Hey folks, for those new to the diary, I am a middle aged musician enjoying a bit of a musical renaissance, including finally picking up the bass as a secondary instrument. I am learning *pretty* much on the fly gigging in a duo or trio, and am documenting my gigs with brief writeups. I have links to past entries below!
Our trio played last night, starting at around 9:45, to a mostly empty bar. There was an... interesting "street person" hanging out inside, but for about the the first half hour, it was us and the bartender. We played through some songs, mostly reggae again, and things are definitely tightening up overall. I used a pick maybe 55-60% of the time tonight, as we also played as lot of rock (more on that soon)!
We finally had a young couple come in, and it's so funny what a difference even a couple of people can make. I found the band came to life. We got the young girl up to sing a few songs, and she had a blast. We did Simple Man, Zombie, Sweet Child O' Mine, Creep, Gimme Shelter, and Sympathy for the Devil, plus a healthy number of reggae songs. We left out a few of the standouts, but I kindof felt like the rock tunes took over last night, just because they were *working*, and I think we all felt an unspoken obligation to keep the customers in there to save the night for the bar.
I did a little less backing vocals, just because we only have two mics, and the guest singers use mine. I took the lead for parts of "Sympathy" and at least two other songs. In terms of bass technique, I felt my playing while using the pick was *very* strong (relatively), and I found my *choices* of when to use fingers or pick felt very intuitive. I also felt my EQ choices were much better this time. I don't have the technical knowledge, but I find I am developing a feel for what sounds right.
While I still made plenty of mistakes, there were more full songs without them, and I found I recovered from them well most of the time. I continued my trend from last week of a little more conservative playing, just using a few slides and octaves here and there. I did mix in a few 2-note power chords for accents, mainly during solos or outros. If nothing else, I feel I am developing my own style, for whatever that's worth!
I made a point to focus on my anchoring while playing fingerstyle, as I find I often have my right hand unmoored, which affects my playing. I feel this is just a habit I need to break. I also felt our starts and endings continue to improve, to the point that it's definitely starting to feel like there's an actual band in there, just waiting for the excess to be chipped away!
I really need to learn the scales. I have been working on them on guitar, including some serious play the last two days, which I felt helped improve my bass playing last night. I want to get to the point that I can intuitively link from chord to chord, and come up with bass lines thoughtfully, not just by feel.
I feel like I am coming at the instrument somewhat backwards, as I find I can get where I need to be largely by feel, but don't know why, or how to get there intentionally. Every bit of theory I learn seems to fill in a new puzzle piece, closing that gap. These gigs have been a real blessing in locking me in to a "performance" mindset, allowing me to lock in to a groove instinctively, tightening up the fundamentals that I discovered on the fly.
By and large a fun gig with a few stumbles! Until next time folks!
1st entry: Bass Players | Played my first bass gig tonight
| Facebook
2nd entry: Bass Players | First off, Merry Christmas | Facebook
3rd entry: Bass Players | Third bass gig tonight | Facebook
4th entry: Bass Players | Another gig tonight | Facebook
5th entry: Bass Players | Another entry in my running gig diary | Facebook
6th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-6.1645734/#post-28323213
7th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-7-or-along-came-a-drummer.1646312/
8th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-8-there-goes-the-drummer.1649424/#post-28411461
9th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-9-drummer-redux.1650998/
10th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-10-the-takeover-jam.1653436/
11th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-11-back-to-the-future.1655395/#post-28540235
12th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-12-welcome-to-the-machine.1656230/
13th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-13-wait-are-we-a-real-band.1656725/
14th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-14-reggae-school.1657165/
Our trio played last night, starting at around 9:45, to a mostly empty bar. There was an... interesting "street person" hanging out inside, but for about the the first half hour, it was us and the bartender. We played through some songs, mostly reggae again, and things are definitely tightening up overall. I used a pick maybe 55-60% of the time tonight, as we also played as lot of rock (more on that soon)!
We finally had a young couple come in, and it's so funny what a difference even a couple of people can make. I found the band came to life. We got the young girl up to sing a few songs, and she had a blast. We did Simple Man, Zombie, Sweet Child O' Mine, Creep, Gimme Shelter, and Sympathy for the Devil, plus a healthy number of reggae songs. We left out a few of the standouts, but I kindof felt like the rock tunes took over last night, just because they were *working*, and I think we all felt an unspoken obligation to keep the customers in there to save the night for the bar.
I did a little less backing vocals, just because we only have two mics, and the guest singers use mine. I took the lead for parts of "Sympathy" and at least two other songs. In terms of bass technique, I felt my playing while using the pick was *very* strong (relatively), and I found my *choices* of when to use fingers or pick felt very intuitive. I also felt my EQ choices were much better this time. I don't have the technical knowledge, but I find I am developing a feel for what sounds right.
While I still made plenty of mistakes, there were more full songs without them, and I found I recovered from them well most of the time. I continued my trend from last week of a little more conservative playing, just using a few slides and octaves here and there. I did mix in a few 2-note power chords for accents, mainly during solos or outros. If nothing else, I feel I am developing my own style, for whatever that's worth!
I made a point to focus on my anchoring while playing fingerstyle, as I find I often have my right hand unmoored, which affects my playing. I feel this is just a habit I need to break. I also felt our starts and endings continue to improve, to the point that it's definitely starting to feel like there's an actual band in there, just waiting for the excess to be chipped away!
I really need to learn the scales. I have been working on them on guitar, including some serious play the last two days, which I felt helped improve my bass playing last night. I want to get to the point that I can intuitively link from chord to chord, and come up with bass lines thoughtfully, not just by feel.
I feel like I am coming at the instrument somewhat backwards, as I find I can get where I need to be largely by feel, but don't know why, or how to get there intentionally. Every bit of theory I learn seems to fill in a new puzzle piece, closing that gap. These gigs have been a real blessing in locking me in to a "performance" mindset, allowing me to lock in to a groove instinctively, tightening up the fundamentals that I discovered on the fly.
By and large a fun gig with a few stumbles! Until next time folks!
1st entry: Bass Players | Played my first bass gig tonight
| Facebook2nd entry: Bass Players | First off, Merry Christmas | Facebook
3rd entry: Bass Players | Third bass gig tonight | Facebook
4th entry: Bass Players | Another gig tonight | Facebook
5th entry: Bass Players | Another entry in my running gig diary | Facebook
6th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-6.1645734/#post-28323213
7th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-7-or-along-came-a-drummer.1646312/
8th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-8-there-goes-the-drummer.1649424/#post-28411461
9th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-9-drummer-redux.1650998/
10th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-10-the-takeover-jam.1653436/
11th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-11-back-to-the-future.1655395/#post-28540235
12th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-12-welcome-to-the-machine.1656230/
13th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-13-wait-are-we-a-real-band.1656725/
14th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-14-reggae-school.1657165/
