I check and check and check again before I leave the venue. I don't have that much stuff so it has never been a problem to account for all of it. The only time I lost something was when I lent an instrument cable to a guitar player in another band that was on the gig with my band.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ever afraid of forgetting your gear?
- Thread starter Fynn
- Start date
I've been having nightmares about getting to the gig and forgetting my bass or amp. I never have in real life, but this has been going on for about 30 years.
Geez… use a simple checklist. It ain’t rocket science.
I use the Notes app on my iPhone, with circles and checkmarks. Of course, I have to remember my phone…
I use the Notes app on my iPhone, with circles and checkmarks. Of course, I have to remember my phone…
Ha! I used to be. I’d write check lists and keep the list so I wouldn’t forget to add anything to the list. Now I just grab and go.
Always. To give an idea of how geeky I am about it, I discovered that you can get instrument cable in colors for the same price as black, so all of my cables are different colors. I count the colors in my bag and I'm good to go. I keep an identical set, plus spare head and some other spare cables, in a second bag that stays in my car.
I once forgot my upright bass. Usually I drive our smaller car, so the bass comes up between the front seats and you can't miss it. But on that fateful day I got halfway to a gig and realized my bass wasn't in the car, so I turned around while calling to say I'd be late. Turns out the singer and pianist were even later, they hit flash flooding on their way and their car shut down.
I once forgot my upright bass. Usually I drive our smaller car, so the bass comes up between the front seats and you can't miss it. But on that fateful day I got halfway to a gig and realized my bass wasn't in the car, so I turned around while calling to say I'd be late. Turns out the singer and pianist were even later, they hit flash flooding on their way and their car shut down.
Try also being the PA guy...
gotta be organizeder than a muuug.
I came to say this.
Try also remembering the rack unit full of radios, the 32 channel mixer, mixer stand, the mains, the subs, sub sticks, wife's keyboards and stand, mic stands, mic's, IEM's, 2 backpacks full of spare crap, and last but not least the Tip Jar,
THEN all of your bass gear......
EDIT: Oh......and the credit card you left open at the bar.
Leave behind gear? Never!
When it comes to matters of life or death though, I'm not as sharp. As a diabetic, my insulin and supplies have been left behind more than once. Thankfully most gigs are relatively local and I always have extra at home. It was never literally a matter of or death. It still sucks though.
When it comes to matters of life or death though, I'm not as sharp. As a diabetic, my insulin and supplies have been left behind more than once. Thankfully most gigs are relatively local and I always have extra at home. It was never literally a matter of or death. It still sucks though.
On the way to the gig, the thing I'm most likely to forget is the setlists. I bring a few copies just in case, but only the drummer really ever needs one. Leaving the gig, repetition has been my friend. I can usually tell if part of the PA, lights, or my bass gear didn't make it into the SUV. Things are most likely to get left behind when we break from our routine and play a show at a venue with PA and/or lights provided. This past weekend when I went in for the idiot check, I found a light stand with the logo projector on it. That would have been about $600 in replacement cost. Oh, pick clips on venue mic stands are almost a guaranteed loss for me.
If I was, I would have too much. I like a single load, and I am not in charge of other band members' gear. I don't play in bands where we have to haul and setup our own PA. So I have: a bass in a gig bag, with instrument cables, tools, etc. (sometimes a TE Elf as a backup in there), a bass cabinet, a nano pedal board in its case and an amp (class D, usually my Mesa D800 - speakon and power cable in the bag). And usually a backpack with my Kindle (the waiting is the hardest part) and a change of t shirt. So four things and a backpack. If I forget any of that I am either too drunk to be driving anyway or losing my mind. So, no, I don't worry about this.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,227
- 45,063
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
I know what goes in which bag, and how many bags I need to arrive and depart with.
That has worked for me thus far.
That has worked for me thus far.
I leave clothing behind embarrassingly often. I sweat a lot, so I have a shirt for every set. More than a few times I've showed up at the next gig, and my BL hands me a stinky shirt and coathanger and says "You owe me ten dollars." I only left my bass at a gig once, and the owner put it in a closet. I got it back the next day.
Way too anal. When I regularly gigged I knew what I brought. Also ex military and have 6 kids and 9 grandkids. Crap can disappear fast...
I once forgot my GK700RB in a parking lot. Brought all of my gear to the car and put the amp down to pack everything in the back but I forgot the amp on the curb. Got home and started unpacking and thought to myself whether or not I packed the amp. Sure enough, I didn't have it. Fortunately, when I drove back it was still just sitting there on a curb. And this was in the middle of the day in a city on a Sunday afternoon.
I think it was around 1974 and the band was augering in, taking a big nose dive... we got a fill in drummer, the vocalust left with drummerboy and we had 1 show left on a contract with management... we threw the gear in a couple of vehicles and took off for this military club in Washington DC area got there, no microphone stands...
Everything was in disarray, the club wasn't that crowded yet, we played a few good tunes and then we sort of turned it into a comedy act when one of the waitresses brought this fake potted plant of a climbing vine on a stick with a microphone affixed to the top of the fake climbing vine. It worked!
Every time we went into sing in the vine the bar erupted. The only thing that kept us afloat was the fill in country drummer, and us whipping out our Led, GFRR at el & rockin' hard.
And that was it... my career as rock musician morphed and disco was coming in and there was some really good jazz before fusion lit off.
Everything was in disarray, the club wasn't that crowded yet, we played a few good tunes and then we sort of turned it into a comedy act when one of the waitresses brought this fake potted plant of a climbing vine on a stick with a microphone affixed to the top of the fake climbing vine. It worked!
Every time we went into sing in the vine the bar erupted. The only thing that kept us afloat was the fill in country drummer, and us whipping out our Led, GFRR at el & rockin' hard.
And that was it... my career as rock musician morphed and disco was coming in and there was some really good jazz before fusion lit off.
Same. Although I lost a clip on tuner and cable last month at a gig.
