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How you stand when gigging on stage

How do you play when gigging on stage?


  • Total voters
    355
"Ahh the serious musician..

After looking @ your profile I understand why you would call a bassist having fun groovin his/her way & entertaining the crowd a "poser"

If my body dont hurt the next mourning I was'nt rock'n it Hard Enuff!:bassist :"

Not quite sure what my profile tells anyone other than the fact that I'm 57 years old and have decent equipment. I've made a living with a bass of some sort for close to 40 years. Yeah, I'm a serious musician; didn't realize that was something to sneer at. I move when the spirit moves me, not according to whatever might look cool. If I'm in pain after a gig, I've done something I didn't need to do, and I haven't lasted as long as I have injuring myself playing. It's not a contest of physical strength and endurance, it's music. If you want to jump around, by all means, do so. I neither want or need to; my playing speaks for itself. If you can play what you need to play while you're running around, GREAT!! The part I find silly is working out one's "spontaneous" moves beforehand.

Don't worry, Salcott. It sounds like he's just a youngster who thinks all of us "old guys" (I'm also 57) already have one foot in the grave. They don't realize that we too were young pups once upon a time who also sowed a few wild oats... ;)
 
i did away with my "power stance" when i started wearing my bass higher, and now i do alot of bobbing, swaying. i have to move with the lowend...i find it almost impossible to stand still and play efficiently...

come on guys, we're bassists here...If you're gonna groove, you gotta move!
 
Thanks, JeffK-us geezers gotta stick together, especially when we've got nothin' to prove. Our power comes from our playing, not how we stand.

i must admit, one of the best local players i've seen was an old dude w/ a jazz jam band, stood still the entire time, but dang if he wont layin down some straight funk...old bassists are always good to listen to...their experience almost always shows through in their sound...not always so with guitarists
 
I usually just stand, unless my sound man gives me the "lower" (thumb down) signal - then I adopt a full squat until my knees start to give out, then it's back up again. Well, I used to do that until I found out that what he really wanted was for me to TURN IT down. :hmm:
 
I voted swinging left to right.....I can't stand still even when not playing bass easily :eek:. However, no headbanging here (glasses would fall off LOL) or jumping around... my luck I'd break something (me or equipment).

Been watching live bassists moves a lot.....and noticing the better the player the less they move around :eek:.

I also find myself doing the stomp thing..... just gotta watch and make sure I don't stomp a cable. Funny part is, I stomp with the opposite foot I tap with...:confused::hyper:
 
I usualy get to leaning on the stage monitors or miving around stage interacting with my other band members, interacting with the crowd. Eentuly at some point in the show my guitarist and I will get in each others faces and start screaming our heads off.Gets us pumped:bassist:
 
We always hang in a Buffalo Stance
We do the dive every time we dance
I'll give you love baby not romance
I'll make a move nothing left to chance
So don't you get fresh with me



I used to have very much of a Jimmy Page "stagger." Now, many years later, and a bad back and having to to a lot more vocals... I usually opt for being a lot more stationary than I used to, but try to avoid standing with my feet on the same plane as my hips just shoulder width apart- my version of the "power stance."
 
standing straight, swaying a lil' to the left and right, power stance, and headbanging.

Of course these vary depending on what i'm playing.

Standing straight and swaying tend to occur in more calm and/or spaced-out moments in music.

When things get heavy I tend to do a powerstance or headbang while doing chugs.

Paradoxically, I'll also do the straight standing while playing heavy stuff if I'm playing something a bit more complex that requires concentration, like meshuggah-style riffing for example.