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Did you ever manage to impress your guitar player?

Metalbasspro

Metalbasspro

Feb 9, 2009
1,848
922
WA state
#1
I only did once. One night I got a call from Jeff hanging in the studio with some friends who was like "DUDE!!!!! I never knew you were playing anything so bad ass".

He was kinda drunk so I was like Wha????

His Dad had a studio we had recorded our pre production demo in. HE was listening to a song we did called America the Ruined that we had played so many times live and at practice. He heard something under the guitar and isolated my bass track.

So he's telling me "you know that part where Steve and I am doing the harmonics thing that bass line under there is AWSOME"

I was like well ya I had to play something under that lead part you guys do so I just decided to grove with the drums. It never really impressed me that much and as good as Jeff was and still is I was surprised he even noticed.

This is what earned me his notice

E String note- E, G flat G
A String Notes- D, D flat
E String Notes- A 5th Fret
A String Notes- B
E string Note- G

Loop or repeat.

I guess it reminds me of something Geddy Lee might do on his more simple minded bass runs.
 
#3
I am often getting a smile from the guitar or keyboard player when I´m doing a nice fill when playing live. It is so much fun playing with musicians that do appreciate and listens to your groove and creativity
 
#5
One time when we were all goofing around and I apparently played a "solo" (you know, a melodic bassline with just drums and bass going) and he's like "duuude! I've never heard a bassist just bust out a solo like that!". He must have been playing with some REALLY crappy bassists before lol, because I was not playing anything impressive.
 
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#6
I've never ran into this neglect I hear about on this forum so much. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never been in a band where I wasn't treated as at least an equal sometimes even as a superior. If I didn't play bass and the bass player didn't impress me I would probably go find a new bass player so I am going to say sorry it's only happened once for you but I impress my guitar player every time we play.
 
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#9
Hi,

My guitar player is impressed because I can carry his amp and my amp at the same time.

lifting.gif




Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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#10
During a rehearsal a few months ago, my band's drummer suggested that we put Kiss's Detroit Rock City back on our set list (we used to play it when we had 2 guitarists). The guitar player said "No way. We need a second guitar." I offered to cover part of it when I could, but he seemed dubious. I promised I would learn it, so he agreed to put it on the list for our next gig. That night, I nailed the part and he grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. Normally I don't see much expression from him during shows, so I took that as a good sign.
 
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#11
Generally impress the rest of the band including guitars unless I haven't practised, but I am often without a steady band so im always excited to impress my drummer because he's the only guy I consistently jam with long term. Thus, We're the ones who come up with most of the new song ideas for projects were involved in as a result.

Last nite I called to play him a new bass line / riff i wrote that I was really stoked about and his response was "holy **** that is so grooving man, I can definitely jam with that!" Mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned, the seeds of a new tune we can work on.
 
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#13
Years back, I played with the drummer and guitarist from Pretty Boy Floyd in an original project. Drummer and guitarist have played together for about 20 years at this point.

During practice one day the guitarist just stops playing and start staring at me and the drummer. We stop playing because we're shocked and assume we've done something wrong.

He tells us he had to stop and listen. According to him, we are locked tighter than any other rhythm section he's heard in his career.

TBH I think that was the greatest compliment of my life. I've never made my living with music, both of those guys have had 30+ year careers, and have played with tens if not hundreds of bassists.
 
#17
Once. Guitar player was trying to whip out the riff on Superstition and was getting stuck. He'd never even heard me play this before, so when I thumped the line, he was like "show me!!".
He is an amazing guitar player (plays his telecaster better than just about anyone I've heard - his acoustic Ovation too) - and truthfully, he is a better bass player than I am! D'oh!
 
#18
The guitarist and drummer I'm playing with for a one-off gig were rather surprised when I told them I had been playing for about a year and nine months. Apparently they really like my playing.

Another example from the same guys: earlier, I recorded a bass demo to a riff the guitarist had written and sent it. His reaction on hearing it was, verbatim: "This is f**king awesome! You're hired"
 
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