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Fired/not recruited for playing the wrong brand.

Have you been fired of a band because you were playing the wrong brand if bass?

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    597
#84
TLDR. I rotate through a lot of different basses and brands in the 80's cover band I'm in (into our 6th year together now), usually a different one each gig (I like variety) and at no time has anyone said anything to me about which one I'm playing and I've never gotten a negative comment about it's looks or tone. If they did they'd be told in no uncertain terms to go pound sand (actually something much more rude and negative). I'd never tell a guitar player that they should play something different and I'll be damned if I'd ever put up with it from someone else. YMMV.
 
#86
when i had a 6 string carvin with a figured walnut top, i know i missed one audition partly because the look was all off. it was some sort of pop/rock project.

imo they were 100% right that it was the wrong look.

in the classical world, there certainly are still people who think you are not legit until you get a (preferably antique) italian made violin. that is less and less these days, but it definitely is "a thing," to some extent.

wanting a normal looking fender-ish (not specifically fender, though) bass for a teenage pop/rock band that was supposedly doing some sort of Disney channel project is very fair.

saying "we dont use ____" is a whole other level of wacky.
 
#87
There is cheap gear like "Wow, what a bargain!" and there is cheap gear like "man, they cut some important corners to get to that price". As a bandleader, at a certain level it is your job to look at the gear. Being able to play a Top40 song well should not be a distinguishing feature for a bassist who expects to get paid. The guy who brings the bass with the crackling pot and rusty strings that can't hold a tuning for five minutes will not get my nod to play four hour shows in front of hundreds of people every week. He may be a master player, but that doesn't matter if his instrument falls apart during the second song.

All jokes aside, I think it is fair for my bandmates to have expectations of my gear. We are playing together, the band's sound is a sum of its parts, so my gear and sound choices affect everybody. But the golden rule applies: ALWAYS listen with your ears, not your eyes. If somebody tells me "hey, could you dial in more mids" I am totally open for that. If somebody told me to better bring a Gibson without even having heard my instrument, then I know I don't want to be part of this band.

I have been on the other side of this: I once left a band because of (not only, but it was a strong factor) the drummer's set. Man that thing sounded bad, from the kick to the cymbals. Horrible. I just didn't see a way that this band would ever sound good while that set was behind me on stage.
 
#90
Yes vote here.

~2008 jam band

Nailed audition with my 60s Japanese de-fretted short scale hollowbody, did a couple gigs.

They asked if I had a or planned on getting a fretted Fender or something similar. “Not really”. Then radio silence for like a month and a half or two.

Out of boredom and having got a fat lump of cash I don’t know where, I grabbed my now-gone Geddy to do a demo of my punk songs. They heard through the grapevine about it and called me up.

I guess they were wanting to experiment with slightly hard-rock sounds and they got a guy with a Ric for about a month, but he was really only into playing DFA1979 & Metallica and that wasn’t happening with their mostly Phishy/Moe-ey vibe.

That one fell apart a few months later due to the guitarists trying to date the same chick and the drummer suffering a mental illness spike.
 
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#91
I have never had this happen to me. I think it's important to have the right bass for the music, but to sack you on the spot because you don't is very strange. I'm thinking they may have used it as an excuse to get rid of you for whatever reason.
 
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#92
I've had a drummer beg me to only use my SWR California Blonde (with or without ext. cab) because he loves the way it sounds. I do my best to accommodate him, he's a good drummer and a good guy. Another drummer expressed a fondness for a couple of my Squier p-basses, and one guitarist thinks my Ray SUB 4 with Duncan Blackouts preamp to be my "signature" sound. However, at this time of year I endeavor to perform a live set (or at least a few tunes) with each of my giggable basses. That's quite a few, so they will just have to deal. :roflmao: If someone dares to give me push back I just give them the evil eye and put a curse on them and all their descendants. Or I tell them "You buy, I'll try"!

BBB
 
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#93
I had a friend in college who had briefly been in the Bass program at Berklee. He told me he showed up at his first Jazz class with his bass, a Rickenbacker, and the professor told him to get the f#%k out and come back with a "real" (fender) bass. Not really surprising at Berklee in the 70's, I guess, it was All Jazz, All the Time.
 
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#94
Never fired for using the wrong bass, but my Sadowsky NYC is by far favoured by every producer and engineer I have worked with compared to a fretless Fbass or something equally niche. I think there is some comfort and familiarity for others in the "classics": P-bass, J-bass, EBMM, etc. If I were going to venture into the band world again (which I may), the Sadowsky would be my go-to, or I would get a P.
 
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#96
These stories are wild as in decades of playing 1000’s of gigs with countless bands I have never heard anything like this…

I also play Fender Jazz basses mostly but I would tell someone to stick it if they tried to tell me what bass to play…unless it was the Foo Fighters or Stevie Wonder or something…then I would play whatever they want me to :)
 
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#98
Almost related story:
1974, Minneapolis Minnesota, bass guy buys aan SVT. Bass guy auditions, and is told he is the one. Of course the band has an image and requires him to use a Marshall full stack. Bass guy trades in a nine day olde double cab SVT, gets the full stack Marshall, within two weeks the band imploded.

In his defense the band was made up of very solid players, had great representation, and had successfully been on the local circuit and had a growing following.

I would have looked in to renting the Stack.
 
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#100
So Anyway, I've got a reverse incident.
In '74 I'd been playing for a year. I owned a Gibson Les Paul Triumph Bass and a big Acoustic amp. Joined the musician's union and soon got a call from a band whose bass player was leaving. I showed up not knowing any of their lounge-band songs, but they hired me.
Turns out they were imitating a popular local band in the area and that group's bass player used the exact same Gibson/Acoustic gear.
 
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