our bass player quit last night, gig in 5 weeks. Various options

Option 1 sounds like the best option to me.

 

Try option 1 and if it isn't amazing go with 1 until you can do 4.

And learn your parts man!!!!

I'm not siding with the bass player who quit. He may genuinely be a jerk. But in this day and age of technology there are exactly ZERO excuses for simply forgetting to listen to or learn a song. Make a note in your phone. Pick someone to email a list of new songs to everyone.

Again, that dude may be a jerk. But few things frustrate me more in a band setting than showing up to a rehearsal having done hours of homework only to find that both THAT time before rehearsal was wasted, and THIS time in rehearsal is wasted while you guys teach each other a song.

So, on that one issue, I gotta side with the guy who bailed. Good bands only need a few rehearsals a year. And those rehearsals are for running through songs everyone showed up knowing so you can arrange vocals, figure out intro/outro cues, and make sure the song fits the band. They are NOT for learning songs.

And if I took the time to nail a song before I showed up, and then we just put it on the back burner for now because someone "forgot to learn it", I would be pretty pissed as well. You are devaluing the time of others when you do that. My time is valuable.

Edited to fix a few typos.

 

What he said ^^^

 

number 1 sounds like the best option. regarding number 4, which would have been my first choice, if these are all covers, you might be able to find a bass player who knows most of the songs, but that motivated a player isn't going to stick around with a band where others don't practice so they nail their parts ahead of rehearsals.

we have cover band members here who never rehearse at all because they all learn the songs at home on their own time.

agree with every word, and i have bailed from bands where other players didn't find the time and motivation to learn their parts.

 

Nothing worse than having band members taking forever to learn songs. At rehearsal last night, a well known guitarist was fumbling all night. Annoying. Made rehearsal a chore.

 

Best option would have been to learn the songs. Nothing shows more disrespect to your band mates than showing up to rehearsal unprepared.

 

I like option 1.

Not gonna lecture you about learning the tunes, some bands just function this way. I don't learn the songs myself and pick them up in rehearsal, but my group uses charts and plays in few set styles(swing/latin mostly). Since i am improvising the tunes anyway i get by just fine.

 

It'll be interesting if the bass player is a member on here and chimes in...

Anyways, option 1 sounds like the best option but it'd be no harm to reach out to the other players from option 4 and see if one of them is willing.

 

How complex are the songs?

If not overly complex or too many in number, i wouldn't think you'd have too much trouble finding a fill in (to possibly turn permanent) that you could get up to speed in a month around Cleveland.

Option #1 seems legit, too, from your description

 

Option #1.
If you don't know your material prior to rehearsal call it off.
I freelance and hear that the ex bass players did not know the material well,
made train wrecks every gig and/ or was a drunk, stoner or had sand box issues.
Theses issues also pertain to any other lazy band member.
Treat it like a business.

 

I'm with you. Same thing happened with me and my last band. The other guys kept wanting to do more material, which is fine in itself, but I would end up having to teach them how the song goes and after so many songs, I finally went off on them. I wasn't an ******* about it and I didn't swear, but they never looked at me the same and in the end we split up. Sad because we were a talented 3 piece. If bars are paying you money to play, learn the material the right way which is practice on your own to learn the songs, then iron them out in a band setting during rehearsals. Some songs require more work and simply cannot be "jammed". If you like jamming live, play more jamming songs. I hate it when I'm playing one part (the right way) and somebody decides to play the chorus at the wrong time. That's another thing, brush up on your questionable parts before the gig. Rant over.

 

I've got to agree with the others; learn the material. That is very frustrating and disrespectful to fellow band members who DID make the time to learn the tunes.

Regarding you current issue, I vote number 1 also.

 

Couldn't have said it better, on both counts.

 

^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^
Bass player was right to be frustrated and angry if it's been an ongoing issue. I will not work with people who don't learn the material on their own time. Learn, practice, commit to memory, and polish the tunes on YOUR time not OUR time. Practice at home rehearse with the band. Quit making excuses for lazy musicianship and poor time management.

That said...... fire the drummer
Edit: What makes you think you and the other cat can properly learn all the bass parts in five weeks when you guys could not learn your own parts in two months?

 

+1. Nothing bothers me more than having spent time to learn something, only to have others blow it off. I wouldn't stay in a band where that was the norm.

 

I'd go with 1 as an interim to 4

 

+1 to learn the damn songs. Before you drag somebody else into their own personal hell, where the band can't be bothered to learn it's own songs, fix the issue within the band. And given that:

Keep it within group, don't become a new player's reason for high blood pressure.