Why does the bass player still stand in back?

[mcrawfordmusic]

I don't mind hanging at the back of the stage so that I can communicate with the drummer more effectively.
I'll often do this on a sub gig so that we can lock in better but I also don't want to step on anyone's toes by standing in "their spot" or anything.

However, I usually prefer to be up the front of the stage when playing. It's a lot more fun being able to interact with the audience and to scope out anything crazy happening in the crowd.

 

[rylie]

are there rules?
stand where you want
since upside down is not an option
I kinda like standing sideways

 

[CenTexThumper]

On other than the very small bandstands, I'm right out front with the "stars". I add harmonies and two or three lead vocals to every show so I reckon that earns me a front spot.

 

[Stranger Danger]

I hit a Google photos search on the word "stage" today for an unrelated reason - lots of gig pictures came up that I haven't looked at in a long time.

Like a lot of bass players, I'm standing in the back in most of them.

If you're the kind of player who wants to stand in back, chill, and play - sure. No need to rationalize or justify. But maybe some of you, like me, have decided that the fact you play bass should not, on its own, banish you to the back wall.

In fact, in my groups, keyboardists go in the back (they can't move) along with any player who needs to use his or her iPad or sheet music at the gig.

Me, I want to be up front interacting with the crowd - like I sometimes get to on this stage, where I guess I'm in the front and the back at the same time:



Anyone else abandoning the "bass in the back" rule?

I’m always front and center, lol.

 

[Gustopher]

Hell, no one told me... I’m located front and center.

 

[factory presets]

Yes, that’s quite a unique dance style and you need a fair degree of flexibility, especially with a bass strapped on.

Saw them in the 70s. Wild wild surfie music. Very different from Surf music. Mr G was leaping all around the stage oozing violence. One of the most powerful shows I've seen. Next time I saw him was on TV doing his pixie dance to Beds are Burning.

Expect our knees are similar.

 

[spaz21387]

I like being in the back where i can see the snare for some odd reason. That doesnt mean im not moving but i like eye contact with the snare.

 

[Rib 13]

Since purchasing my Xvive wireless, Im all over the place.....sometimes out in the audience.........

 

[factory presets]

I've finished a gig on a bar stool with a bucket beneath me after coming down with food poisoning during the first set. By that time my body had already rejected some of what it found to be disagreeable onstage. What the audience thought of it I don't know. I don't want to know. They probably thought; "Look at the state of that bass player, he's had a few too many." But it wasn't that. This time.

Not me but one of the singers. Finished up on hands and knees still trying to sing between episodes.

I noticed he didn't try and play his sax though.

 

[Ggaa]

That's where the kick drum is.

 

[RumbleBot]

In our band, we actually usually all set up in a line whenever possible: the drummer usually sets up sideways facing across the stage on the left, guitarist in the middle, and me on the right. We're all equal thirds so we set up that for shows.
Old photo and backwards, but sort of like this.

 

[Ekulati]

I sing lead in some bands. I don't stand in the back.

 

[rocu]

I tend to lumber around like a lummox when the stage is big enough.

Lumbering Lummox is a good name for a band.

 

[5StringBlues]

Lumbering Lummox is a good name for a band.

You've now been quoted in the Accidental Band Names thread.

 

[Ellery]

I hit a Google photos search on the word "stage" today for an unrelated reason - lots of gig pictures came up that I haven't looked at in a long time.

Like a lot of bass players, I'm standing in the back in most of them.

If you're the kind of player who wants to stand in back, chill, and play - sure. No need to rationalize or justify. But maybe some of you, like me, have decided that the fact you play bass should not, on its own, banish you to the back wall.

In fact, in my groups, keyboardists go in the back (they can't move) along with any player who needs to use his or her iPad or sheet music at the gig.

Me, I want to be up front interacting with the crowd - like I sometimes get to on this stage, where I guess I'm in the front and the back at the same time:



Anyone else abandoning the "bass in the back" rule?

That was a rule? Noone told me.

 

[Nick von Nick]

We honestly set up to match the room's configuration. Naturally, these configurations vary wildly.

That said, if I start bopping to the music, I'd rather be in the back. I get paid to make other people dance. I don't get paid to haunt the audience's nightmares with my awkward and stilted motions...

~NvN

 

[nonohmic]

Why don't ya just rock out with ya cock/lady bits out?

 

[Paulabass]

If you don't have separate monitor mixes, you want to hear the hi hat. On stages I can get hat in just my monitor, I'm out front and proud!

 

[Kukulkan61]

I stand in the back so I dont get hit in the face with panties

 

[5StringBlues]

That was a rule? Noone told me.

He did?