Bassist Abuse

I used to get no respect until I learned a few things on the guitar that the guitar player had trouble playing.

Learn some of the guitar parts and show the guitar player how to play them.

It also doesn't hurt to let your band mates know that other bands have been scouting you.

I use to get sh!t all the time about only being the bassist, Yeah, punk bass is a little more simple than it should be when it comes to bass, but Fk, just because I don't use six strings doesn't make me any less of a musician...The fact I have no tallent, THAT makes me not a musician.

That must be an universal behaviour. Guitarrast act exactly in the same way in Spain so I asked for a elect tunner.

Screw tazer, dude...Just bring an old upright bass, and go into a fight swingin'!!

the next time your guitarest says somthing just say
" you dont have the balls to hit the lows so with out me your nothing".......muahahahahaha!!!!

It has been my experince with some bands that I would have less say as to what songs get learned. I also think because the bass plays a suporting role nearly all the time we tend to get taken for granted.

In my currrent band which consists of a singer a a drummer and two musicians, me and the guitar player, (Hows that for a diss?) the drummer and singer sometimes just don't get the subtleties in my playing where as the guitar player does.

The band sounds better since I joined them but only the guitar player and I know why while the guitar player and singer are only guessing but they are the ones with the opinions.

Really good musicians get it and realize that a good bass player is worth his weight in gold.

I also think that perhaps guys like Geddy Lee, Claypool, Flea, Sting and Paul McCartney are living proof that good bass players are musicians first and foremost.

Musicianship is a lot more than being able to play difficult parts.

The most important instrument in the band is your ear but the second most important instrument is the bass.

why don't you just speak up! shit man you can't let people walk all over you...especially your bros in the band. don't sell yourself short by not doing the "extras" that's the stuff that's gunna keep you guys up and rolling...the extra effort. so if you don't like the way you are being treated don't hesitate to voice your thoughts/feelings towards the situation.

Point to ponder..............
How do you get a guitar player to turn down ?
Put a chart in front of him.

The only "abuse" I seem to get is at sound check or when I'm getting ready to record. Seems that as soon as they hear the first bass note, my "sound check" is over!! What the #### is that? Everyone else gets to work on getting the right tone, volume, effects, etc. But the bass player?? I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!!!! ####.

I used to have a singer that liked to f*ck around because I was so much bigger than the rest of the guys in the band (They all weighed about 140 apiece and here comes the Ugly One with a gut and 240 punds of pleasure ...). He was the kind of guy who was always gonna "Kick that dude's ass!" or "I'ma start beatin' people if they don't shut up!". Lame. Regardless, he was messin' with me one day and I said "Stop. Not today." Of course this is only gas on the fire, so when he dumped his beer down my neck, I turned, said,"I told you." and popped him in the nose. Not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to bleed. He was terrified that his nose was broken, literaly crying. What a p*ssy. My advice: If you get messed with, warn 'em, then do some messing of your own.

Well...it sounds like you guys DO get it worse than me. I know what you mean about tuning too. Guitarists are so anal about having total and utter silence when they're trying to tune by ear...But I have to make a huge scene just to get everyone to shut up so I can do the same. Not fair, dude.

Speaking of abuse, I just got my ass handed to me last night working security at a local club--waaaay too few guy on staff for "Stillborn Fest". While "All Out War" was playing (ironic, I know...) I was duking it out with this azzhole who was kicking people indiscriminatley, including chix, but when I asked him to cool it, it was on. Then his 3 or 4 buddies joined in and I got hammered. Oh well, I broke the first kids teeth with a Bud bottle when he thought I was done, and all I got is a cut on the head. Wearing a STAFF shirt just doesn't garner the respect anymore, I guess. Gotta start carrying a taser....

i have to deal with 2 guitar players who like to bump their levels til i cant hear anything but them so i abuse them til the get the hint ie punching smacking . thats why i LOOVVVVE sound guys at gigs who are also bassists

Chris, man your a deep hole of wisdom.
Skeeve, bro, I'm agree with you too but not always is sense of humor. I've play with bands were guitarrist were, or he belives that he were, a big rock start that there's no sense of humor, just verbal punishment and control by humiliation. I've play with some of those bast%&#36ds. Man It seems like the one able to do good themes or play awesome things where they.
Many of them still searching bassplayer

When I start to feel neglected I just stop doing all the extras that I do for the band like putting together promo packs or updating the website and magically they start treating me with a little more respect and it all gets better without me speaking one word.

We all know who Chubbs abuses!!!!

Sorry dude. I still think that post was funny as ####!

i feel ya on it totaly, i'm always the last to find out about EVERYTHING, and its always been like this, really snaps my strings....

im a D1 football player, IE 6'5 280 lbs, i usually do the F*cking with rather than being thw one F*cked with.

Amen for that guys.

yeah i tried to talk smack back to my guitarst one time but im only about 5'9" 140 and he's about 6'2 250 and beat the crap outta me so that didn't help me much.

STANDING OVATION FOR JOHN! Props to you for telling them off. Sounds like you covered everything, too.

CLAP;CLAP; CLAP. Well done John. All world bassist should fight for respect. It's time to end the guitar domination. May be we are no so easily listen. But we have same important as a guitarrist, drummer or what ever.

All I ever get is "stuck in the back where I can't be seen." ~ This is usually with the worship band that I play with. My other bands usually give me a pretty nice piece of stage real estate. Guess I'm too ugly a bass player for worship gigs!!!! All in good taste, tho.

Dig the comments Chris. Real musicians know what we do.

Alex as far as bands like that go I usually end up just upping my price until they stop calling. I hardly have problems finding gigs (I love being a bass player) But that's me, I'm so laid back I could have a second gig as a futon.

Keep Rockin

I always belived that man,Everyone is inocent till is demostrated the oppossite, but lots of your instrument partner uses to.

ain't nothing wrong with hammering out 8 root notes each bar.  when the song slows down, switch to four root notes each bar.  play one root notes for intros and outros and you're done.  anymore variation than that and you're soloing ;)

A couple weeks ago, we were tearing down the day after a gig, you know- pulling tape off of everything. I'm leaning over putting crap in my bag, when all of a sudden -whump! I'm seeing stars! Freaking lead guitar player had hit me with a wad of duct tape about the size of cantalope.

He felt bad. He was actually trying to hit the rhythm guitar dude. i should have had some snide comment like "you didn't hit a #### solo all night either," but I couldn't think straight for about 5 minutes.

I have suffer abuse but not in a physical way. Many of the guitars players who I've play with use to "compose" the basslines too. GP uses to say play this way or it other and that men, piss me off. I don´t mind to try what they're are telling me, even If it means play one note on blacks. But when I try it and it does't sound ... o man! I can't with this

Amen, JJW. Just because us bassplayers aren't out front don't mean we have to take everybody elses sh*t!!!!

My band is run by a couple (girlfriend + boyfriend) and a lot of times I find myself being trated like the third-wheel little brother, even though I write most of the originals and have 1/3 of the lead vocals too. They also rend to refer to themselves as "we" and it's kinda like "what do you mean WE, kemo sabe?"

Oh well..they do most all of the booking and they pay on time as promised, mostly Cash. However, I swear to Gawd the next band I'm in will not have ANYBODY in it who is sleeping or living together!!!

My guitarist started his bass jokes yesterday and I quit the band and said, "Play your music without me, and see how far you go." I sat there and said, "Play any song you want and tell me it sounds good without bass in it." I was so pissed, man...(I've had other things on my mind, too so my mood wasn't at all good.) I asked why do you rag on bass so much? What's the point?" and he didn't have an answer. I asked, "what do you have against other music that you won't listen to anything but punk" and he wouldn't answer. So I said, "If you want to sprout an open mind, and take things seriously, and NOT put other music and instraments down just because you don't like it, then call me, 'till then, I don't want to be around someone who thinks you have to know how to play guitar to be someone...Oh, and you're not a real musician...you can't play anything but bar chords." and left. F**ker. Made me mad...Sorry peeps, but I had to vent.

I don' abuse the bass player.

its about time maybe i should do that when our know it all guitarest start popin off at the mouth

Wow these posts went on and on. I only have one remark. They were bass player jokes. The first band I was ever in, during the first rehearsal, I heard bass player jokes. So I went on the 'net and found jokes for all of them. Punch them with jokes and humor. Most musicians have a great sense of humor. If they don't, then they won't be fun to play with.

Skeeve, I'm not a pro just a weeckend warrior, so I don't can to rise my price. I'm just leave the band, so easily. I play 'cause I enjoy with it, I take out all the bad feelings and bad stuff playin', so when I'm in a band I like to be happy.
But If I were pro I'm sure I'll do it the same way.

sounds like i am one of the lucky ones and don't get any bassist abuse from my bandmates.

however, lots friends and coworkers call my bass a fricken bass guitar, or me a bass guitarist!!!!! UGH!!!! Now that is ABUSE!!!

;):)

even my wife calls it a bass guitar to rile me up!!!:);)

if only i had time to hang them all by their toenails..............

new to this topic:

dude, one time, (more like many) our rythm guitarist thought i should be tighter, or play a little more out there and make my own sound. not that i hate critisism, but he is a rythm guitar. like he should tell me how to be more unique when all he does is strum chords. well, now he is playing bass, and whenever we jam, he talks about how all my stuff was soooo good and that he loved how i play. thank you irony. it's nice to hear input, but you play the bass, not them and you have your own ideas of how you bassline should relate to the song. you know what to do.

My guitarist thinks that bass is a really cool instrument. during practice, when I go to take a piss or something, he'll pick up my bass and start playing it. He always like Man it's so easy to write s#!t on the bass.

I feel loved... I can't remember the last time I was the recipient of bass abuse that wasn't started by myself.

Since I'm mostly a bandleader, i avoided most of these abuses..

Q: Why is the double-bassist allowed to play solos ?
A: because he´s got a big car!

Hey Alex... for what it's worth: at least they are thinking about the bass, not too bad I'll say!
I really appreciate when our twangers have made the effort and thought about a bassline instead of asking for pumping-eights-on-the-root (wich I do a lot of anyway...) But if they write basslines that sucks and don't want to listen, you're right about being abused. Have you written anything for them to play? That's a good exercise for everyone, so if you haven't: try it!

Ive never been abused as a bassist, but thats probably because i have only been in a few bands over the years with some of my good friends. Other than Dicking around, nothing bad really comes out of it.

~Rat>

whoa. I just realized that I answered to a post from 2003!
Alex, If you're still around: sorry!

I don't know if my story counts as bassist abuse, but it really aggravated me:

I am in an tribute band and we were desperately in search of a singer/impersonator/frontman. I put an ad up on craigslist and got a response from this guy who was already singing in another similar tribute band. I sent this guy emails of our set list, mp3 samples and spent a lot of time recruiting him. The drummer and I drove all the way to the valley to see this guy perform and we thought he was exactly what we wanted. We talked to him after the show and verbally arranged to jam next weekend at the drummer's house. Everything seemed great.

So during the week the drummer and I emailed and phoned this guy several times to verify our appointment, but this guy was really busy and did not respond. Our guitar player really wanted to know if he was coming or not, but we still couldn't get a hold of this dude. On Thursday the guitar player took it upon himself to email this prospective singer, whom he had never met or spoken to:

Hey,
I'm Xxxx, the guitar player from the Xxxxxxx band. We've been trying to
reach you to find out if you'll be available to jam with us this weekend.
Despite multiple attempts, no one has received a response. Communication is
essential in any band (Okay, maybe you've been busy, I understand. [REALLY,
I do!]}. Don't get me wrong, I'm no ballbuster, not by ANY means (believe
me). I'd just like to know if you can make it this weekend. I'm excited to
see what you have to bring to the group and hope to hear from you soon.
RSVP
Xxxx

The guitar player forwards me this email after he had sent it and then calls me and says Whaddaya think?? Diplomatic enough? I read the email and told him it had a condescending edge to it and that I disagreed that he should have sent it at all, especailly since he had never met the guy. I said he should let me and the drummer handle all communication with him. He kept saying the guy was dissing us by not getting back to us and if he gets put off by that email then f*** him anyways. He got really mad and unreasonable at my criticisms. He called me back a couple minutes later and told me to f*** off and to put an ad in craigslist for another guitar player. So I call the drummer and told him what happened and forwarded the email to him. Like me, he disagreed with the guitar players actions, and he couldn't believe the he did that. So he called the guitar player and I am not sure what was said, but guitar player called me back again and said the drummer and I  can both f*** off.

