How bad is my playing?

[madbass6]

It seems like you are just noodling instead of playing a song or supporting a piece. Aside from that, nothing really stood out as a red flag to me. I guess it also depends on what style of music the band plays. If you sent that for a highly technical prog band or a jazz ensemble, I could see it not going over well. Have you asked the band for specifics beyond "you're not good enough"? Criticism can hurt can it can also be extremely helpful.

I agree with Diabmusic, most audition clips bands want to see the Bass player being just that a Bass player ! When it comes to Bass video demos bassist should focus more on playing the supporting role instead of the soloing thing, I mean the melodic stuff is great but most bands hiring bass players want to see more of the back bone to the band style vs the soloing thing on these music clips , save all that good stuff for the actual in person audition when given your spot to shine! just remember don't over do it it could back fire too! When making these clips one must always remember it will be your first impression to the viewer and as with anything else in life first impressions do matter!
regardless, good playing man !
Don't get discouraged learn from your mistakes and move on.. nice sound!

 

[JRA]

Blakarian : nice! you know what you're doing with the instrument! IMO: some of the posts are nudging you toward knowing what to do with an opportunity. since you play really well: try getting better at 'reading between the lines', i.e., finding out what potential bands want from a player and then how best to bring your experience/chops to their game.

good luck 'interfacing' with others!

 

[FingerDub]

Man, tough crowd here. He obviously knows theory and has technical skill. Suprised the band didn' see that. I see it as nothing more than picking perhaps the wrong type of music.

 

[TheReceder]

Video auditions... it could be something as stupid as they didn't like your shirt.

 

[JRA]

Video auditions... it could be something as stupid as they didn't like your shirt.

i'm thinking it's more of "he's really good...too good...he's better than us = absolutely 'no'."

 

[SmokinJoe992]

I would never make a decision about adding someone to my band based solely on a video audition. I often request videos from prospective band members, but I use it more as a weeding out process than an actual deciding factor. If someone took the time and effort to make a video to send to me and appeared to have some idea of how to play, I would want to meet them in person before I made a decision. I would also never tell someone their playing was not good enough based solely on an audition video. Even if their playing was awful (which yours was not). The whole things seems very unprofessional to me, and I believe you are way better off not being in that band. You have received many great suggestions on how to make a better video next time. Keep working at it and do not let this experience discourage you. I have auditioned and got the job and I have auditioned and not got the job. Each time I learned something that made me better for the next time.

 

[glocke1]

Hello fellow bassists! Recently I've responded to a band looking for a bassist, they asked me to make a video of me playing something and send it to them, I did and they told me I'm not good enough to play in their band, I've uploaded the video I sent them on youtube because I'd like some more experienced bassist to see what I'm doing wrong and tell me how to better myself! Could anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? this is the link to the video:

you're just messing around/noodling. I like what you're doing, but if a guitar player sent me something where they were doing something similar I'd say no thanks as well.

Record yourself holding down a groove, playing along to tunes, or something else.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Video auditions... it could be something as stupid as they didn't like your shirt.

I'm going to go with... his bass had more strings than the guitarist's guitar.
And he may have mastered those eight strings better than the guitarist does with six.
Your playing is beautiful and very melodic. You may have been seen as a threat to the guitar players in the band.

It may be that they were looking to hire for the night shift at the 7-11 and you show up with a PhD in Astrophysics on your resume.

Please tell me you weren't auditioning for a blues band?
Because if that's the skill set needed, I'm hosed.

 

[john_g]

I think that OP’s video was posted here in the Technique forum to hear some compliments and has little to do with some auditioning for some unknown band playing some unknown music style; therefore,
Wow, you are a very good bass player. Very interesting.

Sorry but, that was my first thought. I could be wrong though.

 

[Duanestuermer]

Although I like to solo, and play lyrical solos over ballads songs with lots of chord changes.
I would never send a video like that to a band.
You give the impression thats your thing, to be an artsy soloist.
Most bands wants a bass to drive the bottom end, and the band with authority, not wimpy artsy. meandering.
The sound you provide has practically no bottom end, little rhythmic drive, and even less authority.
Although I wouldn't reply with "you're not good enough" I might reply, you don't fit our needs.

 

[Spidey2112]

Sorry but, that was my first thought. I could be wrong though.

Seems like it shows up in here quite a bit, doesn't it... at least the possibility, anyways...

... my fave is 'watch me do this'...

... it lasts about 10 seconds, with my short attention span moving onto potato peeling videos...

 

[john_g]

Seems like it shows up in here quite a bit, doesn't it... at least the possibility, anyways...

... my fave is 'watch me do this'...

... it lasts about 10 seconds, with my short attention span moving onto potato peeling videos...

Again, if Im wrong then..."my bad OP"...but, the video doesnt make a lot of sense in terms of showing a prospective band you can play. I guess if its a free form jazz band or something?

