Bassist Pet Peeves

[Newfoundfreedom]

20 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Drink and/or drugs. They stop people turning up on time, knowing their parts and playing competently.

 

Band members thinking the band will be the next greatest thing. A situation which in my last band resulted in the guitarist/singer telling me I had to buy an Ampeg SVT classic and Ampeg 8x10 plus a Justin Chancellor signature wah pedal. That in turn resulted in them needing a new bassist and shortly after, a new drummer when he was told to buy a new kit plus triggers and a 2kW active sub.

 

Curious to know if the band is still going with new members? 

[Newfoundfreedom]

 

Nouns.

 

I'm annoyed by pretty much all people, places, and things. 

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

 

Curious to know if the band is still going with new members? 

 

I still occasionally see them advertising for a drummer and bassist so I'm guessing it's gone back to being just a recording project for the guitarists, one of them is a pretty handy drummer.  It was their plan to have a big social media launch on 2/2/22 and that didn't happen. 

I think in their rush to get signed and ready to tour, they've put themselves back a year or two.

[Stub Mandrel]

7 hours ago, Velarian said:

Ostinato?

 

https://www.britannica.com/art/ostinato

 

To me ostinato goes on forever, I mean something like a pattern that repeats for the verse, bridge or chorus.

 

They say things like 'add another bar before the last verse'...

[Lord Sausage]

Lists

[odysseus]

A singer who can't make rehearsal because 'something came up' and 5 minutes later you see her getting into her car with 3 bottles of wine and a bag of weed.... 

[Lord Sausage]

3 minutes ago, odysseus said:

A singer who can't make rehearsal because 'something came up' and 5 minutes later you see her getting into her car with 3 bottles of wine and a bag of weed.... 

I've been in a band with her.

[Burns-bass]

After trying to sell gear on Gumtree I’m convinced most musicians in the world are timewasters…

 

Personally I hate guitar amps cranked too loud, people who don’t prepare for rehearsals, venues that refuse to pay and people that endlessly talk about string spacing.

[Lord Sausage]

2 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

After trying to sell gear on Gumtree I’m convinced most musicians in the world are timewasters…

 

Personally I hate guitar amps cranked too loud, people who don’t prepare for rehearsals, venues that refuse to pay and people that endlessly talk about string spacing.

Nevermind selling things, they are just time wasters in general.

 

Currently putting a band together for a one off gig. A pretty big gig. Supporting named acts at a festival. A guy said he do it one week, quit before the first rehearsal a week later. Saying didn't have time.

[40hz]

I can't say many things annoy me that much (idiotic band members get binned off quickly). But, if I were to go with one, it's keyboard players with a heavy left hand. I've never played with one who seems to notice that they're turning the mix to total mush. 

 

In fact, adding to that, band members who don't appreciate a good mix. For example - when a guitarist is crushingly and overbearingly loud, yet nobody calls it out or seemingly notices (a lot of musicians seemed to be wrapped up in their own, individual sound).

Edited May 5, 2022 by 40hz

[Bolo]

3 hours ago, odysseus said:

A singer who can't make rehearsal because 'something came up' and 5 minutes later you see her getting into her car with 3 bottles of wine and a bag of weed.... 

Sounds like a friend in crisis.

[beely]

On 04/05/2022 at 19:33, Seashell2 said:

This, oh this. 

A few years ago at an open mic, the guy who was performing started playing Ryan Adams’ “When stars go blue”.

I decide to get up on stage and give him some accompaniment on the bass.

He has his capo on fret three, playing in “C”.

That makes it Eb but hey, I’m a bass player; I can do this.

I decide to ease my way gradually into the song, making it look like it was all part of the plan.

When I started playing, something sounded not-quite-right.

I quickly realised it was me, playing in the wrong key.

It was an honest mistake; one that anyone could make.

I mean, who would think that a guitar player using a capo would be tuned down a half-step.

[Bilbo]

All the gear is so heavy........ too many trips to the car. Can't buy a nice car, have to buy one that can take a double bass. Often can't park near the house or near the venue. Long carry ins and outs. I hate the physical work before and after gigs. My gear is relatively light compared to the 1980s Trace Eliots etc but it is still a grind and double basses are a hassle to move around wherever you are. 

[Barking Spiders]

On 05/05/2022 at 18:59, odysseus said:

A singer who can't make rehearsal because 'something came up' and 5 minutes later you see her getting into her car with 3 bottles of wine and a bag of weed.... 

I'd go and join her 😉

[uk_lefty]

1. "Just jam along, it's 12 bar blues!" Then a mess of a solo emerges and goes on for ten full minutes.

