Interested to hear what others philosophies are concerning bad nights?
Tonight I arrived at practice 26 minutes late due to the major road in town being shut down. Although I put the time in this week (a lot) I arrived flustered and I just fell apart (in my opinion)
Our singer couldn’t make it so that made it a little harder to hear the song and get my cues too. Let’s just say it wasn’t good.
I could also use my new bass as an excuse but it played beautifully
This was my first practice with these guys since the audition and they were honest and kind but still. How do you guys deal with bad nights?
I made the comment to my drummer tonight, “It’s hard to listen and keep with you if I’m listening to my inner critic”.
I feel like bass requires a ton of attention. Listening to the other band members and making sure things fit. I’m sure it gets easier and my feelings of getting fired out of a cannon will subside, but I’m not willing to fail at this.
Anyway I’d love to hear some rookie horror stories or thoughts on how to master the “inner game” of bass.
We have good days and bad days. I know my bands for a while. I started playing with my Keyboard and drummer since 89, so it’s been a minute. I remember some sessions were rough. You just have to come prepared.
Here’s what I know, unless you live with your band mates when you meet up it’s a rehearsal and not a practice. You practice and work out “your” part before hand and when you arrive at the “rehearsal” you play what you practice and workout the “band” part. Make good use of the time spend together as a band and not “learning” your part at rehearsal.
You need to learn your songs, committed to your muscle memory. If you are waiting for your cue then you are not prepared for that rehearsal. You can use us as a rehearsal gauge. Post your songs on the post your cover thread. You can’t just learn it, you have to know it. That mean successfully playing it the song 5-10 times is nothing, you need to feel like you are sick of that songs after playing it for 500-600 times. That’s when it’s gig ready territory. Remember you are getting paid for the performance regardless of how little,
We had a guitarist who jam with us a few times, practice a few times and announced himself ready, the day came and he missed a few notes on his solo, he literally did an Ashley Simpson and walked off the stage.
Playing live in front of the audiences will feel 100 times worse or better depending on your state of readiness. NO it can’t required a ton of attention, that’s the recipe for disaster. If you are concentrating on playing every notes you are going to be in a world of hurt. Notes should flow out of you without even thinking or trying very hard. Think Driving, if you have to concentrate on every aspect of driving all the time, you’ll crash.
Yeah, like the others said, there will be good nights and not so good nights, and arriving already stressed because of traffic and being late doesn’t help.
But, how exactly did you “fall apart”??
The funny thing is that it probably was a “great” experience because it showed you your challenge areas and gave you something to work on.
Taking cues from other musicians is great (always try to listen to what is going on around you), but don’t rely on it exclusively. Don’t feel like you are just “hanging on” following the others - you are the bass player and it is your (damn) responsibility to keep everything together! Take that responsibility, make it yours, and let that be your guiding light in music. The others should listen to you for cues!!
I know, this just sounds like I give you even more pressure. But, really, that is the mindset that you need to adopt.
And (cliché as this may sound), embrace your mistakes and learn from them. Making mistakes is the best teacher (just don’t make the same mistake ten times in a row ).
I feel for you! Man, this is all pretty exciting … and exactly as I imagine it would be for me, the difference being: I don’t have the courage to do what you are doing.
All the responses you got make a lot of sense to me, so: go on, keep jumping into the deep end.
Don’t give up … it ain’t over 'til the fat lady stops singing
Playing live in front of the audiences will feel 100 times worse or better depending on your state of readiness. NO it can’t required a ton of attention, that’s the recipe for disaster. If you are concentrating on playing every notes you are going to be in a world of hurt. Notes should flow out of you without even thinking or trying very hard. Think Driving, if you have to concentrate on every aspect of driving all the time, you’ll crash.
Blockquote
Not sure if I quoted that right but wow that just framed up everything I need to know.
In these past 2 weeks I’ve been learning and practicing 10 new songs at home. Some of them are passable but It’s almost like I have to have 10 passable but I should be hammering single songs until they become automatic.
I can play through these songs, some by memory alone but they are far from automatic. So any squirrels in the road and I hit a tree.
