So this happened...

[BooDoggie]

Hey fellow TB'ers. just thought I would share what has to be the craziest experience that I have been involved in in many years.

Last week I got a call from a guy that says that they are trying to put together a classic rock covers band and are looking for a bass player. I told the guy I haven't played bass with a group in nearly 20 years, and for the last 15 years all I have been doing is writing my own music. He had heard great things about me from a friend of his that knew me almost 40 years ago when I was in a three piece band that played classic rock covers.

I told the guy that I only own a fretless bass now, and that I don't even have an amp. He says no problem. He says he has an amp I can use and a bass I can play. The guy sends me a list of 6 tunes they have on their set list the day before the scheduled "audition". My only source to even refresh my memory on these songs is YouTube. Many of these I could not really hear the bass parts well enough to work out some of the details... Some of them I had played before, but it was 40 years ago.

So I drive thirty minutes to this Guys place. Good thing I brought along my fretless because the bass he has is a cheap Chinese copy of a Fender p bass. And not even a good copy. But, I plugged in my fretless and started trying to play along to some of these old tunes. Have you ever tried to play "Gimme Three Steps" on a fretless?

They have no singer there. The guitar player had a bad attitude because I didn't know the songs that they sent me note for note. We were crammed into a small 10x16 foot portable building in this guys back yard that was so full of junk that there was no room to move around at all.

The guitar player says "well it's obvious that you know how to play", but he was upset with me not knowing the material. They didn't even count in to start a song. Even when I asked what key a song was in he would just start playing instead of telling me the key.The guy on the guitar would just start playing and then the drummer would start banging away at the drums. It was up to me to catch up and try to play along. After 30 minutes the guitar player shut off his amp and started unplugging cords. I said "well i guess we're done then?" Then the drummer hands me a list of 28 songs and says learn these and then give me a call and we'll see if we can set up another jam. I think he's going to be waiting a long time for that call...

 

[bholder]

Yeah my last "open jam (but really audition)" turned out about the same. Singers wanted me there, one guitarist did, drummer did, but the lead dude obviously didn't. Then when the actual current bass player arrived 2 hours late, it got mighty awkward. lol But worth trying, I suppose, who knows...

 

[bolophonic]

Surly guitarist = no sale.

 

[Lo-E]

There’s a very good reason some people are playing in an outbuilding in someone’s yard. It would be interesting to know if they ever play anywhere else.

I’ve had a handful of “audition” experiences like that. I can’t say they were any sort of real hardship for me but I wouldn’t say I benefited from them in any way, either. Choosing not to follow through with a project like that sounds like a pretty wise decision on your part.

 

[4SG]

 

[Ostie]

A few years ago I was asked to play bass for some guys who had a company gig lined up. I figured WTH, it might be fun. It wasn’t. The first rehearsal was loud and bad. I thought, “I’ll give it another shot”. The second one was just as bad. No dynamics, just everyone playing loud. After the third one I bailed. They weren’t very happy with me, but I just couldn’t take it anymore.

 

[flannel cat]

guitar player is a cull.....

 

[BooDoggie]

Surly guitarist = no sale.

There’s a very good reason some people are playing in an outbuilding in someone’s yard. It would be interesting to know if they ever play anywhere else.

They supposedly played in several working bands over the years. The guy even mentioned a few names that I remember from the past, but... It was like when my dad used to get me to play bass for his group of guys that did the same thing... No count in. I really hated that, and they were playing songs I never heard of and they didn't care if I knew them or not...

 

[Joe Nerve]

IMO, this was everybody's fault.

They knew the situation, yet decided to push through anyhow. They gave you the list with not enough time to learn it. You went into the audition without a bass or completely knowing the material.

Everybody just wastes everybody's time like that.

Had everyone waited a week or 2, and you gotten your hands on a bass that you knew was playable somehow - this would have turned out much differently.

 

[bassfran]

No count in= rank amateurs. Run Forrest, run!

 

[shnapper]

My mouth has Zero filters, I’d have been like… Why don’t you guys call me once you can play 6 songs, let alone 28 lmfao!

 

[GretschWretch]

Somewhat of a derail here,but when did covering a song note for note become a thing? Looking back on my long and paisleyed musical past I cannot think of a single situation in which I was required to learn a bass part note for note with the recording. Just nailing the important notes and maintaining the spirit of the song was enough. Even with open mics where often I had to play songs I had never heard, I got the rep of being able to craft suitable bass parts on the fly. The only really notable exception that comes to mind is the Police's "Message in a Bottle." Not my kind of music, and I got massacred on that.

