How was your gig last night?

[stewblack]

Wedding gig in the middle of nowhere, Wiltshire.

Playing with some of my least favourite people never helps the evening go well.

I don't know about you, if I don't like someone but have to work with them I do my best to get along with them. Or at least be polite.

Ah well, never mind. I got paid and was back in bed by 2am.

[dmccombe7]

57 minutes ago, rwillett said:

we need more pictures of you in glam gear....

 

Pictures or it didn't happen 😊

I'll post if any appear from last nights gig.

Dave

[Obrienp]

Shades of similarity with @stewblack’s post above: Friday evening fund raising gig with the covers band in the hall that we rehearse in. This was a freebie, as one of our guitarists is on the committee and we get to rehearse there for free. We just used the little house Stage Pass PA but the drummer brought a sub to reinforce the low end.
 

Our lead guitarist /vocalist is a difficult person. Extremely good but very intolerant of other peoples’ errors and has absolutely no filter in his comments. We think he is mildly autistic and generally just try to tolerate his behaviour. I knew it was going to be one of those gigs when he declared he wanted to use one of his new songs for the sound check, which involved standard tuning (we normally play a semitone down to aid other guitarist’s vocals). It also involved him playing a 12 string acoustic. I fetch backup bass which I keep in standard tuning. Then 12 string can’t be heard. Why? He is not going into front of house like the rest of us, because he brought an amp without a DI and didn’t bring a mic to put in front of his amp. I go and fetch a DI box from my car. Then there is interference from his wireless system. I fetch a spare guitar lead. We finally get the DI working. By this time I need to retune back up bass. Next thing I know, lead guitarist disappears with his 12 string and puts it in his car. I turn to the others and ask what’s up: “I guess he doesn’t want to do it after all”. 
 

Friends of ours do the support session first. Acoustic Americana using AER amps and a Bose PA column set up in front of the stage, cahon for percussion,etc. Julie’s voice is fantastic and they blow everyone away, doing a well deserved encore. We come on. Lead guitarist does Blackbird solo on an acoustic and then we go into Here Comes the Sun. All good so far. Next up Call Me the Breeze, which I have pointed out is 168 BPM in the original, not 187 as per Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, lead guitarist has decided to go for it. From then on he is speeding us up on everything, shouting at us that we are slowing down, giving us evil looks, etc. He actually screws up majorly in several songs (wrong key, doesn’t stick to our arrangement, etc) but it’s all our fault. We play for two hours without a break because he doesn’t want to stop. By the time we get to Gimme Some Lovin (penultimate song) I know I am flagging (I actually set the metronome on my headstock tuner to keep me going). I am spot on 147 BPM most of the song but I can tell I am slipping a bit towards the end. I put this down to being really tense due to lead guitarist winding us all up.
 

We get to the end of our set, with an encore. Lots of punters come up and say how good it was. We have since had emails reinforcing that. Back stage lead guitarist says to me that it was absolute sh!te and tempo may not be important to me and the drummer but it was to him. He packs his gear up and legs it without saying goodbye, stopping to help the rest of us, etc. I have to retrieve bits of the gear I lent him from where he threw it. I feel completely undermined by the whole experience. I get home and I am questioning my abilities as a musician. 
 

The other guitarist, who is a peacemaker by nature, is posting copies of the appreciative texts he has received on our band WhatsApp group. No response from the lead guitarist. Apparently he said “I don’t know why we bother practicing and I can’t go on with this” when he left, so it remains to be seen whether he turns up to the rehearsal on Tuesday. We have paying gigs lined up, so I am wondering whether we will have to let people down at short notice! Bands eh!

[Woodinblack]

22 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

The other guitarist, who is a peacemaker by nature, is posting copies of the appreciative texts he has received on our band WhatsApp group. No response from the lead guitarist. Apparently he said “I don’t know why we bother practicing and I can’t go on with this” when he left, so it remains to be seen whether he turns up to the rehearsal on Tuesday. We have paying gigs lined up, so I am wondering whether we will have to let people down at short notice! Bands eh!

 

Easy enough to get other guitarists, especially if you already have one. One reasonable guitarist is streets ahead of an amazing guitarist who messes everything up.

[dmccombe7]

36 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Shades of similarity with @stewblack’s post above: Friday evening fund raising gig with the covers band in the hall that we rehearse in. This was a freebie, as one of our guitarists is on the committee and we get to rehearse there for free. We just used the little house Stage Pass PA but the drummer brought a sub to reinforce the low end.
 

Our lead guitarist /vocalist is a difficult person. Extremely good but very intolerant of other peoples’ errors and has absolutely no filter in his comments. We think he is mildly autistic and generally just try to tolerate his behaviour. I knew it was going to be one of those gigs when he declared he wanted to use one of his new songs for the sound check, which involved standard tuning (we normally play a semitone down to aid other guitarist’s vocals). It also involved him playing a 12 string acoustic. I fetch backup bass which I keep in standard tuning. Then 12 string can’t be heard. Why? He is not going into front of house like the rest of us, because he brought an amp without a DI and didn’t bring a mic to put in front of his amp. I go and fetch a DI box from my car. Then there is interference from his wireless system. I fetch a spare guitar lead. We finally get the DI working. By this time I need to retune back up bass. Next thing I know, lead guitarist disappears with his 12 string and puts it in his car. I turn to the others and ask what’s up: “I guess he doesn’t want to do it after all”. 
 

Friends of ours do the support session first. Acoustic Americana using AER amps and a Bose PA column set up in front of the stage, cahon for percussion,etc. Julie’s voice is fantastic and they blow everyone away, doing a well deserved encore. We come on. Lead guitarist does Blackbird solo on an acoustic and then we go into Here Comes the Sun. All good so far. Next up Call Me the Breeze, which I have pointed out is 168 BPM in the original, not 187 as per Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, lead guitarist has decided to go for it. From then on he is speeding us up on everything, shouting at us that we are slowing down, giving us evil looks, etc. He actually screws up majorly in several songs (wrong key, doesn’t stick to our arrangement, etc) but it’s all our fault. We play for two hours without a break because he doesn’t want to stop. By the time we get to Gimme Some Lovin (penultimate song) I know I am flagging (I actually set the metronome on my headstock tuner to keep me going). I am spot on 147 BPM most of the song but I can tell I am slipping a bit towards the end. I put this down to being really tense due to lead guitarist winding us all up.
 

We get to the end of our set, with an encore. Lots of punters come up and say how good it was. We have since had emails reinforcing that. Back stage lead guitarist says to me that it was absolute sh!te and tempo may not be important to me and the drummer but it was to him. He packs his gear up and legs it without saying goodbye, stopping to help the rest of us, etc. I have to retrieve bits of the gear I lent him from where he threw it. I feel completely undermined by the whole experience. I get home and I am questioning my abilities as a musician. 
 

The other guitarist, who is a peacemaker by nature, is posting copies of the appreciative texts he has received on our band WhatsApp group. No response from the lead guitarist. Apparently he said “I don’t know why we bother practicing and I can’t go on with this” when he left, so it remains to be seen whether he turns up to the rehearsal on Tuesday. We have paying gigs lined up, so I am wondering whether we will have to let people down at short notice! Bands eh!

I'd have to walk away from someone like that. There are plenty of guitarists out there. Replace him, his attitude stinks.

Appreciate that during a gig we will make a mistake or two but we generally laugh it off at the end of the night providing we know where we went wrong and the audience didn't notice it too much.  To have someone throw a tantrum and walk away in a huff like that is not good for any band.

Dave

[Stub Mandrel]

46 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Shades of similarity with @stewblack’s post above: Friday evening fund raising gig with the covers band in the hall that we rehearse in. This was a freebie, as one of our guitarists is on the committee and we get to rehearse there for free. We just used the little house Stage Pass PA but the drummer brought a sub to reinforce the low end.
 

Our lead guitarist /vocalist is a difficult person. Extremely good but very intolerant of other peoples’ errors and has absolutely no filter in his comments. We think he is mildly autistic and generally just try to tolerate his behaviour. I knew it was going to be one of those gigs when he declared he wanted to use one of his new songs for the sound check, which involved standard tuning (we normally play a semitone down to aid other guitarist’s vocals). It also involved him playing a 12 string acoustic. I fetch backup bass which I keep in standard tuning. Then 12 string can’t be heard. Why? He is not going into front of house like the rest of us, because he brought an amp without a DI and didn’t bring a mic to put in front of his amp. I go and fetch a DI box from my car. Then there is interference from his wireless system. I fetch a spare guitar lead. We finally get the DI working. By this time I need to retune back up bass. Next thing I know, lead guitarist disappears with his 12 string and puts it in his car. I turn to the others and ask what’s up: “I guess he doesn’t want to do it after all”. 
 

Friends of ours do the support session first. Acoustic Americana using AER amps and a Bose PA column set up in front of the stage, cahon for percussion,etc. Julie’s voice is fantastic and they blow everyone away, doing a well deserved encore. We come on. Lead guitarist does Blackbird solo on an acoustic and then we go into Here Comes the Sun. All good so far. Next up Call Me the Breeze, which I have pointed out is 168 BPM in the original, not 187 as per Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, lead guitarist has decided to go for it. From then on he is speeding us up on everything, shouting at us that we are slowing down, giving us evil looks, etc. He actually screws up majorly in several songs (wrong key, doesn’t stick to our arrangement, etc) but it’s all our fault. We play for two hours without a break because he doesn’t want to stop. By the time we get to Gimme Some Lovin (penultimate song) I know I am flagging (I actually set the metronome on my headstock tuner to keep me going). I am spot on 147 BPM most of the song but I can tell I am slipping a bit towards the end. I put this down to being really tense due to lead guitarist winding us all up.
 

We get to the end of our set, with an encore. Lots of punters come up and say how good it was. We have since had emails reinforcing that. Back stage lead guitarist says to me that it was absolute sh!te and tempo may not be important to me and the drummer but it was to him. He packs his gear up and legs it without saying goodbye, stopping to help the rest of us, etc. I have to retrieve bits of the gear I lent him from where he threw it. I feel completely undermined by the whole experience. I get home and I am questioning my abilities as a musician. 
 

The other guitarist, who is a peacemaker by nature, is posting copies of the appreciative texts he has received on our band WhatsApp group. No response from the lead guitarist. Apparently he said “I don’t know why we bother practicing and I can’t go on with this” when he left, so it remains to be seen whether he turns up to the rehearsal on Tuesday. We have paying gigs lined up, so I am wondering whether we will have to let people down at short notice! Bands eh!

 

There's no reason to put up with a pirima donna, especially as there are decent guitarists desperate for a gig.

[scalpy]

Another annual week of WODYs, one of Worcester’s musical theatre youth groups at the local Swan Theatre. And another round of Addams Family and load of Englanders doing their best to read Latin rhythms and pass them off  as convincing. The band are great people though, very much the opposite of Stewblack’s experience mentioned a little earlier, we have a blast. Didn’t play my absolute finest but passable. On the matinee the MD shortened a vamp during a scene change spontaneously just as I had a big leap up the neck which I had to look down for- resulting in a two bar unscheduled bass solo that I had to style out….Spent the rest of the day being ribbed mercilessly by the rest of the band.

[Obrienp]

5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

There's no reason to put up with a pirima donna, especially as there are decent guitarists desperate for a gig.

I know you are right and our original drummer did bail for this reason. I think maybe not as easy to get as good a guitarist in our age group in Norfolk. Also I think of the hours we have invested in this band over the last 5 years and wonder if I want to throw that away, and start again, especially with gigs lined up.

 

Like everything there is another side to the story. We are getting on and do have a tendency to ease up. The world would be perfect if everything was around 120 BPM 😀 but generally I think we do pretty well, if we are all relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

[rwillett]

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

We get to the end of our set, with an encore. Lots of punters come up and say how good it was. We have since had emails reinforcing that. Back stage lead guitarist says to me that it was absolute sh!te and tempo may not be important to me and the drummer but it was to him. He packs his gear up and legs it without saying goodbye, stopping to help the rest of us, etc. I have to retrieve bits of the gear I lent him from where he threw it. I feel completely undermined by the whole experience. I get home and I am questioning my abilities as a musician. 

Can I just ask:

 

1. Are you being paid £100k per gig?

2. Are you in some sort of modern slavery gang?

3. Do you lose a stag do bet and this is the forfeit?

4. Is any member of your family being held hostage by a mafia type cartel?

 

If anybody in a band I was in behaved like that to the rest of the band, threw stuff they'd been loaned on the ground and walked off, unless there was a compelling reason to stay (see above) I'd walk away or better still, tell aforesaid prat, not to come back. 

 

If somebody came to you and told you the above story, what would you say to them?

 

This all sounds a bit like an abusive relationship to me. If you are doubting your own ability, partly because he's gaslighting you, I'd be looking at exit options. 

 

This therapy session is worth precisely what you have paid, zilch. 

 

All the best 

 

Rob

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, Obrienp said:

. I feel completely undermined by the whole experience. I get home and I am questioning my abilities as a musician. 

It's this. Above all else. This awful feeling that I've let myself down because the pig ignorance of others has got under my skin. That maybe they're right to so dislike me.

Playing bass is the only thing I've ever done in my life of which I feel proud. I feel I can hold my head up in any company. 

And I get either ignored, or have to put up with rude comments. In the bands where people are actually lovely I get told to turn down to the point where I'm inaudible.

🤷🏻‍♂️

[Obrienp]

@rwillett Thanks Rob. You are absolutely right. Thank you for the therapy.😀 

 

I must have a masochistic streak and I have to say very low self-confidence when it comes to my prowess as a musician.
 

I’m going to have a chat with the other guys and decide what we are going to do. I can see the other guitarist taking his side and the drummer is so laid back he probably didn’t even notice. Perhaps our keyboard player will be able to come back soon (his Mrs is having radio and chemo therapy at the moment) and fill the gap left by the lead guitarist.

[Lozz196]

I think  I’d ask what the circumstances were for him to get so annoyed, sometimes a sympathetic ear can disarm someone. I’d add into that re the gear issue acknowledging that anyone can get annoyed for whatever reasons, but that in all cases I would need my gear to be treated with respect.

[Obrienp]

2 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I think  I’d ask what the circumstances were for him to get so annoyed, sometimes a sympathetic ear can disarm someone. I’d add into that re the gear issue acknowledging that anyone can get annoyed for whatever reasons, but that in all cases I would need my gear to be treated with respect.

Yes, I get what you are saying. I need to try that.
 

WRT the gear; nothing was actually damaged and it was only the leads that got tossed off the stage but I agree, I would normally return said leads neatly coiled to their owner.

 

Anyway, first world problems: at least nobody is dropping bombs on me! Sorry, I’ve taken so much oxygen on this everybody.

[rwillett]

6 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

@rwillett Thanks Rob. You are absolutely right. Thank you for the therapy.😀 

 

I must have a masochistic streak and I have to say very low self-confidence when it comes to my prowess as a musician.
 

I’m going to have a chat with the other guys and decide what we are going to do. I can see the other guitarist taking his side and the drummer is so laid back he probably didn’t even notice. Perhaps our keyboard player will be able to come back soon (his Mrs is having radio and chemo therapy at the moment) and fill the gap left by the lead guitarist.

 

If it makes you feel any better, I am a far, far, far worse a musician than you and I know it

 

Don't put yourself down, you're playing in a band which is more than I am, you have some things to sort out, but do what you want to do. Its never worth it to do things you don't want to do, we all go through bad patches in work, relationships and things we like to do, but most of the times we get through them, but unless you're having fun overall OR you're making a ton of money that allows you to do the other things you really want to do, what's the point?

 

All the best and do what you think is best for you is my advice.

 

Regards

Rob

[rwillett]

2 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Anyway, first world problems: at least nobody is dropping bombs on me! Sorry, I’ve taken so much oxygen on this everybody.

No need to apologise, you've taken nothing from anybody that they weren't happy to give.

