United States

To gig as a bassist who hasn't had any training at all, a few of you guys have talked with me a few times in the past few years. still haven't had any good jam sessions happen, but I've grown to actually learn how to play bass instead of lead 4 string. so other then endurance ( to be able to play studio sessions and night after night) what do I need to be trying to do (and obviously getting bigger gear and better gear [or modifying my own crap out of recognition]

Get yourself a few fluorescent, tight mesh shirts and all different color spandex and don't forget to throw a stuffed sock in your drawers and jump your ass right up there on stage a few weekday nights until everyone within a 25.9 mile radius is talking about you and only you!

To gig as a bassist who hasn't had any training at all, a few of you guys have talked with me a few times in the past few years. still haven't had any good jam sessions happen, but I've grown to actually learn how to play bass instead of lead 4 string. so other then endurance ( to be able to play studio sessions and night after night) what do I need to be trying to do (and obviously getting bigger gear and better gear [or modifying my own crap out of recognition]

Just do it man ... if you wait till you feel your ready.
You never will be.

First gig I pulled was just Ray and I with our guitars.
Ray was singing and playing and I was playing along.
I power puffed black & Mild cigars between every set.
The last set we played the audience was dancing and carrying on like we were rock stars

When it was all said & done I looked at Ray and said ... hell man we can do this.

My first live gig as a bass player was great! I'd been playing a whopping four months but I owned a bass and an amp, and that was pretty helpful then as now.

At the gig a guy came up to me on a break and said, "Man, you're a lousy bass player!."

I hugged him and thanked him. I was a bass player! Lousy, great - who cares! I was a bass player and had nowhere to go but up!

Get out there and screw up. Play with guys who are so much better than you that you feel like you want to die of shame. Jam with anyone who will play. Get drunk, sober up, practice some more. you'll be working soon.

If you just keep doing like you're doing now, you'll ultimately end up playing with somebody.

Remember: Everybody needs a bass player! Bring the Thunder. In the end, if you can hit the root note on the downbeat they'll like you. More than that and they'll love you!

Talbot

My first live gig as a bass player was great! I'd been playing a whopping four months but I owned a bass and an amp, and that was pretty helpful then as now.

At the gig a guy came up to me on a break and said, "Man, you're a lousy bass player!."

I hugged him and thanked him. I was a bass player! Lousy, great - who cares! I was a bass player and had nowhere to go but up!

Get out there and screw up. Play with guys who are so much better than you that you feel like you want to die of shame. Jam with anyone who will play. Get drunk, sober up, practice some more. you'll be working soon.

If you just keep doing like you're doing now, you'll ultimately end up playing with somebody.

Remember: Everybody needs a bass player! Bring the Thunder. In the end, if you can hit the root note on the downbeat they'll like you. More than that and they'll love you!

Talbot

I love that story Mike ...

Needs to be on a T-shirt or something.

Just do it man ... if you wait till you feel your ready.
You never will be.

This is very true. I started playing bass in my 40s, and had no idea if I could actually be good enough to get on stage. Guess what, everyone else I was playing with at the time felt roughly the same way. We just played, people liked it, and we played more/got better.

Just go for it.

your never good enough , but dont let that stop you

My first live gig as a bass player was great! I'd been playing a whopping four months but I owned a bass and an amp, and that was pretty helpful then as now.

At the gig a guy came up to me on a break and said, "Man, you're a lousy bass player!."

I hugged him and thanked him. I was a bass player! Lousy, great - who cares! I was a bass player and had nowhere to go but up!

Get out there and screw up. Play with guys who are so much better than you that you feel like you want to die of shame. Jam with anyone who will play. Get drunk, sober up, practice some more. you'll be working soon.

If you just keep doing like you're doing now, you'll ultimately end up playing with somebody.

Remember: Everybody needs a bass player! Bring the Thunder. In the end, if you can hit the root note on the downbeat they'll like you. More than that and they'll love you!

Talbot

This is indeed the fact of the musical life. But one thing to remember, it takes courage to be us. If you have a a terribly sucky performance You will hate yourself, your musicianship. You'll ask yourself what was I thinking. But remember if you have the desire to perform on stage for an audience, you must get back on that stage. You must do this over and over again with lotsa practice.

Not sure about the spandex part but my spin as a bass player is that I'm a percussionist with tone. I'm NOT a guitarist. I keep the beat with tone. Your primary job is to compliment what the drummer is doing (and vice versa). BECOME METRONOMIC. Don't try and do anything fancy YET. The lead instrument players are paid to do the hard stuff. Your job is to do the easy stuff and for some people that's hard. Hopefully whichever drummer you hook up with also keeps good time. Get the basics down cold first. The really great bass players STILL KEEP PERFECT TIME no matter how fancy they get.

I was told years ago that the bassist must be the coolest hand in the band.


Kudos Bob ... good post.

Not sure about the spandex part but my spin as a bass player is that I'm a percussionist with tone. I'm NOT a guitarist. I keep the beat with tone. Your primary job is to compliment what the drummer is doing (and vice versa). BECOME METRONOMIC. Don't try and do anything fancy YET. The lead instrument players are paid to do the hard stuff. Your job is to do the easy stuff and for some people that's hard. Hopefully whichever drummer you hook up with also keeps good time. Get the basics down cold first. The really great bass players STILL KEEP PERFECT TIME no matter how fancy they get.

That's one of the first things I was told when learning to play bass. Get to know the drummer's play style more than anyone else's. I've played with so many drummers that I could hardly tell what they were going to do. Another thing is to work on the actual tone itself. I did a gig once and used somebody else's equipment...bad idea. They had their tone completely different from what I was meant to be playing and it screwed everything up. As far as learning and preparing mentally, my former guitar teacher once said that the best way to learn is to play with others who know what they are doing. "why do we fall down Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up" - Alfred.

cold pool theory on that one man hold your nose and jump. youre gonna swim or drown trying but theres only 1 way to know.

Play with the bass drum(s) and you can't go wrong.

If you really want to play bass, I would suggest getting a drum machine with various patterns and learn to lock into the kick and snare drum, its really an art form that some people dont seem to understand.

Good Luck

you are good enough when you pass the audition