How Easily Could You Be Replaced ?

[Bluewine]

How easily could you be replaced? I think our male guitarist would be very difficult to replace. He sings , he's soulful, very advanced player and reliable with a great attitude. Our band leader once told me she wouldn't know what to do if he left.

 

Me, I use to think they would have a hard time replacing my 70s sense of timing and groove. Now I'm not sure any of that matters. I think I could be replaced, not easily but replaced. I'm not sure the " soul" element I bring to the band would be missed. And outside of a few backing vocals I don't sing.

 

Merry Christmas guys. No gigs unless til New Years Eve.

 

Daryl

[chris_b]

Very easily, and I've replaced others without missing a beat.

[Woodinblack]

Pretty easily I think, I mean I sing backing and a few leads as well, but there are lots of singing bass players.

[AndyTravis]

In my head, it’d be horrifically difficult.

 

Jokes aside, in reality, I suppose it would be…

 

I do a lot of the writing, I play Bass, Baritone and acoustic…I do a lot of the social media stuff.

 

I dunno, their direction/sound would change a fair bit.

[Mudpup]

Apparently I was irreplaceable when I handed in my notice back in July - the other guys decided to fold the band rather than find a replacement. 

 

Devasting good looks and unbridled talent would be hard to replace I thought.

 

Or maybe it was because I got all the gigs, did all the social media, sorted all the lighting out and stopped the drummer killing the singer and guitarist...

 

🙂

Edited December 24, 2024 by Mudpup

[Bluewine]

2 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

Or maybe it was because I got all the gigs, did all the social media, sorted all the lighting out and stopped the drummer killing the singer and guitarist...

 

 

I don't book gigs . However, I can wind leads and set up mic stands. Does that count? Lol

 

Daryl

[Linus27]

To be honest, I think I would be very hard to replace. I play fretless, I play fretless solo's, I play a lot of melody and cello like parts and use an array of pedals to create certain sounds. Not saying I'm not replaceable as everyone is replaceable but as a bassist, there are not many bassists who do what I do so to find someone who plays the way I do would take time. It's an interesting question though as I said to my band a few weeks ago that I'm not sure how much I can commit next year due to my daughter's racing career and if they want to consider a replacement then I understand. They both said they would never be able to find another bassist like me who can do what I do so we just wouldn't bother so we'd cancel the gig, or play it acoustic and just wait for you to be available again. I guess that says it all 😂

Edited December 24, 2024 by Linus27

[la bam]

Very easily just like anyone else. 

 

Don't ever fall for the trick of thinking youre irreplaceable. 

 

It doesn't necessarily mean the replacement will be as good or that the band will be better (or maybe they will), but replaceable we all are. Quite easily too. 

Edited December 25, 2024 by la bam

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, Linus27 said:

To be honest, I think I would be very hard to replace. I play fretless, I play fretless solo's, I play a lot of melody and cello like parts and use an array of pedals to create certain sounds. Not saying I'm not replaceable as everyone is replaceable but as a bassist, there are not many bassists who do what I do so to find someone who plays the way I do would take time. It's an interesting question though as I said to my band a few weeks ago that I'm not sure how much I can commit next year due to my daughter's racing career and if they want to consider a replacement then I understand. They both said they would never be able to find another bassist like me who can do what I do so we just wouldn't bother so we'd cancel the gig, or play it acoustic and just wait for you to be available again. I guess that says it all 😂

 

 

There are not many bass players that do what I do either. However, I could be replaced by someone else that does what they do all the same. 

 

Here's another thing. We played 65 gigs this year. I didn't miss one of them. A lot of weekend warriors don't want to commit  to 65 gigs.

 

Here's another thought if Freddy Mercury can be replaced I can be replaced.  Realistically Freddy Mercury was never replaced. Adam can do the job but there's only one Freddy Mercury. 

 

Daryl

Edited December 25, 2024 by Bluewine

[Bluewine]

12 minutes ago, la bam said:

Very easily just like anyone else. 

 

Don't ever fall for the trick of thinking youre irreplaceable. 

 

It doesn't necessarily mean the replacement will be as good or that the band will be better (or maybe they will), but replaceable we all are. Quite easily too. 

 

Agreed 100% La Bam.

 

Daryl

[tauzero]

I could be replaced by any reasonable standard bassist, although some years after being kicked out of a band because the lead guitarist and drummer (brothers) wanted to bring their mate in, they tried to re-recruit me. There were a couple of bassists who had passed through the band, and the guitarist's wife told Mrs Zero that it hadn't been the same since getting rid of me. However, as the true nature of the others as a bunch of racist Islamophobes had become evident, I politely declined.

 

As for the current band - I play, do the website, do some of the Facebook stuff, and contribute to the general melange of organisation. Oh yes, and provide the PA and lighting (such as it is). We've become quite a cohesive unit and I think losing any of us would be regrettable. No virtuosos but no weak links either.

[Doctor J]

I think I'd find it difficult. I mean, I write all the music, play it, sing it, record it and mix it. I'd have a hard time finding someone to do all that for myself but, hey, if I want myself out of my band, that's the way it goes, I suppose, and I'd just have to move on and find something else. Granted, I'm not into doing the social media stuff but I was clear to myself it wasn't something I was going to do right from the start. Even so, I'd be really peeessed off, though 🤔

[police squad]

I work in a family engineering business.

30 years ago our top cnc machinist announced he was leaving.

Oh no, what will we do without Dereck, he's sort of irreplaceable.

Now up steps my brother with a degree in Mechanical engineering, (who was pretty good on the lathes side of things)

he went and did some serious reading about milling and cnc milling

The upshot, we realised that no one is irreplaceable and actuallly Dereck wasn't that good.

So, from a playing perspective, there is always someone that could do it and do it well

 

if you're the BL then that's a whole new game

[Newfoundfreedom]

None of my band is replaceable. Not because any of us are particularly good musicians, but because the band consists of two married couples. If one goes, then the other goes and there is no more band. 

[Paul S]

I would be easily replaced.  They wouldn't play like me, so the band would sound a bit different, but bass players of average ability are two a penny.  Drummer has a certain unorthodox style so a replacement would, again, sound different.  But he is replaceable. 

 

Guitarist is the thing.  I can play guitar in a fumbly kind of way but very much understand and appreciate good playing.  He is the best amateur blues guitarist I have seen, let alone had the privilege of playing with.  He is better than a lot of pro blues guitarists.  No Alan, no band.

[Steve Browning]

In my case, easily as long as the replacement has a van and PA. 🙂

[Delberthot]

Any musician can be replaced but the chances are that the band as a whole will be different whether in terms of talent, the personality of the replacement, how the group of people get along and work together among other things.

 

It's just like getting a dep in - it's never the same as gigging with your regular band mates. In time you will get used to the new member as they will get used to you but it will still never be the same. It's not necessarily better or worse, just different.

 

Having aspergers, I find it hard to get used to new people and fit in but i auditioned for a band in November. I've never felt such a connection to any group of people before, it was like I'd known them for years. 2 days later, they asked me to join their band and I couldn't be happier.

 

Their current bass player is leaving after 13 years with the band and I had a chance to meet him and the band last weekend to have a good look at the equipment that they use to find out if I needed to buy any new cables or gear of any sort. I heard them at sound check and they are really good but right away I knew that I was a completely different player to their current bass player so things will be different in that regard.

 

The spooky thing about the rehearsal was that I normally use my Warmoth/Status Jazz live. The photos I had seen of their current player was him using a 5 string. For some reason I took my black EBMM Sterling to the rehearsal instead and when I went to see them last weekend, their bass player was using a black EBMM Stingray.

Edited December 25, 2024 by Delberthot

[Leonard Smalls]

The band would never find someone with my dazzling array of trousers...

[ahpook]

Very easily, a new clone just needs to be activated and we're back in business...

[mikegatward]

9 hours ago, Mudpup said:

Apparently I was irreplaceable when I handed in my notice back in July - the other guys decided to fold the band rather than find a replacement. 

 

Devasting good looks and unbridled talent would be hard to replace I thought.

 

Or maybe it was because I got all the gigs, did all the social media, sorted all the lighting out and stopped the drummer killing the singer and guitarist...

 

🙂

I suspect I have similar talent and good looks 😀

[warwickhunt]

I own the band name.

I have a van.

I own and operate the PA.

 

...irreplaceable! 

 

 

[franzbassist]

As a bass player, probably easily enough, but as a bass player who also sings harmony bass parts on a lot of our songs and lead vocals on some songs.... not so much.

[Lozz196]

Probably easy enough to find another bassist given we’re based fairly near London, plenty of musicians about around here.

[Boodang]

Well, I’m definitely instantly replaceable in my (own!) covers band as I found out earlier in the year! But to be honest not difficult as far as bass playing is concerned as it was fairly standard stuff. 
I started a blues band around a guitarist, and he is definitely not replaceable in the sense that it would be a different band with another guitarist at the front. I play drums in that one… replaceable, yes, but it would have a different feel (some might say I should be replaced as I bring my funk grooves to the blues… sacrilege!). 
I'm in a soul band and a punk band as well, the main reason I’m not replaceable is I own the PA, the mics, all the leads, mixing desk and a 16 track studio and rehearsal space. How not to get fired!! 

[neepheid]

Covers band - I'm easily replaceable.  I am myself a replacement, so I've already proven how easy it is if a chancer like me can do it

 

Originals band - more difficult to replace me (if anything because I haven't documented what I play - job security innit?) but obviously not impossible.