If I am learning a song, I start out slow and gradually work my way up to normal. However, I keep going until I know it at +10 or so bpm. The reason for this is because sometimes if your playing with a new band (or sometimes a practiced band), they might not be able to control the tempo as easily as you may be able to. This way, you'll be relaxed if you're band is pushing the beat a little harder than you'd like it to go. (like during a guitar solo, or dramatic tempo changes, etc.) The more adaptive you can become, the better.
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If only I knew then what I know now...
- Thread starter bigcatJC
- Start date
I've mentioned this in earlier threads, but I think it bears repeating here.
If you have the chance to study with a great teacher, make the most of the opportunity and realize what a gift it is to learn from such a person.
As a young (middle/ high school) doublebass player, I "studied" for a couple years with Double Bassist Warren Benfield, the well respected retired Bass Chair of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was deep in retirement, and was practically "giving lessons away" at a price that even my parents could afford. "Studied" is a misnomer though, since I was (am?) a slacker and practiced very little, and didn't take it seriously. I still learned alot just being in his presence on a regular basis, but if I had applied myself, I would be many times better a player today, and might even be playing professionally.
Shortly after I ceased taking lessons, he passed on, and it was only years later that I realized what an opportunity I had blown.
If you have the chance to study with a great teacher, make the most of the opportunity and realize what a gift it is to learn from such a person.
As a young (middle/ high school) doublebass player, I "studied" for a couple years with Double Bassist Warren Benfield, the well respected retired Bass Chair of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was deep in retirement, and was practically "giving lessons away" at a price that even my parents could afford. "Studied" is a misnomer though, since I was (am?) a slacker and practiced very little, and didn't take it seriously. I still learned alot just being in his presence on a regular basis, but if I had applied myself, I would be many times better a player today, and might even be playing professionally.
Shortly after I ceased taking lessons, he passed on, and it was only years later that I realized what an opportunity I had blown.
Buying/holding equipment owned by someone other than the person selling/holding it.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448685
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448685
Band Reheasal/Gigs Tips
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=479102 Rehearsal tips
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=486490 Rehearsal efficiency
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484615 How often to rehearse?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=492051 To noodle or not to noodle?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=497067 Being asked to turn down the volume
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=500417 First gig
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=489244 Learning Live Sound mixing
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=479102 Rehearsal tips
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=486490 Rehearsal efficiency
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484615 How often to rehearse?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=492051 To noodle or not to noodle?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=497067 Being asked to turn down the volume
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=500417 First gig
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=489244 Learning Live Sound mixing
If your girlfriend/boyfriend is a non-musician:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6621198&postcount=4
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6621198&postcount=4
Wow! One of the most profound musical statements I've ever heard. And completely understood. I have no music theory background and have trouble communicating on their level. However I have recently started studying theory.
I'll add to the list with. Know your place. If you are a hired hand don't be pissed when you are vetoed or asked to do something different.
H
One new one:
Be very wary of playing in a band with your buddies. Friendships can be destroyed by the challenges of being in a band.[/QUOTE]
I disagree with this one, I have been playing music for quite a few years now and have progressed during that time. But I have only been in one band with the same two guys for the duration of this time. One of which is my best friend the other my brother, this line up has remained the same thou the life of the band and we are all on the same level because we are friends who progressed in the world of music togather. And as far as hardships we have had quite a few, record labels droping us, chemical depency, 6 hour car drives, and lets face it being completely broke. But at the end of the day I feel that it is about remebering to have fun and express your art nothing else, people can tell when your priorites our out of order.
Be very wary of playing in a band with your buddies. Friendships can be destroyed by the challenges of being in a band.[/QUOTE]
I disagree with this one, I have been playing music for quite a few years now and have progressed during that time. But I have only been in one band with the same two guys for the duration of this time. One of which is my best friend the other my brother, this line up has remained the same thou the life of the band and we are all on the same level because we are friends who progressed in the world of music togather. And as far as hardships we have had quite a few, record labels droping us, chemical depency, 6 hour car drives, and lets face it being completely broke. But at the end of the day I feel that it is about remebering to have fun and express your art nothing else, people can tell when your priorites our out of order.
as a band-
don't play for free
(I think Dave M covered this) It's much easier negotiating down then up, as well you are putting your band on a "B" or even "C" list whether you realize this or not.
always use a performance agreement..if the venue or club doesn't use a contract or agreement , then teach them how to do business with a professional act. If they don't do business that way, consider not playing there.
if you have a working money making act, handle it as you would any business. The business needs to make the primary money, and pay the employees a fair wage. If the business doesn't make money, in short time there will be no business.
create a stage plot and input list, even if most of the places you're playing doesn't need or require them. Be ready for any event.
a tech tip. I've worked in a sound company many years..and here's a easy tip for inpputing the stage for any PA.
