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Bass Player Pet Peeves

#101
As a guitarist my pet peeve was -- myself. :D

-wimpy drummers, or loud drummers with no chops.
-my chops
-ANYBODY in MY sound space!
-keyboards - aside from a rhodes or a hammond, they are obsolete!
-bands that do it to be rockstars!
-COVER BANDS (sorry, it's a true peeve though)
-venues that expect you to be a cover band.
-and Russian chicks

~Michael
 
#102
  • People who come to auditions ACTUALLY BOASTING that they're better than (insert name of big-name pro musician here) and they can't play worth crap!

  • No matter HOW SPECIFICALLY you spell out in an ad what kind of musician you're looking for, you STILL get calls from deluded bozos who think they can fit into what you're trying to do (terminal people-pleasing syndrome) when it's obvious they're NOWHERE near the mark. ON an even more personal level, I 've gotten more calls than I care to admit from people like this, ranging from a control-freak New Age/Smooth Jazz keyboardist to a Death Metal obsessed drummer, 2 genres I hate almost as much as rap. Some people just CANNOT read or have problems comprehendinng the most straighforward things <rant switch off>
 
#103
BassJunkie730 said:
As a guitarist my pet peeve was -- myself. :D

-wimpy drummers, or loud drummers with no chops.
-my chops
-ANYBODY in MY sound space!
-keyboards - aside from a rhodes or a hammond, they are obsolete!
-bands that do it to be rockstars!
-COVER BANDS (sorry, it's a true peeve though)
-venues that expect you to be a cover band.
-and Russian chicks

~Michael
Click to expand...

Agree with you except for:

-keyboards - aside from a rhodes or a hammond, they are obsolete!

I LOVES those old-school analog sounds like Grand Piano, Hammond, Rhodes, Mellotron, analog synths etc, but I admit a VIOLENT hatred of ANY 80's and 90's sounds. There are some classics that will never go away, but those garish harsh digital cheese-whiz sounds, you can have 'em!

Theres just some things a guitar cannot do, but that doesn't make it obsolete, in the same way, there are things keys may not be able to do but it doesn't make them obsolete either, all a matter of individual musician preference.
 
#104
Watching the crowd while playing the bass solos in "My Generation" and seeing they're all looking at the lead guitarist(who's not playing during the solos).

Boomy acoustic guitars that blur what I'm playing.

Soundmen who insist on taking the bass signal from the bass and not the amp.

Soundmen who make the bass sound like they want, not like I want.

Being told "You're a kick-ass bass player, sir".
 
#107
-Soundguys who ask me how I glued the Alembic logo to the front of my F-1X (to make it look like I use an "Alembic F-1X").

-Being told I'm too loud during soundcheck when I'm the only one playing.

-Bass players who ask to try out my fretless, then try to slap the hell out of it.
 
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#108
-Bass players who ask to try out my fretless, then try to slap the hell out of it.

+1
"oh maaan, you can't slap on a fretless!" -Guitar player who happens to know how to slap on bass as he feebly tries.



-Happened to me once, should have left the band right there in retrospect. Volume during rehearsal is on .75 (granted, the gain was at 6, my mistake, but the bass frequencies were completely cut out), lead guitar player said, "Turn that down! The neighbors can hear it," turn it down to zero, the guitarist says, "That's better," no joke, no fooling around, he thought nothing was an ideal volume coming from me. Now... why was I present? Then again, hindsight is 20/20.

[Both happened at the same rehearsal]

-the preconceived notion that a bassist is nothing more than a disgruntled guitarist, and a drummer is nothing more than a very disgruntled guitarist.

-the preconceived definition that a good bassist exclusively means you can slap, and because you can slap exclusively means you're a good bassist.

-guitarists taking the spotlight couldn't be a more acceptible thing in my book. When they can't leave the spotlight, that's when I become irked. I was playing trumpet in a jam band awhile back, guitar player was soloing, I took a solo, guitarist was STILL soloing, drummer took a solo, guitarist was STILL soloing, the bassist, I, and the drummer fell back in the pocket going out, and the guitarist was STILL soloing.

-Same guitarist as directly above, admired Jaco's bass playing, saw my fretless bass, immediately took it, started playing slides on it, then proceeded to dig the strings as hard as he could into the fretboard and perform a guitar vibrato. I pointed out that he would prematurely wear out the fretboard, and he responded, "So what? Jaco did that!" Hmm, don't recall Jaco doing that (could be wrong), but the lack of respect he had for my own property really got me irked.
 
