The "sit-in" from hell

[Thumpin6string]

If they wanted him to sit in and you didn't, I would have said that I hope he brought his gear since he won't be using mine. Nobody touches my bass or amp but me.

 

[jtg]

That sounds wildly entertaining. There's nothing like getting paid while someone covers your job, you get a beer break, and you get to see a band without leaving work. Especially when they are their own light show.

 

[pbassnut]

I wasn't crazy about a sit-in so early in the gig and I let everyone know. They were going to do it no matter how I felt.

Sitting in is a privilege ... not a right. Since it's your equipment, it should have been up to you and you only when or if this guy can sit in or not. Strangers need not apply and it should be determined up front whether there's enough musical common ground so that it doesn't devolve into an unprofessional trainwreck that could affect your band being hired for future gigs at the venue. It's also a bad idea to bring someone up in the middle of a set, IMHO. The end of the set is the best time so that you can limit how many songs they play without things getting awkward.

 

[Al Rivera]

That tracks with most of my personal experience. The ones who bug you to sit in are usually the ones you don't want. The ones who can play, and who know how to behave in the situation, typically wait to be invited, and even then will sometimes politely decline.

I'm talking about regular gigs here. Of course things are handled differently at a gig that's specifically set up to be a more or less open jam.

Exactly

 

[Major Seven]

This happened quite a long time ago. I never posted about it but the guy is dead and can't read it.

At the end of our first set one of the guys told me "Joe" wanted to sit in on bass and he was going to have to leave soon and could we let him come on up?

I wasn't crazy about a sit-in so early in the gig and I let everyone know. They were going to do it no matter how I felt.

We started the second set and Joe was called up after a couple of songs. He trots to the stage with a bass case, opens it and pulls out a bass with a multi colored flashing LED body. He holds over his head like it's the Holy Grail. Next, he bends over and activates his shoes which also had multi colored flashing LED's.

I hand him the instrument cable and he walks to my amp and was about to start adjusting it to get his tone. I stopped him and he didn't seem happy about it. It took them forever to find songs they could play together and when they did play one his wife blew this super loud referee whistle .

It was really awful but I kept encouraging him to play more (I thought he had to leave.) I made the band endure him for the rest of the set. That was the night a sit-in policy was developed.

I had a friend who played drums in a house band at some fancy restaurant years ago (1980s)
He told a story about getting word Stevie Wonder was in the upstairs dining room, eating.
They start to play Stevie Wonder songs, Stevie comes downstairs to check it out then sits
in with the band. Bill is telling me this story, he says "and the voice in the PA is THE REAL THING!"

 

[Mike Marshall]

This happened quite a long time ago. I never posted about it but the guy is dead and can't read it.

At the end of our first set one of the guys told me "Joe" wanted to sit in on bass and he was going to have to leave soon and could we let him come on up?

I wasn't crazy about a sit-in so early in the gig and I let everyone know. They were going to do it no matter how I felt.

We started the second set and Joe was called up after a couple of songs. He trots to the stage with a bass case, opens it and pulls out a bass with a multi colored flashing LED body. He holds over his head like it's the Holy Grail. Next, he bends over and activates his shoes which also had multi colored flashing LED's.

I hand him the instrument cable and he walks to my amp and was about to start adjusting it to get his tone. I stopped him and he didn't seem happy about it. It took them forever to find songs they could play together and when they did play one his wife blew this super loud referee whistle .

It was really awful but I kept encouraging him to play more (I thought he had to leave.) I made the band endure him for the rest of the set. That was the night a sit-in policy was developed.

I am on a fence about this. I usually almost always say no when asked to sit in. I am there to hear the band not me. A lot of guys I know expect to sit in wherever they show up. This strikes me as an EGO thing, they have to show everybody they can play something. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy the occasional hot Sax player who shows up after their own gig. The Ego thing just rubs the wrong way.

