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Forced into a band!

josiah goldfish

josiah goldfish

Guest
Jan 10, 2012
1,339
289
E.Sussex UK
#1
Hi everyone, I'm doing GCSE music at my school and my teacher has put together 3 bands from my fellow class-mates. My band consists of me (bass), a guitarist and 3 singers (sucks right?). I haven't picked any songs (we have to perform a maximum of 4, we've picked 3) and the girls in my group (all the singers are girls) want to pick modern pop and singer-songwriter stuff, basically songs with little bass and what is there is just roots. I'm getting fed-up with boring songs and I need to do something about this, the only problem is, my teacher will give me a bad grade if I walk out, and I'm finding it difficult to talk to the others about the song choices (the guitarist loves the songs). What would you do?
 
#3
Three female singers, simple basslines, pop songs? Make that 50-100 songs instead of 3-4, replace singer-songwriter stuff with hip-hop, and it sounds like my idea of the perfect gig.

If there are three bands, can you swap bands with some other bassist?
 
#4
Take this as an excellent lesson in being a part of the team, and doing what's best for all, especially the music. You'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to do whatever you want, the play as much as you want, to shred, whatever.

A friend of mine a long time ago drilled into me the importance of making music as opposed to playing notes. If you're just playing roots you can simply play all the notes, or you can play each note, make it sing, and make true music. Put every fiber of your being into it. The simpler it is, sometimes, even the better as you can really get into each and every note and make it almost a meditation. I would take this as a great opportunity to play that simple root stuff better than any musician has ever played it before.
 
#5
Tell your band-mates that you're not too excited about the picks so far, so you'd like to have input on the next pick. Then pick a song that would work for everyone, not just the bass player (like no YYZ). Then on the other three, pound out the roots like you're getting paid for it.
 
#7
Hehe, I'm doing my music GCSE at the moment as well, 'cept I'm playing oboe, so it's less of me being forced into a group and more of me being in demand and being able to pick and choose :D
Still, hope you do well, remember the music only has to be of Grade 3 standard so to be honest it doesn't really matter that you're not doing much. Just lay down the groove and you should hopefully get a good mark for performance skills. The time to shine is the solo performance. You are definitely in control then!
Just out of interest, are you doing Bass for the solo as well?
 
#8
I played a ton of stuff I wasn't really "excited" about during school projects over the years. I learned something from almost all situations. It wasn't always about bass playing specifically, sometimes just song construction and how to get a group of people on the same page. Especially as a bass player, being a good team member despite the project is really important. I'd second the previous suggestions to voice your input regarding the final song choice. Remember when you pick a song that it needs to work for your format (3 female vocalists) so they won't be bored and want to veto your song.

I hope you can enjoy the experience even though you aren't in love with the specific songs.
 
#9
Joe Nerve said:
Take this as an excellent lesson in being a part of the team, and doing what's best for all, especially the music.


A friend of mine a long time ago drilled into me the importance of making music as opposed to playing notes. If you're just playing roots you can simply play all the notes, or you can play each note, make it sing, and make true music. Put every fiber of your being into it. The simpler it is, sometimes, even the better as you can really get into each and every note and make it almost a meditation. I would take this as a great opportunity to play that simple root stuff better than any musician has ever played it before.
Click to expand...

Bravo Joe! Bravo!

I saw a rotten band with my drummer years ago. He made the statement: They don't know the difference between playing all the Notes in a song and Playing a song.

I think you said it better!
 
#10
I haven't read the whole thread.

I'm asumming you're a younger Guy.

This is good thing for you to learn early on, it's not about you, reason, or what you like or you positions. It's about collaboration and team work.
 
#11
Ottsworth said:
Hehe, I'm doing my music GCSE at the moment as well, 'cept I'm playing oboe, so it's less of me being forced into a group and more of me being in demand and being able to pick and choose :D
Still, hope you do well, remember the music only has to be of Grade 3 standard so to be honest it doesn't really matter that you're not doing much. Just lay down the groove and you should hopefully get a good mark for performance skills. The time to shine is the solo performance. You are definitely in control then!
Just out of interest, are you doing Bass for the solo as well?
Click to expand...

