playing bass... standing up??!?!?!!??!?????!!!??

[Diabolic Wrath]

You see, 'practice' is the magic word.
These "raise your bass" guy's don't seem to get it. I play with my bass pretty low CAUSE I LIKE IT.
It may gonna change in the future, but for now i like it...

Play high, play low, as long as it sounds good it doesnt matter you play high or low.

and about that 'looking cool' stuff its about the music you play : Jazz with a bass around your knees??? dont think so
Metal with a bass an inch below your chin??????? dont even think about it!!!!!

 

[Pacman]

Originally posted by furtim
Man, if you've got problems going between sitting and standing, your technique probably sucks to begin with. Oh, and yeah. RAISE YOUR BASS. Unless you're playing with your feet, there's no reason for the thing to be anywhere other than your chest.


As a mod, I'm going to ask you to watch the way you address others. I'm in late on this, so I won't delete your post, but I will in the future. Treat others with respect.

As for moving, jumping is such a terribly cliche and isn't nearly as cool as the guys who do it think it is. A much better solution is to to the Jaco thing... kinda just swing your upper body in time with the music, point the neck around. Stuff like that. That won't affect your playing, it won't cause you to fall down, and everybody will say, "Whoa, check out the bassist. He's really getting into it!" (had it happen to me, though those weren't the exact words)

Jaco used to move so much on stage he came out before the show to sprinkle talcum powder on the stage. That allowed him to dance, slide and do all sorts of crazy stuff. He did anything but just standing there moving his upper body around.

 

[Intrepid]

Maybe I'm just wack, but I like my bass jacked up...looks much cooler and is unique instead of all those crappy punk bass players that have it all low.

 

[Sheep Man]

Originally posted by Pacman
Jaco used to move so much on stage he came out before the show to sprinkle talcum powder on the stage. That allowed him to dance, slide and do all sorts of crazy stuff. He did anything but just standing there moving his upper body around.

Hmmm...
Speaking of Jaco, didn't he have his bass somewhere around his lower stomach or hips?

 

[Bassbarbie]

I find that my knee in the curve of the bass puts it too far down and to the right

I'm exactly the same - it's just not comfy playing sitting down.
Also, I think standing up keeps all the right muscles in trim for gigging. If I don't gig frequently I get back ache from standing there holding a heavy bass all night.
Personally I think I have more control if I hold the bass fairly high. I am small so this probably makes a difference too.

 

[PollyBass]

I have my bass around my knees, hanging your bass as high as your chest is just stupid. maybe so is hanging it around your knees. i think theres a good comprimise somewhere in between.

 

[BlackGeezer]

all the advice i have is raise yo bass but i have a question: Mt fav song to play is Anesthesia from Cliff Burton and stnding up I can'ty play it at my bass height (P-Pickup right over my waist) I can't reach the 12 fret and up very well. but, when i raise it the low frets just don't feel comfortable at all. ive tried getting use to it but to no avail. Advice would be nice. also if anyone can play that whole song that nifty thing cliff does when he hits his strings on the pickups exactly how the **** do you do that?

 

[ble_rush]

Originally posted by Sheep Man
Hmmm...
Speaking of Jaco, didn't he have his bass somewhere around his lower stomach or hips?

Just a little down the chest

 

[Sheep Man]

Originally posted by ble_rush

Just a little down the chest

Yeah, just below the chest is the stomach, right?

And btw, geocities don't allow direct linking to their pictures.

 

[terms bassist]

Ok 4 words for you all.
Rage Against The Machine
now who said you have to wear your bass/guitar down low to look cool. I swear these guys are trying to pass them off as bow ties or something.
but they are cool or should I say were? mmmm

 

[decrepidlitch]

see im the exact opposite of you i personally feel that playing sitting down restricts my arms and makes it harder to reach higher notes but i guess whatever you feel comfortable with.**** bb king sits for half of his concerts(then agin being a guitar god hes allowed certain things)

 

[JMX]

Originally posted by Washburn26
and you will control the rythem(I think thats how you spell it)

It's rhythm

 

[Sheep Man]

Originally posted by JMX
It's rhythm

...
And that's MY job!