 

[2saddleslab]

I had a friend who played drums in a house band at some fancy restaurant years ago (1980s)
He told a story about getting word Stevie Wonder was in the upstairs dining room, eating.
They start to play Stevie Wonder songs, Stevie comes downstairs to check it out then sits
in with the band. Bill is telling me this story, he says "and the voice in the PA is THE REAL THING!"

Somewhat similar story. Playing the 1207 Blues Club in downtown Cincy back in the 90's and we saw Junior Wells [and band], Chicago harmonica great & longtime collaborator w/ Buddy Guy, walk in the front door. We shortened the song we were playing and went right into Good Mornin' Little School Girl. Junior never broke stride and walked right on stage and started singing. Although we'd met him before it was a thrill for us to play w/ him.

 

[rojo412]

Only had one sit-in experience at a show, many years back. It was the original bass player from this band from many years before I was in it.
Thing is, dude was sent out of the band due to a crack problem. And on this night, he was playing my Modulus Q5.

Needless to say, I kept a good eye on him and only rested easy when that bass was back in my hands.
But to his credit, he was a good player. And I think he'd been off the rock for a while at this point.
Still though...

 

[bigdaddybass12]

I play church gigs. There are a lot of things i like about those gigs; one of them is there is no such thing as a sit in.

Yes, my complaint about my church is that it’s a us 4 and no more. They also play with tracks. What person is missing; keys, drummer, bass, they just turn that part up in the tracks. 500+ member church.

 

[Jogobass]

Weird system you got there. Sitting in on a band's gig is just out of the question here. It's either a gig or a jam, not both. We go watch a band play or we go to a jam.

 

[bdplaid]

and pulls out a bass with a multi colored flashing LED body. He holds over his head like it's the Holy Grail. Next, he bends over and activates his shoes which also had multi colored flashing LED's.

I LIKE it!

 

[bdplaid]

Weird system you got there. Sitting in on a band's gig is just out of the question here. It's either a gig or a jam, not both. We go watch a band play or we go to a jam.

Well, there was the time that Eddie Money walked in. We wanted him to sit in (which he did; tried to steal our drummer, too!)

 

[GreyBeard]

I never ask to sit in and only do so on invite.

 

[smurfco]

did his coffin have LEDs on it?

 

[Goatrope]

Weird system you got there. Sitting in on a band's gig is just out of the question here. It's either a gig or a jam, not both. We go watch a band play or we go to a jam.

That's the policy we adopted about 9 years ago when I joined this band. Prior to that, there was this mangerie of people who only came out to annoy there way on to the stage.

Since then, we've made very few exception. Maybe a handful in all these years.

True story: A couple months ago we were gigging our favorite dive bar on AMI (The Drift In). The owner comes over after the first set and says "Do you guys know any country? There's a guy across the street who wants to sit in, but I wanted to talk to you first." I said "We don't do sit-ins, but since you're the boss, I guess we can do it"

So then he asks, "Do you know any Garth Brooks songs?" I said "no", and started to feel like the owner was becoming a bit perturbed, so I said "Just have him come over and we'll figure something out."

The "guy across the street" turned out to actually be Garth Brooks. Holy Hell.

But he and his group had already walked further up Bridge street, so the owner couldn't catch him again.

Lol. Just our luck.

 

[john_g]

If they can handle one of my unlined fretless 5s they can play up to two tunes...

Im imagining "cows mating". =)

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Im imagining "cows mating". =)

"Lesbian Bovine Frottage"???
Lol.
The one guy that got to manhandle "Thor" was pretty nervous, and he claimed to be a conservatory grad...

 

[2cooltoolz]

I was with a band for about 3 years when, one night, our BL/Singer brought in a band to sit in. She was auditioning them as a "backup" band for her in case our band couldn't make a gig! (A situation which had happened once; the guitar player only; we found a sub).

I submitted my resignation at the end of the evening.

 

[Marko 1]

We were playing one night and David Crosby walks in...

okay I'm lyin' that's someone else.

 

[walksupright]

Any impromptu requests to sit in, “Just for a song or two,” by someone I don’t know, is usually met with, “Will you let me borrow your car for 15 minutes?”