Ever regretted letting someone sit in?

I have done gigs where the BL had a drummer sit in for the gig. Unfortunately, the drummer (two of them that I can think of, actually) couldn't count and couldn't keep time. One was timid, the other was confident, but both were disasters.

 

I was house bassist at a blues jam early 2000's, the singer was great but liked to imbibe a bit too much at times. He called up a drummer who was REALLY bad and amateurish right near the end of the afternoon and then walked off the stage to places unknown, the last song is coming up and I wanted to end sounding good so I called up the regular house drummer, the singer runs up onstage from where ever he was and came close to pounding me although I did stand my ground. I believe that was the last time he played with us. I have apologized to him for my part even though I still feel that I did what was right but he seems to still carry a resentment to this day.

BTW, what's a BL? Big Leader?

 

Never had regrets. One band I was in used to call up a drummer to play who was better than the drummer in that band. When the guitarist and I left that band, we called that guy up and recruited him into a new band. You just never know.

 

Remember kids, alcohol and trombones do not mix.

 

In TB world I think this means bandleader.

 

i don't recall ever having regrets. if it did happen = probably because the cat showed me up...schooled me!

sometimes there would be a sit-in 'event' at family/wedding style gigs where jr.'s dad paid for all of it and wanted to see jr. be the star for minute...makes sense to me --- all in good fun, not a problem. also, no one wants to play a fretless EB unless they play fretless EB, IME. almost all of those sit-ins brought their own ax (e.g., bass, guitar, horn). i can't remember bad experiences with people sitting in --- the music may have gone sideways when the performances weren't up to snuff, but no biggie, part of the fun....

in a lot of club work, however, in a lot of places: letting someone sit-in is a sign of respect (and you get a break...and maybe a lesson!).

usually, i saw it as a time to get a little break, refresh my beverage. ergo, no regrets.

 

One of my cardinal rules is, no one gets up on the stage unless you know exactly what they intend to do.

Couple years ago the GP says that he has a friend who has always wanted to play with a band, and can she sit in with us on tambourine? I voted no but was out-voted. Well, this woman couldn’t keep time with a stopwatch. She was horrible. I suffered through one song, hoping that would be it. But no, now that she had tasted show business, she refused to leave the bandstand and finished the set with us. I don’t know, four or five songs, but it was an eternity. At the break I put my foot down, no more tambourine.

Another time, with another band, we played a benefit for Hurricane Katrina relief. This one guy from the audience wasn’t satisfied with the dollars going into the collection box, so he asked if he could have an open mic to make an appeal. Big mistake. He cussed out and berated the audience, making them and us extremely uncomfortable. Another violation of cardinal rule #1. Memorize it, and enforce it.

 

Oh, thanks, I was close, I hate abbreviations.

 

Many times, though it never was 'me' who instigated. bad drummers; blow hard harmonicas, awful vocalists. A bad idea! Not a professional thing to do, unless the person is a 'known quantity'.

 

Too late, I already had supper. Nice fresh salad with veggies from my friends' garden and some fresh herbs from mine, with taco chicken. But anyway, that was @bobyoung53, not me!

 

We had a guy like that. He was friends with the BL/guitar player (I think they got high together). He started introducing the band, and then he started doing hand-held percussion, and then he started locating himself closer to the stage. My guitar player kept telling him that he had "natural rhythm," but he only had natural rhythm in the same way that any 6-year-old had, having learned how to walk already. He did not have a sense of timing, and he had no idea when his contributions were actually appropriate or not. I made points with some audience members when I gave him the throat-cut stop signal. Unfortunately I had to do that at a couple different gigs. Finally I got through to the BL that it was not an acceptable situation. Not for me, not for the band, and not for the audience.

Covid has made it easy to deny anyone that request. "Sorry, we don't share our microphones."

 

Because you used 'TB'. I was a nurse, we could only use approved commonly understood abbreviations, that would be helpful here too. YKWIM?

 

I regret it most every time. A lot of times the person will go to some other than me to ask about it. One instance I walked by the rest of the band on break and I hear a guy say "oh, and I promise not to hurt your bass..." Other issues are sweaty hands clogging up my strings, clumsy people tripping over my gear in the floor, or watching the guy whip out a pick and start wailing away on my bass.

 

Oh, I thought everyone here knew TB at least

 

The only people I have ever let sit in are people who I play with anyway. Guys who everyone in the band knows. Never unknowns. So I’ve never had cause to regret it. I’ve seen it go real bad when due diligence is not used.

 

And there you go with the abbreviations. Had supper yet?

 

I've been house bass player in two or three blues jams and usually they're fun, every once in a while they're not though, it really depends on how the BL run the jam. If someone is falling behind or ruinging it you smile and let them play a song pr two

Some nurses used to give MgSO4 instead of MSO4 by mistake, BIG mistake, never mind that MS.