Disdain For Your Audience

[JimmyM]

....but what if you audience IS a bunch of drunken morons? What if you're "interrupting" the jukebox (etc....) at their favorite watering hole? Not trying to be an ass, but sometimes it does indeed happen...

Then you have to be better than the jukebox

 

[EastCoastThump]

Some of you got what I was saying and some of you it went right over your heads.

Sounds like disdain for your audience to me.

 

[Jazzdogg]

<SNIP>

You don't have to have the finest gear in the world to sound good or present yourself well. But you do have to care about being an engaging presence onstage, you do have to care about your FOH sounding right, and you do have to actually like and respect the people who come to your gigs. And if audiences don't care, how come I see so many bands who phone it in get booed off the stage?

You don't have to be dead-on 100% perfect with everything, but you do need to care. If you don't, how can you expect others to care?

I agree with most of what you've said, Jimmy.

However, I've seen some terrific players (Rocco Prestia comes to mind) who appear disinterested in being an engaging presence on stage, while giving their all, musically and professionally.

Some of us are perfectly happy in our roles as professional musicians who don't happen to be extroverted *performers* concerned with being downstage in the limelight; this doesn't mean we care less than the grandstanders and showboaters among us.

 

[JimmyM]

Sounds like disdain for your audience to me.

Sometimes we browbeat the audience into singing along when they don't. Consider this a similar thing

 

[JimmyM]

I agree with most of what you've said, Jimmy.

However, I've seen some terrific players (Rocco Prestia comes to mind) who appear disinterested in being an engaging presence on stage, while giving their all, musically and professionally.

Some of us are perfectly happy in our roles as professional musicians who don't happen to be extroverted *performers* concerned with being downstage in the limelight; this doesn't mean we care less than the grandstanders and showboaters among us.

Well SOMEBODY in the band needs to be an engaging presence! And there's always a dude like Rocco or Entwistle who isn't really extroverted onstage but engages the audience regardless. People engage the audience in different ways and that's cool.

 

[agreatheight]

"Nobody cares about your gear."

"Nobody cares that the bass doesn't sound good because nobody hears it anyway."

"The audience is a bunch of drunken idiots who don't know what good sound is."

Hyperbole.

 

[the Arsonaut]

hyperbole?
Do you close your eyes when you read talkbass posts?

 

[klokker]

You guys who play cover band bar gigs every weekend, I don't know how you keep your spirits up.

It isn't hard when the waitresses come up after you're done and say, "You guys ROCK!"

Our keyboard player once in a while, isn't playing something right and when asked about it says, "No one is listening anyway". I've had that thought before. I think that's the kind of thing that's bad for your band. It's just a crap excuse.

 

[agreatheight]

hyperbole?
Do you close your eyes when you read talkbass posts?

What?

I was just saying that those statements are hyperbolic - exaggerations as a rhetorical device. Do you not agree?

 

[morgansterne]

Actually I had this experience with trumpet playing when I was in college. I put in tons of hard work on that instrument, learned the heck outta my music theory, and when I'd perform I'd get tons of compliments and whatnot. But I just grew to hate the end of performances when people would want to talk to me and ask me questions. I couldn't help thinking "none of you understand the first thing about what I went through to be able to do this."
(What a pretentious adolescent jerk I was)

fortunately getting decent at the bass has come much easier for me, we're all just there at the show to have fun (myself included), and I appreciate my audience so much more.

 

[JimmyM]

What?

I was just saying that those statements are hyperbolic - exaggerations as a rhetorical device. Do you not agree?

I see those exact sentiments on here on a daily basis. If the wording wasn't exact, the intent was. 100% hyperbole free.

 

[KeithPas]

I agree with you Jimmy. Our reputations are built one gig at a time. I know that most people will miss the subtle things that I do but they will not be confused about it sounding good.

 

[nutdog]

Actually barely legal dumb white chicks and drunken morons make for a fun evening.

 

[JimmyM]

I agree with you Jimmy. Our reputations are built one gig at a time. I know that most people will miss the subtle things that I do but they will not be confused about it sounding good.

That's a great way to look at it, Keith.

 

[williamk]

I think what most people mean is that there is a huge difference between in the studio and on stage. I think that for any little bar gig, the people indeed don't care if you use this bass instead of that.

 

[NWB]

I think what most people mean is that there is a huge difference between in the studio and on stage. I think that for any little bar gig, the people indeed don't care if you use this bass instead of that.

But they do care about how much care and effort that you put into your performance. Your choice of equipment may reflect that.

 

[Biggbass]

I agree, but disagree with this. While I really feel that most of the nuances are lost for most of our audiences because they just don't here things the way we do and we should never call our audiences stupid drunk or idiots no matter what you really feel. Most of them pay money to see you, so insulting them is just wrong.
As for the gear and all the rest of that, no most people in the audience (MOST PEOPLE) don't care if you are playing a $50 Rogue or a $6,000 Ken Smith. For most it just goes past them. If the band is grooving, it doesn't matter what you play, what amp you have and on and on. However, to some of us, we really look at the gear and what bass is being used and the bass amp. Some of us really dig discovering who is playing what and how they do it. To the average listener, no they really don't care. What does matter is how the band sounds

This. +1

 

[KingRazor]

I believe there are a lot more bass players out there that don't care about their own tone than there are audiences that don't care about how it sounds.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

I believe there are a lot more bass players out there that don't care about their own tone than there are audiences that don't care about how it sounds.

You'd have to go a little deeper into your line of thinking on this to convince me...

 

[nortonrider]

Our keyboard player once in a while, isn't playing something right and when asked about it says, "No one is listening anyway.

I wouldn't want to play with that guy.