Usually if it's someone we know then it's all good to go
, but most of the time nobody asks to sit in; if their drunk -
get out!!
, but most of the time nobody asks to sit in; if their drunk - get out!!
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NO YOU CAN'T SIT IN!
- Thread starter bassfrenzie
- Start date
I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain that over the years everytime somebody ASKED to sit in, it was either a complete disaster or at best wasn't really worth everyones time.
Am I alone in the opinion that asking to sit in is tacky, awkward, and in general poor form?
I wouldn't consider myself big on rules, decorum, or ceremony, but the last thing I would ever consider doing is to ask to sit in. No matter how bad I wanted to. I have been asked to sit in from time to time, and when dropping in on the gigs of close friends or well known acquaintences it is considered almost a social "given."
I never got the "approach a strange band and ask to play" thing. Still puzzling after all these years.
JKT
Am I alone in the opinion that asking to sit in is tacky, awkward, and in general poor form?
I wouldn't consider myself big on rules, decorum, or ceremony, but the last thing I would ever consider doing is to ask to sit in. No matter how bad I wanted to. I have been asked to sit in from time to time, and when dropping in on the gigs of close friends or well known acquaintences it is considered almost a social "given."
I never got the "approach a strange band and ask to play" thing. Still puzzling after all these years.
JKT
I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain that over the years everytime somebody ASKED to sit in, it was either a complete disaster or at best wasn't really worth everyones time.
Am I alone in the opinion that asking to sit in is tacky, awkward, and in general poor form?
I wouldn't consider myself big on rules, decorum, or ceremony, but the last thing I would ever consider doing is to ask to sit in. No matter how bad I wanted to. I have been asked to sit in from time to time, and when dropping in on the gigs of close friends or well known acquaintences it is considered almost a social "given."
I never got the "approach a strange band and ask to play" thing. Still puzzling after all these years.
JKT
You're not alone. Asking to get up is horribly rude.
We're playing that place where we will find the biker who sings country and has done two commercials and will come and insist he gets up to sing. I'm just going to flat tell him that we do not take requests to sit in, and that it is bad form to ask.
I don't care if he gets mad and storms out. He'll do that anyway when we tell him "no. Some people just don't listen, do they? So, I figure...I can go ahead on and tell him how rude he is.
He's an obnoxious, nasty pig, anyway. He was trying to hit on me, and being very gross about it, as if he gets a lot of women by telling them in front of the whole bar how big his current hard-on is. :scowl: The waitress tells me that's his m.o., and he's not very successful with it. Do tell!
I'll enjoy bursting that pig's star-struck bubble, that's for sure!
Cherie
My former drummer was telling me of the time a couple of obnoxious individuals began insisting they sit in because they were from Toronto.
He said he pulled out his peepee & told them to "play this".
They got the message.
Or he could be BSing me.
He said he pulled out his peepee & told them to "play this".
They got the message.
Or he could be BSing me.
Never had that problem. One of the few perks of being a lefty
It also works in reverse. Someone asks me to sit in, and I have to tell them I'm a lefty..dang, I guess I'll just continue to sit here and drink my adult beverage!
JKT..I completely agree with your puzzlement.
I go to shows to listen to other people play. Not sit in
It also works in reverse. Someone asks me to sit in, and I have to tell them I'm a lefty..dang, I guess I'll just continue to sit here and drink my adult beverage!
JKT..I completely agree with your puzzlement.
I go to shows to listen to other people play. Not sit in
Over the years I've been playing in bands, Ive had a few sit ins. In one of my my current bands we have a lot of fun with it.
Once we had a homeless guy busking with a guitar and harp outside the bar on the street corner. He stuck his head through the door and yelled "Hey, turn it down! You're wrecking my set!" and laughed. So we told him to come inside, and we put his hat down the front of the stage, and we got him up for a few numbers. He had a great voice for blues, and he could play his ar$e off on the harp! We had a killer time, he had a killer time, and he made more money in 15 minutes than he had made the whole week, so we all felt pretty good. He's dropped in a few times now and we always let him play.
