Hey folks, for those new to the diary, I am a middle aged musician enjoying a bit of a musical renaissance, including finally picking up the bass as a secondary instrument. I am learning *pretty* much on the fly, generally gigging either in a duo/trio, and am documenting my gigs with brief writeups. I have links to past entries below!
Little bit of chaos tonight, our drummer from last week wasn't available, and E. (bandleader) couldn't find a replacement. He plays solo if needed, but I offered to join him for a bit, which he was grateful for.
I took the same rig as last week, the Fender Mustang PJ and the Bass Cube. It sounded even better this time than it did last week. I really need to work out where the magic is coming from, because honestly, the tone is *monstrous*!
Little bit tricky going back to having to be the entire rhythm section, and I did find some of my playing on songs I wasn't super familiar with suffered accordingly. As has become a trend, the reggae songs worked best, as did songs with defined basslines, or ones where I stumbled into a defined line. On more than one occasion, I started off with a basic line that got the job done, but by the solo, I had fleshed it out to a nice locked in line. I used the drum machine on the Bass Cube which is honestly much better than it has any business being. The fact that it has its own dedicated volume knob is just genius. I was able to lower the drum level in the mix so it didn't beat you over the head, but still gave us a solid foundation to play over.
When it was working best, I think it absolutely gave the audience a "full band" experience. It's rudimentary, but a hell of a lot better than nothing, and honestly, makes this Bass Cube an even better value. I have a Beat Buddy Mini 2 pedal, so I will be exploring using that in the future for gigs. I am also going to get the Boss footswitch to broaden my control of the amp on the fly.
in terms of technique, I worked a lot on attack an note sustain/cutoff. It's probably obvious, but it's blowing my mind how differently this:
G ------------
D ------------
A -----2---3-
E -3----------
Sounds as compared to:
* let ring
G ------------
D ------------
A -----2---3-
E -3*----------
Other things I really worked on was playing notes precisely on the bass and snare hits, and finding cool moments to add a note to add energy to a measure, so instead of:
G ------------
D ------------
A -----2---3-
E -3----------
Playing this:
G --------------
D --------------
A -----2---3--3
E -3------------
I know these are not earth shattering concepts, but it's fun to actually discover it in practice, and see the crowd react to the different dynamics in real time. I honestly can't think of a better way i'd rather learn!
Oh, I also found my vocals a lot tighter this time. I did some harmonies and call and response vocals, and honestly, I feel that part is starting to click for sure! Onwards and upwards! Thanks for reading, until next time, I shall remain!
1st entry: Bass Players | Played my first bass gig tonight
| Facebook
2nd entry: Bass Players | First off, Merry Christmas | Facebook
3rd entry: Bass Players | Third bass gig tonight | Facebook
4th entry: Bass Players | Another gig tonight | Facebook
5th entry: Bass Players | Another entry in my running gig diary | Facebook
6th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-6.1645734/#post-28323213
7th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-7-or-along-came-a-drummer.1646312/
8th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-8-there-goes-the-drummer.1649424/#post-28411461
9th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-9-drummer-redux.1650998/
10th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-10-the-takeover-jam.1653436/
11th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-11-back-to-the-future.1655395/#post-28540235
Little bit of chaos tonight, our drummer from last week wasn't available, and E. (bandleader) couldn't find a replacement. He plays solo if needed, but I offered to join him for a bit, which he was grateful for.
I took the same rig as last week, the Fender Mustang PJ and the Bass Cube. It sounded even better this time than it did last week. I really need to work out where the magic is coming from, because honestly, the tone is *monstrous*!
Little bit tricky going back to having to be the entire rhythm section, and I did find some of my playing on songs I wasn't super familiar with suffered accordingly. As has become a trend, the reggae songs worked best, as did songs with defined basslines, or ones where I stumbled into a defined line. On more than one occasion, I started off with a basic line that got the job done, but by the solo, I had fleshed it out to a nice locked in line. I used the drum machine on the Bass Cube which is honestly much better than it has any business being. The fact that it has its own dedicated volume knob is just genius. I was able to lower the drum level in the mix so it didn't beat you over the head, but still gave us a solid foundation to play over.
When it was working best, I think it absolutely gave the audience a "full band" experience. It's rudimentary, but a hell of a lot better than nothing, and honestly, makes this Bass Cube an even better value. I have a Beat Buddy Mini 2 pedal, so I will be exploring using that in the future for gigs. I am also going to get the Boss footswitch to broaden my control of the amp on the fly.
in terms of technique, I worked a lot on attack an note sustain/cutoff. It's probably obvious, but it's blowing my mind how differently this:
G ------------
D ------------
A -----2---3-
E -3----------
Sounds as compared to:
* let ring
G ------------
D ------------
A -----2---3-
E -3*----------
Other things I really worked on was playing notes precisely on the bass and snare hits, and finding cool moments to add a note to add energy to a measure, so instead of:
G ------------
D ------------
A -----2---3-
E -3----------
Playing this:
G --------------
D --------------
A -----2---3--3
E -3------------
I know these are not earth shattering concepts, but it's fun to actually discover it in practice, and see the crowd react to the different dynamics in real time. I honestly can't think of a better way i'd rather learn!
Oh, I also found my vocals a lot tighter this time. I did some harmonies and call and response vocals, and honestly, I feel that part is starting to click for sure! Onwards and upwards! Thanks for reading, until next time, I shall remain!
1st entry: Bass Players | Played my first bass gig tonight
| Facebook2nd entry: Bass Players | First off, Merry Christmas | Facebook
3rd entry: Bass Players | Third bass gig tonight | Facebook
4th entry: Bass Players | Another gig tonight | Facebook
5th entry: Bass Players | Another entry in my running gig diary | Facebook
6th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-6.1645734/#post-28323213
7th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-7-or-along-came-a-drummer.1646312/
8th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-8-there-goes-the-drummer.1649424/#post-28411461
9th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-9-drummer-redux.1650998/
10th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-10-the-takeover-jam.1653436/
11th entry: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/diary-of-a-bassist-11-back-to-the-future.1655395/#post-28540235