I'm finally headed for my first gig! I know for a lot of you some of this stuff is old hat and there is yet another camp who don't care because you don't do the band thing. But for those of you in my shoes who are still new to gigging bands, I decided to keep a bit of a journal on the events leading up to my first gig including first contact with the band, audition and the one rehearsal I got before jumping on stage. I'm going to break it into three posts with the third one being my actual gig report. No need for advise or feedback, just sharing.
A little back story...
I've been playing music most of my life. Guitar/piano lessons from parents, band in jr high, high school and college and little guitar work after college. I've performed plenty in all sorts of environments, just never on bass. My house burned down in 1987 destroying all my gear. I took that as a sign form the universe to grow up and pursue "adult stuff" and essentially didn't play any music for about 30 years.
Three years ago, I was on vacation with my family and my brother, who had been working with a project happened to mention that they needed a bass player. I told him that if they give me some time to get up to speed, I'd be interested in doing that. When we got home, I ran to Guitar Center and bought a bass, amp and basic stuff I needed. I got the projects' play list and in a couple weeks, I was working out with them.
For the next three years, bands came and went. We always seemed to have personnel issues just as we were ready to look for gigs. Last year, I hooked up with an originals jazz fusion project which is very challenging and rewarding, but after almost 1.5 years, still have not gigged. Id' had been following Craig's list ads for most of the year when an opportunity came up that was a good fit for them and me.
Their current bassist is having issues with arthritis and needs to stop. He's generously toughing it out while they find a replacement. I contacted them the first time, seeking if Sunday rehearsals were negotiable (that's when my fusion thing rehearses most of the time). It wasn't negotiable and I figured that was the end of that. A few weeks later, I noticed the ad reappeared. Our Sunday rehearsals have been being cancelled more than not lately between our drummer's gigs and BL's propensity to take road trips, I just felt that we weren't collectively respecting the day, so I decided to reach out again and work out the Sunday issue if it worked out.
Tuesday (less than three weeks to potential first gig)
I contacted the organizer again and he sent me their internet presence stuff as well as their set list. He asked that look carefully at their booked gigs. Apparently, the person who they got to step in before me, wasn't too keen on being as busy as they were for the next couple of months. I checked it out and was fine with being busy. The contact set up an audition /jam for the following Sunday. I did some thinking on things and after a bit extrapolated gigging almost every week for the foreseeable future. Ew, is $200 per month really worth all of my weekends? No. I did called the contact the next day (Wednesday) to chat about my concerns. He indicated that they don't usually book that much – just the way it had lined up for this period. We had resolved my concerns well enough to proceed. We scheduled audition for the following Sunday.
The new band has been looking for a bass player for a couple of months. They appeared to be a very good fit for me:
My fusion project was wrapping up some demo recording Wed. night and I let them know that I was not available for a Sunday rehearsal. I poured over the new band's 75 song playlist and found 15 that I had already knew or at least had some level of preparation on for the rehearsal. I spent a couple hours on Thursday and Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday morning getting those 15 songs presentable. They typically don't rehearse on Sundays after a gig, but gathered anyway because they need to get past this personnel issue.
I arrived at the audition a little early (as usual) and met my contact (drummer, and the two guitarists). I planted where they asked me to and we just all chatted small talk while everyone was getting ready. The lead singer was running late, so we bounced through the one song on my list that the guitarist sang. No problem, everyone's happy and the lead singer has arrived. So we bounced through about five songs and I nailed them pretty well (except for butchering the breaks going in and out of a guitar solo – couldn't hear the guitars very well). Everyone seemed pleased and after chatting for a few minutes, they offered me the position. That's never happened before – usually there is some post audition "nice playing, we'll talk it over and get back to you" type of scene. But they seemed generally impressed enough to just offer it up. I was quite surprised. I've nailed other auditions and not even been offered the position.
We talked about getting me on stage in a gig coming up in two weeks. No pressure! While we were loading out, the drummer made a point of telling me I was "easy to play with". I thanked him for the compliment. I get that a lot from drummers. I'm just a passable player, but drummers do seem to like playing with me - probably because I try to keep it as simple as possible to support a song. But I just can't imagine anyone who plays bass good enough to audition to have a different approach, so it confuses me a little.
I asked if they had any more recordings of themselves other than the couple on their website – and they do, but not easily accessible. I was hoping to get a feel for their arrangements and what they are used to hearing from the bass, but my contact said to just go my own way – that the existing bassist was "too busy and sloppy" and they didn't want me to emulate that. His "you're easy to play with" comment now made more sense.