 

[Joe Nerve]

Not knowing the type of band you were going to audition for, it's impossible to know what was up with their response. I'm going to be honest though, and tell ya what I think...

I think that you know that you can play, you don't really need us to tell you that, and that their response was sarcastic. I'm going to guess they interpreted your video as an attempt to show off as opposed to show them you were a solid bassist, and then rolled their eyes and responded as they did. And I could of course be totally wrong. If it were a new age artsy type of band, me thinks they'd have called you in a heartbeat. If it were a pop cover, dance, or rock band, they'd laugh and respond as they did.

I'd really like to know what kind of band it is.

I'll add, I think it's much more important to give people what they want than to try and impress people. I had one audition where they insisted on a video. I hated that, as I hate cameras and I shine much more in real life. Knowing I had to either follow their rules or forget it (and really wanting the gig) I videod myself playing flawlessly along with their tunes. I got in the band. Had I sent them your video, I'm certain I WOULDN'T have gotten in the band, despite the fact that I'm pretty certain you too would be capable of covering the gig.

I quoted these 2 posts but don't remember why ....

What was the genre of the band you wanted to audition for? If I was looking for a bass player that could play classic rock, country, blues, rockabilly or pop there is nothing on your tape that shows you could play that. I'd be concerned that you would be bored hammering out the much more simple bass lines required of those genres.

Oh yeah... I just asked that again.

You sent them a video of yourself playing treble.

That too.

 

[honeyiscool]

I know I'm going off-thread, but I like to think of music and entertainment as two different things, they can of course intertwine, but as a musician I don't really care for looks as long as the music is fine! Of course people's opinion can differ, but this is the way I think

There are plenty of players who can play who aren’t, what I call, “artistes.” Yup, artistes, French and all. And until you work on your presentation marks, or just become so undeniably skilled that it becomes foolish, those players who can play and entertain will be chosen over artiste types almost every single time. But then you notice that even the Victor Wootens of the world have straight up charisma. I wouldn’t want to work in a band with anyone who told me what you just said. That’s a deal breaker for me. And honestly, that attitude shows up.

But okay, here’s how it goes. I would have picked something that could show off more than just pure technique. First off, not two tracks. One track. It should reflect something that sounds like music people listen to. Even jazz has many moments of bass being pure support. Stand while you play. Don’t stare at your frets. Look loose. Follow a groove.

 

[Nashrakh]

The guitarist was scared of you. No one steals HIS limelight!

I've known a few that feel downright intimidated by extended range basses - even before you play a single note.

 

[TuneSalad666]

Well the solo part of the video was great, sounded good and was technically on a fairly high level too, the actual bass part though was very simple and straight out boring and frankly also sounded like crap in my opinion.

Maybe that's why.

From the video I don't doubt that you can play bass and know your instrument, but I can see why it might only appeal to a fairly narrow crowd, and it isn't too apparent that you can actually play a decent bass line, even if it kind of should be clear that you definitely know your instrument.

The video just don't display your skills at playing traditional bass lines, which I guess is what most would be looking for.

But then you notice that even the Victor Wootens of the world have straight up charisma. I wouldn’t want to work in a band with anyone who told me what you just said. That’s a deal breaker for me. And honestly, that attitude shows up.

Actually I heard an interview with Victor Wooten where he state something in the line of that he doesn't too often get called in for a job doing traditional bass lines, although he is perfectly capable, because that is not what he is known for.

So even famous people get stereo typed and filtered out because of what they represent.

 

[gln1955]

I think that OP’s video was posted here in the Technique forum to hear some compliments and has little to do with some auditioning for some unknown band playing some unknown music style; therefore,
Wow, you are a very good bass player. Very interesting.

I starting to think that too. He's disappeared and hasn't answered the recurring question of what type of band he was auditioning for. Hard to give advice when the person asking for it doesn't cooperate.

 

[LBS-bass]

Your playing is very nice and artful, and artful is probably about the last thing most bands are looking for. They didn't like your playing because, as was said earlier, you didn't demonstrate that you can get into the pocket and lock up with precision. That's what a band is looking to see from most bassists. I have a friend who plays very artful solo bass like that and he also jams like a madman holding down the bottom with some of the best bluesmen in his town. Art is wonderful but if you expect work you need to be the utility guy, too.

 

[cnltb]

Man, tough crowd here. He obviously knows theory and has technical skill. Suprised the band didn' see that. I see it as nothing more than picking perhaps the wrong type of music.

What makes you think he knows theory?( not saying he doesn't)

 

[Jeff K]

First off, I don't think I'D want to play with THEM! It would be one thing if they had told you something like, "Although you're a good player, we don't think your style fits in with what we're looking for...". Or something like that.

If they actually said, "You're not good enough to play in our band", then it sounds to me as if they're not the kind of bandmates I'd want to have anyway. Constructive criticism is fine. But a generic blast like that just demonstrates snobbery to me...