Number the mic cables, label the mixing console and wire the the inputs the same every time. There will never be any confusion on stage if a re-patch has to happen. As well, everybody on stage will know what input they are in by looking at the mic cable. This works like a charm. You have to keep your cables sorted, but it's a huge benefit.
Last One-
no wives or girlfriends on tour - self explanatory
good thread! cheers!!
______
don't play for free
(I think Dave M covered this) It's much easier negotiating down then up, as well you are putting your band on a "B" or even "C" list whether you realize this or not.
always use a performance agreement..if the venue or club doesn't use a contract or agreement , then teach them how to do business with a professional act. If they don't do business that way, consider not playing there.
if you have a working money making act, handle it as you would any business. The business needs to make the primary money, and pay the employees a fair wage. If the business doesn't make money, in short time there will be no business.
create a stage plot and input list, even if most of the places you're playing doesn't need or require them. Be ready for any event.
a tech tip. I've worked in a sound company many years..and here's a easy tip for inpputing the stage for any PA.
Number the mic cables, label the mixing console and wire the the inputs the same every time. There will never be any confusion on stage if a re-patch has to happen. As well, everybody on stage will know what input they are in by looking at the mic cable. This works like a charm. You have to keep your cables sorted, but it's a huge benefit.
Last One-
no wives or girlfriends on tour - self explanatory
good thread! cheers!!
______
How about this: Don't practice what you already know well... Just refresh quickly and move on to whatever you don't know. Best advice I got (other than listening to everyone) is "Learn to be at least slighty proficient in reading the dots" even if you don't have a lot of theory - being able to use notation as a memory tool will often help you through complicated passages.
Hmmm...I think a big one for me would be to talk about problems as they come along. That way they can be discussed ASAP and hopefully resolved quickly. Dont let them go and assume things will get better or naturally work themselves out. If you let the problems pile up, theres no turning back and they probably cant be fixed by that point.
may be a bit frowned upon but if you HAVE to play a pay to play gig, ensure any tickets they give you are numbered and can be traced to you incase something happens, most places wont care or offer much sympathy but i have had a wallet lost with tickets in them and talked my way out of a hefty fee by ensuring this was done.
I am exactly that
. Only because my effin stupid bass is playing up 
. But it wont be for long cause I just ordered an new Ibanez ARTB 100 (wierdly I can't find any reviews for it. Is it unknown or something?) We have a lead singer who also sings (we need to find a singer) He never helps us with the drums, only his guitar and his amp.... Really gets us mad.
Always turn up with plenty of time to spare and HAVE A SOUND CHECK! every venue is different, different surfaces, different angles, higher ceilings.... they all contribute to vastly change your sound. It's no good keeping the same levels you do at rehersal, then just turning up a bit, you need to take the time to check every instrument and make sure they can all be heard to the correct level in the mix. Check the vocals in the mix, and play with the EQ until you get nice, clear vocals in the mix of the band. There's nothing worse than muddy and muffled lyrics. If you can, do this early on, before the venue gets really busy, then go have a sit down for a while. There's nothing worse than going to watch a band, seeing them do a sound check, then 30 seconds later they crack on with their set. It should all be sorted beforehand, if possible. Unfortunately in my band this hasn't been the case for the last few gigs, and it's something i really want us to address. We've played even without doing a soundcheck, and it wasn't good. We had people coming up to us in between songs saying "i can't hear this and that". Take your time and get it right.
Also, during the soundcheck, make sure you can hear all the other instruments, through the monitors or just in your playing space, make sure you can hear everyone else. You WILL make a mistake if you can't hear everyone.
Keep chord sheets for any song you're not entirely familiar with.
If you're not ready for the next song because your string has broke, you have a technical issue, you need to tune up, whatever, let the band know. Don't let them start the song without you if it's only a quick fix.