Another time there was a guy riding his pushbike past with a guitar on his back and he stopped at the lights - it was summer and the bar had the doors open to the street so we called out to him and he came in and did a number. People think it's hilarious.
Another time we found out the bargirl played the fiddle, and she asked if she could do a number. She was incredible! Next week we had duelling fiddles for a set!
Perhaps my most memorable sit in ever was way back in the 80's. I was in a band that had no drums, and we did thrash bush (Irish/australian/country) music. We were playing support for a couple of well known bands who were sort of 80's goth style. We had just started a really fast cover version of "The wreck of the Ol' 97" and next thing there was a fast train shuffle being played on the drums behind us. The drummer for the main band loved the song, and had just jumped up and started playing! Was a lot of fun, but more importantly for me, this guy was the drummer for a band called Psychedelic Furs - my fave band at the time. They had just come off a world tour, had a smash hit with a song called 'Love my way', and had several songs in the Molly Ringwald movie "Pretty in Pink" (not so cool, but big news for an Aussie band).
So I will always remember the day that the drummer from the Furs sat in and surprised me!
Once we had a homeless guy busking with a guitar and harp outside the bar on the street corner. He stuck his head through the door and yelled "Hey, turn it down! You're wrecking my set!" and laughed. So we told him to come inside, and we put his hat down the front of the stage, and we got him up for a few numbers. He had a great voice for blues, and he could play his ar$e off on the harp! We had a killer time, he had a killer time, and he made more money in 15 minutes than he had made the whole week, so we all felt pretty good. He's dropped in a few times now and we always let him play.
Another time there was a guy riding his pushbike past with a guitar on his back and he stopped at the lights - it was summer and the bar had the doors open to the street so we called out to him and he came in and did a number. People think it's hilarious.
Another time we found out the bargirl played the fiddle, and she asked if she could do a number. She was incredible! Next week we had duelling fiddles for a set!
Perhaps my most memorable sit in ever was way back in the 80's. I was in a band that had no drums, and we did thrash bush (Irish/australian/country) music. We were playing support for a couple of well known bands who were sort of 80's goth style. We had just started a really fast cover version of "The wreck of the Ol' 97" and next thing there was a fast train shuffle being played on the drums behind us. The drummer for the main band loved the song, and had just jumped up and started playing! Was a lot of fun, but more importantly for me, this guy was the drummer for a band called Psychedelic Furs - my fave band at the time. They had just come off a world tour, had a smash hit with a song called 'Love my way', and had several songs in the Molly Ringwald movie "Pretty in Pink" (not so cool, but big news for an Aussie band).
So I will always remember the day that the drummer from the Furs sat in and surprised me!
ok so its not a gig, but it still got me beyond confused...
my band just got done in the studio, and we decided to have drum and bass day to start writing some new grooves for when my guitarist got back from a business trip...drummer shows up to practice and calls me to let me know we have one of our "biggest fans" with us...i got excited because his gf is cool as hell...except it wasnt her...some dude i didnt recognize toting a $30 acoustic guitar wanting to "jam" with us...we're a hard rock band...and he was convinced he could "just stick a mic to it" and "jam" with us...
now, we're trying to write new music here, so if he wants to just enjoy the process and strum along to himself or rap over it (as he often did, and even left us his "lyrics" on the whiteboard) for his own enjoyment, fine by me...but he kept yelling at us to stop because we were "playing it wrong"
and he even had the nerve to ask me why i was choosing the notes i was playing for the groove we started working on because it "doesnt sound right with what [hes] doing on guitar" ----HOLD IT...are YOU in the band? is YOUR part so important? no...you tagged along to practice...you wanna play along, you follow OUR lead...if that sounds rude, so be it...
he asks me "play that first note" and i do...open D (drop D tuning)...he them proceeds to strum an E major chord on the guitar (he's in standard - barely, as he had to have me tune it for him...i didnt care enough to get him perfect - but he sees open string so he plays open string) and goes "see? that note doesnt fit there at all...you should play an E...its an E major"
now...we're a party band...we like having our friends and some beers at practice...but that kid isn't coming back...
