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Maybe a little too focused on the gear?

redwingxix

redwingxix

Oct 21, 2015
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#1
So I was at a bluegrass festival last weekend and the second time Dustbowl Revival played I noticed on the first song that the bass player had switch from a Fender Jazz V that he was playing the day before to an Alembic. I thought hmmm, that's weird, maybe something happened to his Jazz or the Alembic was getting repaired yesterday and the Jazz was his backup? All sorts of scenarios went through my head as to why he would switch basses. After the third song I realized that it was a completely different bass player. As in, the Jazz guy was a medium height, 30's age white guy and the Alembic player was a somewhat tall, 20's age black guy. My wife thought I was an idiot for being so clueless. Ah, good times.
 
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#2
redwingxix said:
So I was at a bluegrass festival last weekend and the second time Dustbowl Revival played I noticed on the first song that the bass player had switch from a Fender Jazz V that he was playing the day before to an Alembic. I thought hmmm, that's weird, maybe something happened to his Jazz or the Alembic was getting repaired yesterday and the Jazz was his backup? All sorts of scenarios went through my head as to why he would switch basses. After the third song I realized that it was a completely different bass player. As in, the Jazz guy was a medium height, 30's age white guy and the Alembic player was a somewhat tall, 20's age black guy. My wife thought I was an idiot for being so clueless. Ah, good times.
Click to expand...

Ha! We're bass dorks. Whataya gonna do?

My wife and I attended a Vince Gill concert a while back. I love all kinds of music. Vince Gill is a rare talent. My wife is more of a country music fan than I am and a huge Vince fan.

When the curtain opened at the beginning of the show I said "Holy crap!" Mrs.Fingers said "I know, right? Vince!"

I said "Forget Vince! That's Willie Weeks on bass!!!!"

She punched me in the arm.

Sometimes we go to a concert and halfway through the first song she'll say "OK, go ahead and tell me all about the bass player and his gear so we can get it out of the way."
:D

Then she does a fantastic job of pretending to give a crap. :cool:
 
Last edited:
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#4
That’s funny. I do that to. Inventory the gear on stage before it even registers what song is playing. I was listing to a video yesterday with Brian Nutter from Nutter guitars talking about his time with Keith Urban. The band decided that while they obsess over tone the audience cares more that Keith switched to Levis from Bad Religion jeans then what guitar any of them are playing.
 
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#6
Bluegrass music? Fender Jazz V? Alembic? Yeah, I think I would have been too focused on gear too.

Isn't this the scenario for a Bluegrass bassist?

peterrowanbluegrassband_2014.jpg
 
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#8
bassdude51 said:
Bluegrass music? Fender Jazz V? Alembic? Yeah, I think I would have been too focused on gear too.

Isn't this the scenario for a Bluegrass bassist?

peterrowanbluegrassband_2014.jpg
Click to expand...

Mostly non traditional bluegrass bands like Greensky Bluegrass, Lil' smokies, Infamous String Dusters, so there were some non upright basses in the mix. Dustbowl Revival had electric bass, keys, drums, and trombone and trumpet going.
 
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#9
This reminds me of a story my dad told me when I was about eight years old (just old enough to get the joke.)

The story went that two brothers were each given a horse as a gift. But they could never tell whose horse was whose. The elder brother decided to make an executive decision, and roached the mane of his horse, so that they could tell the difference. But, a week later, the other horse got tangled in a fence, and they had to cut his mane to free him...so they were back to where they started.

So the elder brother decided to be even more radical, and bob the tail of his horse. But, as luck would have it, a few days later, the other horse got tangled again, and they had to bob his tail to free him.

The brothers thought things over, and decided to measure the horses. Sure enough; it turned out that the black horse was almost a full inch taller than the white horse!
 
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#13
two fingers said:
Sometimes we go to a concert and halfway through the first song she'll say "OK, go ahead and tell me all about the bass player and his gear so we can get it out of the way."
:D

Then she does a fantastic job of pretending to give a crap. :cool:
Click to expand...

Exactly the same here :D

Another thing that makes her roll her eyes is when I pause concerts on tv to check out the gear, along with, of course, describing everything in detail. :laugh:
 
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#19
redwingxix said:
So I was at a bluegrass festival last weekend and the second time Dustbowl Revival played I noticed on the first song that the bass player had switch from a Fender Jazz V that he was playing the day before to an Alembic. I thought hmmm, that's weird, maybe something happened to his Jazz or the Alembic was getting repaired yesterday and the Jazz was his backup? All sorts of scenarios went through my head as to why he would switch basses. After the third song I realized that it was a completely different bass player. As in, the Jazz guy was a medium height, 30's age white guy and the Alembic player was a somewhat tall, 20's age black guy. My wife thought I was an idiot for being so clueless. Ah, good times.
Click to expand...
Electric bass at a BG festival? SACRILEGE!
 

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