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Bass Player Pet Peeves

#221
from my first band...



- guitarist that wants to shred in every song when they only know one scale, the chromatic scale
- guitarist that steals riffs and gets pissed when people notice
- guitarist that only knows power-chords and then tries to make a clean or acoustic song without a chord sheet
- guitarist that thinks he invents chords whn he figures out a chord but doesnt know what it is because he only knows the power chord
- singer that cant hold a note
- singer that brings along a whiney friend to practice just to piss off everyone else
- singer that thinks bass should never ever be heard unless the entire crowd says in unison " pump up da' bass "
- guitarist and singer who tell the drummer and bassist to practice so they can go do " stuff " in a locked bathroom
- guitarist and singer who go into a locked bathroom to do " stuff " while the drummer and bassist practice when the drummer and bassist are the only ones that know their parts
- singer that steals lyrics
- when the band has a rehearsal starting at noon for a gig at 9:00 P.M. and the singer not showing up until 8:30
- singer whining at 8:45 that i amcutting into her rehearsal time with the guitarist when they are just chatting
- Singer that runs off and dissapears for two hours to cry because the bass guitar was heard at a gig because she didnt get there in time to do a soundcheck and instead of doing a last minute soundcheck she was flirting with the guitarist
- guitarists that dont let you borrow one machine head off of their bass that is ten times worse than yours when your machine head suddenly gets stripped after said guitarist drops the bass
- singers friend showing up the day of a gig at band rehearsal when there is no space in the vehicle and complaining that it is the bassists fault ( what a dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb person )
- guitarist that despises low-end and buys a five-string bass, cuts all lows and mids on the bass amp E.Q. and boost the highs and says that is a good bass tone

omgosh that was all long and all happended
 
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#222
i like tictacs said:
those are musicians 90% of the time, notice the intense focus? lighten up brotard.
Click to expand...

+1 for that.

I play in a metalband and at most of the shows there isn´t exactly packed with people going nuts in front of the stage. People around here seem a bit shy and nobody wants to be the first to go in front of the stage so most of the people standing in front of the stage are musicians from other bands playing that night.

I think it is good manners to support the other bands on the bill by getting in front of the stage. Even if your not headbanging like a freak since you are sober you can atleast support the other bands by beeing there.
 
#223
I am in a band with people I really like but I have a few things that bothers me.

-Not being prepared at rehearsal when trying to play a new song.

-Be totaly unaware of your mistakes and bad tecnique habits and never try to relearn in the proper way.

-Drummer banging on every single drum and cymbal when we try to discuss some vocalarrangments.

-Singer beeing totaly uninvolved and never prepared plus getting pissed of when the melody isn´t working.

^This does not apply to our new singer thankfully. She has a lot of ideas and wants to make it work.

That´s my rant. :D
 
#227
I've got one, single Pet Peeve.

Soundguys turning you WAY down...why, I don't know...


Oh and GC salesmen whodon't know what they have. I asked the guy "Do you have any Epiphone Thunderbird Iv's here that I can play?" He sais 'no' I turn around to go over the the 5 strings and some kid has a T-bird and is siting down to play it! Explain that one to me.
 
#228
Band members getting too wasted to play properly at a gig. I don't expect people not to have a drink or a smoke, just keep your crap together enough to play!

Band members blowing off practice.

This has already been said, but band members that NEVER really want to play out. I enjoy playing, even at practice, but the goal is to PLAY OUT!

This has also been said, too, but people that totally ignore what you've written in a classified ad. The next time I'm contacted by a jam band that's "really into the Dead", I think I'll show up with the Thunderbird in drop D tuning and refuse to re-tune. I don't hate your music, I'm just not the guy you need to play it!

Guitar players who use a flanger on EVERY DAMN SONG!!!!!!!

"Filling" a set list with a couple of blues songs so we can go on an extended jam (read: allow the guitar player to wank for 30 minutes). The blues MUST be played with feeling and passion. Nothing sounds worse to me than the blues played without passion and feeling. R.L. Burnside had passion. Nine times out of ten, four middle aged guys from suburbia (or anyone else for that matter) don't have the passion and feel to make the blues interesting.

Band members who are so incredibly locked into one musical style or era that they can't conceive of playing anything new (to them).

People who assume you play a certain style of music based on your choice of bass. I play a Thunderbird as my main bass. Most people assume I'm a metal player because "that's a metal bass"! I tried out for an alt country band several years ago. The band told me I had the gig, but I had to ditch the Rickenbacker I was playing and either get an upright or at a mininum, a hollowbody electric since it didn't fit their image. I'm highly mediocre at best, but the guy they ended up with really did suck, but he had a hollowbody Gibson (cool bass, bad player).

"Scenes". Most of my musician friends were in the "Redneck Underground" rockabilly scene that was so big here in Atlanta for most of the 90s. During that time, ANYTHING other than rockabilly music was totally un-cool. It wouldn't have mattered if John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jaco, and Keith Moon all rose from the grave to form a one night only super group, unless they were backing 1950s Elvis (not fat Las Vegas Elvis), none of these "hep cats" could be bothered to show up.

My lack of perserverance in forming/joining a band.
 
