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Bass Player Pet Peeves

#61
Lonnybass said:
-people who reach up from the audience and to try and shake my
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Glad that I'm not the only one who experiences that. And to add to that: People who try to have a conversation with you while your playing or in between songs. I also hate it when people walk up to the stage and look at the setlist. I know that's not a big deal, but it bugs me for some reason.

A variation on the keyboardist with a heavy hand: Organ players who use their bass pedals.

-Bass having that "boomy" muddy sound with no mids, highs, or definition.
- Noisey preamps
- Guitar players with bad tone
- Drummers dragging the beat or rushing
- Poorly executed vocal harmonies
- Cover bands not knowing their instrumental limitations (i.e. covering songs that require a keyboard when the band doesn't have a keyboardist, or playing a song that needs a rythmn guitarist when they are single guitar band)
- Original bands that suck but are pretentious and think that they deserve respect just because they play original music
- Playing for the door
- Egos, especially when they aren't even close to being justified
- When a room doesn't have enough natural ambience and the soundman/person running the PA doesn't add a little digital reverb
- Trying to explain to that one guy out in the audience that while he may want to hear some Hatebreed/Slayer/Type O Negative/insert any nonmainstream metal band, that playing it would clear the dance floor of all the people you've been fighting to get out there for the whole set
- Drunk dancers falling into the monitors/mic stands
- Cords shorting out during a set
- The price of bass strings
- Showing up at a club to find out that the owner can't keep his book straight and you've been double-booked with a DJ (yeah, had that one happen before, only the owner was female)
- People coming up on stage uninvited to sing back ups (most of our soundmen will cut the mic, luckily)
- People bitching about the music, yet they don't leave the club
- Having a suck-ass opener and playing "goalie" at the door to keep patrons from leaving (yeah, had to do that one before too)
- Bands that make dumb business decisions, then wonder why they aren't having success
- Going to learn a tune off of a recording, and then finding out that the original tape was either sped up or slowed down. Then you have to figure out what screwed up tuning the song's in. An F might not quite be an F and it might not be quite an F#
- Trying to pick out a bassline off of a poor recording


Wow, this post was pretty cathartic. The funny part is I could still think of more musical pet-peeves of mine.
 
#63
wyliee said:
- Guitarists that lay their instruments on the ground. I haven't stepped on one yet, but I'm sure I will sooner or later. If I break it, it's your own stupid fault.
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Man, I don't get the whole "Too Cool for a Guitar Stand" thing I see a lot. C'mon, 15 bucks from Musicians Friend and you can have yourself a stand. I wouldn't trust the front of my amp to hold up my bass, and not using one just looks tacky to me. It's along the same lines as tuning live.
 
#64
Frugle said:
putting up 2 doors that look like a double door, but then it has a small bar going down the middle so it is bassically 2 seperate doors....

trying to get a bass rig through that single door cause the designer kept it from being a double door.
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That is what your toolbox is for...Oops, I think somebody kicked the screws cause I can't find them ANYWHERE :D

Being told to turn down when the D*&$#% guitarist is miked thru the PA and I am not.

Drummers that play fast and loose with the meter and can't count to save their miserable lives :spit: :spit: :spit:
 
#65
LiquidMidnight said:
Glad that I'm not the only one who experiences that. And to add to that: People who try to have a conversation with you while your playing or in between songs. I also hate it when people walk up to the stage and look at the setlist. I know that's not a big deal, but it bugs me for some reason.
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***!!! It IS a big deal! I've noticed this disturbing trend for the last few years. People who've got NO clue, act like they've NEVER seen a live band and think you're some 3D CD player!

Excuse me, I'm WORKING! So, I'm going to tell the band to press the live "PAUSE button" so YOU can let me know what YOU think is great and what YOU think we should play. THEN we'll happily skip several songs down the playlist like an IPod to the song YOU want to hear...THEN YOU and your FRIENDS are gonna TALK through the entire song!! G*D D*MM You F***in....
Ahhh...how much did she put in the tip jar? Oh... What key?
 
#66
JohnBarr said:
Is this pet peeves that bass players have or pet peeves involving bass players? I think mine covers both.

1. Putting two doors on an entrance and then locking one of them.

2. Not putting up a 'use other door' sign so you know one of them is locked.

3. Trying to get a bass rig through one door.

Especially the one that is locked with no sign.