2. People who probably don't want to be in a band, they just want to show off expensive gear they can't play properly. If you're forming a band and someone says "let's talk about what gear we've got" and they list out tons of stuff down to their primary school recorder I think it's a huge red flag. My answer is "the right gear to cover most gig situations" and that should be sufficient

3. Being incredible at one song on the list but not bothering to learn most of the rest.

4. Being Mr 3 in this list and lecturing everyone else on how this band won't go anywhere unless we rehearse twice a week.

5. Venue staff telling you you're too loud when you're not.

6. Venues not giving you sensible drinks for free and generally treating the band as a huge inconvenience

7. Venues that are obviously for swearing at football on TV, and not for live music, hiring bands 

8. Venues with hardly any plug sockets.

9. Drummers who can't keep time 

10. Singers who can't banter with the audience 

11. Long lists

 

 

 

 

 

[odysseus]

On 05/05/2022 at 22:14, Bolo said:

Sounds like a friend in crisis.

 

I thought so too until it became monotonously regular.

[Rich]

5 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

 8. Venues with hardly any plug sockets.

 

A million times this. 

[Buddster]

14 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

 

7. Venues that are obviously for swearing at football on TV, and not for live music, hiring bands 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, totally. 

Venues who think "oh we can put bands on, because we've got a spare 10 feet of space, and it doesn't matter they'll be in front of the toilet door, they won't mind people walking through them when they're playing. Space for a mixing desk? What's one of those then?" 

[Quilly]

On 10/05/2022 at 18:38, uk_lefty said:

1. "Just jam along, it's 12 bar blues!" Then a mess of a solo emerges and goes on for ten full minutes.

2. People who probably don't want to be in a band, they just want to show off expensive gear they can't play properly. If you're forming a band and someone says "let's talk about what gear we've got" and they list out tons of stuff down to their primary school recorder I think it's a huge red flag. My answer is "the right gear to cover most gig situations" and that should be sufficient

3. Being incredible at one song on the list but not bothering to learn most of the rest.

4. Being Mr 3 in this list and lecturing everyone else on how this band won't go anywhere unless we rehearse twice a week.

5. Venue staff telling you you're too loud when you're not.

6. Venues not giving you sensible drinks for free and generally treating the band as a huge inconvenience

7. Venues that are obviously for swearing at football on TV, and not for live music, hiring bands 

8. Venues with hardly any plug sockets.

9. Drummers who can't keep time 

10. Singers who can't banter with the audience 

11. Long lists

 

 

 

 

 

WRT # 5, all a venue manager needs to see is an electric guitar/bass guitar and  - 'you're too loud' 

[Quilly]

 I'm no virtuoso or anything but a pet peeve for me is being made play really simple songs with like 2 - 3 note progressions and no dynamics in the song. 

 

[Linus27]

On 04/05/2022 at 23:37, casapete said:

That thing when you’re soundchecking (or even during the gig) , some low end feedback occurs 

and everyone looks at you because you’re playing a bass! It’s nearly always a PA / monitor issue,

invariably down to someone fiddling with desk who is clueless or the singer’s vocal monitor being

cranked way too high. Ggrrr....

 

I've had similar. At a rehearsal, the drummer was complaining that my bass is too loud. I look puzzled as it wasn't very loud but I said fair enough, I turn down. Play again and he says the same so I turn down some more. Again, he complains and gets really irate so I play solo to show him its not loud but I turn down a bit more and we play again and this time I play super soft and miss bits out and yet he still complains saying the bass is way too loud. This time the singer now joins in and says yeah the bass is still really loud. So super whizzed by now, I said ok, I'll turn down some more and this time I turn my amp off and again he says I'm still way too loud. So I show him my amp is actually off. Turns out its the rhythm guitar they was hearing 😁

[Linus27]

Other band members who set up and leave you no room to set up where as they have enough room to not only swing a cat but to swing an entire zoo. It's like c'mon guy's, look at the stage and space yourself out so its equally balanced.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Quilly said:

...'you're too loud' 

 

Ah, you're not a drummer, then..? 👆 That's the opening remark from 'La Patronne' when walking in with a snare drum under one arm, before even 'Bonjour'..! 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Dad3353

[Quilly]

30 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

Other band members who set up and leave you no room to set up where as they have enough room to not only swing a cat but to swing an entire zoo. It's like c'mon guy's, look at the stage and space yourself out so its equally balanced.

I kinda stopped using pedal boards for this reason. 

[Quilly]

When you finish the gig and are looking forwards to a few bevvies and the bar closes