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Playing behind your head

Dead Set Dave

Dead Set Dave

Guest
Sep 10, 2014
90
36
43
Perth, Australia
#1
I'm getting pretty confident on a section of one of my bands tunes, and I'm trying to get the hang of playing it behind my head. Like a showboating guitarist haha!

My two main issues are getting it up there without missing a note, and then positioning. I'm almost there with the fingerwork, but it's just getting everything in place, it all feels so awkward. Any done this? Especially with bass? I need some tips and hints (apart from practice which I will be doing either way).

I've got a gig this Friday and would love to bust it out, but not at the cost of causing a trainwreck!
 
#2
To be honest, unless you're a bass prodigy and you were playing something amazingly cool and unique.. if I saw a random bassist in some club trying to play behind his head, it would make me want to leave.. maybe even throw up in my mouth a little. I say spare yourself and your band of the pagentry. We aren't guitards.
 
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#3
Dead Set Dave said:
I'm getting pretty confident on a section of one of my bands tunes, and I'm trying to get the hang of playing it behind my head. Like a showboating guitarist haha!

My two main issues are getting it up there without missing a note, and then positioning. I'm almost there with the fingerwork, but it's just getting everything in place, it all feels so awkward. Any done this? Especially with bass? I need some tips and hints (apart from practice which I will be doing either way).

I've got a gig this Friday and would love to bust it out, but not at the cost of causing a trainwreck!
Click to expand...

Why? I wouldn't be saying ooh ah, I'd be saying ***.
 
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#4
Back in the day ( early late 80s) Chris Jefferson would play an epic bass solo finishing behind his head ala Jimi Hendrix. Anyone in the community remember The Black Dog Band? Mostly upstate NY.....gigged Ithaca, Albany, Saratoga, Lake George, NYC including Knitting factory and Wetlands......Good times...
 
#6
Dude, it's rock n' roll. Adding a little showmanship is fun. I'd ignore the old farts and do it.

I do it sometimes at the end of a song or a set. It's definitely done tongue-in-cheek, kind of imitating/making fun of all the Rudy Sarzo-types who did it back in the stripper anthem days.

If you really want to take it to the next level, start doing Rudy Sarzo bass licks. By that, I mean literally licking your bass like he did in that Whitesnake video.
 
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#8
Yeah, I just like having fun... and I can't afford to keep smashing my bass at the end of our set, so this seems more cost effective... but really it's just a matter of being able to do it. Tick something off the bucket list or whatever. I don't care if people think it's lame, I'm not trying to be cool.. I just wanna do stuff! But thanks for the input peolpes!
 
#9
AaronVonRock said:
Dude, it's rock n' roll. Adding a little showmanship is fun. I'd ignore the old farts and do it.

I do it sometimes at the end of a song or a set. It's definitely done tongue-in-cheek, kind of imitating/making fun of all the Rudy Sarzo-types who did it back in the stripper anthem days.

If you really want to take it to the next level, start doing Rudy Sarzo bass licks. By that, I mean literally licking your bass like he did in that Whitesnake video.
Click to expand...

Hey, older guys may be "Old Farts", but that doesn't mean we didn't do that kind of stuff in our younger days. Showmanship wasn't just invented.
 
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#11
ChefKen said:
Back in the day ( early late 80s) Chris Jefferson would play an epic bass solo finishing behind his head ala Jimi Hendrix. Anyone in the community remember The Black Dog Band? Mostly upstate NY.....gigged Ithaca, Albany, Saratoga, Lake George, NYC including Knitting factory and Wetlands......Good times...
Click to expand...

On a side note, have you heard of a band called Mister Strange? They toured the same area around the same time and were awesome. There bassist, Chris Wyse, is the current bassist for The Cult.

To the OP, do it! Pull some Bootsy on there $$$!
 
#14
PortlandBass77 said:
On a side note, have you heard of a band called Mister Strange? They toured the same area around the same time and were awesome. There bassist, Chris Wyse, is the current bassist for The Cult.

To the OP, do it! Pull some Bootsy on there $$$!
Click to expand...

I did not know them.....It was very much a Grateful Dead scene in those days with Blues Traveler, Shockra, Phish, Spin Doctors and Aquarium rescue unit sprinkled in.
 
#18
I'm not generally a fan of this kind of stuff, but if you're sure it fits the band's vibe, and it's cool with your bandmates, I say go for it. I think it would be especially fun if your lead guitarist does it, and you could then pull it out as if to say,"Oh yeah? I can do it too."
 

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