I'm going to take the plunge!

C

Casey

Guest
Yep, I'm looking for a band... After sitting at home playing the same things over and over again I'm getting bored :P I'm still quite the sucky bassist and still dont have all the notes on my fretboard memorized :P But I'm on the hunt for a band, Should be funner than just sitting and playing along to cd's :)

So... Any tips on what I should have down before I go out and make a fool of myself?
 
thumbin said:
Yep, I'm looking for a band... After sitting at home playing the same things over and over again I'm getting bored :P I'm still quite the sucky bassist and still dont have all the notes on my fretboard memorized :P But I'm on the hunt for a band, Should be funner than just sitting and playing along to cd's :)

So... Any tips on what I should have down before I go out and make a fool of myself?
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Dude, I totally dig ya man............I'm in the same postion; playing bass all by myself (in the middle of the night)............similar repertoire over and over again........... I do feel that when I'm in a band, I will improve a lot on my "groove", and dangit, that's what I need man.............I gotta take the plunge too..............advise you ask ?? Well, you said it yourself.........just take the plunge !!!! :D
 
Chords... Remember it takes time for a band to work and sound great! But otherwise just find some nice people and play it by ear! Good luck!
 
Just go for it. An open mic setting may be a good place to start...
 
thumbin said:
Yep, I'm looking for a band... After sitting at home playing the same things over and over again I'm getting bored :P I'm still quite the sucky bassist and still dont have all the notes on my fretboard memorized :P But I'm on the hunt for a band, Should be funner than just sitting and playing along to cd's :)

So... Any tips on what I should have down before I go out and make a fool of myself?
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Oh ... I have suggestions for you:

1. Don't underestimate yourself and your abilities!
2. Don't excuse yourself in front of the band for being "fresh".
3. Bring a couple of tracks you know well and suggest them for the audition.
4. Show interest, show attendance in the band. Eye contact, eye contact... especially with the drummer and the "leader". Show eagerness to learn.
5. Show off! But only a bit! The Thumb sound is a killer!
6. If you feel that the band is too advanced, say so immediately.

/Pat
 
A band is like a family. A good bassplayer in the band is not necesarrily the best bassist that comes to the audition. They will pay attention to more aspects.

1- be friendly. Thay are looking for a family member, remember that, so they are looking for a guy to feel good and have a lot of fun doing music.
2- do't be afraid to ask before the audition what do you have to learn. Ask for MP3-s or CD-s if they are an original band, etc. It is better to know 2 songs good than 10 songs bad.
3- do some research before. Ask about them look to the internet, find informations about them etc. They will be very well impressed if you know their names, their songs, a little bit of history, etc. It is much better than : "what music are you playing guys?"
4- like Kris said, a good image will help. Now ... a good image for a Jazz band is a little bit different than a good image for a Punk Rock band. So... try to be in the same picture as them.
5- be at least 10 minutes earlier. You don't have a chance if you are late.
6- don't show them all your technique, they will not be that impressed. They will look for sound, ballance and knowledge. If you go as a bass hero, they will tel you that you should have your own solo album :-)
Don't try to impress, a musician will "feel" your value at the first notes anyway, you cannot make yourself to look like a better or a worse musician than you are.


Good luck, and remember, probably they will choose the best guy to drink beer with instead of the best bassist.
So just relax... music is beautiful :-)
 
Well I posted my little "looking for some people to jam with" ad a little while ago and so far got 2 replys, Sadly theyre up in portland and that's a bit far for me to drive.
 
I agree with all of the above.

I reckon, though, it's a good idea to be rock-solid and save the flashy stuff for when you get settled in a bit!

Also... Guy Pratt... when asked about getting the gig with Pink Floyd said something like: there are a 1000 other bass players who can play as well as me... but I made them laugh! in other words... don't be a miserable bugger.

.... and good luck!
 
I'm still on the hunt for a band... I just got an email from a guy who has a 3 peice metal band looking for a bassist. So I'm going to check it out, He said theyre sound is similar to: metallica, death, opeth, at the gates, sepultura.... should be fun :)

I had an email from another band last week wanting me to come try out but he pretty much shot down my idea of adding a bit of my style to the music. and said it will be strictly metal at 200bpm... I love my full speed death metal but get a bit tired of playing that and only that.

