Bass Player Pet Peeves

[txbasschik]

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

Major peeve for me, too. My old band was soooo locked into classic rock. Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, The Doobies, Bad Co., and a lot of poppy-type classic rock. Now...I've got no problem with that, but it got very boring. They wouldn't play anything powerful, wouldn't play anything written after 1985 unless it was a Sheryl Crow cover or an original, and wouldn't play any blues unless it was a Janis Joplin cover.

I brought a hard-rocking original. The leader refused to play it the way I wrote it...she *instantly* began turning it into a classic rock song, and told the band, "We're not going to play it the way she's playing it. We're going to play it like this." Enter folky-classic rock rhythm. I was livid.

In the last months of that band's life, I just gave up trying. I never brought new songs, or tried to write anything. It was a losing battle.

Someone asked me why I wasn't sad over the breakup, and I said, "Hey, I get to play more than one kind of music, now. That makes me happy."

Cherie

 

[Lazylion]

I've played with males that were every bit as whiney and over-dramatic as some females.

+1 about a million times

I've also played with females whose good attitude defied the stereotype of "whiney chick musician".

Our singer is a sweetie pie! Never whiney. And besides sounding good, she has a good ear for harmonies. She doesn't have to be taught & drilled on them, she finds them on her own. Gotta love that!

 

[txbasschik]

+1 about a million times

Our singer is a sweetie pie! Never whiney. And besides sounding good, she has a good ear for harmonies. She doesn't have to be taught & drilled on them, she finds them on her own. Gotta love that!

Right? Gender doesn't matter. Talent and a good attitude do!

Cherie

 

[Dave]

And besides sounding good, she has a good ear for harmonies. She doesn't have to be taught & drilled on them, she finds them on her own. Gotta love that!

A girl I sometimes play with has an amazing voice and ear for harmonies, and shes cool to play with to boot, if a bit ditzy at times, but thats ok.

 

[fleabee]

Rush tribute bands with a female lead singer

 

[Woodchuck]

Midget KISS tribute bands.

 

[fleabee]

any sound when walking through the doors at a music store{especially guitar center}...and sales people that know an eight of what i do and try to sell solid state amps as a tube amp{totowa,nj}

 

[Dkerwood]

any sound when walking through the doors at a music store{especially guitar center}...and sales people that know an eight of what i do and try to sell solid state amps as a tube amp{totowa,nj}

Ah, yes, the sound of wankery to the nth degree. That's why I refuse to go to GC on weekends if I can help it. I greatly prefer late morning during the week... everything is nice and quiet.

As far as ignorance in GC goes, my favorite instance was the salesman trying to convince me that I should buy the more expensive Sonic Maximizer rather than the compressor I was looking at. "But I need the compression," I argued. He then tells me that the Sonic Maximizer WAS a compressor, among other things.

 

[txbasschik]

any sound when walking through the doors at a music store{especially guitar center}...and sales people that know an eight of what i do and try to sell solid state amps as a tube amp{totowa,nj}

When I go to GC, and my fave two salepeople are not in there, I don't buy anything bass-related. Those two guys are excellent bassists who play out all the time, in more than one project, and they know their stuff. They treat me respectfully, and do their best for me.

The rest of the sales staff are not bassists, and can't give me a truly informed opinion or recommendation on anything. I used to try to get good help from them, but have decided just to stick to my two Bass Guys. Anything else is a waste of time. I call ahead to make sure they'll be there before I drive into the city.

Cherie

 

[rumblinbass]

Let's see, where to begin...

-Having the drummer tell you to stay on the root note because a walking line is throwing off the singer.
-Having the singer tell you to stay on the root note because a walking line is throwing him off.
-Having the lead guitarist tell you to stay on the root note because a walking line is throwing him off.
-Having someone in another band tell you that you sounded good even though you played with your fingers on a song that required a pick.


...that should do it.

edit...

one more thing:
-The soundguy telling you he can't give you any bass in your monitor because it will blow the speaker.
Idiot...monitors are full-range! They are meant to handle just about everything!

 

[6strbassmonster]

-Everything microsoft
-People not respecting my instrument
-Being mistaken for a guitarist
-Having to improve my RH technique

Dude, I totally agree with the one about people respecting your instrument.

I had some nameless band member knock my bass out its stand, knock the (brass) nut out and I had to play the gig on the B and E strings as they were the only ones still near the fretboard!

 

[rumblinbass]

Dude, I totally agree with the one about people respecting your instrument.

I had some nameless band member knock my bass out its stand, knock the (brass) nut out and I had to play the gig on the B and E strings as they were the only ones still near the fretboard!