...and, no...we didn't end up writing anything new that night...
my band just got done in the studio, and we decided to have drum and bass day to start writing some new grooves for when my guitarist got back from a business trip...drummer shows up to practice and calls me to let me know we have one of our "biggest fans" with us...i got excited because his gf is cool as hell...except it wasnt her...some dude i didnt recognize toting a $30 acoustic guitar wanting to "jam" with us...we're a hard rock band...and he was convinced he could "just stick a mic to it" and "jam" with us...
now, we're trying to write new music here, so if he wants to just enjoy the process and strum along to himself or rap over it (as he often did, and even left us his "lyrics" on the whiteboard) for his own enjoyment, fine by me...but he kept yelling at us to stop because we were "playing it wrong"
and he even had the nerve to ask me why i was choosing the notes i was playing for the groove we started working on because it "doesnt sound right with what [hes] doing on guitar" ----HOLD IT...are YOU in the band? is YOUR part so important? no...you tagged along to practice...you wanna play along, you follow OUR lead...if that sounds rude, so be it...
he asks me "play that first note" and i do...open D (drop D tuning)...he them proceeds to strum an E major chord on the guitar (he's in standard - barely, as he had to have me tune it for him...i didnt care enough to get him perfect - but he sees open string so he plays open string) and goes "see? that note doesnt fit there at all...you should play an E...its an E major"
now...we're a party band...we like having our friends and some beers at practice...but that kid isn't coming back...
...and, no...we didn't end up writing anything new that night...
We played in one bar where we always let one of the waitresses sing "Rocky Top", a traditional country/bluegrass song, even though we played strictly rock.
We humored her, I think because she had huge ta-ta's, and we were thinking one of us might get lucky. Sadly, that never happened.
We humored her, I think because she had huge ta-ta's, and we were thinking one of us might get lucky. Sadly, that never happened.
I say, "Yeah, man, I'd let you but our guitar player is a total ******* and he isn't gonna go for that." Guitar player will say the same thing about the drummer. Works like a charm.
never had to deal with it, but i imagine i'd just hand 'em one of my basses.
yeah.....i wouldn't know what to do with any of those.
What if they reply "deal!" as an 800 pound female sasquatch with a humpback saunters up to ya?
Not a few other bassists I know can cut it. But, to tell a story, I had this kid want to sit in- told me a story about him being a BA slapper. Apparently a bud of the slightly over egoed singer. Well, I said sure, why not? he got on stage, strapped on my 5 string & discovered that I use these huge .050 flat wounds with a high action, just about the time the band cranked into "Shaky Ground". Needless to say, the next few minutes were very entertaining- watching him try to play my bass . He didn't say a word when he got off stage.
Another reason to play big flats......
Another reason to play big flats......
Guest singers have worked out very well. 1 typical bar band song - drunk friends cheering or egging them on, everybody's happy.
There's a tall blonde woman who sings a song or two for us whenever she shows up - she can tear up Whole Lotta Love - which is a very interesting song for a sexy woman to sing. Crowd goes nuts.
There's a tall blonde woman who sings a song or two for us whenever she shows up - she can tear up Whole Lotta Love - which is a very interesting song for a sexy woman to sing. Crowd goes nuts.
It's just weird when some random stranger (usually drunk) wanders up and wants to sing a song we just started playing. We just give them the no f***ing way look, and they slink away.
My band is hosting blues/rock open mic at my church tomorrow, so we kind of have to accept sit-ins. Should be interesting.......
My band is hosting blues/rock open mic at my church tomorrow, so we kind of have to accept sit-ins. Should be interesting.......
I had a situation in my first "bar band" where a guy came up to me between sets and asked if he could sit in on a few songs. Considering I had only played a half dozen gigs with the band I figured "No, I don't think it'll fly" was an appropriate response. Well, dude practically flies into a rage screaming how I suck and we're all losers and wants to go outside......Turns out the band hired me before they fired HIM.
