Dressing well and dancing

[GretschWretch]

If your BL is Morris Day, dancing is required.

Is it the Morris dance?

 

[bass71]

Simply.
Not.
True.

I would argue that you can pedal on root 8th notes all night and you will still be regarded as a "great bass player" by most audience members if you look the part and put on a show. However, if you show up looking frumpy and acting bored, you can play like Jaco and nobody will remember you in the morning.

.....you'd be lucky to get away with 30 secs of 8th's in the 60's/Beatles cover band I'm depping in this summer. "Play it like the record could you"...fair enough, their paying me so I'd better oblige. Plus a lot of those tunes have some real tasty bass lines.

 

[sean_on_bass]

One thing I can add is that, as bass players, we don't really get to do the poses and make the funny faces that guitar players make when they are soloing. So we need our own thing. When my guitar player is "hamming it up", in guitar player fashion, I have the opportunity also do the same with my dancing to the rhythm, like it is adding to my groove.....which it is not.

Lots of great and insightful replies, btw.

You must not be familiar with "bass face." Sort of a scrunching up of the face during a stanky groove.

 

[Mr.Ace]

If you play in a wedding/casino/dance band, yes. Maybe.
If you play in a punk band, no. Maybe. Depending on what you consider dressing well, and dancing.
If you play in a country band, I don't know. I don't see or hear much country.

Come on!!!!!!! I never judge TB questions - but with all due respect - this is a ridiculous question . No?

I play new country. Attire depends on the gig, but I try and never look like a hobo. I dont do a lot of dancing. I do try and look like I’m having a good time. I try and interact with the players in the band, and also the crowd when appropriate.

 

[bearfoot]

I'm not being defensive. Rather, you are as I mentioned earlier, being rather condescending in pigeon holing everybody that isn't the consummate professional that you purport yourself to be as silly fools who are "hurting your local music scene", and are apparently prone to wearing "backwards Kangol hats". You make sweeping generalizations and immediately start dismissing weekend players as lesser musicians that are causing full-time musicians to be payed less because of the sell-out busking ways of such "hobbyists". That's not true; gigs are negotiated based on what the venue can afford and how many drinks the band can sell them. It's simple math, bottom line business for the drinking establishment, and what the band considers acceptable for their time and effort.

Yeah, the bit about "hurting the music scene" is total BS that demonstrates zero understanding of how a market works.
If my product is a band in suits, then your band wearing t-shirts and playing for $400 helps my band look like its worth more than $400.
The only band it hurts is a more professional band that also wears t-shirts, and wants to play the same venue, and make $800. In that situation I obviously lose every time, as well I should.

This doesn't mean that market values for a skill cannot be driven down. It could happen to you, if another weekend band is willing to play for $100, and then another band is willing to play for free. The "race to the bottom" is real.

But a working bar band that makes ok money doesn't hurt "the scene", it is part of it. And your gig isn't driving down the market value of another act that has a totally different look and scope.

 

[clayworx]

I read somewhere that in order to be a good bass player, you need to dress well and dance while you are performing live. How many think that these two things are really necessary for being a bass player in a gigging band?

You'd better be able to sing as well.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Seems pretty judgy to me.
Dressing well and dancing is a bit vaque...this could mean wearing a leather thong, covered in tatoos, and striking a pose in some circles.

...and you just said the same thing as me, only in different words .

I judged that question with all good intent, and with a light spirit. I'm certain OP knows the answer to his question.

 

[Blaze Barlow]

Again, "look the part" is a vague term. You don't necessarily have to be shiny and squeaky clean to look the part.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is a prime example. His guitar was trashed (in a good way). But you would never accuse him of not looking the part.
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I agree with what you said..but Stevie Ray never TRIED to look "the part"..he lived the life..and thats the way he was..he dressed that way all the time..

 

[Siggy]

Dress better then your audience and try to look like you're having a good time, even if you aren't. If I go to a show I like to see some energy from the performers, not some dude sitting on a stool watching his fingers.

 

[jumbodbassman]

 

[Blaze Barlow]

I read somewhere that in order to be a good bass player, you need to dress well and dance while you are performing live. How many think that these two things are really necessary for being a bass player in a gigging band?

here is me dressing well and rocking Nashville on a Halloween night..

 

[jumbodbassman]

play well, dress according to the venue, never look like a slob

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I read somewhere that in order to be a good bass player, you need to dress well and dance while you are performing live. How many think that these two things are really necessary for being a bass player in a gigging band?

Naked and doing backflips.

 

[cnltb]

Using a Nilson kind of phrasing: Choosing gigs that suit your clothes?

Unfortunately, I cant afford to be quite that choosy.

 

[Steve Dallman]

I bop enthusiastically, even at church. At church it helps me keep in sync with the click track in my in-ears.

At a gig, I'm having fun and enjoying the music, and don't know if I could stand still if I wanted to.

 

[Thumpin6string]

How about looking respectable and playing well?

 

[Clef_de_fa]

This is perfect for me. No one stick out. They aren't a bunch of individual trying to get your attention, they are a unit just like it is the case in classical music, no one is more important or whatever.

They aren't dressed diffirent than you and me.

 

[TREYontheBASS]

Definitely not necessary but, also super dependent on what kind of act you are playing with.

I play in a 4-piece pop/rock cover band on broadway in Nashville. Dressing well and dancing is not necessary for that environment, however, we incorporate some of that into our show and it really sets us apart from the majority of the other groups playing down there.

I also play in a 12-piece corporate band and all of the above is 100% necessary for that environment. We dress very professional/corporate and have choreographed dancing throughout the entire set. It just comes with the territory there.

Different strokes for different folks...

 

[Wasnex]

...and you just said the same thing as me, only in different words .

I judged that question with all good intent, and with a light spirit. I'm certain OP knows the answer to his question.

I guess a key difference is I think it's a good question that more musicians should consider. Also, I kinda like to encourage people to ask questions otherwise this place get's kinda boring.

Rock on Joe!

 

[Joe Nerve]

I agree.

I need to give myself some space to be a douche every now and then. To the OP, I was only half serious . I love everyone here!