. Well done sir.
I agree and I have a gig coming up, we probably won’t be able to rehearse before,it’s on a Thursday night and we’ve done this gig before so we’ll probably do several songs that we haven’t done before (together that is). Similar situation but not on the same scale. I figure we’ll have a hundred, maybe 200 at most
If you have guys used to doing this and someone shouts a number, then a quick check on who 'knows' it and the key, and you are off.
Its all ears and signals. Done that many many times and not many are much the wiser.
But...someone HAS to lead it and the rest have to be able to follow.
If you have a rounded repertoire in your memory bank or have good enough ears to know the changes, you might ask for s clear signal for where the bridge is etc.. and it is no biggie.
Becomes trickier if you have multiple chordal instruments and larger line ups though.
'Jazz' gigs of standards are the great learner here because you will probably all do a round of solo's too..
Its all ears and signals. Done that many many times and not many are much the wiser.
But...someone HAS to lead it and the rest have to be able to follow.
If you have a rounded repertoire in your memory bank or have good enough ears to know the changes, you might ask for s clear signal for where the bridge is etc.. and it is no biggie.
Becomes trickier if you have multiple chordal instruments and larger line ups though.
'Jazz' gigs of standards are the great learner here because you will probably all do a round of solo's too..
One of the many reasons I love jazz music is that even the bassist gets to do solos. Rock music it’s rare and country non existent lol
In my first band, we had one member who essentially acted as the self-appointed band leader. He would often try to add extra songs into our setlists a day or two before shows. Sometimes, not everybody knew the song, or the song sounded bad at rehearsal. He was trying to pad our setlist to make it longer. I'd rather play an average-length set that sounds great over a longer set with some iffy songs.
It happens, and it's seldom a good idea unless the people in the band are really, really good and have some experience with that genre of music.
In most cases adding stuff at the last minute is a terrible idea. Even with some of the better musicians I've played with stuff does not come off well when added at the last minute.
In most cases adding stuff at the last minute is a terrible idea. Even with some of the better musicians I've played with stuff does not come off well when added at the last minute.
Just go with the flo. play the Songs. Pull them up on your phone , don't make a big deal of it. Make a cheat sheet if you need to. tape it to your floor near your peddle board, stop whining and complaining .
Last gig I played with songs added at the last minute was 2001 or so, long before the luxury of pulling things up on a smart phone. Couple that with the fact that I don't read standard notation and/or TaBz worth a damn..... I'm strictly a self taught by ear player.
I was a sub for that gig, playing a county fair and I was given a 30+ song list ahead of time.... most of which I knew. Well, come show time the LG decided to slip 5 or so other songs into the list that weren't there to start with, and on all 5 he was singing lead vocals... so now you have a pissed off lead singer being pushed off the stage and a sub Bass player that wasn't prepped for the change. Luckily enough the songs that LG added were typical 90's modern rock stuff that was easy enough to figure out the basic structure of on the fly, but it's a position I don't ever want to be put in again.
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Its not the 5 new songs at the lest minute for a dep that is wrong here so much, although its risky, it is the seemingly dictatorial 'my 5 new songs' he dumped on the band without due consideration or discussion with anyone else.
Simple courtesy would be that the band were cool about it and ask the dep too.
Borderline red flag for me on the face of it from the way it reads, above.
Simple courtesy would be that the band were cool about it and ask the dep too.
Borderline red flag for me on the face of it from the way it reads, above.
devnulljp
Supporting Member
I've done that. Works fine in a jazz context, but I also played with a singer/songwriter who would habitually pull out new songs mid-set and you'd just have to keep up.
Had a gig the day Leonard Cohen died with another project, so I was pulling up chord charts and lyrics for Halleleuia on my phone while we were being introduced. It went OK as we both kinda halfway knew it already.
I played with a guitarist who has the best ear of anyone I know. He doesn't read worth a damn, doesn't need to, just always seems to know where the song is going. Claims he slept with a radio under his pillow as a kid so it all seeped into his subconscious.
Put the radio on and play along with it. Nothing like a little game of ‘sink or swim’ to sharpen your ear.
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