So I went home, and started the arduous task of prepping to learn new songs – about 40 of them! In their current set list, I had the 15 songs I prepped for audition, another 20 or so that I recognized and another 17 that I had never even heard of before listening to them prior to the audition (just to see what I was getting myself into). I worked this all the way through including loading them onto my phone so I could start just listening to the songs I don't know during my commute and break walks.
I have a good enough ear, that I can listen to 80-90% of songs and have them basically figured out by the end of the song. By my third play through, I can get through most songs fairly well. But I don't retain songs this way. I'm so glad that the world has evolved with tools that make getting song information so much easier than it was before the internet. You can go and listen and download just about anything you want from You Tube and there are several sources to get lyrics and chord charts (mostly accurate!) My new song routine has 6 stages:
1. Obtain a copy of the cover tune. Change key if necessary
2. Obtain charts with chords and lyrics. Create a "glanceable" map of the song.
3. Vette the chart. Start playing along with the track, making notes adjustments to the charts as needed
4. Burn In – Get to where I can play through the song without hiccups using just the "glanceable" notes. Figuring all the breaks and transitions, determining if I can pull off backing vocals etc. Just getting comfortable with each song
5. Play it with the band. I rarely will have a song 100% ready until I play it with the band. There are just so many variables, and sometimes, a group might have their own spin on things.
6. Completely comfortable. Track is locked down and fully ready. Don't need any notes to get through them.
This is a lot of effort but it is the way I prepare songs for myself and it works well. I get a lot of absorption gong through the physical process of preparing charts. It's not for everyone, but this works very well and efficiently for me.
We had decided that I would play at least one set on their next gig and possibly a second if I could be ready. The first thing I did when I got home, was to go out to You Tube and download a version of all the songs in their current set list (Phase 1). I had to transpose a few and took care of that (RiffStation) and then started gathering lyric/chord sheets (phase 2). I knew I could do some of this work at the office, so I saved some of the chart prep work for later.
next: 2 weeks to gig!
A little back story...
I've been playing music most of my life. Guitar/piano lessons from parents, band in jr high, high school and college and little guitar work after college. I've performed plenty in all sorts of environments, just never on bass. My house burned down in 1987 destroying all my gear. I took that as a sign form the universe to grow up and pursue "adult stuff" and essentially didn't play any music for about 30 years.
Three years ago, I was on vacation with my family and my brother, who had been working with a project happened to mention that they needed a bass player. I told him that if they give me some time to get up to speed, I'd be interested in doing that. When we got home, I ran to Guitar Center and bought a bass, amp and basic stuff I needed. I got the projects' play list and in a couple weeks, I was working out with them.
For the next three years, bands came and went. We always seemed to have personnel issues just as we were ready to look for gigs. Last year, I hooked up with an originals jazz fusion project which is very challenging and rewarding, but after almost 1.5 years, still have not gigged. Id' had been following Craig's list ads for most of the year when an opportunity came up that was a good fit for them and me.
Their current bassist is having issues with arthritis and needs to stop. He's generously toughing it out while they find a replacement. I contacted them the first time, seeking if Sunday rehearsals were negotiable (that's when my fusion thing rehearses most of the time). It wasn't negotiable and I figured that was the end of that. A few weeks later, I noticed the ad reappeared. Our Sunday rehearsals have been being cancelled more than not lately between our drummer's gigs and BL's propensity to take road trips, I just felt that we weren't collectively respecting the day, so I decided to reach out again and work out the Sunday issue if it worked out.
Tuesday (less than three weeks to potential first gig)
I contacted the organizer again and he sent me their internet presence stuff as well as their set list. He asked that look carefully at their booked gigs. Apparently, the person who they got to step in before me, wasn't too keen on being as busy as they were for the next couple of months. I checked it out and was fine with being busy. The contact set up an audition /jam for the following Sunday. I did some thinking on things and after a bit extrapolated gigging almost every week for the foreseeable future. Ew, is $200 per month really worth all of my weekends? No. I did called the contact the next day (Wednesday) to chat about my concerns. He indicated that they don't usually book that much – just the way it had lined up for this period. We had resolved my concerns well enough to proceed. We scheduled audition for the following Sunday.
