When the band rehearses on average, 1 time a month, due to bandmates other than you cancelling regularly, and the singer questions your commitment.
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You Know You Should Quit the Band When
- Thread starter StyleOverShow
- Start date
my guitard, while we were reviewing our gig: "The role of the bass player in a band isn't to play well, its to look good on stage."
When the guitar player and the drummer take 45 minute breaks to smoke crack in the van.
When the bandleader wants to pay the players in blow.
When the guitard kicks the drummers drums literally off the stage.
When the singer attempts standup comedy, and is desperately unfunny.
When the bandleader wants to pay the players in blow.
When the guitard kicks the drummers drums literally off the stage.
When the singer attempts standup comedy, and is desperately unfunny.
-when the drummer constantly loses time
-when your ears are ringing after practice
-when everyone is 20+ years older than you, yet stuck in their 20s
-when the whole band screws off but if you mess around between songs they get mad
-when the band gets drunk at every practice, even though they told you they dont drink much
-when the band wants you to play their originals after telling you they plan on making lots of money playing corporate parties. not only their originals, but the exact basslines for them and nothing more or less.
-when the band expects you to play the root note all the time
(all the same band, and yeah i didnt stay for too long)
-when your ears are ringing after practice
-when everyone is 20+ years older than you, yet stuck in their 20s
-when the whole band screws off but if you mess around between songs they get mad
-when the band gets drunk at every practice, even though they told you they dont drink much
-when the band wants you to play their originals after telling you they plan on making lots of money playing corporate parties. not only their originals, but the exact basslines for them and nothing more or less.
-when the band expects you to play the root note all the time
(all the same band, and yeah i didnt stay for too long)
when your wife tells you, "sweetie, you gotta get outta that band."
true story... after our first gig... just last night.
i'll spare you the details, but she's right (as usual).
i am making the move today.
oh! and he referred to me as "my bass player" on stage and when he was chatting with others. just icing on my decision to leave.
true story... after our first gig... just last night.
i'll spare you the details, but she's right (as usual).
i am making the move today.
oh! and he referred to me as "my bass player" on stage and when he was chatting with others. just icing on my decision to leave.
When you sleep with the (female) singer, who is going out with the guitarist...
And are caught together in bed after a gig at a frat party.
(Out of the band but it was worth it).
And are caught together in bed after a gig at a frat party.
(Out of the band but it was worth it).
when the rest of the band takes tobacco bong rips every ten minutes (so foul in my opinion).
when the band decides to play something from their last band on the fly at a show- and you are told to "just watch what chords they play" even though you have plenty of other material to play (pulled it off as best a could be expected- but still- why?).
when the music is great- but the lyrics are consistently terrible (i call this dragonforce syndrome- and yes- i am a fan)- or just a mish-mash of rhyming words (the one that still gets me is in the chorus of one song [yes- the chorus- so i had to hear him say it like four times a show]- two synonyms were separated with "and" as if the singer thought they had different meanings [i am absolutely positive he had not once looked up the word in a dictionary]).
when the band decides to play something from their last band on the fly at a show- and you are told to "just watch what chords they play" even though you have plenty of other material to play (pulled it off as best a could be expected- but still- why?).
when the music is great- but the lyrics are consistently terrible (i call this dragonforce syndrome- and yes- i am a fan)- or just a mish-mash of rhyming words (the one that still gets me is in the chorus of one song [yes- the chorus- so i had to hear him say it like four times a show]- two synonyms were separated with "and" as if the singer thought they had different meanings [i am absolutely positive he had not once looked up the word in a dictionary]).
-When the guitar player insists my tone is too midrangey, even with flat lower mids and even a bit of a cut at 1kHz... He listens to Metallica...
That's interesting, as Jason and even moreso Cliff had some serious mids in their tone. You can't get that snarl without mids. On the guitars, the mids are scooped, but on the bass, there's quite a lot of mid.
Truly, the word "guitard" applies to him.
He's chasing the tone of some albums... without realizing that the guitars by themselves are not that bassy... a lot of the low end is actually coming from the bass.