John
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Yeah, what the heck is this "keep one of the double doors locked at all times" thing going on here in New York? I've lived in a lot of places before coming here - and never seen that anyplace else. What could possibly be the reason??? :confused:

MM
 
#67
Ooh, here are 2 that are near and dear to my heart:

Idiot lead singers who, while trying to garner "stage presence" by dancing all over the stage, tangle the mic cord with your bass cord.

The afore mentioned idiot lead singer who steps on your cord, causing one's hand to slip off of the fretboard in mid song. The first thing he asks you afterward. "What happened during "Arrogant"? I noticed you missed a note?"
Me: "Some cerebellum baboon stepped on my cord again."
 
#68
- Drummer(s) that feel(s) the need to take a 10-minute drum solo while the horn players are discussing parts. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
- guitarists who joke around and can't keep their place in a lead sheet
- Drummer(s) with happy (psychotic?) arms. Like this guy waves his arms around as if he were trying a vertical takeoff. And not just while he's playing, he's a crazy maniac.
- Singers who don't show up to rehearsals . . . ever
 
#69
Wow, this is really opening the door for me raging...here's another-

-Guitar players who run their effects cables and floor pedal power cords so it's out of THEIR way onstage. Even worse if they decide to tape it down right and run it right through where I'm supposed to stand onstage. Extra credit if they coil big ugly extension cords in front of me.

-People who try and manage sound production with no technical or musical experience.

Lonnybass
 
#71
- male singers singing in falsetto, that freaks me out.
- when the guitar and/or bass starts intro and then drummer gets in and rushes it... nightmare
- smoke machines... *** were not Kiss.
- all forms of shredding
- nasty sounding cymbals
- "hammond sound" on a non-hammond
- diva's
- people with no sense of humor
- "cool guys" in audience standing with their arms crossed
 
#72
Fellow band mates who do not help with moving equipment...the kinda loseurs who show up about 10-15 minutes pre-gig.
Post-gig? They're even more useless 'cause they're too busy schmoozing some half-drunk floozie.

Grrrrrr!
 
#74
"Jam" bands that require a pitched battle to rehearse actual "songs."

'cause, you know, its a "jam" band.

That's my current band. We have a gig saturday, booked without my knowing. We have about 1 and 1/2 hours of material down, and are scheduled to play from 9:30-1:30. All that extra time?

"We'll just jam."
 
#77
The Mock Turtle Regulator said:
some more;

singer/guitarists who say you're a "virtuoso", yet insist on putting their own sloppy awkward bassline on a song idea recording, and then nitpicking over you not playing it exactly like they recorded it :rolleyes:-----:
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Ditto on that one Mock Turtle!

Also concur with Liquid Midnight's one about dumbasses who jump up onstage and talk to you while you're playing and have ZERO concept of manners or how to act around other people at all. Good Lord, their parents must be complete idiots too! :mad: :rollno:

Also, I get really annoyed with people who think they can analyze EVERY freakin' note you played and show off to their Berklee or MI buddies their so-called analytical skills. For cryin' out loud guys it's MUSIC, not FREAKIN' MATH!! :rollno: :spit: :rolleyes:
 
#78
bos_mindwarp said:
- male singers singing in falsetto, that freaks me out.
- when the guitar and/or bass starts intro and then drummer gets in and rushes it... nightmare
- smoke machines... *** were not Kiss.
- all forms of shredding
- nasty sounding cymbals
- "hammond sound" on a non-hammond
- diva's
- people with no sense of humor
- "cool guys" in audience standing with their arms crossed
Click to expand...

+1 BIGTIME!!! (especially the divas and useless shredding).
 
#79
- Drummers that bang too loud
- Singers who don't back off the mic during louder/higher pitched vocal parts.
- Bandmates not being ready for the next tune in the set/too much 'downtime' between songs.
- Stages/bandstands without enough electrical outlets.
- People with no sense of rythym, time, dynamics and groove who think playing the bass is easy.
- Bassists or guitarists who carry their instruments really really low.
- Thinking a cover tune should always be perfromed exactly like the record.
- Closedmindedness in the creative process.
- People who say a band or style of music "sucks" because it doesn't suit their taste.
- People who say the Beatles were overrated
 

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