Also, One of the guys I work is forming a band pretty soon and wants me to play bass for them, I guess it's an alternative/rock band. So Now I just have to improve what little skill I have before I go out and show these people what I've got :P
 
Nice one Thumbin good luck with that! U know 200bpm ain't much if u just play 2-4 notes per bar :wink: Plenty of options then... hehe.... don't have to play 8th's or 16th's ALL the time hehehehehe
 
Hi

I'm for sure not as adept as others here.
But i'm playing in different bands for some time now - guess i'm lucky though, because they were all friends of mine i got in contact to, so there was no "present yourself"-act. They knew me, i knew them - we had only to discuss the thing about the "sound" we wanted to achieve. Together.

So you just don't forget: Those are musicians like you are, - as long as they are not any big party-cover band touring a bunch of cities and playing on weddings and stuff, they are just into making music for fun.
Be yourself, play the way YOU think is right with the music the band plays.
Doesn't mean to be hidebound, respect their comments if you think they will help - but don't disguise the way you play.
It can work pretty fine, but i think you won't become really happy with it.

The best thing is, like i have with my actuall mainband (@signature - page only in german and mp3's damn old, sorry, we are all just before graduating so don't have the time to play a lot) - we do all the songs together.
Our first guitar-guy is soooo into Dire Straits and older rock stuff like that - you can really hear it from his guitarplay. Combined with the other guitar, who is more a metalhead - and me being somewhere between metal and funk, ska - whatever. We get a pretty nice mixture with our songs. It's a hell of fun to play, i'm starting to like old rock more, the others are really into catchy bass-lines (almost forcing me to do a lot more of bass-intros and more slapping). It's just a great time we have - but basis for this is that nobody is forced into a fix role and style.

So i hope you'll find a band that suits you.
 
Indianerdaniel said:
Nice one Thumbin good luck with that! U know 200bpm ain't much if u just play 2-4 notes per bar :wink: Plenty of options then... hehe.... don't have to play 8th's or 16th's ALL the time hehehehehe
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You can show ImI with your right hand half time of the song. Then drinnk some water and spit like a dragon.
 
So far all the band's that have contacted me are all metal band... One of them said basicly I'll have to conform to theyre style and do it all theyre way, Which really isn't all that fun :P

So I put in my last post on craigslist that if I'm playing with them expect some slap bass here and there. And I got a few emails back with some people interested. Sadly gas is EXPENSIVE and they live a ways away from me. I'm trying to hunt down someone around town that wants to form a band now.
 
thumbin said:
One of them said basicly I'll have to conform to theyre style and do it all theyre way, Which really isn't all that fun :P
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S*C*R*E*W*T*H*E*M* :shock:
 
Scubadiver said:
6. If you feel that the band is too advanced, say so immediately.

/Pat
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i dont agree that you have to be a great bassist to be in a great band. if you fit really well then the band will probably find you contribute more to the band than an utterly superb bassist that doesnt really gel

of course if your not looking to dedicate all your time and effort to a band joining the next metallica obviously isnt a good idea and then i do agree with patrick, but i dont believe you should feel that you'll let the band down
 
Find someone to play in your style, but I honestly think slap is way overdone these days unless used sparingly.You can't beat fingerstyle when done properly. At the open mic nights the younger guys seem to slap EVERYTHING and it really gets old and boring fast...
 
jay said:
Find someone to play in your style, but I honestly think slap is way overdone these days unless used sparingly.You can't beat fingerstyle when done properly. At the open mic nights the younger guys seem to slap EVERYTHING and it really gets old and boring fast...
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I usually use slapping as accents... Similar to the ray Ryan Martinie does it. Well I found a band, I'm going to practice with them on saturday afternoon. One of the guys I work with is the singer/rythm guitar in it and gave me a demo cd to learn the songs theyll be playing.

It's, dare I say it? Spanish 80's rock/metal :P I have no idea what he's singing about but I'm digging the music, And the previous bass player was all over the place... Sounded similar to Geezer Butler... with that funky jazz :) So that leaves me open to play a bit of my finger funk style. And I'll work some slap bass in there somewhere :P
 
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