Sorry m8, you’re the Bass Player
Hello Bass friends,
Look at us… We are undoubtedly the most underrated, overlooked and from a -non musician perspective, superfluous member of a band. Stereotypically the guy or girl who stands at the back of the stage who looks like they’re trying to tune a big guitar.
But we know better than that.. We are the glue, the genre definers. We bridge the gap between the drummers thrashings and the lead instruments wailings. Despite your (or my) opinion of Sting as an individual, he once said a very pertinent thing. “The band don’t play C unless I play a C”.
Bass is essential in all music, even if a band doesn’t have a bass player, you’ll wanna bulk out the guitars bottom end or have a synth player, an organist, a sousaphone. It’s weight. It’s vibe. It’s what makes your teeth chatter and your chest hurt when your at a big venue. To this end, you need to embrace it. Here’s what I think you’ll need to show up to an ‘any gig in Brighton’ situation:
- Your bass- Doesn’t matter what type or with which gauge strings.. Does it look cool? Do the jack output and knobs work correctly? Is its intonation in check? That’s all you need to worry about.
- Your amp- Combo’s are great for those taxi loadouts and smaller shows, but you really want to be pushing some air, just for your own benefit. The minimum of a 212 cabinet and 300w head will set you in good stead. Or get your bi-amp / 4 cab/ 11 speaker rig going as shown below.. They’re even using a Line 6 filter modeller, the legend:
-A Tuner- Boss TU3. TC Electronics PolyTune. So boring. So essential.
-Way more jack leads than you will need. Spares for spares, including patch leads.
-A 4 gang power extension. Haha, I’m so boring.
-Spare set of strings- Nuff said. Turn a bummer string break into a show of how cooly and quickly you can change a string and get back in the action.
-Use your fingers? Great. Use picks? Great. Bring spare if you need them (yes fingers too). using 10p or 50p coins is also acceptable for that Bob Weston sound.
-Your effects — Buy a fuzz pedal, or 3 fuzz pedals, a compressor, an octave pedal and whatever else takes your fancy — chorus for that 80’s width, a synth pedal to get your tasty Dr Dre bass lines kicking, a tremolo to freak your band out — etc etc. Your pedal board doesn’t need to be self aware, but why let the guitarists have all the fun.
-A DI- How bout’ that, a nice balanced signal at line level to the FOH before your amp. Take pride. Get a Sans Amp, Rusty Box or a good quality DI that can actually deal with a bass signal sensibly, driving it THEN sending it to your engineer, and thus the crowd. Not some sorry looking thing they will put on top of your amp before soundcheck.
Above all, you are the bass player… You are the bass player! We’re really the most important member of the band & in most cases we will keep the whole thing together with our calm and measured personas. We’ll surprise the crowd with the fact that they can hear us and we’re not just a massive dork. Don’t be the guy or girl who stands at the back of the stage who looks like they’re trying to tune some kind of weird oversized guitar. Be the bass player.
