After college I bought an acoustic guitar and taught myself how to play music. I subsequently got bit by the music bug so my repertoire of musical instruments makes my apartment a little jungle-esque. I’d like to someday be out there as a street busker chanting my noodly head off and singing about the world’s injustices (and a justice thrown in there for good measure). But in the interim, I think it’d be good for me to get some practice by playing in a band and expand my musicality.
Well, right now I"ve got an electric bass guitar and a small bass amp (Washburn SX30B), my question is…how do I become a “working” bass player, what other equipment do I need if we’re gonna gig in small-possibly medium sized bars/venues?
Thanks,j
Welcome to the SDMB, jmortenson. GQ is for questions with factual answers. Since you’re looking for advice, I’ll send this thread over to IMHO.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I don’t know anything about equipment, but I’d say a daily dose of listening to two hours of Rush music is a decent start. 
What, you wanna try out as John Entwhistle’s replacement?
Niiiiice. :rolleyes:
Classy.
Well, I don’t know how good you are so here are my general thoughts.
As far as equipment goes you’ll need at least this: 2 basses, an inline tuner, a microphone, mic cable and mic stand, bass stands, an extra set of strings and probably a bigger amp. I looked and the only Washburn Bass amp I could find with 30 in the name was BD30B. 30 watts isn’t much.
This list also depends on what the band you join has for equipment. You can run a line in to a P.A. instead of micing the amp. You may need another mic, cable and stand for backing vocals.
As far as becoming a working player goes there are some general hints. Practice, practice and practice WITH A METRONOME!. I cannot tell you how important the metronome is. I tried out a whole lot of bass players who could riff all day long but couldn’t keep a beat. That doesn’t work.
Next, learn a lot of songs in the genre of music you want to play. If you are looking to get into a band that writes its own material instead of doing cover tunes learn keys inside and out and improv. This comes into play when auditioning. If you can walk into an audition and say, “What key?” then improv a basic bass line you will get the job most of the time.
Last, play in front of people and practice while standing. Playing in front of people is important so you get over the stage fright thing. I have known some awesome players that would lock up if there were more than 3 people in the room. Heck the first, and only, time I played a 20,000 seat show I almost locked up and I had probably 100 gigs under my belt by then. Standing while practicing is important for two reasons. Reason number a) the bass sits differently when you are standing and you need to be comfortable playing while on your feet. Reason number b) being on stage under lights takes a lot more energy than you would think and that bass strapped to your back will get really heavy if you are not used to it.
Slee
I have been a Who fan since I was 13 years old.
The above is how I learned that John Entwistle, one of the finest rock and roll bassists ever, had died.
I hope your little joke has brought you great pleasure, Baglady.
I’m sorry I don’t have any advice to offer the OP.
Play every single chance you get with everyone you can. Go to open mic’s, jam sessions, and etc. Try to play with people better then you- you will learn a lot if you are the one struggling to keep up. Try to read verbal and non verbal cues to adjust to the situation and personalities you are with.
Play along with recordings- not to get things note for note, but to cop the feel and the general sound.
Record yourself playing alone and with others- listen and critique yourself.
Always, always, always try to play in time.
Practice slowly, and focus first on the hard things.
You will need a bigger amp. I have played small to medium venues with one of those blue Ampeg bass amps (only about 50 watts) and that only works in a trio or quartet if everyone is pretty low volumed (this was a blues band)… Wedding gigs from medium to large I have used a 100 watt Fender bass combo by itself (just barely adequate) and with a 2x10 cab (better)…rock, blues and jazz gigs are a lot more comfortable with a bigger amp. However, you will be the one carrying it around, so don;t get crazy. My avorite is a SWR Working Man’s 15.
You can run through the PA in medium and larger venues- either with a mic, or with a direct box. The SWR has a built in mic cable jack.
Always bring extra cables and strings.
JC
[bandjokes]How do you get your bass player off you front porch? Pay for the pizza…
How do you know when your singer has come to visit? He just keeps ringing the doorbell, because he doesn’t know when to come in…[/bandjokes]
Excellent advice from the bassists…vocalist here, to offer his two cents on the bass master for what it’s worth.
Unless you want to sing as well, you might hold off on the mics, mic stands, anything involving PA equipment, extraneaous stuff, etc., and for the time being concentrate right now on just getting a completely kick-ass bass, bass amplifier and cabinet to play through. If you develop your skills enough with your basic rig, you’ll be able to hook up with a decent band willing to incorporate what you have and work around you. Having a lot of equipment is always a selling point, but between a medicore bassist with a lot of equipment and a fantastic bassist with nothing beyond a quality basic rig, give me the fantastic bassist every day.
A setup for a PA with a starting out band is the vocalists job IMO, and for small show and parties etc. when you’re starting out you won’t be miking your bass through the PA, you’ll be playing straight. When you do start playing small and mid-size venues the venue soundman should be the one responsible for having mics, mic cables & stands, and other PA equipment to mic or direct your bass rig through the house system , like trainwreck says (some players I’ve known had rigs so big they weren’t even mic’d through the house sysyem at all, they just played through their set-ups…bass players seem to epitomize “the bigger the better”).
My basic advice: for now, get a quality bass-amplifier-cabinet rig (admittedly, bigger is often better) develop those inherent monster skills, and find a band to grow with. Nothing will improve your skills more or give you better feedback on what kind of equipment will suit your sound than gigging with a band, both from playing with like minds and talking with bassists from other bands you gig with.
-prav