So here's the best part. Minutes later the drummer calls me back, he tells me that I was absolutely correct in my views about the guitar player's errant email to this singer guy. But he then started yelling at me, saying I should never argue with the guitar player when he's drunk and he commanded me to call him up and apologize to him right now and I'll talk to you tomorrow. *click!*

WTF??! I couldn't win for losing in that one.

I haven't been abused so much as taken for granted, so I quit doing any of the booking or other like distasteful activities and play in multiple projects now. Not only did this put an end to the petty bullsh!t, it's also more fun because I do more of what I enjoy -- playing the bass.

OK here goes.  As most of you know I was in a very serious project here in Denver called TRIBE.  TRIBE was founded by an awesome g!@arist who was pushing 40 and still waiting for it to happen.  I think many of you can see where this is going.  This G!@arist who was completely deaf in one ear!  All he ever did was complain about how dude, you're too loud, all I can hear is this loud rumble coming from your side of the room. Now bear in mind that he's running a dual 4x12 mesa stack with a 250w Mesa head.  And to add insult to injury, my rhythm g!@arist is running the exact identical rig on the other side of me!!!!  I actually turned the volume down/off on my bass for 5 friggin songs!!!  At the break in the set I asked, so how was that for volume this time guys?  They ALL, singer and drummer included, were like, oh it sounded great!  That was when I informed them that there was NO bass over the last 5 songs and that the low rumble and fuzz that was being heard was from the rhythm g!@arists rig and that he was 3/4 deaf anyway, and he couldn't hear ANYTHING!!!  Alas, it was better that I quit when I did, now I get to do what I want, just play for the love baby!

Tonight at practice, we ran through all our songs...and then were working on a new one. We nailed it one time through, liked it, and decided to keep it that way. Take five. I go outside, pull out a cig and immediately guitarist: Hey, can I bum one? I've been in a band with these guys for about...six months now? And I swear our guitarist owes me an entire carton. But whatever, y'know?

So I'm just chillin', having my cig on an overturned five gallon bucket when suddenly *boom* big long clump of grass with a dirt clod on the end right in the chest. So being the cool headed, stable individual I am (yeah right) I ignore it. And then it's followed by little chunks of grass and stick, thrown by the vocalist. What the #### here? Why not pitch stuff at the drummer or the guitarist?

Eh, whatever. I know it's all in good fun, but I just figured I'd share my own recent tale of bassist abuse. Trust me when I say there's plenty of them.  Anyone else got a good one?
Ummmm, did you try something along the lines of, uh, ummm, I don't know, BEATING THE LIVING CRAP out them?

The worst for me is when I try to open my mouth to say something during practice my g##### suddenly hits a chord or noodles around and completely drowns me out. Now I'm guilty of the same thing, but a bass note doesn't completely overpower you like a g#### chord with loads of distortion. It's to the point now that if he does the same thing I'll either tell him to shut the f up or I'll just raise my hand like in school. Usually both pisses him off but he gets over it and we continue on our way.

The worst for me though came from my stinky. We were jaming one time in an odd time signature that I just couldn't get. We later were talking about writing songs and I mentioned that all I've really got is a bunch of riff ideas and he says something to the effect of I don't think your good enough to be giving us riff ideas, you should play for another year or so before doing that. If I hadn't been in such a state of shock (our stinky is one of the quitest dudes around) I would've beaten him with his own bass drum. But later I thought about it and I realized that I was mad because I had been out of practice (due to field time) and now I was lagging behind the others. It lit a fire from under my ass and it makes me want to practice a whole lot more. It really got me to come back down to earth and realize that though I'm pretty good, I can get a whole lot better. Later he apologized for what he said and that he didn't mean it the way it came out. I told him everything happens for a reason and explained my revelation to him. I think it gave us a new respect for each other honestly. I then told him that he was luckly I didn't follow my first impulse to beat the hell out of him.

When are you guys gonna get wise and just get rid of the stinking guitarist?! You don't need one!!!

Just kidding. Actually, I never received much abuse as a bassist, but it always annoyed me that when we were writing songs, they would double MY part and play it louder. So no more guitar players for me!

The only time I've ever had a problem with a guitar player has been when we were playing covers, and they'd get upsed because I wasn't playing the line from the record... If you want to hear the record, stay home and listen to it. If you go out to see a live band, be ready to hear THEIR arrangement of whatever covers they do. (just a personal pet peeve)