Literally smacking the strings against the pickup, with the volume all the way down. He had no idea that he was actually just miming to a pre-recorded bass part.
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Most pitiful thing youve ever seen a bassist do live
- Thread starter powderfinger
- Start date
A guy with a thunderbird with both pickups blended (phasing midscoop), with a graphic EQ going ALL OVER the place! From left (low) to right (treble):
10 -5 -8 3 -5 5 9 -10
I had to use his amp that gig, but wasn't allowed to touch his EQ... Even my jazz bass' bridge pick-up soloed didn't cut trough. His tone with the Thunderbird was... Plain poop. Just an undefined almost unnoticable thud buried in the mix. The soundguy tried everything he could... But he gave up eventually too. I felt bad for him.
I haven't figured out you were talking about EQ setup with those numbers, so I actually played that thing on the E string xD
The most pitiful thing I ever saw was the bass player from Three Doors Down wander around the stage with a bass hanging on his neck, playing ( I swear to God ) with 2 fingers ..... the index finger on each hand.
He was playing ( I swear to God ) what looked like nothing but root notes, EVERY FREAKIN' SONG!
But ZZ Top came on next and and the youngins got a lesson!
Matt
He was playing ( I swear to God ) what looked like nothing but root notes, EVERY FREAKIN' SONG!
But ZZ Top came on next and and the youngins got a lesson!
Matt
My ex-drummer is in a local classic rock cover band and the bass player totally drives me crazy:
1) Never plays the bass parts
2) Plays with a pick all down strokes and none of their songs are punk
3) Plays too loud
4) jumps up and down and draws attention to himself
5) He plays RHCP higher ground with no accents or octaves.... ugh
1) Never plays the bass parts
2) Plays with a pick all down strokes and none of their songs are punk
3) Plays too loud
4) jumps up and down and draws attention to himself
5) He plays RHCP higher ground with no accents or octaves.... ugh
That bass player is now in Jail, I think... killed someone in a dui.
Had a guitarist who insisted on tuning my bass.
Let him have his fun , then tuned it correctly after he was done!
Tabs are way better than playing poorly. I've been playing for 30+years and I too have a library of song notes I've written . Unless you play the same songs with the same band all the time, no music is required. Different bands play different songs in different ways and there is no way I can satisfactorily memorize and play the over 160 songs I've been asked to play this year already. Being able to refer to my notes sure beats the heck out of plucking a single root note in the chords. And… if you're playing with a cover band there is no way to fudge the many tasty riffs that are synonymous with a tune. The audience will call you out on it.
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Not a bass player but a guitarist named Joe in a three piece Chuck Berry type rock & roll oldies band I played with during the 80's. He had an Ibanez guitar that looked and sounded like a Strat and he was actually a very good player, had a good feel for that stuff and was a good singer and good with the crowd but REALLY lazy and not technical at all. So his plug on the guitar was so worn out that the cord would just fall out at random times, this was not a serious band so I thought it was really funny, I used to tell him to loop it, but nope, too lazy.
He used to ask me here and there to fix it for him and I would say, "yeah, yeah" and then forget about it, I don't think I really wanted to, it provided too much comic relief.
We eventually got a new drummer and it fell out during one of the first songs on the first gig, I turned around to look at the drummer and he had this very serious look on his face like he didn't know what to do, laugh or what, I smiled and he started laughing so hard he almost fell off his drum seat, I had warned him him that Joe was kind of 'special'.
It used to happen at almost every gig, it fell out at a gig once while he was playing a solo behind his back and he got this sheepish grin on his face like "Yes, I'm an idiot", I still laugh when I think about it. He also didn't really care if his guitar was in good tune or not either so I ended up tuning it for him onstage for a while because I couldn't stand it.
One day the drummer came up to me after again hearing Joe ask me to fix it and he said "Whatever you do, don't fix that guitar!"
He used to ask me here and there to fix it for him and I would say, "yeah, yeah" and then forget about it, I don't think I really wanted to, it provided too much comic relief.
We eventually got a new drummer and it fell out during one of the first songs on the first gig, I turned around to look at the drummer and he had this very serious look on his face like he didn't know what to do, laugh or what, I smiled and he started laughing so hard he almost fell off his drum seat, I had warned him him that Joe was kind of 'special'.