 

[LBS-bass]

They wanted you to have 6 songs note-for-note in less than a week? Oh, hell no. I can have the basic groove and the changes on 6 songs in that time but I'm not making the effort to learn every turnaround, ghost note, and nuance, particularly when I don't even know if the situation will appreciate that effort yet. The vast majority of situations involve people who don't notice that the turnarounds in verse 1 differ from those in verse 2, anyway, so why would I do all that work with such short notice?

I don't, but most people here do have regular jobs and other life stuff that takes up most of their free time. There's only so much you can get done in a week.

It sounds to me like you did the best you could reasonably do in a situation that was thrown together with short notice.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hey fellow TB'ers. just thought I would share what has to be the craziest experience that I have been involved in in many years.

Last week I got a call from a guy that says that they are trying to put together a classic rock covers band and are looking for a bass player. I told the guy I haven't played bass with a group in nearly 20 years, and for the last 15 years all I have been doing is writing my own music. He had heard great things about me from a friend of his that knew me almost 40 years ago when I was in a three piece band that played classic rock covers.

I told the guy that I only own a fretless bass now, and that I don't even have an amp. He says no problem. He says he has an amp I can use and a bass I can play. The guy sends me a list of 6 tunes they have on their set list the day before the scheduled "audition". My only source to even refresh my memory on these songs is YouTube. Many of these I could not really hear the bass parts well enough to work out some of the details... Some of them I had played before, but it was 40 years ago.

So I drive thirty minutes to this Guys place. Good thing I brought along my fretless because the bass he has is a cheap Chinese copy of a Fender p bass. And not even a good copy. But, I plugged in my fretless and started trying to play along to some of these old tunes. Have you ever tried to play "Gimme Three Steps" on a fretless?

They have no singer there. The guitar player had a bad attitude because I didn't know the songs that they sent me note for note. We were crammed into a small 10x16 foot portable building in this guys back yard that was so full of junk that there was no room to move around at all.

The guitar player says "well it's obvious that you know how to play", but he was upset with me not knowing the material. They didn't even count in to start a song. Even when I asked what key a song was in he would just start playing instead of telling me the key.The guy on the guitar would just start playing and then the drummer would start banging away at the drums. It was up to me to catch up and try to play along. After 30 minutes the guitar player shut off his amp and started unplugging cords. I said "well i guess we're done then?" Then the drummer hands me a list of 28 songs and says learn these and then give me a call and we'll see if we can set up another jam. I think he's going to be waiting a long time for that call...

I wouldn’t have lasted 30 minutes. I would have made up a lame excuse (Oh. I left a cake in the oven) and got out of dodge, blocking their phone number when I got to my car.

 

[John Stephen]

@BooDoggie, I wouldn’t have any further involvement with them unless they get rid of the *ss*ole guitar player. I have a “no *ss*oles” rule that I stick to.

 

[Lava]

Yeah, at the first sign of “attitude” I would’ve unplugged and hit the road.

 

[HardNHeavy]

you did fine-----the rest of em' need to get their sht together.

 

[nickpc]

I'm missing something - why did you go to this audition? Was there something that wasn't mentioned that got you wanting to get back in a band enough to go?

 

[LBS-bass]

Somewhat of a derail here,but when did covering a song note for note become a thing? Looking back on my long and paisleyed musical past I cannot think of a single situation in which I was required to learn a bass part note for note with the recording. Just nailing the important notes and maintaining the spirit of the song was enough. Even with open mics where often I had to play songs I had never heard, I got the rep of being able to craft suitable bass parts on the fly. The only really notable exception that comes to mind is the Police's "Message in a Bottle." Not my kind of music, and I got massacred on that.

I don't really think it's as much of a thing as most people think it is. I also don't really think most people mean note for note when they say it. You can play a close cover that isn't note for note or you can just make stuff up.

I recently had a situation where I joined a band that consists of some pretty seasoned players. I was learning repertoire and one song has a bunch of syncopated stops in the intro. I started learning that and then I thought to myself, nobody's going to play that, so I texted the drummer and asked him if he's actually playing that. He said "nope, but I wish we would. We have a limited palette here." I told him I would just work on getting the grooves down and we could add fancy stuff later if we wanted to, so that's how I approached the rest of the songs.

This thread got me thinking about this and I posted another thread this morning about what we really mean when we say note for note, and what most bands actually want from us, and how I usually approach learning covers.

 

[QweziRider]

I think he's going to be waiting a long time for that call...

Good move. They don't sound like much fun to be around.

And yep - Gimme Three Steps on fretless is fun!