Do You Bring A Backup Bass To Gigs?

[aborgman]

Some people don't seem to understand that their experiences aren't the same as other people's experiences, and the places they play aren't the same as the places other people play. Everyone has a different experience, and what works for some doesn't work for others.

I'd say your experience is the exception to the norm.

I've never played in Hawaii - but pretty much everywhere else, my experience is the typical. Yours is the exception to the rule.

We aren't all the same, we don't have the same challenges, the same viewpoint or the same situations or the same solutions for problems. There is nothing wrong with that.

Absolutely... and I can certainly understand playing/dealing with pain because I love gigging. But I have a hard time wrapping my head around paying to do it when doing it for free with less pain is always an option...

I also recall our previous guitar player who had severe psoriatic arthritis (and eventually had to quit because of it) - he couldn't carry crap any distance... and he still brought a backup, because the rest of the band carried his equipment for him, because we were a band and we help each other out.

 

[Showdown]

Absolutely... and I can certainly understand playing/dealing with pain because I love gigging. But I have a hard time wrapping my head around paying to do it when doing it for free with less pain is always an option...

I never said I pay to play. I said the pay is so low that after expenses you make very little money.

When I moved here 25 years ago bands typically got $200 - $400 for a bar gig, a little more for a nice club or resort. Today, bands get...........wait for it.............the same. By the time you split that between 3 or 4 (or 8 for my soul band) and pay for gas and parking there isn't a lot left.

Or were you referring to when I said I paid for it with pain and fatigue? That is unavoidable, I can only try to lessen it.

 

[aborgman]

I never said I pay to play. I said the pay is so low that after expenses you make very little money.

If I'm making less than $25 after expenses and having to haul my gear blocks - I'll play for free where I don't have to haul my gear.... but then if I were in situation where hauling gear was a necessity and caused severe pain, and my bandmates wouldn't help - I'd be finding new bandmates.

 

[Showdown]

If I'm making less than $25 after expenses and having to haul my gear blocks - I'll play for free where I don't have to haul my gear.... but then if I were in situation where hauling gear was a necessity and caused severe pain, and my bandmates wouldn't help - I'd be finding new bandmates.

Good for you. But my point that what works for some people doesn't necessarily work for others because every situation and every person is not the same went right over your head.

 

[aborgman]

Good for you. But my point that what works for some people doesn't necessarily work for others because every situation and every person is not the same went right over your head.

I'd say there is one constant with folks - and that is that people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

 

[grimmchaos]

I used to for a while, then I stopped. Then one night in January at a gig, I blew up my low E string on our 3rd song of the night, and forgot to throw a set of strings in my gig bag. Thankfully I'm friends with the headlining band and their bass player let me use his bass. So, I'm back to bringing an extra bass. With short sets you barely have the time to change a string, so you are almost better off bringing a backup just in case.

 

[electracoyote]

But my point that what works for some people doesn't necessarily work for others because every situation and every person is not the same went right over your head.

For you to think we aren't taking your circumstances into consideration is seriously misguided. We read your posts. We understand.

Frankly, some of the stuff you say just doesn't make sense. And some of it seems disingenuous. Like it or not, we are allowed to be skeptical on this site and question each other.

Some of us still aren't putting the two things together, your condition and an extra bass. It's hard to believe that you can get yourself and your bass to the stage, stand there and play an entire gig, willingly pay the price for three days afterward, but somehow getting a second bass to the stage is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

We've had suggestions that a band mate help, or you get a double gig bag, and that probably only scratches the surface of creative solutions.

Maybe you're the one who should look at it from another perspective, and you might understand the confusion. I've already confessed that certain situations preclude bringing a back up bass, so I get that, no further lectures required. But your case is a curious one. A thinking person might just conclude that you simply don't want to bring a back up even if you were in perfect health.

And you know what? I'm cool with that. It's your gig, and (thankfully) not mine.

But all that exaggerated stuff about parking and how a 9 lb. bass is going to put you in the ER or whatever...not cool, bruh.

 

[Stevorebob]

I'm convinced. I'll never take a second bass, or I'll always take a second bass. Give it a rest. Wow.

 

[pcake]

one can always bring a ubass (or the rondo equivalent) as a spare or a mikro with its light body and 28.6" scale.

 

[twinjet]

I just haven't got a second bass. My second will be a work-in-progress that will take plenty of time to build as I scrounge up the cash and parts.

 

[Low Key]

Right before a fairly important gig, the nut on my Fender Jazz Deluxe broke on the outside of the E string. In other words, if I plucked the E string, there was nothing holding it in place. I had to find string and tie the E and A strings together above the nut. Surprisingly this worked OK and I did the gig. So 20 years later I never go to a gig or set of church services without a second bass. I have never needed the backup, but there is much that can go wrong beyond a broken string.

 

[NoiseNinja]

You want the truth?

I don't have neither any gigs or a suitable backup bass to my main which is an Ibanez Mikro bass with a pair of P/J EMG Geezer Butler pickups installed.

When I did have gigs though I didn't have a backup bass to bring either.

And when I will have gigs again I most likely still won't bring a backup bass, even if I do plan to invest in another Ibanez Mikro somewhere in the not too distant future.

I wouldn't do that. Chucho and Jose are back in the neighborhood. Just saying.

Who are they?

The local Doug and Dinsdale Piranha brothers?

 

[rtslinger]

Yes always