No one listens to the bass player

[thabassmon]

Wow you guys have been unlucky.
I have not come across this at all, the exact opposite for me regardless on which styles and players.
Closest would be a jam night I went to about a decade ago, was singing drunk karaoke the night before, met some new people and one guy told me he is running a jam night the next night and I should come, so I did. As soon as I walked up to the bar he asked me if I want to go on stage, there was already a group of people playing so I said "I just got here man, these other people have been waiting, I'll just have a couple of beers and just wait my turn".
When I did end up getting on stage a regular guitar player that I'd never met before had a little bit of that attitude and said " we are just gonna play C and F, alright?", I said "sure thing". After that ended, any talking down to the bass player was over and he was asking me " what do you wanna play?"
But what is more normal for me is, a guy who plays drums was getting married and his fiancé wanted him to play a few songs at their wedding
(She's proud of his drum ability and he sings too). During rehearsals I was really quiet, while the other folks (two guitarists and a sax player) would say their thoughts on how it was shaping up, after they said what they thought, he turned to me and asked me "what do you think? How can we make this better?, I just want people to be into it and dancing" I said " it's your wedding, your call but if it were me I'd write segues to link up the tunes to keep the energy up" he asked "how?" So I made up parts for everyone for the transitions on the spot and he liked it, and that is exactly how it was performed at his wedding.
Even on the cover gigs I usually call arrangement changes and alter the setlist in response to the audience.
Maybe I am just lucky, or I play with people that treat all the other players as equal.
If that's not what you guys are getting, time to find some quality people to play with or time to start leading your own projects.

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

In my experience: No one listens to the bass player but everyone HEARS the bass player

Guitarist plays the wrong note or drummer hits a beat out of time, people barely notice. Now bassist plays a B on a A major chord by accident and EVERYONE in the public thinks "what a F just happened?"

 

[4001]

Why is that?

Your bass might be making your band sound incredible but most of the people there won't know that is why they are liking what they are hearing.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

When this happens I just let them start without me and when I'm just standing there not playing with my arms folded across my chest they figure it out pretty quick. It will only happen once or twice.

Oh, yeah.

 

[GCPENG]

In my experience: No one listens to the bass player but everyone HEARS the bass player
Guitarist plays the wrong note or drummer hits a beat out of time, people barely notice. Now bassist plays a B on a A major chord by accident and EVERYONE in the public thinks "what a F just happened?"

I get a variation of this - the bass player gets blamed even if it's not their fault. Case in point, at a recent gig, our guitar player accidentally tuned to open G for a song that is actually in open D. He couldn't see the lights on his Gibson robot tuner properly with his sunglasses on. The song starts with guitar. All is good until the bass comes in and it's clearly not in tune with the song. Everyone's giving me dirty looks for being out of tune and/or playing in the wrong key and/or forgetting how to play the song. It was a minor trainwreck, so I just stopped playing. The drummer and I were actually the only ones playing the song as it should have been.

As far as song suggestions go, yeah, in my band any suggestions made by me or the drummer tend to get ignored. Partly because the singer's range has to be a general match, and I get that. Partly because the singer and guitar player have assumed creative control.

 

[Doctor Intrepid]

Well, I'm the band leader in mine so I think it varies.

 

[Bass Boy]

I get a variation of this - the bass player gets blamed even if it's not their fault. Case in point, at a recent gig, our guitar player accidentally tuned to open G for a song that is actually in open D. He couldn't see the lights on his Gibson robot tuner properly with his sunglasses on. The song starts with guitar. All is good until the bass comes in and it's clearly not in tune with the song. Everyone's giving me dirty looks for being out of tune and/or playing in the wrong key and/or forgetting how to play the song. It was a minor trainwreck, so I just stopped playing. The drummer and I were actually the only ones playing the song as it should have been.

As far as song suggestions go, yeah, in my band any suggestions made by me or the drummer tend to get ignored. Partly because the singer's range has to be a general match, and I get that. Partly because the singer and guitar player have assumed creative control.

Lee Sklar has a similar story about a James Taylor gig!

 

[RustyAxe]

"If you were a real musician you wouldn't be playing bass" ... sure. Let me show you my guitar chops. Let me show my key chops. Let me sing a song for you. Yeah, I don't know \@#$.

 

[bherman]

I must be playing with the right people. I'm the only one who knows anything about chord variations and theory.

 

[Copperhead]

Have never encountered this that I can recall in 40+ years.

Me either, from band mates or listeners. I have no formal training as a player or musician. These threads always amaze me. Guess I shall count my blessings.

 

[roccobass]

I learned years ago to always be ready, no one EVER looks over to see if the bass player is tuning or getting his music out or whatever.