I think I need to seek muscle memory over #s of songs.
By falling apart I mean I’m massive at home I could play a song blindfolded but I couldn’t even play the simple riff which is 80% of the song last night.
It’s funny I always thought everything was built on top of the drummer and now everybody is saying it’s me.
It’s not enough to make me want to go back to drums but it’s just something fun I didn’t realize about music.
You gotta fix that brother! This is hard but it’s hard on purpose. I’m gaining months of experience daily because of the pressure.
I know I probably make it sound like torture but it is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Plus I think it’s introduced me to some lifelong friends…
Hop on bandmix or something and just say you are looking for folks to jam with. Bass players seem in short supply. As long as you find good people who understand where you are they will help you.
Also think of it like an experiment. If experiments fail they are still good because you learn from them.
The only negative (is you can call it that) is I have less time to practice the songs I want to play. But when I need a pick me up and I try to learn a new fun riff, my skills are better so it’s less time fumbling and more fun.
From the little I’ve read about you I also think your personality would be an asset to a band and a lot of fun
Try to analyze and isolate what it exactly is that made you fall apart - and then work on this!
Can’t rely on drummers
Remember what smarter people than me have said: focus on the groove - you can play all the right notes, but if the groove’s not there, no one cares whether you played the right notes. Focus on the groove and don’t let “wrong” notes faze you!
My personality is even worse than my bass playing
Also, my girl friend will not allow me on stage, cause of possible groupies!
I will follow closely what happens to you, try to improve my bass playing … and if I decide to play in a band, my girlfriend will possibly allow me to play in a blues band, as that would be the safest in terms of the groupie situation (no hot girls here like the blues) ^^
It’s a matter of statistics though: at some events here there are quite a few females, less men. That means: after the singer, guitarist and drummer are taken, there is still some opportunity for the bassist!
EDIT my girlfriend just pointed out, there is also the sound engineer to overcome
Pressure can be a great thing. If you can withstand it when the right moment comes you can ride that wave of pressure and take your playing to the next level. It’s something you can’t get by practicing at home. It’s like getting musical high.
This is so true. I played wrong notes all the time in a room full of musicians and may be 10 people knew it. I keep the groove going.
I’ve been playing with the church worship band for about a year. I remember how stressed I was my first rehearsal. Just keep at it and you’ll be able to look back and wonder what you were worrying about. And when in doubt- root on the one, baby!
Ha!
This and 100% this. I was rehearsing this week with a project I started over 20 years ago. Messed up all over the place because I was thinking about the most random things.
It makes me so mad - my lack of focus and attention!
Like everyone else said, just keep on it.
So many of these.
I was in tears the first time someone asked me to jam with them. They played a 12 bar blues and I had no idea what was going on and was so embarrassed.
I noodled so much in one band that the drummer refused to play with me because I’d never settle on a groove.
I got confused by a chart on a worship band service not too long ago and played the very bad-sounding wrong part while the vocalists all went for the Coda.
It’s never safe and it’s never all solved.
Everything gets better, you get more confident, and confidence gives you comfort and the ability to brush things off more… but you still fall - so long as you keep putting yourself in cool growth scenarios.
And you keep losing focus if, like me, you have a squirrel brain.
The words from my band leader tonight, “Matt, if I have any of this wrong, just go with it and milk the “new guy” status for as long as you can, it won’t last long.”.
My new strategy is to practice one song until it makes me want to vomit. Tonight I spent 2 hours with, I hate myself for loving you. I had the basics understood but tonight I loaded it up in Moises, and took turns turning off bass, lyrics, drums, so that even if I can’t hear a part I still know the song.
I think this will be slower per song but there is no value in Kinda knowing 10 songs.
Our goal right now is to nail 4-5 songs and see if we can do some open mic nights. Then ultimately work up the catalog.
I’m struggling a little with dynamics right now, like playing louder when switching to a new note because I feel rushed. I’m fighting the urge to use my compressor since I think it will be like a crutch. Maybe pull it out at rehearsal and on stage?