#230
My pet peeves are:
  • Bass players who noodle around in the higher register - on the E and A strings, with their mids WAY boosted, and their bass all the way boosted.
  • Guitarists who noodle between songs.
  • Guitarists who speed up songs (tempo-wise) during rehearsal.
  • Drummers laying down triplets (esp. quarter-note) in songs that have to be machine-gun accurate as far as even subdivisions go.
  • Drummers who noodle, period.
  • Drummers who don't lay down a solid, predictable kick pattern.
  • Singers who sing the note for its full length, sounding like a singing robot.
  • Drummers who speed up a song to the tempo they think it should be at, even though the tempo has been set by the songwriter.
  • Shy keyboardists who don't want to be heard.
  • Worship leaders who try to turn a calm service into a full-blown Pentecostal service (no offense to members of the Pentecostal church).
  • People that tell me what to play instead of giving me music that tells me the same thing. Especially if they're vague in doing it. :confused:
 
#232
samurai_24 said:
All instrumentalists: During a musical break in the middle of a song where there is supposed to be DEAD silence, someone always takes the opportunity to throw a note or drum beat or something in there.... just to make themselves stand out.
Click to expand...

That's a great one. In addition to making themselves stand out, I think they do it because they simply feel uncomfortable with "dead air." Or because they lose the pulse if they're not playing.
Lots of (maybe most) musicians don't seem to realize that silence is just as crucial as sound.
 
#235
1. Crowds who only show up for the band they came to hear, then leave.

2. Bands who don't believe in letting the PA do its job by cranking up the stage amps.

3. Bands who turn up WAY too loud in a small room and wear earplugs to protect THEIR ears (what about us in the audience, bro).

4. Drummers that rush through fills.

5. Drummers who rush the time coming back from a fill.

6. Drummers with no sense of how to PLAY the drums, rather than simply HITTING them.

7. Bands who think the road to the perfect monitor mix is "more of everything."

8. Headlining bands who think that they're superior.

9. Opening bands who leave before the show is over.

10. Soundmen who think more bass is always good.

11. Soundmen who must be deaf, considering how loud they run the PA (probably from years of running the PA too loud).

12. Any phrase starting with "we're just playing for..." or any other drivel implying that certain shows aren't important.

13. No desire to improve.

14. Packing up instead of talking to (potential) fans.

15. $20 local band t-shirts.

16. $20 local band CDs.

17. Dressing like something you're not on stage.

18. Dressing like just a normal day onstage.

19. Having a guitar hang down to your knees and then complain that it's too hard to play fast.

20. Vocals that you can't hear well enough to understand.

21. Bands that insist that not only are lights unneccessary, they are also stupid.

22. Musicians who believe that they are "God's gift to" anything.

23. Orchestra players saying "you're JUST an electric player..."

24. People assuming that because I'm playing rock music RIGHT NOW, it must mean that I don't have any classical training.

25. People who insist upon insulting someone else's BRAND NEW axe, just to feel superior.

26. Singers who refuse to accept basic criticisms, such as "That last note was flat."

27. Drummers who rehearse a certain lick with the band the week before the gig, two days before the gig, the day before the gig, in the sound check of the gig... and then play time through it during the gig.

28. Drummers who wish to show off their sense of internal time by throwing out a disjunct, syncopated fill, often designed to trick the ear into displacing the beat by a sixteenth note, and then acting annoyed when he's told that it worked, and did trick the ear ("Silly me, I just thought you made a mistake").

29. Musicians (or rather, instrument players) who have no sense of dynamics.

30. Bands who play every song in drop D, and consequently play every song in the key of D.

31. Bands who sound the same from one song to the next.

32. Bands who don't even have an hour's worth of material playing out.

33. Bands who "don't need a soundcheck."

34. Bands who "don't want monitors."

35. People who back out of agreements, especially musicians.

36. Venues who laugh at the word "contract" (and then are shocked when we refuse to play without one).

37. People who hire you to play on a certain date, which you do, and agree to pay you on a certain date, which they don't.

38. The assumption that Christian music isn't any good.

39. The belief that "power" equals "louder."

40. Lists that go on way too long...
 
#236
i cant stand the fact thet mu guitar player refuses to buy a tuner because i have one. he waits till im all set up and ready to play then he cuts me off and uses mine.

also i cant stand when you have a new riff idea and the guitar player plays the exact same thing as you.

a bit different but i cant stand when people go through my lyrics book, i feel like im being raped
 
#238
i hate it when the audience starts clapping "in time with the music" i know it means they are enjoying themselves, which is the real goal,but they always start to speed up then either the band starts to rush or has to split their concentration in order to continue to play in time, or worst of all, some of the band members does one and some do the other
 
#239
spudmaster34 said:
i hate it when the audience starts clapping "in time with the music" i know it means they are enjoying themselves, which is the real goal,but they always start to speed up then either the band starts to rush or has to split their concentration in order to continue to play in time, or worst of all, some of the band members does one and some do the other
Click to expand...
+1 Whenever the crowd starts to clap for reason, I'm screaming inside (and sometimes whispering) "No! Don't do that!"

I also hate it when people feel the need to clap on 1 and 3. Yes, I know, it's a generation thing, but still.
 
#240
SOA_bassist said:
another pet peave i have

- female members. every time i tried jamming with a chick they were either too shy to play or would try to be manipulative or be extremely over-dramatic.
Click to expand...

Aw honey, don't let whiney/manipulative/emotional chick singers indict all of us. I've played with males that were every bit as whiney and over-dramatic as some females. I've also played with females whose good attitude defied the stereotype of "whiney chick musician". Then again...I've played with some outright divas whose backside I would cheerfully go to jail for kicking.

Read your rant, earlier. That girl is eeevil! She doesn't like bass! And it sounds like she's got a substance abuse problem. "Stuff" one does in the bathroom with the guitarist is often pretty bad "stuff".

Cherie :bassist:
 

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