Yup, I'm doing solo bass as well. It's... Interesting. I'm really not sure what to play when it comes to these. I'm thinking slap solos ATM, but we'll see.
 
#12
pklima said:
Three female singers, simple basslines, pop songs? Make that 50-100 songs instead of 3-4, replace singer-songwriter stuff with hip-hop, and it sounds like my idea of the perfect gig.

If there are three bands, can you swap bands with some other bassist?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no. All the other bassists love their bands, which can be a bit irritating as some of these songs have great solos and fill opportunities, but the other bassists ignore them :(
Some great advice here, thanks a lot :)
 
#13
josiah goldfish said:
Hi everyone, I'm doing GCSE music at my school and my teacher has put together 3 bands from my fellow class-mates. My band consists of me (bass), a guitarist and 3 singers (sucks right?). I haven't picked any songs (we have to perform a maximum of 4, we've picked 3) and the girls in my group (all the singers are girls) want to pick modern pop and singer-songwriter stuff, basically songs with little bass and what is there is just roots. I'm getting fed-up with boring songs and I need to do something about this, the only problem is, my teacher will give me a bad grade if I walk out, and I'm finding it difficult to talk to the others about the song choices (the guitarist loves the songs). What would you do?
Click to expand...
1. Talk to your teacher. You are probably not the first person with this issue and you won't be the last.
2. It's a part of the music program. It's not permanent. No need to let your grade suffer over what is essentially a selfish reason to quit. Stick with it.
3. As for the difficulty level for the bass guitar parts not being challenging, let it go. Listen to all the recordings Nathan East has made. It's not all upside-down, playing on his head bass lines. If you can play everything solid like a robot, that's great if that is what the music calls for. If the bass lines are as easy as you say and you do a 100% great job, you have an easy A.
 
#14
josiah goldfish said:
Yup, I'm doing solo bass as well. It's... Interesting. I'm really not sure what to play when it comes to these. I'm thinking slap solos ATM, but we'll see.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've just been doing music I've done for grade exams, it's more about ticking their boxes rather than having fun or enjoying playing pieces... ;)

One guy I know who's doing solo bass as a piece, he's been playing for just under a year... I recomended he played Primus :hiding:
 
#16
Joe Nerve said:
Take this as an excellent lesson in being a part of the team, and doing what's best for all, especially the music. You'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to do whatever you want, the play as much as you want, to shred, whatever.

A friend of mine a long time ago drilled into me the importance of making music as opposed to playing notes. If you're just playing roots you can simply play all the notes, or you can play each note, make it sing, and make true music. Put every fiber of your being into it. The simpler it is, sometimes, even the better as you can really get into each and every note and make it almost a meditation. I would take this as a great opportunity to play that simple root stuff better than any musician has ever played it before.
Click to expand...

+1. I just started playing with a couple of singer-songwriters, and one of the first things they asked about was simplifying all the busy (and usually clashing) stuff their previous bass player did.

So I'm concentrating a lot on playing as few notes as I can and focusing on each note, while still locking in with the (very good) drummer.

This is even more fun on fretless...
 
#20
Joe Nerve said:
Take this as an excellent lesson in being a part of the team, and doing what's best for all, especially the music. You'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to do whatever you want, the play as much as you want, to shred, whatever.

A friend of mine a long time ago drilled into me the importance of making music as opposed to playing notes. If you're just playing roots you can simply play all the notes, or you can play each note, make it sing, and make true music. Put every fiber of your being into it. The simpler it is, sometimes, even the better as you can really get into each and every note and make it almost a meditation. I would take this as a great opportunity to play that simple root stuff better than any musician has ever played it before.
Click to expand...

This hits it right on the nose.
 

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