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I was told this at my audition.....
- Thread starter BassDad1964
- Start date
Man I didn’t even get an audition
We just have four employees and no music minister and the pastor came up to me and was like
“You play bass right” i said yes of course and he said alright your in.
I never even got the chance to audition.
We just have four employees and no music minister and the pastor came up to me and was like
“You play bass right” i said yes of course and he said alright your in.
I never even got the chance to audition.
I had an audition for a bass player/acoustic guitar payer yesterday at my church. The worship leader, who is a little overwhelmed, gave me 2 tunes to work up on bass, acoustic and be ready to sing them as well. No problem because I offered to sing if needed too.
I get there and she tells me that I won't be able to play my bass since the sound tech couldn't make it. (Everything is IEM's). She then said...
wait for it......
"If you can play guitar then I'm sure you can play bass too."
I am now a bass player in the rotation for Sunday Mornings.
God can use whatever you bring to the table. Sounds like the PWL needs some help. Remember to be gracious.
Thanks for the comments everyone! Mostly I just posted this as a funny.. a reflection of how some people think of bass in general.
Here is an update.
I went and watched a worship team rehearsal last night. A little background is in order. Up until 1 year ago I was the worship leader in a smaller church for quite some time. We didn't have multitudes of folks signed up to play instruments or be singers. We had a keys player, a drummer and me on da bass and occasional acoustic guitar. Including myself we had 4 singers. For the most part we were all there every Sunday. Because of that we learned how to play together and how to read each other during rehearsals and Sunday mornings. No in ear monitors, no click track etc. I left that church last year and now have been attending this larger one ever since then.
Anyway, at rehearsal last night it was just a train wreck. I am used to preparing material, working out arrangements, keys, parts, etc so it was all I could do to keep my mouth shut. But that is the point. I came from being "in charge" and now I just want to serve and take orders as much as I can. The WL knows a little of my background (after I told her) and I also told her that I in no way want to step on her toes or even appear to be doing that.
I came home last night and discussed this with the Mrs. and she said, "I don't know how you are going to be able to do that."
They have all the raw materials they need to build a good worship music dept. I just want to find a way to help without causing problems. Those of you who do or have done both know that playing in church is different from playing gigs with your band. You can't just "fire the drummer."
As much as ya might wanna.
My plan is to lay low, have my stuff ready and see if my assistance when offered will be accepted.
Oh yeah, did I mention I am running sound at the end of the month?
Here is an update.
I went and watched a worship team rehearsal last night. A little background is in order. Up until 1 year ago I was the worship leader in a smaller church for quite some time. We didn't have multitudes of folks signed up to play instruments or be singers. We had a keys player, a drummer and me on da bass and occasional acoustic guitar. Including myself we had 4 singers. For the most part we were all there every Sunday. Because of that we learned how to play together and how to read each other during rehearsals and Sunday mornings. No in ear monitors, no click track etc. I left that church last year and now have been attending this larger one ever since then.
Anyway, at rehearsal last night it was just a train wreck. I am used to preparing material, working out arrangements, keys, parts, etc so it was all I could do to keep my mouth shut. But that is the point. I came from being "in charge" and now I just want to serve and take orders as much as I can. The WL knows a little of my background (after I told her) and I also told her that I in no way want to step on her toes or even appear to be doing that.
I came home last night and discussed this with the Mrs. and she said, "I don't know how you are going to be able to do that."
They have all the raw materials they need to build a good worship music dept. I just want to find a way to help without causing problems. Those of you who do or have done both know that playing in church is different from playing gigs with your band. You can't just "fire the drummer."
As much as ya might wanna.
My plan is to lay low, have my stuff ready and see if my assistance when offered will be accepted.
Oh yeah, did I mention I am running sound at the end of the month?
What was the nature of the trainwreck? Is it fixable with a good leader? Maybe you could become music director and let the worship leader focus on her other duties in that role.
They require everyone to use a click track. I am told so that they can all stay in time together. The result is that they stare at the floor and concentrate on the click but don't play together. Also the bass player didn't know his part, the keys player was not in the mix but that's ok since they use a pad sound, generated from the sound board that is supposed to stay underneath the tune. It is so loud that keys player is buried. Sound guy has absolutely no idea how to do that job. They have 4 or 5 signed up that they rotate each week and the guitar player, who is good but is getting frustrated tells me that none of the sound guys know what they are doing. They had 2 singers on stage. 1 was supposed to be leading and the other? She just tried to sing in unison and didn't quite make it. None of this was addressed in the rehearsal. There was more but no need to pile on.
I want to help them but they don't know me. We all need to get to know each other before we start criticizing even if it's constructive. I am waiting for that. I look forward to that.
