New Year's Eve show disappointment

[ProbablyTooLoud]

So all you said is the bass sounded like caca and you didn't like it. Is that the extent of your critique and analysis? I'm curious what it did sound like.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

So why not confront the person directly and even if it turns out crappy you could have motivated them to actually do something to improve their sound. But instead you come here and share it with a whole load of people who will make no direct difference to that musicians sound. I want to refrain from sharing my personal feelings as to what I feel about people who feel the need to bash others sound as a form of low key ego massage. Im sure that person went home not giving a hoot about it, and the astute mind which could have helped him lacked the courage to communicate his insight.

Anyone confronting me directly during a paid gig "you should be playing upright!"...would be responded to by me in the following manner; "yeah yeah that's all well and good but I have a CONTRACT to play electric with these cats, so I am. If you will excuse me, my break is only 15 minutes and you are blocking the appetizer table. Good day!".

 

[Killing Floor]

I’ve seen a lot of amplified bass guitars in bands since even before Covid. I even saw a pic of an experimental band from the 80s using a bass guitar.

 

[Killing Floor]

Anyone confronting me directly during a paid gig "you should be playing upright!"...would be responded to by me in the following manner; "yeah yeah that's all well and good but I have a CONTRACT to play electric with these cats, so I am. If you will excuse me, my break is only 15 minutes and you are blocking the appetizer table. Good day!".

I would have a 2 word response prepared in advance.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Lee Sklar plays amazing jazz on electric. And now he has one of those slanted fret Dingwall thingies.
Because he's Lee Sklar. And he plays what he wants to.

 

[badinage]

I would have a 2 word response prepared in advance.

That's increasingly becoming my well-reasoned rebuttal in many mediations.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Lee Sklar plays amazing jazz on electric. And now he has one of those slanted fret Dingwall thingies.
Because he's Lee Sklar. And he plays what he wants to.

He been playing his gold Digwall with Lyle Lovett for a few years.
Better let Lyle know.

 

[BlueTalon]

But why would one think one has any business "confronting" somebody about this at all? What do you think "confrontation" would accomplish? The gig is already happening, what's the player going to do, go out and buy an upright on the spot? And who says the player wants, needs, or would even welcome your "help"?

IMO there was nothing wrong with what the OP did: gave the performance a shot, wasn't into it, and took off. OP had no obligation to do anything else, nor was there really anything else worth doing.

Agreed. Confronting someone at their own gig, for any reason, seems... confrontational.

 

[Altitude]

Was the band good?

I mean, if you’d walked into a GRP Big Band gig with Tommy Kennedy playing an electric Fodera it would have killed.

 

[Admiral Akbar]

Different strokes for different folks.

OP hoped to see/hear and upright, when he didn’t, he bolted. That’s his right.

Bassist on the gig couldn’t play his upright for whatever reason, so played electric and got the job done. And got paid.

Im sure the majority of that audience danced, drank, and at least THEY went home happy.

Cant make everyone happy in this life, that’s one of the most important things we learn as adults.

Happy New Year!

 

[P. Aaron]

I'm not gonna disagree...an electric bass in more traditional swing contexts is never great to me, hence why i never opt to bring my electric to a swing gig and always bring my upright. It's the wrong instrument for the job. My guess is that this band couldn't find an upright player as NYE is a super busy night. I had two gigs myself yesterday, steakhouse for brunch and country club in the evening. Wish you could had come, all swing baby! But alas on the east coast...so a whole country between us.

To those defending the use of an electric bass, i see your point, but we have to at least agree it is way below ideal. The sound is not right, and the look is not right. It's passable at best, and to me should only be done out of necessity for a swing band. If you were the BL for a swing band, your bass chair list would have the electric players below all the upright players with "use only in emergencies" next to their name.

I agree with this. One can get close with muting-damping (or a fretless) but an electric gets bogged in a tone saturation an upright can dance through.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Go to see a somewhat obscure genre band at a VFW, leave because bassist doesn't fit "my tone" definition. Probably weren't going to have fun in any circumstance. Happy New Years!!

 

[J Wilson]

The right player could make it walk and talk on either electric or upright.

I'd have to say though, in a sampled, quantized, YouTube music world, the idea of 'swing' is rapidly disappearing, as are rhythm sections with any clue how to get there.

Every so often, I have to run my CD set of Sinatra's Capitol and Reprise sides to keep me from getting a drop in my Swing levels, Nelson Riddle charts being a great OTC med for this.

 

[bobalu]

I'm posting this in miscellaneous because it seems to concern matters that would fit multiple forum topics and not just one...

Anyway, this isn't about anything really important...

