Venue owners who expect you to play for free or next to it. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
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Things bassist hate, Part 2
- Thread starter j-raj
- Start date
Guitar players that double the bassline all the time. Come on man, it's 3 piece band!
Guitar players that think playing the keyboard part is a whole note chord. Come on man, don't give up the guitar part to try and sound like keys!
Guitar players that give you "the look" when you ask them to turn down. Come on man, your tone isn't that great...plus hearing the drums is kind of important too!
Guitar players that think playing the keyboard part is a whole note chord. Come on man, don't give up the guitar part to try and sound like keys!
Guitar players that give you "the look" when you ask them to turn down. Come on man, your tone isn't that great...plus hearing the drums is kind of important too!
Keyboardists that play like it's piano class, rather than a band context -- especially when their left hand is below middle C the entire time.
Keyboard and organ playing in the bass register: "Step off!"
Keyboard and organ playing in the bass register: "Step off!"
1. Non bassists critiquing my tone. When you have a Boogie Mark IV and are such a novice with it that it sounds like a Crate, do not presume to know enough about tone to hold the authority to say I sound "too boomy".
2. Guitarists who insist on drowning me out. Bass and guitar are meant to sit together sonically; neither is supposed to overpower the other.
3. Bands who think all bassists play exactly the same. "Our old bassist played it like this....why can't you?" "Because that is not my style" is my blanket answer for that one; people just don't seem to get that.
4. Drummers who's knowledge of the word "pocket" ends with jeanswear. The drums are not a lead instrument, no matter how much like Keith Moon you'd like to be; lay a foundation with me and leave the damned crash cymbals alone.
5. People who think that bassists are disposable/seamlessly interchangeable. If it really doesn't matter who you have playing bass on your songs, then you're doing it wrong.
2. Guitarists who insist on drowning me out. Bass and guitar are meant to sit together sonically; neither is supposed to overpower the other.
3. Bands who think all bassists play exactly the same. "Our old bassist played it like this....why can't you?" "Because that is not my style" is my blanket answer for that one; people just don't seem to get that.
4. Drummers who's knowledge of the word "pocket" ends with jeanswear. The drums are not a lead instrument, no matter how much like Keith Moon you'd like to be; lay a foundation with me and leave the damned crash cymbals alone.
5. People who think that bassists are disposable/seamlessly interchangeable. If it really doesn't matter who you have playing bass on your songs, then you're doing it wrong.
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
Well... in some styles of music that isn't really so. None of us know if Judas Priest actually had a bass player, such was the nature of their mix. And Plenty of funk, R&B and even lots of rock music is very bass heavy--you can hardly hear the guitar at all.
What's surprising though is the number of rock tunes that we think of as being real Guitar Hero material but when you actually listen to them carefully.. it's 75% bass or more.
I myself was surprised when I listened to a cool Butterfly Boucher song with my headphones on and discovered that during big sections of the song there isn't any guitar at all. And it's a heavy, riffy tune. I think what threw me is the fuzzed out bass tone, though.
So.. I would add to your complaint: I hate when guitarists insist on being way higher in the mix than the material actually warrants. And boy do they do this often.
- Nov 8, 2010
- 1,391
- 9
- Disclosures
- Unofficial Endorser: Ibanez, D'Addario, Zoom
Bass videos on YouTube where the bass isn't in front of the mix.
The speakers on my laptop that don't reproduce enough bass frequencies to make me think there isn't enough bass in the mix.
The speakers on my laptop that don't reproduce enough bass frequencies to make me think there isn't enough bass in the mix.
-Guitarists that view the entire song as "The guitar solo intro"
-Drummers that think every sonic space must have a drum fill.
-Singers that think P.A. systems magically appear as needed, set themselves up and load themselves up after gigs.
-Drummers that think every sonic space must have a drum fill.
-Singers that think P.A. systems magically appear as needed, set themselves up and load themselves up after gigs.
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
Word! Any speakers that fail in this way. My TV, my computer, whatever. It's a big reason that I bought really good headphones recently. Wow, I can actually hear the instrumentation clearly! Even bass!
Recently, I realized that it is my stupidity to expect to see
a perfectly working condition bass amp at every stage.
Yesterday, in front of 300 people watching,
the amp I checked at the rehearsal went broken down.
The tech guy came(I'm sure he doesn't know anything about amps though),
and flipped the power switch few times, pushed every buttons on the amp panel
and plugged my cable from here to there and it was the bad jack on the amp.
I hate those who use the public stuff like it's meant to be treated harsh.
Also I hate people smoking in public, spitting on the public road, deep kiss scenes on the movie, etc,..
a perfectly working condition bass amp at every stage.
Yesterday, in front of 300 people watching,
the amp I checked at the rehearsal went broken down.
The tech guy came(I'm sure he doesn't know anything about amps though),
and flipped the power switch few times, pushed every buttons on the amp panel
and plugged my cable from here to there and it was the bad jack on the amp.
I hate those who use the public stuff like it's meant to be treated harsh.
Also I hate people smoking in public, spitting on the public road, deep kiss scenes on the movie, etc,..
when a guitarist picks up my bass and plays it better than i can.
when the drummer and guitarist say "just look up the tabs" to that primus/infectious grooves/chili peppers song.
when the other band members insist on a "feature" solo knowing you totally suck
when the drummer and guitarist say "just look up the tabs" to that primus/infectious grooves/chili peppers song.
when the other band members insist on a "feature" solo knowing you totally suck
When people say (and this has really happened!!) "why is there 2 electric guitars?" i mean it's a BASS...
When I am asked if bass is 'easier' than guitar
Pianists playing exactly my line
Bad drummers!!
When I am asked if bass is 'easier' than guitar
Pianists playing exactly my line
Bad drummers!!
I played with one country band where the rhythm player always played the walk ups or downs when transitioning to the 4 or 5 or back down to the 1. He couldn't figure out any of them beside 1,4 or 5! 
when a guitarist picks up my bass and plays it better than i can.
I sometimes do this in reverse.
I am in a four-piece, and we work as a band.
Any drummer who did this would be OUT.
PERIOD.
Coming in late from a fill is a SYMPTOM. If you record all your performances, and listen back to them, you are going to find a bigger problem.
This drummer will be out of the pocket at times, and will have some variations of tempo at times.
Simply put, you have a drummer with a poor sense of RHYTHM.
That is bad business.
Bad business all around.
I have to agree with mellowinman. Last drummer I played with that did that had bad tempo issues and would even count the same song off at three different tempos three nights in a row.