I'm lucky. The guitarist in my main band actually understands that what sounds fantastic by itself doesn't always sound that great when everyone's playing. By itself, his guitar tone is cool, but not mind-blowing. With everyone playing, I think we sound pretty damn good. Same with my bass tone. I like it on its own, because of how mean it sounds, but it's better in the context of everyone playing because it has enough lows to make things sound powerful but not boomy, and enough mids and highs to cut through.
If it sounds good on its own, swell. But what really matters is how it sounds in the mix. Seems like your guitard doesn't understand that.
I can't believe some of the crap you all put up with! No one tells me what to play or how to sound or what kind of bass to use. Unless you're someone with gold records lining your wall then i'll listen to what you have to say.
Could you see Clapton going over to Bruces' amp and turning him down? I don't think so. And yes, i get gigs
.
Could you see Clapton going over to Bruces' amp and turning him down? I don't think so. And yes, i get gigs
.
I can't believe some of the crap you all put up with! No one tells me what to play or how to sound or what kind of bass to use. Unless you're someone with gold records lining your wall then i'll listen to what you have to say.
Could you see Clapton going over to Bruces' amp and turning him down? I don't think so. And yes, i get gigs
How much crap I am willing to take has a strong correlation to how much I'm getting paid.
And in my own band (the one I do for the joy of it, the one that I started myself), I don't take any crap. Nobody touches my amp's volume or EQ except me. Similarly, I don't adjust the levels on my guitarist's amp. Sometimes suggestions are made, politely. That's fine. Orders are not.
Rhythm Guitarist/Composer/Band Leader: "Bass should be missed, not heard."
But I can do my own thing, we all have day jobs, no egos, no drinking/drug issues, no "Yoko" issues, and he does allow input - albeit limited input. So that outweighs the phrase above - for now. Besides, my reply is, "people don't groove to guitar licks, dude." and I keep the volume as-is (unless the vocalist - a neutral observer - says something).
But I can do my own thing, we all have day jobs, no egos, no drinking/drug issues, no "Yoko" issues, and he does allow input - albeit limited input. So that outweighs the phrase above - for now. Besides, my reply is, "people don't groove to guitar licks, dude." and I keep the volume as-is (unless the vocalist - a neutral observer - says something).
JEEZ! I take back my lil annoyance about being the only one that knows the songs...you guys WIN! (Especially the dude who's band is doing crack in the van...theres a special place in bass heaven reserved just for you!)
when the bassplayer can play the guitar better then the guitarist and still the guitarist thinks he´s cool, cause he can strum in a random pattern with no sense of rythm whatsoever.
when the bassplayer can play the drums better than the drummer (seriously he can´t even hold the simplest beat)
when the guitarist keeps calling the root note for the "bass note"
there´s only two musicians in my band...
when the bassplayer can play the drums better than the drummer (seriously he can´t even hold the simplest beat)
when the guitarist keeps calling the root note for the "bass note"
there´s only two musicians in my band...
knarleybass
Commercial User
I play in a three piece band, it's time to quit when on a regular basis, the drummer and guitar player/singer has people up from the crowd to play, thus leaving me stuck up there.
Every time you say something funny to the singer he runs to the microphone and repeats it verbatim and adds it to his gaggle of other funny lines that he has stolen from you.
plagiarism.
Every time you say something funny to the singer he runs to the microphone and repeats it verbatim and adds it to his gaggle of other funny lines that he has stolen from you.
plagiarism.
i've had one guitarist mess with my EQ and i was rather peeved at him but stuck with the band till he stopped turning up the rest of us cudn't be bothered, as i had my main band and this band just was going nowhere without a singer and we'd tried getting one but wasn't happening, i tried motivating the band and it went downhill quickly
...the rhythm guitarist reaches over and turns your amp down.
My response in that situation of course, "well if you don't want to hear the bass, you don't need a bass player!" and promply left.
Sorry, no plastic cake knifes were handy.
In over 35 years of playing the bass guitar, never have I had someone else, anyone else touch my amp. :scowl:
