The reason I'm here

[Beedster]

52 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

If, say, you were attacked by a rabid bat during a song, you're the guy who's got two free hands to swoosh the bugger away. The other lads are going to hospital for a series of painful injections. Advantage: you.

 

Reasonable point well made 👍

[Staggering on]

Definite no for me.

I have never been in that exact situation but I went to a few rehearsals of a jazz quintet where the very good keys player played a bass line that left no place for me and when I said this to him he changed it a bit but not much so I told the band they didn't need a bass player and walked.

[tauzero]

What other instruments are in the backing track? And why can't they just remove the bass from the backing track (either remix it or, as @SumOne says, use Moises to remove the bass)?

 

I'd say they're rather lacking in empathy.

[Norris]

No, not for me

 

I wouldn't want to play along to any backing track, let alone one with the bass on it.

 

Special "signature" sound effects, maybe. Miming, no (unless I'm being paid a substantial amount of money)

[PaulThePlug]

1. Who played Bass on the backing track?

2. Why did they leave?

2. Nope... unless the $€£ helps for a while and they are going somewhere nice.

Edited February 16 by PaulThePlug

[Geek99]

Walk, is my vote 

[bass_dinger]

Another way of looking at it is to accept that the rehearsals are great fun, but that one run-through (the actual gig) won't be so enjoyable. 

 

If bands are hard to find in your area, then perhaps stick around and see if the miming gig becomes something more musically rewarding. 

 

The other possibility (without trying to offend you) is that the band doesn't think that you are ready yet to play live. However, they see your potential, and are waiting for you to nail those tricky basslines. 

 

 

[casapete]

On 16/02/2025 at 10:27, diskwave said:

And just to ruin ur day OGWT  was 90% mimed also.  They managed to create a vibe that made it seem very...alive.

I think in the early days miming was commonplace - often with maybe just a lead vocal being sung live

over a pre recorded backing track. Once the programme got established after a couple of years or so

though,  it went to being pretty much all live performances. 
 

Edited Monday at 14:06 by casapete

[casapete]

23 hours ago, Beedster said:

It was always amusing watching bands like The Cure and Stranglers taking the piss by switching instruments/vocals, not playing in time or at all etc. 

That actually used to annoy me! They were wanting to appear so ‘alternative’ whilst agreeing to go

on mainstream TV to flog their product. Can’t have it both ways surely? 
I think it was The Clash who flatly refused to do TOTP, a far more appropriate response for a

punk band IMO. 

[gjones]

Are you being paid a lot of money? In which case say yes.

 

Have you been asked to join the band because you look incredibly sexy (like Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet who couldn't actually play any instrument at the time he was asked to join the band)? In which case you should feel flattered...... but still ask for a lot of money.

 

If the answer to the above two questions are NO, then tell them to get lost.

 

 

Edited Monday at 11:06 by gjones

[Crusoe]

17 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Let's not beat around the bush, there are down sides to miming but, thinking less emotionally about it, your hands a free to do all kinds of other fun stuff and you don't have the pressure of hitting a bum note. If, say, you were attacked by a rabid bat during a song, you're the guy who's got two free hands to swoosh the bugger away. The other lads are going to hospital for a series of painful injections. Advantage: you.

One hand free to hold a pint and the other free to scroll through social media on the phone.

[tauzero]

On 16/02/2025 at 10:27, diskwave said:

And just to ruin ur day OGWT  was 90% mimed also.

 

In the first couple of years, then it went to being live.

[SimonK]

It's an interesting thought - at the end of the day a performance is, well, a performance of which the live sound is only one aspect. So if miming live is part of the bands image the question is simply whether that is something you want, or enjoy doing, or whether you would prefer to be in a band that actually plays live. To me it sounds like a personal choice as to how you want to spend your evening!

[Mrbigstuff]

On 17/02/2025 at 10:28, gjones said:

Are you being paid a lot of money? In which case say yes.

 

Have you been asked to join the band because you look incredibly sexy (like Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet who couldn't actually play any instrument at the time he was asked to join the band)? In which case you should feel flattered...... but still ask for a lot of money.

 

If the answer to the above two questions are NO, then tell them to get lost.

 

 

The OP hasn’t commented since so I can only assume he took the gig, earned a lot of money and is now busy yacht shopping in Monaco.

[Geek99]

Maybe he mimed a response ?

[bass_dinger]

Perhaps he has joined an interpretive mime group, and is trapped in a room for which he cannot find the door.

 

 

[Hellzero]

Excellent one @bass_dinger !

[MacDaddy]

On 16/02/2025 at 04:13, CreepymcCreepers said:

OK, let's get to it. I came here just to ask a question.
I joined a band and we're gonna play a show, but they have bass on the backing tracks the 100% full bass track. They don't want to mix my can or take a DI. The speakers were using for a PA are louder than my amp. Should I just tell them to use the backing track and just quit the band? Or do some bands use a backing track with the full bass track and still have a live bassist because it don't make sense to me. Let me know because I have a. I'm giving myself a week to take all of the opinions I can get from bass players around the world and then I'm gonna make my decision if I even wanna waste my time driving to the shows driving to practice and practicing the songs Because it seems like they're just gonna be listening to a record recording if they're not gonna make a cab or take a DI from my darkglass or amp. There are some parts of the parts in the backing track, but not the full guitar part. 

 

 For contacts, I've added a link to the YouTube short showing our practice. I had fun at practice. It's fun jamming with the tracks. We went from running all of our processors and pedals into one head rush to now having two head rushes on stand. And all of us have amps. So it is really fun, but what's the point if at the show they're literally just gonna hear the track because they're not gonna make or DI me and the headrush speakers that run the backing tracks are louder than me. 

 

 

 

?

 

Allegedly!

[TimR]

The OP said give it a week. It's only been 4 days...

 

If you're young - just do it. See where it goes.