Bass for Hire

[TylerDurdenPSSC]

Last night was my first "for hire" gig ever.

Alright, not really so much, I just stepped into my buddies' band for the night do to illness. However, I did an hour set on songs I didn't know, with just a few hours worth of preperation. Needless to say I was nervous as all get-out, and I was playing in a relatively unfamiliar tuning. (CGCF)

I had a great time, and received compliments from the guys. It was one of those performances you know you sucked, but given the circumstances, did alright.

Anyway, just figured I'd share, and break the ice for some potentially good stories.

In other words, spill it fellers. :d

 

[DiMarco]

Hmmmz I don't have much experience as a hired gun. I filled in a couple of weeks ago tho with some ppl who turned out to play persian music (the guitarplayer was from Iran).
Dang that music is so radically different from what I know! It was great fun eventhough I simply clung to E's and F's with the occasional C here and there. I felt anything wild would be too much in this particular style of music.
I had a great time simply "laying down the carpet for the other musicians to walk on". Base in every sense of the word.

 

[Nachobassman]

A year ago a singer friend, whom music is "acoustic-pop/indie", called me to record some bass lines for his new CD. He send me the songs like 2 weeks before hitting the studio, but once there, the producer ask me to throw in my ideas, so at last, it was like an improvisation studio sesion. It was very fun, really basic, supportive and harmonic lines, but it made me realice that I don´t suck that much when the REC red light turns on, even more when I´m used to play more agresive or faster music. Playing slow songs could be very hard, if you don´t have a good sense of timing.

Salud!

 

[One Bad Monkey]

I do this a lot, especially in musical theatre circles.

My last show (three straight weeks of shows, ended Sunday) got me a copy of the music three days prior to the first practice. I also had a CD for a week prior, so I listened to that until I was sick of it. Then I listened some more.

In this situation, there was one band rehearsal, one tech rehearsal (with everyone), and then the dress rehearsal in front of the really big donors. There was no time to be anything but well prepared. Luckily, after that first rehearsal, the music director commented that I was not one he was worried about. We sadly had a trumpet player that was completely out of their element, and in over their head in terms of ability and styles. I sat next to them for the entire run, and did my best to focus completely on the drummer, because between the drummer and trumpet, I had unintentional poly-rhythms going on.

 

[TylerDurdenPSSC]

I found that filling in, I learned that I need to split my focus three ways to "stay afloat." Listen to and feel the drummer, watch the rhythm guitar player, and transcribe the root notes in my head.

Definitely challenging, but I love a challenge! :twisted:

 

[One Bad Monkey]

I guess it depends on the application, but for me, when jumping into something, the LAST person I need to listen to is myself. Finding out what other people are doing helps a lot in "faking" where you are most times, and then also syncing up with the band, not just the drummer.