My first rehearsal in a community big band is in a couple of weeks. Does anyone have any tips?
I recently passed the midway point of B2B, but I had some in-person lessons before. I am fairly comfortable reading standard notation. I am not sure if I am ready, but with hard work, I think I can learn the songs. It’s a non-auditioned community group, so when I emailed to ask about skill level, they were very welcoming.
A few questions:
Some of the sheet music I have seen for big band just has chords with four slashes in the staff lines. Is that indicating an improvised walking bass line? If so, how does that work with multiple basses in the band?
Any tone/EQ I should try for that would fit best with big band style?
What should I practice for the next two weeks to be as prepared as possible?
I will be sure to report back with how things go for other newer players that are thinking of joining a similar group.
Yes, very likely; or some other groove over that chord - that depends a bit on whether it is “swing”, “latin”, “rock” etc. feel, usually stated at the top of the sheet music or that particular section.
A standard bigband typically only has one bass. If there are more, I would guess that you take turns playing songs, and NOT play all at the same time.
I would take a jazz bass (no pun intended) and adjust as required by the music (snappier for funk/rock), mellower for swing/latin; the rehearsal space will also affect your overall tone.
The tunes they hopefully shared with you. Bigband music is often very much notated out; this means that most of what you play should be played exactly as written, as it often is aligned with the drums or the wind sections. A (possible) exception are these sections with the slashes…
Slashes = play the chord, usually a walking bass. Keep tone clean, warm, tight lows. Practice walking lines, read slash charts, lock rhythm with a metronome, and listen to big band recordings.
If you want to know where you stand in the mix, the best way to do is to put a phone in the audience then you know what you need to adjust. Big band has several elements that would choke your tone, check out your recording first before you make your adjustment. Horns and some of the lower woodwind really compete with your natural tone you just have to check them out.
In general, the 4-5 piece band I’m involved in I’d do my baseline at neutral then boost the tone just a bit to stand out. If you have an active that would be the mid, raise it up a dash will strengthen your tone.
Thanks for the info, everyone! It’s helpful. I’ll post again after the first rehearsal. I know I feel less nervous when I read experiences from others trying their first time playing with others and performing.
Oh, good idea. I can probably get my husband to help with that.
I was going to answer, but I just have a big +1 to what @joergkutter had to say. Spot on there. Bassists usually rotate in and out.
I’d listen to the songs they share, practice to those charts, and work on the walking!
Have a blast. Big band music is so dang fun.
I had my first rehearsal with the big band. I just got the charts a couple of days before. I was able to run through the selections for this week a few times and listen to some recordings of the arrangements on YouTube. This style of music is so fun.
The group is very welcoming. There are multiple bass players, but that’s a relief since the number of pieces is intimidating. I think we will trade off for the actual performances. I think I only played the first note of each measure for all the faster tempo songs and repeated root notes for the walking sections. Some are just SO fast. (But, if I could get through Billie Jean, there’s hope.)
Am I in way over my head? Most likely. Am I going back and going to do the hard work to try to learn these tunes? Absolutely.
I hope it’s OK to use this thread to document my progress each week.