Dude..”To always be ready” has been my mantra for decades. I’m with you on that!

 

[GreggBummer]

Play in several different projects. In one, I am meerly the bass player. They give me the set list: I learn it, show up and play. I get paid a little. Im not a hired gun, but I'm not the songwriter or band leader.

In another project I am the major songwriter and lyricist. Everyone in that band is heard equally. Its a collaboration.

The last project is a cover project I have been doing for years. Everyone is good friends and we listen pretty well to each other. It's for fun. More than once someone has been less than enthusiastic about learning and playing a song because there is one guy who wants to do it. We make accommodations for everyone. I don't really like playing a couple songs... but the drummer sounds great on vocals and hes having a good time.

 

[2playbass]

I really think it depends on the band and the people. I play in 3 cover bands. One has a really strong lineup of talented people. 2 guitars, percussion, bass, and 4 part vocal harmonies. In that band, I'm pretty much a second class citizen, even though I'm always the best prepared, and am often teaching the progressions to the other players. The BL wants it guitar and vocals focused, and only an "essence of bass" to fill in the sound. If anything is sounding off, I am the first one blamed, but am rarely wrong. I have to find my own ways to make it challenging and fun, because I have to work around the desires of the "stars" who play guitar and sing. I'm a pretty strong harmony singer, but they don't know it in this band because I'm "just the bass player".

In band #2 I am probably the strongest player, and everyone seems to respect and follow my lead. The talent level is not as high, so they rely on me a lot. Lots of prominent bass parts and harmonies.

Band #3 is a trio, and all three of us have our space to play and sing. Mutual respect and admiration. Wish they could all be like this one.

In a lot respects, I think any band situation is what one makes of it. I get the satisfaction of playing with a group of top-level players in band #1, but 2 and 3 are wa-a-a-a-y more fun.

 

[Dominic D]

My experience has been quite the opposite. I'm usually the most prepared and often most competent one in the group. I'm used to guitar players asking me if what they're playing is right. One lead singer I play with loves to have me high in his IEM mix.

 

[kev451]

Why is that?
Song suggestions dismissed
Knowledge about chord variations ignored

Do what I do and add the melody within your bass lines...It’ll change the tone of song which will make people notice.

 

[pbass2]

Me either, from band mates or listeners. I have no formal training as a player or musician. These threads always amaze me. Guess I shall count my blessings.

Thinking about this, I think in my case at least, I have always been in either original bands where I wrote or co-wrote the music, or, played as a hired gun or session guy. So....very different dynamics. In the first you're a BL, and in the second, you take direction if deemed necessary from the BL - but even then, I've always spoken up and put in my two cents and it was respected/considered (and since I'm a bass player I'm usually right
So I dunno, maybe if the hierarchy of control and decision-making in a band is unclear, it could lead to the kinds of problems some people encounter.

 

[Copperhead]

So I dunno, maybe if the hierarchy of control and decision-making in a band is unclear, it could lead to the kinds of problems some people encounter.

This may be likely. I have encountered this on a band business/ management level though never on the music side of things.

 

[Nevada Pete]

Find some new bandmates. If the issue persists, consider what role you might be playing that is causing you to be overlooked. If you find the issue still continuing, ask yourself, "am I playing metal?" If the answer is yes, don't hold your breath on them taking your input.

But seriously, I have had bands where my input is ignored but it is was those bands, not my role as a bass player.

I think this ^ says it as good as it can be said.

I don't think your situation has as much to do with you being a bass player as it has to do with the people your playing with. Certain bands / certain musicians tend to form cliques.

Clique: a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them.

So with a clique, your either in. Or, you are out. The dynamic of a clique that sustains it is that there have to be people who want to be in the clique that can be systematically excluded. Without that, the clique will dissolve. So more often than not, the harder you try to join the clique, the less the clique will pay attention to you. That's how cliques work. See? Or, they might dingle dangle you making you think your "getting in" with the clique, only to show you no, your not.

It's up to you if you want to remain in a situation like that. I've stayed in bad cliquey situations because the money and the music was good enough to keep me there. Until something better came along, that is.

 

[logdrum]

This is new. To me, everyone of the top posters in the Band Management forum are hard-ass/alpha types that land them positions of being the band leaders or defacto musical directors.

 

[Nevada Pete]

When no one in the audience listens to the bass player, why should anyone in the band ?

Because bass is subliminal, and hands down the most powerful instrument on the stage. While audiences may consciously "listen" to other instruments, they respond to bass physically and emotionally. Depending on how the instrument is played, that is. There's an art, and a science to it.