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Do you lower your Bass for a Biker Gig ?
- Thread starter Makatak
- Start date
Since when do people pay attention to bass players? Are people going to leave the show if the bass player is not wearing the bass at the "correct height"?? If the music sounds good, who cares?
Clothing and stage setup is one thing, but wearing your bass lower than usual to "look the part" is just plain stupid. Wear it where you are comfortable, play well, and show people you are having a good time on stage. That is the part to play EVERY SHOW.
Clothing and stage setup is one thing, but wearing your bass lower than usual to "look the part" is just plain stupid. Wear it where you are comfortable, play well, and show people you are having a good time on stage. That is the part to play EVERY SHOW.
When I bought my Squier VM Jaguar last month I hung it around my shoulder at the usual height and just started walking around my bedroom noodling around with it when I caught a look at myself in the mirror and thought, "A cool bass like this looks better slung low." But comfort has to come first, so I still look like a dork.
Appearance DOES matter, and can even matter more than your playing. I'm not going to wear a tux to a rock gig (unless it's Halloween), nor will I wear Chucks at a wedding (unless it's the bari sax player's wedding 
).
That said, I'm not sure bass height matters all that much... but I'm glad I wear mine at waist level, it's pretty much the visually neutral position.
).That said, I'm not sure bass height matters all that much... but I'm glad I wear mine at waist level, it's pretty much the visually neutral position.
Couldn't care less. I let my actions speak louder than my looks when it comes to my musicianship
For some reason, aesthetics are a big deal to my vocalist/guitarist/front-dude. He insists on an "indie-rock" visual, whatever that is, right down to being unhappy with me not picking a low-slung P-Bass. It seems silly and never escalates beyond a mild scoff, and I keep up what I usually do. I dress well and appropriately. Looking on-point at all times is important to me. However, I play bass with respect to musicianship first; I wear a modern five-string at a height that suits my technique and weak left wrist- somewhere between chest and stomach, a la Jaco. Nothing against low-slung Precisions, but it's not how I learned to play! I think I still put on a good-looking and good-sounding show, but I suppose everyone has their own idea of what a performance should look like. What we all agree on is that the performance should sound good.
Agreed K-Funk,
If I saw you playing I would think you look way cooler than if the bass was at your knees.
To everyone who talks about comfort/looks:
you are doing performance art.
For me it is easier to get into live shows if the people on stage don't look like goobers, with guitars up to their chests.
you are doing performance art.
For me it is easier to get into live shows if the people on stage don't look like goobers, with guitars up to their chests.
Agreed, but looking like a goober and acting like one are a bit different, I guess. I wear my bass a little high, but I still jump around and go crazy at shows, courtesy of fancy wireless doodads and my knowing the songs. If I'm at a rock show and the band is totally stationary and having staring contests with their fingerboards, I get bored.
Change your strap for a heavy chain. lol At the very least, you'll have a good swinging handle if you need to defend yourself with your bass when a barfight breaks out.
I probably wouldn't change the height, but for a biker gig, I WOULD make sure to wear an Affliction t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and make sure I yelled random things over the mic like "Freedom!", and "Loud pipes save lives!" while chugging non-light Bud cans.
I'd have it at my regular height so that I'd feel comfortable.
Take it from someone who's played my fair share of biker gigs, including gigs at a bar actually owned and operated by the Hell's Angels:
If you play your Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers tunes to their liking, these guys are likely to call you "brother" and literally hug and kiss you!
If you don't...
Take it from someone who's played my fair share of biker gigs, including gigs at a bar actually owned and operated by the Hell's Angels:
If you play your Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers tunes to their liking, these guys are likely to call you "brother" and literally hug and kiss you!
If you don't...
Mine is always medium height, so the only tool-ish thing should be my hair, face, clothes, etc..... ;-)
You either look like a tool or you do not. The height of your bass has nothing to do with it. The people who would suggest that you look like a tool because you wear your bass too high for their tastes ought not receive this much of your thinking time.
That's funny. Did he sober up before he rode out?
Re: your "visual experience" statement as it applies to wearing your bass on a strap... Are there really that many zit-faced ignorant teenage rockstar wannabes at biker gigs that a bassist needs to be concerned that one or more of them will somehow have a minimized visual experience?
Serious question I'm asking. Seems to me the sort of people who care about this can't pass the GED and earn enough money to go hear anyone play anyhow.
With whom are you fitting in? Your guitarist isn't playing a bass. Your singer isn't playing a bass and your drummer isn't playing a bass. Your guitarist, if there is only one, has the same percentage of difference from you as you do from him. If "matching visual accessories" is the goal, why not ask him to raise his guitar a bit?
This.
"Get into"? Lol, do you listen to the music at all?