 

[will33]

unsteady drummers

guitarists with too much low end in their tone

everyone looking at me when it comes time to set
up the PA

and get this, drummers have drum kits, bass players have
bass amps, guitar players have guitar amps, why in the hell do singers think they can get away with not owning a PA
and the ones who do don't know how in the hell to use it.

noodling between songs, drummer without dynamics, dead silence between songs, guitarist who bring a halfstack to a small club, guitarist who think volume = tone, singers that don't entertain, and on and on and on.

 

[Woodchuck]

Singers who don't know the meaning of "musical director".
Keyboardists who can't play cover tunes in their original keys.

 

[Dkerwood]

and get this, drummers have drum kits, bass players have
bass amps, guitar players have guitar amps, why in the hell do singers think they can get away with not owning a PA
and the ones who do don't know how in the hell to use it.

I wonder if this is just a big city thing - singers needing to own a PA. I've never heard of a single singer around here who owns a PA. Usually (around here), PAs are owned by 1) soundmen, 2) bands, 3) DJs, or 4) Musicians like myself.

The reason? Well, fairly similar to why an acoustic guitarist doesn't necessarily own a guitar amp, and why a double bassist doesn't necessarily own a bass amp. And frankly, why a drummer doesn't necessarily own a set of drum mics. An electric instrument needs the amp to be functional. The voice does not. Now, granted, to be heard over a band, the PA is usually useful (although I've done a gig where I had to project acoustically over the band... that was fun...), but without a band, the singer doesn't need the PA. Thus, why I've never heard of a singer owning one.

Moreover, everything goes through the PA, at least IMHO. Drums, guitars (especially acoustic), keys, all the vocals... Why should one person be expected to buy it for everyone's use?

Must be different where you guys are from.

 

[will33]

Did I mention sound guys who run all the bass through the subs and shake hell out of everything but leave you no definition so people have no idea what you're playing, they just notice something's missing if you stop?

 

[will33]

You have to get to larger gigs before everything goes through the PA, for bars and medium size club gigs the singer needs at least a small to meduim size PA to get their voice to the level of the guitar and bass amps, drums are naturally a pretty loud instrument, might have a couple mics around the kit for ambience, that's it.

 

[BillyB_from_LZ]

A few additions to my pet peeve of people who clap on the one and three...

-people who break wind on the dance floor right in front of the stage
-people who reach up from the audience and to try and shake my hand right in the middle of a song
-backing up endless guitar solos...
-anyone who spills liquid substances on stage
-crappy voltage
-being told that "professional sound and crew are provided" and then finding out the hard way exactly what that means...

Lonnybass

Lonny, you're giving me all sorts of great ideas for the next Paramours show that I attend!

 

[Dkerwood]

You have to get to larger gigs before everything goes through the PA, for bars and medium size club gigs the singer needs at least a small to meduim size PA to get their voice to the level of the guitar and bass amps, drums are naturally a pretty loud instrument, might have a couple mics around the kit for ambience, that's it.

Why wait to put everything through the PA? It's really nice to control stage volume by not relying on amps to push all the way to the back wall. Plus, the PA provides a much more consistent sound coverage. And you can't put instruments in the monitor unless they're going through the PA anyway.

EDIT: And I guess there just aren't many rock vocalists around here that don't do something else as well. Like I said, I've never heard of a SINGER owning a PA of any kind. The closest thing I know are singer/songwriters with an acoustic guitar and a small PA.

 

[will33]

I don't mean the singer has to have some big pa system with enough channels to mike a full drum kit and all that. Also if the singer is also the guitar player, bass player or God forbid the drummer, the pa will be the responsibility of the band but if you're going to call yourself a singer/frontman and that is your sole responsibility you need to have a PA (amplifier) to amplify your instrument (your voice). If the places you play provide a PA fine, you still may need it to rehearse with the band, if not you should have one anyway because you might need it to be heard wherever you might sing.

You should own a powered mixer one step up from the really small ones, a pair of two-way speakers, a monitor for yourself, one mic, one stand and all cords and cables needed and you should know how to hook all this up and make it sound decent. Likewise if someone who plays an instrument claims they can sing harmony they should own a good vocal mic, a stand, and a fairly long cord. We're talking stuff you can take to the gig using the backseat and trunk of a small car and still have the passengers seat open for your girlfriend.

I am a bass player, I can see where my gear is going, roll it in, set it up, tune, make initial sound adjustments and get a beer in 6 minutes, I'm also a pretty good sized guy and always help carrying in either parts of the pa or parts of the drum kit, sometimes out of kindness, usually because they are late and we're running short on time.