 

[Jasnewsted]

In my Billy Shehan video, he explains how important this problem is. He has solved it with making the strap so the guitar is in the excact same position as when he sat when he is standing up.
He tells storys about so many bass-players he has seen playing incredible things backstage, and when the were on the stage totally sucked. Because now all the angels on the guitar had changed, and theyd probably blaime it on a roadie or a bad speaker or something, when it was a just a little thing as their strap length.

Good Luck!

 

[TooFunkToDrunk]

Originally posted by SuperDuck
...I can't understand why so many bassists are preoccupied with how much they move around on stage, as if having a 12" vertical will help you be a better bassist, or at least fool people into thinking you are a better bassist. I understand you just want to get past "being a statue" (trust me, we've all been there ); that's fine. It just seems to me that people who can't play a major scale need to spend less time worrying about how "crazy" and "hardcore" they look on stage and more time on how they sound on stage."

I agree that one must have the tunes down, but really, we are in the business of entertainment here. Playing in a studio or practicing at home is one thing but when playing a gig, people don't want to see a bunch of people standing around. Live shows are not just about the music being down and perfect. If they were, I doubt many people would turn out to them-that's what albums and radios are for! When people go to shows they wanna see humans playing and reacting to music. Sometimes it's better to screw up and show that you dig the tunage. Besides, what would you rather see, some band standing, not interacting at all with the audience, devoid of emotion, playing their songs PERFECT, or a bunch of musicians having fun, interacting, goofing off, and just all-out showing that they love the music? What I'm trying to say in poorly grammartized run-on sentences is simply, know the music well, but don't forget to put on a show.

 

[BillyBishop]

I find it hard to play sitting down, probably because I always play standing. On stage I jump around like a nutcase, seems perfectly natural to me. I also have my bass fairly low (not too much though).

 

[SuperDuck]

Originally posted by TooFunkToDrunk
Besides, what would you rather see, some band standing, not interacting at all with the audience, devoid of emotion, playing their songs PERFECT, or a bunch of musicians having fun, interacting, goofing off, and just all-out showing that they love the music?

Damn, this thread is still here? Talk about staying power...

You might want to reread my post. I never said "Don't move onstage. Be a robot". What I SAID was LEARN the parts and PRACTICE, THEN worry about moving around. Too many people don't know WHAT they are playing, they just know they have to jump around like the guys in ~insert nu-metal band here~.

Yes, you should interact with the audience, and yes you should show emotion.

However, in MY eyes, showing emotion is a completely different than looking like you're having a grand mal seizure onstage.

Personally, I see us in the music industry. Wrestling is the entertainment industry. When I go to concerts I go to hear music. John Entwhistle of the Who stands in one place the whole concert. Never moves. He blows the doors off any bassist I know. As for Jaco moving around onstage like bat out of hell, he KNEW the parts. He had the skill and could play the parts AND dance.

First music, then movement.

 

[ImNotGeddyLee]

good call SuperDuck

 

[harley_ou812]

I play standing up with my bass fairly low the center of the bass above my waist. It is as low as my strap will go. But i have trouble playing sitting down it feels as though i am going to drop my bass it feels as though it will slip off my leg.

I also have a problem with my acoustic bass going low enough i cant get a ong enough strap

 

[Hootz]

Mt fav song to play is Anesthesia from Cliff Burton and stnding up I can'ty play it at my bass height (P-Pickup right over my waist) I can't reach the 12 fret and up very well. but, when i raise it the low frets just don't feel comfortable at all.

That's fair enough. Couple of pointers:

1) If you're having difficulty reaching 12 and up, push your left hand further out and lean back a little. This'll give you room to move up the fingerboard a little more whilst remaining in the 'correct' playing position.

2) For everyone who has problems with being comfortable when playing, you could always do what the rolling stones bassist did (his name escapes me at the moment). In a recent intervie, he said that he held his bass up do that it was almost vertical because he had small hands and it gave him more reach to play the more complicated bass lines. This seems to help me quite a lot, because my hand gets easily fatigued playing repetitive basslines.

Hope I could help