Yikes. Care to share the places you’ve been gigging so I know to never accept a gig there?
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Others playing your bass between sets or other
- Thread starter TH63
- Start date
I'm 6'2" and 215 lbs. And have a wicked scowl. No one's ever tried to play my bass. 
Interesting. I’ve never had an issue with people playing my basses without my permission. For many years I totally refused. In recent years because I’m more laid back and I do often play basses that aren’t available for people to try in any local stores (like my dingwall or the Warwick thumbsive owned) I’ll let people try them here and there mainly after the gig when I know I’ll be changing the strings before the next gig.
Never happened to me over the course of many years and thousands of gigs.
I’ve had one guy nobody in the band knew casually walk up on stage right after we finished the set and sit behind the drums as if it was the most common thing in the world. He was moving the cymbals and adjusting the toms as I asked him “what the hell are you doing?”. He says “I’m getting ready to play the drums. What does it look like?” Luckily, our regular drummer convinced the guy to excuse himself!
I’ve had one guy nobody in the band knew casually walk up on stage right after we finished the set and sit behind the drums as if it was the most common thing in the world. He was moving the cymbals and adjusting the toms as I asked him “what the hell are you doing?”. He says “I’m getting ready to play the drums. What does it look like?” Luckily, our regular drummer convinced the guy to excuse himself!
People have asked me if they can play my bass during the break. They are always drunk. I always politely tell them "not tonight..maybe we can jam together and check out each others basses and amps sometime when it's not a gig situation". No one has had a problem with that answer, and in thirty-five years of gigging I have yet to hear from any of those people again.
That's been my experience, knock on wood.
But, here's a funny story, not bass related - in 7th grade gym class my buddy came out of the shower and caught another guy drying himself off using my buddy's pants because they were out of towels.
Man I play punk shows and this still would never happen. People will ask to use gear. I say no after I had a cab and amp blown. Most know my basses are off limits. And once they see what I play no one wants to risk messing it up.
Want to play my bass? Sure, just let me borrow your wife/girlfriend for a while.
I'm with @BassCliff on this one, after around 40 years on every kind of stage imaginable, that's a first. But thanks for posting, I got a kick.
A band I used to be in years ago, we were playing some dive and during the break this happy idiot drunk guy missing a few teeth goes up on the stage and starts slapping the drums and cymbals with the palms of his hands. Our drummer gave him the Joe Pesci line, "If you don't get away from my drum kit, two things are gonna happen: I'm going to jail and you're going to the hospital. And right about the time you get out of the hospital I'll be getting out of jail, and then I'm gonna come find you and you're going back to the hospital."
That pretty much put a stop to that.
That pretty much put a stop to that.
My band mates may play my bass without asking because I trust them, but they always ask. Other than that, if I don’t know the person, nope.
I have never had this happen. I HAVE, however, had to deal with drunks coming on stage and stepping on my cables. I prevented one catastrophe when I intervened just as someone was about to step on my pedalboard.
I never let anyone play my bass, but once I go to bar with my friends and he want to sing a song. As he want to get comfortable, he ask me to join him at the stage, so I ask the bass if I could play his bass. After I get his permission, I play the bass. Is it something wrong?
