Playing Barefoot

[Beck McCartney]

I always wore thongs to practice (sandals for you yanks, no I don't wear wedgie-inducing underwear at all, let alone on my feet).

I grew up calling them thongs, and now everyone calls them flip flops. Damn that Sisco and the Thong Song! He ruined everything!

 

[totallyfrozen]

Barefoot's for sissies! I play neckid!
Pic

 

[Jazz Ad]

Playing barefoot is cool. I really recommend using a HF system though. Ground loops can be dangerous.

 

[totallyfrozen]

I grew up calling them thongs, and now everyone calls them flip flops. Damn that Sisco and the Thong Song! He ruined everything!

I think we started calling them "flip flops" LONG before the Thong Song. I blame it on Jimmy Buffet singing "...slipped on a pop top, blew out a flip flop..."

 

[Skitch it!]

Sandals in the months of warmer weather, I love them on gigs, nice and light and freed-up, free your toes and your mind will follow IMO : )

 

[the_thriller]

I almost always play barefoot at shows (and normally at least in socks at practice). The few exceptions are when the stage looks sketchy (slivers, broken glass, etc). People always comment on it and ask about it. It just feels a lot more free and fun. I'm not much of a shoe guy as it is. Once summer hits no socks for me.

 

[Josh Pelican]

I don't know if they still do it, but F*** the Facts always played barefoot.

 

[Pacman]

The Technique forum is about bass playing technique.

Moved to Miscellaneous.

 

[puddin tame]

stomping down on the gt 10b hard enough to activate the switch under the expression pedal is *not* fun barefoot

 

[Munjibunga]

Playing barefoot couples you to ground much better. Here's hoping you don't become part of a ground loop.

 

[StyleOverShow]

Only time I saw Jaco play live he was wearing light cotton pants and matching shirt and bare feet.

At practice I usually play with my shoes off at least if not free of footwear altogether. Sometimes it is pretty weird at an audition, but I like feeling the vibration(s).

I don't perform barefoot however....

 

[bohemond]

I know a guitar player who plays with only socks on, better feel on his pedals

 

[Baron Von Vik]

I ALWAYS have to be barefoot when playing. Or else I just feel too grounded, never open, can't really catch grooves with shoes. I dunno what it is.

Sou, our lead guitarist (upon a time) saw some dude playing barefoot and thought it was the coolest, most "organic" thing ever. "Gets you so in touch with the music, man" he said, and he couldn't play worth a crap, so we hoped it would help a little. So we're up there, and he still sucks, only his pearly-white monkey-fisters are gleaming up at us from the stage like a deep-sea angler fish's dangly thing, catching the stage lights you know. And we can see people on the floor are kind of looking at them and saying stuff behind their hands.
And of course he gets a splinter, and he wants us to help him, and the soles of his feet are all plastered with this black grime with lumps of stuff ground into it. Freeking gross.

Wear shoes. We did not evolve all-terrain treads.

 

[Unrepresented]

I don't play barefoot because I have too many pedals to step on, and activating a PD3 switch with bare feet is painful.

I have been wearing flip flops a lot, though.

 

[Basslice]

There is nothing wrong or weird about bringing a prayer mat to a gig so you can avoid the dangers of stage funk and such. Most bass players are just behind the drummer in terms of the amount of crap we have to haul around anyway. Come to think if it, about 1/3 of the drummers I have worked with travel with a rug for their trap.

 

[ez-rhino]

In my cover band where I'm the drummer, I play barefoot in the summer months. And yes, I clean my pedals (double kicks, they get sweaty, so cleaning them is a MUST).

In my bass playing days, if it's at a practice and am wearing flipflop/skids, yes, I barefoot it as well.

 

[hellbent_Nivek]

the good ol days of the Rollins Band, everyone was shoeless

 

[Baron Von Vik]

Come to think if it, about 1/3 of the drummers I have worked with travel with a rug for their trap.

(I thought that was to keep the drums from slipping about. Didn't know it was to keep their feet off the stage. )

 

[duff beer]

When I practice upstairs on the hardwood floor, I usually go barefoot. Our band practices in my basement which is a cement floor...and I never go barefoot on cement when electricity is involved. I always wear runners

When we play at a bar I wear decent quality runners. If they fit properly, you should never get sore feet. If you are getting sore feet, then your shoes don't fit right.

 

[julieslick]

Julie Slick....paging Julie Slick...

yes, yes?