I'm not one for participating in big public holidays, especially ones where large numbers of annoying drunken people are likely to be involved, but over the past several years I've actually had pleasant NYE experiences that were live shows, often @ a place like a VFW hall rather than a standard venue, involving bands that played music people typically will swing dance to. I'm not a dancer myself at all, but I am a huge fan of old-school big band-style swing music, western swing, rockabilly, etc. and the shows I've attended on past New Year's Eves have been very fun... great music, non-annoying crowds, lots of good vibes, sometimes potlucks, etc. Tonight there were a good handful of such events within reasonable distance of home, but the one I chose was one that was announced first, several weeks back... Very reasonable cover charge (especially for early ticket buyers), 20 minute drive from home, a venue I've seen plenty of good similar live acts at before, a band I've seen before and super enjoyed... like what could go wrong??

So I get to the venue almost 15 min. late (i.e., 15 min. after announced band start time), get a good parking spot, but I see that the band is still setting up onstage, so I count myself fortunate to not have missed any of their set. But then I see it --the dreaded headstock of a bass guitar, a solidbody no less...

Now these small swing ensembles are known to have revolving lineups around a core of one or a couple permanent members, and when I've seen this band in the past (and in all videos I've seen of this band), they had an upright bassist. I don't know if their usual current bassist had a prior engagement, or if this was their current upright bassist but whose double bass was currently in the shop, or whatever. But my heart sank and I prepared for the worst, although i still had hope...

Now I play bass guitar and have absolutely nothing against them in particular, but for this style of music (mostly unamplified small band 1930's-style swing, played relatively quietly), a double bass is definitely par for the course. But I am not a gear snob -- I know that it is certainly possible to get a passable bass sound for traditional swing music out of a bass guitar... I don't really care much about the gear used in any context; if a good result can be achieved, that's really all that matters to me. But to get that passable result in this specific situation, certain measures must be taken to ensure that the result occurs --- measures involving string choice, playing technique, tailoring amplifier settings to dial in a suitable tone, fitting the bass sound into the overall band mix, etc. Otherwise, the result will be something that sounds very wrong, if not terrible.

Of course, since I am making this post, you can pretty much guess how it sounded.

I could only endure about two and a half songs before I had to leave. For this style of music, the bass sound is SO vital to making the music sound right overall. It needs to have that pulse, that beat that moves the music and fits in with the drums and the rest of the band. This night, it did not, at all. But it didn't have to be that way, even with a bass guitar. I was willing to give it a chance, and I was certainly hopeful that they would make an effort to make it sound passably OK, given the circumstances... I really wanted them to sound good, as they've sounded fantastic in the past, and I've enjoyed many similar bands at this particular venue before... But in the end, it just sounded like caca, and I had to flee and head home early (my budget for the night was already spent, so no alternative event for me).

Anyway, that's enough of my lamentation... I just wanted to vent, as I was really looking forward for the past few weeks to hearing amazing live music tonight, like at other NYE events of recent years. Tomorrow I will try to find a place that's open for dim sum as consolation...

What is a VFW Hall?

 

[Core Creek]

I'm not gonna disagree...an electric bass in more traditional swing contexts is never great to me, hence why i never opt to bring my electric to a swing gig and always bring my upright. It's the wrong instrument for the job. My guess is that this band couldn't find an upright player as NYE is a super busy night. I had two gigs myself yesterday, steakhouse for brunch and country club in the evening. Wish you could had come, all swing baby! But alas on the east coast...so a whole country between us.

To those defending the use of an electric bass, i see your point, but we have to at least agree it is way below ideal. The sound is not right, and the look is not right. It's passable at best, and to me should only be done out of necessity for a swing band. If you were the BL for a swing band, your bass chair list would have the electric players below all the upright players with "use only in emergencies" next to their name.

And how does an EUB fit in the equation? Something like a BSX that looks like a really slim upright? Is that a compromise people would accept?

 

[CryingBass]

As George T would say "Should I Stay or Should I Go"!

HNY guys

 

[CryingBass]

What is a VFW Hall?

You gotta be a youngin, eh? A Vet's meeting hall. Usually a tank parked in front

 

[Core Creek]

You gotta be a youngin, eh? A Vet's meeting hall. Usually a tank parked in front

He could be from somewhere outside the US - no reason anyone out of the states would have a clue what a VFH is.

 

[CryingBass]

He could be from somewhere outside the US - no reason anyone out of the states would have a clue what a VFH is.

Right that. I forget TB is a whole world thing. Thanks.

Edit: I used to play in them myself...

 

[Smooth_bass88]

What was so bad about it?? Was it the player? Was their tone too bright? No feel? An experienced musician would know to turn the treble off and either use thumb and palm mute tech and/or stuff some foam under the strings for this type of gig.