It used to happen at almost every gig, it fell out at a gig once while he was playing a solo behind his back and he got this sheepish grin on his face like "Yes, I'm an idiot", I still laugh when I think about it. He also didn't really care if his guitar was in good tune or not either so I ended up tuning it for him onstage for a while because I couldn't stand it.
One day the drummer came up to me after again hearing Joe ask me to fix it and he said "Whatever you do, don't fix that guitar!"
I always bring a cooler with water to stay hydrated and will "maybe" have a beer on a private gig. I figure I'm being paid to be professional and provide a service. No different from a catering company waiter getting wasted because of a hosted bar.
Anyway, summer evening wedding gig outside in a private college tennis court with green covering on the surrounding fence for privacy. It's the Money Dance. Latino weddings do the money dance where guests line up behind the bride (males) and groom (females) and wait their turn for a quick dance giving them cash to put in a silk purse. Endless ballads back to back that can last sometimes up to half an hour. In my state of hydration, I realize "I feel a piss coming on. I'll wait until we're done." Lo and behold more people start lining up and the urge increases.
We're doing "Happy Man" by Chicago with the keyboardist singing. I tell the drummer "I'm gonna go pee." I then tell the keyboardist to handle the bass with his left hand and dash out the gate to go pee in the dark. I hear the drummer sing as I'm peeing and thought it odd.
I come back and the keyboardist can't stop laughing. When I ran off, he asked the drummer "Where's Ben going." The drummer said " He's gotta pee"! That's when the keyboardist started laughing so much that the drummer had to take over on vocals.
Anyway, summer evening wedding gig outside in a private college tennis court with green covering on the surrounding fence for privacy. It's the Money Dance. Latino weddings do the money dance where guests line up behind the bride (males) and groom (females) and wait their turn for a quick dance giving them cash to put in a silk purse. Endless ballads back to back that can last sometimes up to half an hour. In my state of hydration, I realize "I feel a piss coming on. I'll wait until we're done." Lo and behold more people start lining up and the urge increases.
We're doing "Happy Man" by Chicago with the keyboardist singing. I tell the drummer "I'm gonna go pee." I then tell the keyboardist to handle the bass with his left hand and dash out the gate to go pee in the dark. I hear the drummer sing as I'm peeing and thought it odd.
I come back and the keyboardist can't stop laughing. When I ran off, he asked the drummer "Where's Ben going." The drummer said " He's gotta pee"! That's when the keyboardist started laughing so much that the drummer had to take over on vocals.
Another time with that same band, we had a horn section join us for a 30 year high school reunion. Mind you, the five piece nucleus would always try to out-fart each other on stage. Just a hold over from a bunch of dudes being dudes…even well into our 40s and 50s.
I was particularly gaseous for that high school reunion. I rip one right as the horn section, parked in front of me, inhale to play a well known horn interlude on Chicago's "Beginnings". Their faces as they played it and the clams the trombonist hit were priceless. After the set, the BL asked what happened. One of the sax players said "Somebody crop dusted". I raised my hand and said "Guilty as charged".
I was particularly gaseous for that high school reunion. I rip one right as the horn section, parked in front of me, inhale to play a well known horn interlude on Chicago's "Beginnings". Their faces as they played it and the clams the trombonist hit were priceless. After the set, the BL asked what happened. One of the sax players said "Somebody crop dusted". I raised my hand and said "Guilty as charged".
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This happened to someone I know. Okay, it was me.
I play a lot of gigs on mandolin. One was at a planetarium, and it was very dark in there. I was tuning up, and I accidentally hit the button that raises the pitch of the tuner. I played the whole gig in A446 tuning. Which would have been okay if it was a solo gig, but it wasn't.
I play a lot of gigs on mandolin. One was at a planetarium, and it was very dark in there. I was tuning up, and I accidentally hit the button that raises the pitch of the tuner. I played the whole gig in A446 tuning. Which would have been okay if it was a solo gig, but it wasn't.
But yet his screen name is a cover!
Aside from such astute observations.
I see that 10cc shows inactive now so he/she must have moved on to spread such joyful communion with others.
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