Should I play bass in a gig for a band I'm not a part of yet or don't join the band and go see Victor Wooten in concert? The band is like a darker Sarah McLaughlin without the piano. Outside of church, I've never played bass in a gig
do the gig....... 1) helps you improve as a player 2) gets you in the eye of the public for future work 3) if you've already committed to it, follow through with your word....don't be the typical musician flake......bass players are better than that, leave that for the drummers and, ehh, guitarists.... 4) it's way more fun to play than to watch 5) if it's paid, need I say more.... My .02 though....
I haven't committed... I just e-mailed the person asking for the level of commitment expected from their potential bass player. Of course if I commit I'll follow through. I just happened to like the music and would be cool to play it at a gig... I don't know if it's paid or not. But thanks for your input, as well as everybody else's.
That right there would be the deciding factor for me. I don'y know if I'd go see wooten but I'd stay home and clip my toenails if the gig was free.
I can't imagine that it wouldn't be paid, but I don't know for certain. But paid or not, I'd play in a gig if I could. I do it all the time in church, and it's a blast just playing music for the sake of playing music. Not only that, but it feels great when a lot of people want to "shake my hand" because I'm the best bassist they've seen. Then again, we're talking about church. A lot of younger people don't really play more than one note at a time.
I get to play a gig every weekend, get to GO to a decent gig once or twice a year. I've seen VW twice ever. Our band diary has a number of dates blocked off because one of us wants to go to some cool gig. Unless it was a chance to play somewhere special, or a gig which was going to lead to something more I'd not take the gig and go see VW. If I'd made a commitment I'd probably ask the guys nicely if I could get out of it, but honor the commitment if it was going to cause any problems. Ian
Easy choice: Gig. If it was the Flecktones, it might be a tricky one. But Vic's solo career... ugh, what a nightmare. I'd say gig for sure, and get a DVD later if you want.