24 years of playing bass and still getting fired

[Bobby Aaron]

6 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

Try not to let yourself get too down and depressed about the situation. Don’t take it personally. Hard not too but please don’t. Guitarists generally tend to be the control freaks within the band and see any dissension as an act of rebellion/threat to their leadership/authority. Some do it aggressively and others passive aggressively. 
Do yourself a favour and try to find some grown ups (attitude) to play with. You’ll be much happier in the long run. 

You are right sir! I appreciate everyone's insight. 
 

6 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

Edited May 1, 2022 by Rich

[Lozz196]

Interesting ages there Bobby, I see this as young possibly inexperienced lead guitarist (so inevitably the one with the biggest ego) & control freak feeling possibly outclassed by an older bassist armed with greater knowledge & experience of being in bands. I say this as similar has happened to me, though it was with a bunch of guys who’d been mates for years so me & the younger guitarist would just butt heads all the time but nothing serious would come of it. Ironically though he always wanted me to play much busier basslines, it was me that wanted dumbed down.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Lozz196

[Chris2112]

On 30/04/2022 at 11:21, Bobby Aaron said:

I'm watching videos from Vic Wooten, who states many times that placed in correct spots, even wrong notes work in passing which is usually a walking bass line technique, and of course that doesn't always work for every occasion. 

 

Vic is an amazing player but this nonsense line of his is one of the most oft-quoted of his and it makes my toes curl just reading it. I get that when he first came out with that line he was probably just trying to ease the anguish of bassists who hit a bum note (his whole 'you're only ever a half-step away from a 'right' note' concept). It's unfortunate that it ultimately gained so much traction and continues to hang around like a bad smell over almost 25 years since it was first recording publicly (to the best of my knowledge, 1998 was the first time Victor made this comment). 

 

Perhaps it was popular because it fed into a wider movement within the bass community to disregard the importance of the notes in favour of 'groove', as if groove could be anything other than the end product of a well-rehearsed endeavour. However, Victor certainly didn't get to be one of the most notable bassists by being blasé as to whether not he was hitting the right notes. I can't imagine many reputable bandleaders would be happy with that either. I don't particularly enjoy listening to walking basslines but in those lines the 'off' notes are usually carefully chosen passing tones and approach notes used to create movement, outlining an harmonic quality or setting up a resolution. 

 

I know this rant is a departure from your original point OP but we've a suffered under the aforementioned quote for a long time. It seems to me that just learning the notes and then playing them in time is a safer and more professional attitude than being ready to hammer on or pull off if you hit a clam.

[LukeFRC]

On 30/04/2022 at 21:27, Bobby Aaron said:

3) This past month, waited 3 weeks for drum tracks to be done. Finally it was my turn. Before I even recorded a note, days before I wanted to get the situation straight because some beats had changed. Talking to the drummer, I clarified that I have parts written but some ideas I'd like to try. "Oh yea man, please experiment" singer guitarist - "we like that your not a strictly root note player" I said ok let's do this. 7 hrs in to my session, lead guitarist shows, and says "your runs are perfect but your over playing" finally after hearing this 4 times I said I disagree and I think the lines accent everything very well. I went home, messed with just root notes with some of the material and it just sounded dull. I messaged them and said the bass doesn't walk on the vocals or the guitar lines, I'm not sure where this coming from. Did even get a chance to go back and give them what they wanted. Fired the next day.

You weren’t clicking personally with all the band, and then spent a day in the studio and bad comms meant they couldn’t get what they needed from you. I work in a creative industry (design) and if I went into a situation where I clashed slightly with some of the team and then spent a day in a studio and couldn’t produce the goods, or just as importantly as part of my job, work out what goods they wanted Ild probably not be invited back the next day either. 
so either you weren’t the right guy for them, or you might have been up to the job in terms of skills but didn’t have good enough professional relationships to make it work. 
 

[LukeFRC]

On 30/04/2022 at 21:27, Bobby Aaron said:

3) This past month, waited 3 weeks for drum tracks to be done. Finally it was my turn. Before I even recorded a note, days before I wanted to get the situation straight because some beats had changed. Talking to the drummer, I clarified that I have parts written but some ideas I'd like to try. "Oh yea man, please experiment" singer guitarist - "we like that your not a strictly root note player" I said ok let's do this. 7 hrs in to my session, lead guitarist shows, and says "your runs are perfect but your over playing" finally after hearing this 4 times I said I disagree and I think the lines accent everything very well. I went home, messed with just root notes with some of the material and it just sounded dull. I messaged them and said the bass doesn't walk on the vocals or the guitar lines, I'm not sure where this coming from. Did even get a chance to go back and give them what they wanted. Fired the next day.

You weren’t clicking personally with all the band, and then spent a day in the studio and bad comms meant they couldn’t get what they needed from you. I work in a creative industry (design) and if I went into a situation where I clashed slightly with some of the team and then spent a day in a studio and couldn’t produce the goods, or just as importantly as part of my job, work out what goods they wanted Ild probably not be invited back the next day either. 
so either you weren’t the right guy for them, or you might have been up to the job in terms of skills but didn’t have good enough professional relationships to make it work. 
 

[nilorius]

I got a situation, when some band invited me to rehearsal, to jam and discuss the situation. At that time my expierience with bas bass was 20 years. I went to the rehearsal and played mainly with drummer, catched his groove normally and played just 20 minutes. They said -NO, You will not play with us. I got angry and just left. Then i understood that i played to good. I played some difficult grooves and i think they thought - this guy will destroy our sound with that dominant bass. But why did they say me, i could play at 50% easy stuff and just keep a simple bass lines perfectly.

[StickyDBRmf]

I've been in a few bands. Most situations it was obvious real quick whether it was working or not. Like, "You get it!" Or, the drummer can't wipe the smile off his face. But the bands I was FIRED from. Man, they stick with me. WHY? (it's always the rejections - not the successes). When I look back, the bands I didn't fit in, I was TRYING. But something was up. Trying to play THAT music, or playing what THEY wanted. But it wasn't me and I didn't fit. The last band, "You're a talented player, but..." BUT WHAT? But it was not my genre. That's what. I gotta quit hammering my round peg into a square hole. 

By the way, I was fired from a Top 40 band and a Metal band. 

[Munurmunuh]

Wonder if this will be the moment that David Ellefson finds he needs to join basschat?

[12stringbassist]

Reading this thread, it sounds like the guitarist had a sound and style in his head for the bass and wasn't able to communicate what it was that he needed from you. That was possibly the cause of the tension.

 

I couldn't play with a 23 year old sulking guitarist these days. I prefer adult players.

Chin up, something right will come along.
I second the suggestion of getting out to jam nights.

[Storky]

I’ve often found guitarists feel they have implied authority over a bass guitarist; possibly because the two instruments are related? I think some guitarists believe they can automatically play bass better than the bass player and may assume the bass player can’t play guitar. Some of them are indeed “Tossers”

[TimR]

You sound quite intense to me.

 

When you're not practicing you're looking at videos of bass players.

 

You're making an effort and trying hard to get along with people. 

 

Playing bass in a band should be easy and relaxing. You shouldn't  have to try hard to get along with people.

 

There's a middle ground between playing roots and playing bars full of notes. 

 

Maybe relax a bit and play more rests, listen to the rest of the instruments and only fill gaps if they really need to be filled. A lot of those bass player videos are demonstrating ideas and lots of ideas in shirt clips. You don't have to use all the ideas all of the time. 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by TimR