I once saw a worship team that had a guitarist who couldn't strum or really play, singers who couldn't sing and a drummer who couldn't keep time. I talked to the Pastor and he said in 10 years at that location they couldn't hobble together a worship team.
It happens. Sometimes people do the best they can.
It sounds like here they need leadership more than anything.
It is difficult to walk into an established group, and try to make changes, even if they will be helpful. My advice, for what it’s worth, is be patient. Get to know everyone in the band individually, engage them in conversations to find out their personal backgrounds, etc. mention in passing, your background, problems you encountered with your previous bands, and how you solved those problems.
You may find, that the group is struggling with being able to articulate, with the director, on how to fix the same things you have observed. Working in the background, is nerve racking, when you are used to being in charge. I wish you the best.
Agreed sir. That's good advice and I plan to do exactly that. Gotta get to know your brothers and sisters before anything else.
Jimi kicked Noel out of the band by summer, 1969, and even by the Electric Ladyland sessions Redding was on only half of the songs, the rest featured Hendrix or Jack Casady(or Mike Finnegan’s feet). Which “last album” are you talking about? Billy Cox, a long time R&B bassist and old Army buddy of Jimi’s, was always in the studio with him from Woodstock onwards to the end, aside from any spontaneous jams at any given time that were recorded but not originally meant for release.
I'm well aware. Crazy hendrix historian here. I'm talking about the album that became the cry of love. Where jimi is on record for saying he wanted Noel there for blues, while billy, who was teh "real" bass player I was referring to, was a great solid player, but not nearly as improvisational as noel.
I've been blessed to be able to play 3-4 (sometimes 5) times a week for my home church and a few others. Keeps my playing up. We have some pretty decent musicians, but unfortunately everywhere I play, the sound guy or gal just isn't trained enough. I have to mostly rely on my own gear, as most of them can turn up the mic's, but don't know how to mix. Makes it tough to figure out how I sound in the back of the sanctuary. Just picked up a line 6 G30 wireless to (hopefully) remedy that. If the wireless works out, might upgrade to the 90 or something else. I have a Sansamp, but some of the soundguys just can't hear it, or don't care what the bass sounds like as long as there is some bass.
My bass adventure started 40 some years ago. I was playing guitar in a jazz guitar ensemble when our bass player didn't show up for rehearsal; our BL asked me to fill in on bass for the night. About one song later I was hooked. Within the next few weeks I bought a used Gibson Grabber. Since then I've been playing bass at church for the last 35 years.
This last year has devastated our church band however; between the Covid stuff and political differences between our Paster and some of our band members we have only played together once in the last 14 months and that was for the funeral of our BL's wife. I really don't understand some of our members allowing political differences with a non-band member to pretty much end our band after playing together for more than 30 years. Luckily, I also play guitar and mandolin and am in a non-church band that's starting to book gigs again.
Thump on,
One_ Dude
This last year has devastated our church band however; between the Covid stuff and political differences between our Paster and some of our band members we have only played together once in the last 14 months and that was for the funeral of our BL's wife. I really don't understand some of our members allowing political differences with a non-band member to pretty much end our band after playing together for more than 30 years. Luckily, I also play guitar and mandolin and am in a non-church band that's starting to book gigs again.
Thump on,
One_ Dude
This is why I have a strict no political discussion policy in any band I’m in. I don’t come to rehearsal to talk politics and I wouldn’t bring my instrument to a political discussion. If they want to talk politics they can do it after I leave.
I absolutely agree; no political talk within the band. In this case, the Pastor was presenting his political views during a regular church service. My position is, whether you agree or disagree with his action, it took place at the wrong time and place. As a result our church has lost much of our music ministry. Now, I also fault those who got angry and quit; how has the congregation benefitted by their action. It's like watching a roaring fire and neither side being willing to set aside their differences in order to save the situation. I guess I just don't understand. End of rant, thanks for listening.
Thump on,
One_Dude
Thump on,
One_Dude
Yeah... sounds like enough dumb behavior all around. Sorry you are going through that.
Might be a first.
I’ve heard many a guitarist complain of going a guitar audition only to be asked, once they got there, if they would object to playing bass. But I’ve never heard of anyone going to a bass audition who got asked to play guitar instead.
I’ve heard many a guitarist complain of going a guitar audition only to be asked, once they got there, if they would object to playing bass. But I’ve never heard of anyone going to a bass audition who got asked to play guitar instead.
Kinda makes me special.Might be a first.
I’ve heard many a guitarist complain of going a guitar audition only to be asked, once they got there, if they would object to playing bass. But I’ve never heard of anyone going to a bass audition who got asked to play guitar instead.
