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Do you let people play your bass?

Touch or no-touch

  • Total voters
    449
#23
electracoyote said:
I have let the lead singer/songwriter in my band play my bass, briefly. He was very gentle and made a nice comment about how solid and well set-up it was. I was still nervous. No one else ever touches my stuff.

Once in another band I let another bass player play through my rig. I watched in horror as the clip light went berserk throughout an entire song.

Never again.
Click to expand...

o crap yea that would make me snap. double whammy.
 
#24
chuck norriss said:
I was practicing Fri night; the drummer asked if he could play my bass. I agreed & stepped out for a minute. When I got back he was playing it aggressively like he was Abe Laboreal or something! Not that he can play like Laboreal but he was playing it like he wanted to be if you know what I mean. Sheesh! I had a heart attack. It's an acoustic Gretsch--not as solid as say a Pbass etc. Anyway it's expensive & precious--to me, and I have to wait a half a year & save up in order to have a decent instrument.
It gets worse: I noticed when I got home that my intonation was off & all kinds of dried sweat on the body. WHAT?!
I noticed Duff McKagan's P has a tape sticker on the head that reads, "TOUCH THIS AND I'LL KILL YA."
Do you or don't you let ppl play your instruments?
Click to expand...

Nobody wants to ever put their hands on my gear. It's the main (and some would argue only, benefit of playing lefty.
 
#26
In practice, sure!
In gigs, sure! Because I've been in rough spots too when something goes wrong. Had to lend my jazz to the Hoodoo Gurus once, as a backup and The Saints, cause they didn't bring any gear.
Otherwise, there's only three people that could borrow my gear unattended. One of those has two guitars of mine that are both quite rare. Since I haven't been playing, it's a joy to see them being played on stage.
 
#28
If somebody asked me I probably would, but I would not let them out of my site.

The exception was a friend who had a bass stolen a day or so before a gig, and I loaned him one of mine for the gig. Then again, I have known him since I was 8 or 9 years and knew he would take care of my stuff.
 
#29
chuck norriss said:
I was practicing Fri night; the drummer asked if he could play my bass. I agreed & stepped out for a minute. When I got back he was playing it aggressively like he was Abe Laboreal or something! Not that he can play like Laboreal but he was playing it like he wanted to be if you know what I mean. Sheesh! I had a heart attack. It's an acoustic Gretsch--not as solid as say a Pbass etc. Anyway it's expensive & precious--to me, and I have to wait a half a year & save up in order to have a decent instrument.
It gets worse: I noticed when I got home that my intonation was off & all kinds of dried sweat on the body. WHAT?!
I noticed Duff McKagan's P has a tape sticker on the head that reads, "TOUCH THIS AND I'LL KILL YA."
Do you or don't you let ppl play your instruments?
Click to expand...

Bandmates?
I sometimes get asked. I have no problem with that. We know eachother and respect eachother.

Members of the audience at a gig?
Never.
 
#30
Most of the time, yes.

If I know ahead of time that it might be a "pass-around" night, I'll take more of a beater bass. There's very few instruments I own that I'd hesitate to let others play, respectfully, of course.
 
#32
Almost all my friends are musicians, so I don't mind if one of them plucks around a bit - particularly to show me a riff/bassline they wrote and are wanting my opinion or just wanting me to hear it.

HOWEVER, one time someone picked up my fretless (this person does play bass) and started doing these HUGE downward bends on some kind of Isis-esque type riff and I nearly went into cardiac arrest!
 
#35
I'll let anyone try my upright bass while i'm standing right next to them but i only let my professors actually use it for gigs. My EB Stingray 5 on the other hand i don't let anyone touch (including my professors) the only other person i've let borrow my ray is a buddy at my church who is very careful with other people's instruments.
 
#37
At a rehearsal a friend of the keyboardist was hanging out. When I put my bass down to use the bathroom be instantly hopped up and asked if he could play my bass (Modulus Q6). Not wanting to be rude I said okay. When I got back he was still poppin' and slappin' away until he saw me standing over him.

As he handed it back he said "Yeah! All I got is the FUNK!". Sure dude... so why aren't you in this band?

The drummer later pulled me aside. He was already unhappy about having guests and asked why in the world I would let him play my bass? I had to agree with him that it was kind of rude of the guy to ask in the first place.

It wasn't like he hurt my bass or stole my gig. But... I decided that was the last time I would let somebody I don't really know touch my gear.
 
#38
jwb39 said:
Absolutely. Just another reason why I love gigging with my modded SX.
Click to expand...

Personally I learned early on that your position on loaning out your instruments needs to be about the same as loaning out your wife.

MY policy is never to loan out instruments...ever. Sad experience with people who were supposed to be knowledgeable skilled musicians and also friends of mine proved the error of trusting musicians to do or be what they say. And that ALSO goes for my modded SX basses. I've encountered so many folks who will treat their own stuff with care, but as soon as it's owned by someone else it's just so much junk to them to be thrown around and abused.

But I must admit I'm not totally hard-nosed. I commonly let fellow musicians "try" my instruments while I'm standing there observing and they typically return the favor by letting me try their gear. As others have said, it's a common thing at jam sessions where one can easily put a stop to damaging acts before they get out of hand. And you get to learn a few things by trying new things yourself.

But as for loans and especially loans for gigs, the answer is no. I used to loan stuff to people I've known for 10 or 15 years who I would have never doubted, it would still come back abused. Eventually I learned and just made the flat rule of no loans no matter WHO you are. (Probably have to eat these words when one day Vic Wooten needs to borrow a bass for a gig! :hmm: )
 
#39
I've never been in a situation where someone that I didn't know or trust wanted to play with my gear. I'm in a household of guitar players so I trust them immensely. The only thing that I ever worry about is my SVT-VR. My brother and dad know about tube amps so they're cautious and know the proper procedure for starting it up/shutting it down. Anybody else would ask before trying it. They also seem pretty intimidated by the size of that monster so they exercise a reasonable amount of caution.

The only time that I can recall someone using my rig without asking first was when my brother was showing his girlfriend the room with all of our gear. He fired up the trusty SVT and let her try my Lakland. She normally plays guitar but when she heard that rig she, apparently, got a grin from ear to ear and announced how badly that made her want to get a bass. That made me pretty happy. :)
 
#40
I usually have one or both basses out by my amp, in my dorm room. People who walk in (i.e. a bunch of college-age guys) love to come in and strum the strings on the neck, or pick them up without asking and play them. It used to bother me A LOT, and it still does a little, but at the end of the day, they're both Squier basses, and I plan on getting something nice come graduation.

I would like it if they didn't, so I voted "no".

However, I have let a couple bass players use my bass while they were bass-less. It all depends on how well I know the person.
 

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