#109
-people who feel the need to dress up their dogs or other pets(pet peeve...get it? :D )

-people who think bass is useless

-people who try and limit my creativity by telling me what I can and can't play bass wise

-people who think they know what they are talking about but are just uninformed morons

-people who say that a certain musician or genre sucks when infact there is some serious talent involved but because they don't like it it sucks
 
#111
Drummers...period.


I also am vexed by:

-stage lighting that causes my pick-ups to hum
-being criticized for playing "too many" upper-register notes
-VHF wirelesses and the cost of upgrading to UHF
-negative people
-upper-end FX processors that have terrible distortion patches
-people who look down on a band for not having a "live" drummer
-broccoli
-chicken
-flat soda
-bad drivers (is it really that hard to use a turn-signal???)
-stupidity (yes, I am peeved with myself sometimes)
-driving 2-hours to my favorite grouse-hunting spot and finding a shiney, new gate closing off access
 
#112
Guitar players who...

1. don't extend the courtesy of "where is the bass player going to set up?"

2. Do extend the courtesy, but squeezed into some god-awful tiny unlit space, perhaps in the stage wings.

3. Don't leave a single damned electrical outlet open.

Also...

People who shake my hand between sets/songs and try to crush the hell out of it.

Incompetent/uninformed/dopey engineers.

Guitarists who spend an inordinate amount of time fiddling with their effects and head during soundcheck and then complain when I make a tiny adjustment to my compressor.
.
 
#113
Drummers who always play on the front of the beat, no matter where the center's supposed to be... :help:

Drummers and guitarists who have sketchy meter, play on the front of the beat, and tend to speed up on the turnarounds... :crying:

Sound guys whose ears are shot...and who mix accordingly... :bawl:

ANYONE whose music suffers from on or offstage substance abuse, and I have to deal with it at the gig... :scowl:

Guitarists whose "vintage" gear has a propensity for breaking down...on stage... :confused:

Inebriated audiance members who moon over/leer at/or otherwise letch after female singers... :(

Guitarists whose ears are also (suprise!) shot, and who adjust their sound to a progressively louder and tinnier sounding shriek as the evening goes along... :rollno:

Anyone whose rig is too much gun for the venue---and doesn't want to hear about it... :hiding:

That's about it!

RC
 
#114
Pretty much any guitar player who complains constantly about not being able to here themselves onstage in high-volume environments, yet never takes any measures to wear flat-response earmolds made right here at home in Chicago.

Lonnybass
 
#115
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
Click to expand...

Or, (and this happens in my school pretty much everyday), there are two doors, both unlocked, and 150 people trying to squeeze into the one door because they're either too lazy or too stupid to open the other one.
 
#116
Alright, from a person who's posted online classifieds:

1) People who don't read your online classified before emailing you.

2) People who email you merely to master-bake with themselves with you as their audience.


Case in point, I posted a few classifieds stating to the effect of:

Progressive Metal bassist looking for people to jam with. Not a virtuoso, but decent player. Influences are XXX, YYY, ZZZ, Style is reminiscent of AAA, BBB, and CCC. Go to school and work full time, not looking to make a career out of this, and don't want to take over the airwaves and be the next great billboard act.

...so, I'm basically a serious hobbyist / semi-pro.

What emails do I get?

Chicago's next great [insert sub-genre, but stay as far away as what I mentioned] metal band looking for dedicated bassist. We are a signed act and on the verge of a national tour. We're looking for a dedicated bassist who can devote 24 hours a day, eight days a week to our band and plays like NNN, OOO, and PPP [nothing remotely close to what I posted], looking to take over the airwaves

Seriously, why do they email me?


...and

3) When they want me so badly in their band that they email me a mass mailer. :rollno:
 
#118
"Cover bands . . . seriously, getting paid to rip off other peoples music is not right or fair :scowl: "

So, by your definition everyone who's ever played in a symphony orchestra is a rip off artist. Nice. Get off your high horse. You're just bitter because we're getting paid and you're not.
 
#120
I've always mentioned three things that I hate and I've had to live with them since I started working as a musician. Another reason why I love my seldom rock gigs, because I don't have to deal with two of these annoyances there, unlike tropical music gigs:

1. Parties. I don't know nor like to dance. Don't drink either. In fact, sometimes during gigs I stare at people dancing and some of them look truly ridiculous to me.

2. Uniforms. I hate them, specially the coat & tie ones and tuxedos. I always keep my playing the same, but I definitely feel much better when not wearing a uniform.

3. Cables! Public enemy #1. Enough said.
 
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