As I mentioned in my “introduce yourself” thread. I’m an American expat out here in China. The “other” local bass player (the one that knows what he’s doing) became busy at work and I got promoted to bass player in the house band at a local expat bar… to be fair it’s not a good band, but I’ve recently learned that even shitty not at all accurate music can make a crowd of 12 expats and a handful of locals in China happy.
A couple funnier moments:
The guitar player and his son (the drummer) are the owners of the bar and also Spanish. Spanish, along with Mandarin, is on the long list of languages I don’t speak. Several times they have held a discussion and changed the song on me without informing me what we are about to do….and in case you were wondering the “Walking on Sunshine” bass line sounds off when playing it to “House of the Rising Sun”
This past weekend the guitar player randomly wanted to bust out “Come Together” - claiming it was simple because it’s just a few chords. Oh well, I’ll try it - I once learned the intro 20 years ago so this ought to be good (thank you liquid courage!!). Anyway this version of a Beattles classic consisted of me trying about 35 different slides trying to find one that sounded right blended in with some fumbling of root notes.
It kinda dawned on that this guy has played guitar for decades without paying attention at all to bass. In my ears the iconic intro to “Come Together” IS the song - the rest is just filler.
Overall this has been a blast though, and thank you Josh/B2B/Bassbuzz for both improving my skills and recognizing it doesn’t have to be perfect to get the job done! (Well, at least in my little hole in the wall out here anyway)
It sounds like you are having fun, and as long as the punters are happy, that’s what it is all about. You just need to educate them in how important it is that you know which song is next.
Bass player= cornerstone
Yeah I’ll give you a that one. Either way it isn’t a good guitar player “hey just follow along” song as casual audience members are expecting the bass line.
That sounds like a fun evening! You should throw a microphone/recording device somewhere and record what you played, or write down the setlist. Maybe you can prep the next night with that.
I know it helped me in my current band because they always alter bits and pieces. House of the Rising Sun gets an extra bar of Em, for example, “because singing the next verse so soon is stressful,” according to the singer.
Do you find that there is an inordinate love of the Eagles there?
My impression, on a brief tour of China (played in a band where we got into a cultural ambassadorship program - toured China!) was that The Eagles were played everywhere.
One night I think we heard Hotel California about 6 times.
No time for a long reply, but I lived in China for 11 years and had a few chances to play there. Played a bar in Wuhan, a youth hostel in Shaoxing, several university talent shows, lots of classroom gigs – teaching English through song… I once played mandolin on MGMT “Kids” (I played the hook, that famous keyboard riff); sang and played “Leather and Lace” as a duet with my wife; and yes, Eagles at nearly every opportunity, lol! Oh, I also busked under Tiananmen Square in the underground tunnels! Fun times!
I haven’t heard the Hotel California loop yet, but maybe it just hasn’t made it this far south yet. You do have a lot of places that have the same 10 songs on continuous repeat…for a year. It’s also nothing to hear a song, then the remix, then the second remix…back to back to back.
But last night - score one for the bassists.
A colleague of mine is in town from the US and he’s jammed around a bit as an amateur guitar player. I asked him if he was hopping on stage last night, he said “Sure, I can play bass. Any guitar player can play bass, just the root notes.” I was more asking if he was going to pick up a guitar, but oh well.
After two songs of not being able to get a tone and doing some light strumming with a guitar pick (no where near the pickup), the guitar player “asked” him if he wanted to swap out with me…so, not ANY guitar player can just instinctively pick up a bass
You should throw a microphone/recording device somewhere and record what you played, or write down the setlist. Maybe you can prep the next night with that.