 

Rob

[ezbass]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

i reckon maybe about 60-70 folks

Kind of our audience last night, but age, not quantity .

[Lozz196]

29 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Yes, I get what you are saying. I need to try that.
 

WRT the gear; nothing was actually damaged and it was only the leads that got tossed off the stage but I agree, I would normally return said leads neatly coiled to their owner.

 

Anyway, first world problems: at least nobody is dropping bombs on me! Sorry, I’ve taken so much oxygen on this everybody.

I think this is one of the areas Basschat excels at, we all encounter issues/problems/niggles along the way and having this forum to voice them and hear advice from others is great imo.

[dmccombe7]

17 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I think this is one of the areas Basschat excels at, we all encounter issues/problems/niggles along the way and having this forum to voice them and hear advice from others is great imo.

100% agree, sometimes its just nice to share your thoughts with other like minded people. 

Dave

[Dankology]

Acapela Studio in (or very) near Cardiff on Friday night with Wah - great and quirky venue with homemade pizzas laid on. The journey there was horrible - about 4 minutes away from the venue I missed an exit and entered a 45 minute traffic jam...

 

Got to use the orange P bass I bought from @Teyeplayer in anger for the first time and was very happy with it indeed. A couple of days before the show I decided to swap to roundwounds and I think it was a good decision. Until the next change of heart, obviously.

 

Our first gig for about four months, postponed from our spring tour and I was a little rusty - a couple of clangers should be firmly laid at my door but no-one seemed to mind.

 

Left a bloody lighting stand there but if turns out a friend of a friend lives nearby so there's hope of recovery!

 

Photo nabbed off Twitter.

 

 

[Dankology]

On 09/08/2024 at 22:04, AndyTravis said:

Erm. Brief.

 

Multi band “battle” thing…I know…

 

But, we smashed it - playing a festival tomorrow.

 

Nice little event - about 40-50 folks In a lovely venue.

 

Sound was shocking onstage, but played alright - nice response considering we didn’t really take anyone of ours (as they’re out to see us tomorrow).

Nice one!

Ace venue and it's just round the corner from ours - would have surely have been there cheering you on if I hadn't had a gig elsewhere

[Doctor J]

9 hours ago, Obrienp said:

I get home and I am questioning my abilities as a musician.

 

 

The only thing I'd be questioning is why you don't have ads out for a different guitarist. Toxic. Get rid.

[AndyTravis]

8 minutes ago, Dankology said:

Nice one!

Ace venue and it's just round the corner from ours - would have surely have been there cheering you on if I hadn't had a gig elsewhere

Back there on the 30th mate as it was a battle of the bands…and we won 🤣

[Dankology]

5 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Back there on the 30th mate as it was a battle of the bands…and we won 🤣

I wouldn't expect anything less... See you there 😀

[scalpy]

So after the show yesterday I rushed back to Hereford to see my band playing at the gig they had! They were booked for a party in the bar at the theatre and used the A guitarist on bass and the B guitarist on guitar, the A drummer was available, and the B trumpeter was as well (our hottest hot lips was on the show with me) so they took the gig. Really great to see them all play.

 

But it was nice to back in the saddle this evening. Pleasant wedding at Stone Manor just outside Kidderminster, a nice gig, just Sunday evening vibes after a warm day, some were in the mood for partying but I think a lot had an eye on the clock. Still, enjoyed it and it was nice and rowdy from about half the crowd by the end.

[casapete]

Played our monthly Sunday late afternoon gig at The Sun Inn in Beverley. 
Very quiet when we arrived so we were worried the great weather had kept people at

home having BBQs in their gardens. However around 4.30pm people started to come

in so by the time we kicked off at 5pm it was getting full.

Plenty of requests, ranging from Tony Bennett through to Del Amitri and George Ezra.

Some old friends in too so great to have a catch up in the breaks. Fortunately I also

remembered to take my big electric fan otherwise the heat would have been a problem-

as it was I’d just restrung my Ibanez bass and had to tune every couple of songs.

Ended up doing a couple of encores before finishing around 8.30pm. Really enjoyable gig.