If it's a major issue, something technical, etc, that may take a few minutes to get sorted, tell the singer to apologise to the audience and tell them you're having technical difficulties. There's no shame in this, and looks better than just standing around looking scared. If you can, get the lead singer to keep the audience entertained while you get the issue sorted. You don't want to look like you're in panic. This happened to us recently, when all the guitar players electrics suddenly stopped working just before a song. When we realised we couldn't get it fixed straight away, I told the singer to sing one of his own songs to the audience on his own, with his acoustic guitar, while we got it sorted. It worked like a treat, and keeps the audience interested.
Always make sure you are in tune. Our gig on Sat night wasn't so good, when the singer picked up the mandolin for the intro to the next song, started playing away, and it was horribly out of tune. Luckily, it was only a mandolin intro, and he stopped before he started singing and tuned up. If it had been an 'all-in' song, it would have been a lot harder to stop the song, we prob would have carried on regardless.
Don't get dressed up like jackasses if you're only a small band in a small venue, for no reason other than 'looking professional'. No one wants to go to the local pub to see a covers band and there's five guys all wearing black suits and white ties looking like The Hives. It shows that you take yourselves too seriously, and if you're band isn't as polished as your dress sense you're gonna look stupid. Similarly, don't go in looking too casual. I've made this mistake before, and looking back at photo's of the gigs it doesn't look impressive to see us up on stage rocking the oil-stained jeans I use to fix the car and a ten-year old etnies t-shirt with holes in look, as well as having my trainers covered in mud from a field i walked in earlier in the day. There's a fine line between looking like you take it too seriously, and not seriously enough. Don 't be afraid to get dressed up for an occasion, though. We're playing a couple of St Patricks day gigs, and we're gonna have to do something for that.
I read this earlier on, but i'll re-iterate it, Mistakes will happen, either by you or someone else. When they do happen, just try and keep your composure and get back in line. If you can go with the mistake, i.e, if the singer starts singing a chorus when it should be a verse, then go with the mistake and let it sort itself out. (This has happened to me a few times. Our lead singer will occasionally do something random, that's different to how we rehearse it, but me and the guitar player will usually make eye contact and change with the singer, instead of making him stop singing halfway through a verse.) Don't carry on playing verse chords while the singer sings the chorus just because he made the mistake. You have to be on your toes and ready to adapt, otherwise you'll run the risk of stopping a song whenever anyone makes a mistake. Don't freak out if you just hit a bum note either, that'll happen all the time. At the end of the day, the audience probably won't even realise when anyone's made a mistake, so long as the song keeps going and you're all on the same page. Don't stare at the guy that made the mistake, or swear, or anything else that will let the audience know you just cocked up. Like I said, they probably won't even notice, so long as you stay together.
If you're in a covers band, don't spend ages trying to perfect the song like it is on the record, or learn every little riff that the guitarist on the record does. If you get too slick like that, people will start to compare you to the real thing, and I guarantee you won't sound as good as the record. People may hear the mistakes alot easier as well. Take a song you want to do, and do it your way. It's worth remembering, if you try learning every note to a solo on a record, just so you can play it note-for-note at a gig, the original performer probably played that solo differently everytime he played it, it's just the version on the record that you've heard. Doesn't mean if you saw the actual real band live, they'd play it note-for-note, so why should you? It's an immense waste of time for practically nothing. Don't try and imitate the singer's voice for whatever song you're covering either, sing in your own voice for all your songs. For all these points, unless you're planning on becoming a dedicated tribute act to one particular band there's no point, it can actually make you sound amateurish. Get up there and rock it your own way.
Don't be afraid to mix up a few genres in your set. just because you're a rock band, doesn't mean you can't chuck something a bit different in. As long as it fits your sound, and the rest of the set, of course.
Don't play song after song at the same pace, same volume, etc, or with the guitarists favourite distortion pedal on all the time. People will get bored after 3 songs no matter how good you are. Try and mix it up.
Don't take advice from people like me on bass chat!
Also, during the soundcheck, make sure you can hear all the other instruments, through the monitors or just in your playing space, make sure you can hear everyone else. You WILL make a mistake if you can't hear everyone.
Keep chord sheets for any song you're not entirely familiar with.
If you're not ready for the next song because your string has broke, you have a technical issue, you need to tune up, whatever, let the band know. Don't let them start the song without you if it's only a quick fix.
