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So this happened...
- Thread starter BooDoggie
- Start date
Used to play with guy that insisted on the album version of every bassline. Now granted, it depends on the song but I generally want a put a bit of 'me' on the tune. It got heated once when we were doing a Brand X tune and there was a certain section where he wanted the Percy Jones line and I had to point out, it was so far out of tune I wouldn't be able play it on the fretted.
Sacreligious? What can I say, I love Percy Jones, but he definitely plays out of tune a fair amount. Albeit by design? I'll give him the benefit of a doubt.
You state that the guitar player couldn’t walk without a cane why is this relevant this is disabled discrimination please delete thanks, I walk with a cane should I stop playing bass please advise me you seem to be up on discrimination against disabled people
IME, if you ask for a key and your question is ignored, it’s because whomever you asked does not have the answer. I’m not educated in music enough to think of myself as a musician but I know where the notes are on my fretboard and I understand Nashville numbers enough to know a song key gets me close enough to fake it 9 out of 10 times.
Auditions are just like any other job interview. They are checking you out and you are checking them out. You have to pass their test and they have to pass yours. From what you've described I would not take that gig if it was offered.
there are idiots all over the place. you met two. guitarist because he's an unprofessional jerk. drummer because he's either got no backbone, or knowledge enough, to stand up to the idiotic guitarist.
Anyone who cringes if I ask what key a song is in will never get played with again.
footnote, up front. I played fretless, exclusively, for many years. AS a professional bassist... doing session work, for hire gigs, all styles, even slap funk stuff (lots of it actually). I never apologized for playing fretless or even wanted to play fretted bass. Gimme 3 steps - seems doable on fretless.... I mean, it's fretless.... half the fun is hearing the slides between left hand shifts, right? otherwise the song Oh My God by the Police (From Synchronicity) would have NOT worked at all.
I ask the key because I've ( A ) played in enough bands to know that bands change keys of songs (based on E or Eb tuning on guitars, for one thing), ( B ) it gives me an idea if they understand what a key is... key is not the first note/chord necessarily, it's the main key that the song is in. It might start on a different chord/note, and when you ask the key, they should say it's in key X, but it start on the 2 chord which is Y minor. If they don't know this, it isn't the end of the world and that's a common problem in rock bands, but it's helpful find out what you're dealing with.
I also ask because I can't know everything perfectly in an audition, not even in rehearsals. And if they can't have decent planning discussions about songs, then I do not want to work with them.
And any band where the guitarist starts the song AFTER SOMEONE ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT THE SONG, is going to see me getting up and walking out. Maybe not the first time, but the second time for sure. While he's playing. I'm out.
If the song starts with guitar, then fine if there aren't questions on the floor about the song that he's ignoring.... cuz in that case he's simply starting the song how he's supposed to.
And finally, ... naw, that's enough right there.
footnote, up front. I played fretless, exclusively, for many years. AS a professional bassist... doing session work, for hire gigs, all styles, even slap funk stuff (lots of it actually). I never apologized for playing fretless or even wanted to play fretted bass. Gimme 3 steps - seems doable on fretless.... I mean, it's fretless.... half the fun is hearing the slides between left hand shifts, right? otherwise the song Oh My God by the Police (From Synchronicity) would have NOT worked at all.
I ask the key because I've ( A ) played in enough bands to know that bands change keys of songs (based on E or Eb tuning on guitars, for one thing), ( B ) it gives me an idea if they understand what a key is... key is not the first note/chord necessarily, it's the main key that the song is in. It might start on a different chord/note, and when you ask the key, they should say it's in key X, but it start on the 2 chord which is Y minor. If they don't know this, it isn't the end of the world and that's a common problem in rock bands, but it's helpful find out what you're dealing with.
I also ask because I can't know everything perfectly in an audition, not even in rehearsals. And if they can't have decent planning discussions about songs, then I do not want to work with them.
And any band where the guitarist starts the song AFTER SOMEONE ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT THE SONG, is going to see me getting up and walking out. Maybe not the first time, but the second time for sure. While he's playing. I'm out.
If the song starts with guitar, then fine if there aren't questions on the floor about the song that he's ignoring.... cuz in that case he's simply starting the song how he's supposed to.
And finally, ... naw, that's enough right there.
Took so long to bake it, too
And I'll never have that recipe againTook so long to bake it, too
Oh no!
Guitarists ought to at least know what key a song is in. Drummers can’t be fixed so let that go.
but..."between the parted pages and were pressed in love's hot fevered iron, like a striped pair of pants"??? That is one goofy song. Sorry, off topic, but I couldn't resist.
There is a story, probably apocryphal, that Jim Webb told Richard Harris that he (Webb) was going to write a parody love song with total nut job imagery, that he would give to Harris and it would become a number one hit. Which is what happened, only at the time most of us were so blown away by the arrangement we never considered the imagery of the lyrics.
Makes "American Pie" seem like a first grader's reading primer by comparison.
Do they have a singer? If everyone can't be bothered to show up for an audition, that's a big red flag right there. As others have said, the band is being auditioned as much as you are. I just won't even consider a band with a bad singer, so I probably would have packed it up right there.
No count and everyone just dropping into the song randomly is garage band amateur stuff, yet they expect a note-for-note bass performance.