The new band has been looking for a bass player for a couple of months. They appeared to be a very good fit for me:
Play list a genre of music I can tolerate (classic, 80s+ rock and some newer countryish stuff and yes, I "get" to play Wagon Wheel!). I'm not crazy about a lot of their songs, but nothing that I "just can't play"
They rehearse about 15 minutes form my house
Based on their web site recordings, they are at a perfect skill level for me. Solid, but a little loose, but trying to improve.
They're not trying to get rich and famous – just weekend warriors
Not a startup. They are actually gigging. They seem to be a
They keep a reasonable stage volume – everyone is pumped through the PA even at rehearsals. Drummer uses an e-kit. I won't need my big amp and may even be able to get away with no amp at all. If anything, I'll just use my little practice amp so I can hear myself on stage.
My fusion project was wrapping up some demo recording Wed. night and I let them know that I was not available for a Sunday rehearsal. I poured over the new band's 75 song playlist and found 15 that I had already knew or at least had some level of preparation on for the rehearsal. I spent a couple hours on Thursday and Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday morning getting those 15 songs presentable. They typically don't rehearse on Sundays after a gig, but gathered anyway because they need to get past this personnel issue.
I arrived at the audition a little early (as usual) and met my contact (drummer, and the two guitarists). I planted where they asked me to and we just all chatted small talk while everyone was getting ready. The lead singer was running late, so we bounced through the one song on my list that the guitarist sang. No problem, everyone's happy and the lead singer has arrived. So we bounced through about five songs and I nailed them pretty well (except for butchering the breaks going in and out of a guitar solo – couldn't hear the guitars very well). Everyone seemed pleased and after chatting for a few minutes, they offered me the position. That's never happened before – usually there is some post audition "nice playing, we'll talk it over and get back to you" type of scene. But they seemed generally impressed enough to just offer it up. I was quite surprised. I've nailed other auditions and not even been offered the position.
We talked about getting me on stage in a gig coming up in two weeks. No pressure! While we were loading out, the drummer made a point of telling me I was "easy to play with". I thanked him for the compliment. I get that a lot from drummers. I'm just a passable player, but drummers do seem to like playing with me - probably because I try to keep it as simple as possible to support a song. But I just can't imagine anyone who plays bass good enough to audition to have a different approach, so it confuses me a little.
I asked if they had any more recordings of themselves other than the couple on their website – and they do, but not easily accessible. I was hoping to get a feel for their arrangements and what they are used to hearing from the bass, but my contact said to just go my own way – that the existing bassist was "too busy and sloppy" and they didn't want me to emulate that. His "you're easy to play with" comment now made more sense.
So I went home, and started the arduous task of prepping to learn new songs – about 40 of them! In their current set list, I had the 15 songs I prepped for audition, another 20 or so that I recognized and another 17 that I had never even heard of before listening to them prior to the audition (just to see what I was getting myself into). I worked this all the way through including loading them onto my phone so I could start just listening to the songs I don't know during my commute and break walks.
I have a good enough ear, that I can listen to 80-90% of songs and have them basically figured out by the end of the song. By my third play through, I can get through most songs fairly well. But I don't retain songs this way. I'm so glad that the world has evolved with tools that make getting song information so much easier than it was before the internet. You can go and listen and download just about anything you want from You Tube and there are several sources to get lyrics and chord charts (mostly accurate!) My new song routine has 6 stages:
1. Obtain a copy of the cover tune. Change key if necessary
2. Obtain charts with chords and lyrics. Create a "glanceable" map of the song.
3. Vette the chart. Start playing along with the track, making notes adjustments to the charts as needed
4. Burn In – Get to where I can play through the song without hiccups using just the "glanceable" notes. Figuring all the breaks and transitions, determining if I can pull off backing vocals etc. Just getting comfortable with each song
5. Play it with the band. I rarely will have a song 100% ready until I play it with the band. There are just so many variables, and sometimes, a group might have their own spin on things.
6. Completely comfortable. Track is locked down and fully ready. Don't need any notes to get through them.
This is a lot of effort but it is the way I prepare songs for myself and it works well. I get a lot of absorption gong through the physical process of preparing charts. It's not for everyone, but this works very well and efficiently for me.
We had decided that I would play at least one set on their next gig and possibly a second if I could be ready. The first thing I did when I got home, was to go out to You Tube and download a version of all the songs in their current set list (Phase 1). I had to transpose a few and took care of that (RiffStation) and then started gathering lyric/chord sheets (phase 2). I knew I could do some of this work at the office, so I saved some of the chart prep work for later.
next: 2 weeks to gig!