If it's a major issue, something technical, etc, that may take a few minutes to get sorted, tell the singer to apologise to the audience and tell them you're having technical difficulties. There's no shame in this, and looks better than just standing around looking scared. If you can, get the lead singer to keep the audience entertained while you get the issue sorted. You don't want to look like you're in panic. This happened to us recently, when all the guitar players electrics suddenly stopped working just before a song. When we realised we couldn't get it fixed straight away, I told the singer to sing one of his own songs to the audience on his own, with his acoustic guitar, while we got it sorted. It worked like a treat, and keeps the audience interested.
Always make sure you are in tune. Our gig on Sat night wasn't so good, when the singer picked up the mandolin for the intro to the next song, started playing away, and it was horribly out of tune. Luckily, it was only a mandolin intro, and he stopped before he started singing and tuned up. If it had been an 'all-in' song, it would have been a lot harder to stop the song, we prob would have carried on regardless.
Don't get dressed up like jackasses if you're only a small band in a small venue, for no reason other than 'looking professional'. No one wants to go to the local pub to see a covers band and there's five guys all wearing black suits and white ties looking like The Hives. It shows that you take yourselves too seriously, and if you're band isn't as polished as your dress sense you're gonna look stupid. Similarly, don't go in looking too casual. I've made this mistake before, and looking back at photo's of the gigs it doesn't look impressive to see us up on stage rocking the oil-stained jeans I use to fix the car and a ten-year old etnies t-shirt with holes in look, as well as having my trainers covered in mud from a field i walked in earlier in the day. There's a fine line between looking like you take it too seriously, and not seriously enough. Don 't be afraid to get dressed up for an occasion, though. We're playing a couple of St Patricks day gigs, and we're gonna have to do something for that.
I read this earlier on, but i'll re-iterate it, Mistakes will happen, either by you or someone else. When they do happen, just try and keep your composure and get back in line. If you can go with the mistake, i.e, if the singer starts singing a chorus when it should be a verse, then go with the mistake and let it sort itself out. (This has happened to me a few times. Our lead singer will occasionally do something random, that's different to how we rehearse it, but me and the guitar player will usually make eye contact and change with the singer, instead of making him stop singing halfway through a verse.) Don't carry on playing verse chords while the singer sings the chorus just because he made the mistake. You have to be on your toes and ready to adapt, otherwise you'll run the risk of stopping a song whenever anyone makes a mistake. Don't freak out if you just hit a bum note either, that'll happen all the time. At the end of the day, the audience probably won't even realise when anyone's made a mistake, so long as the song keeps going and you're all on the same page. Don't stare at the guy that made the mistake, or swear, or anything else that will let the audience know you just cocked up. Like I said, they probably won't even notice, so long as you stay together.
If you're in a covers band, don't spend ages trying to perfect the song like it is on the record, or learn every little riff that the guitarist on the record does. If you get too slick like that, people will start to compare you to the real thing, and I guarantee you won't sound as good as the record. People may hear the mistakes alot easier as well. Take a song you want to do, and do it your way. It's worth remembering, if you try learning every note to a solo on a record, just so you can play it note-for-note at a gig, the original performer probably played that solo differently everytime he played it, it's just the version on the record that you've heard. Doesn't mean if you saw the actual real band live, they'd play it note-for-note, so why should you? It's an immense waste of time for practically nothing. Don't try and imitate the singer's voice for whatever song you're covering either, sing in your own voice for all your songs. For all these points, unless you're planning on becoming a dedicated tribute act to one particular band there's no point, it can actually make you sound amateurish. Get up there and rock it your own way.
Don't be afraid to mix up a few genres in your set. just because you're a rock band, doesn't mean you can't chuck something a bit different in. As long as it fits your sound, and the rest of the set, of course.
Don't play song after song at the same pace, same volume, etc, or with the guitarists favourite distortion pedal on all the time. People will get bored after 3 songs no matter how good you are. Try and mix it up.
Don't take advice from people like me on bass chat!
+1. I'd just like to add that if you plan on having a band meeting. NO ALCOHOL!!!!! We just had a band meeting where a member had an issue (personality conflict) that had been festering for months and the ensuing (very, very, stupid) argument ate up the bulk of time that we wanted to use for other things (like discussing the music).
That's what she said..
May i add: BE OPEEEEEEN change is good, you are not always right, besides, you can always throw in your little touch
Also, never forget why are you in the band.
Sometimes, you want something really bad, you try to achieve it and when you do you realize you don't want it any more, or you forget the reason why you wanted it, always keep in mind what you REALLY want. and why.
(English is not my first language so if my post sounds weird thats why..)
