Audition!

Balrog68

Tomorrow night... 7pm, got an audition as Bassist for a local band. First time in a long time!
I did the whole 'band' thing for several years as a teenager until my early twenties and a hosted regular 'jams' in my late twenties but not much n the last 20+ years.
I've learnt all the material as well as I can but I'm still 'bricking' like it was the first time. 

CeeJay

Best of luck from me. I'm sure you fly through once you get going. 

Whistler

An audition should be as much about whether you get along with the other band members well enough that you all want to spend time together.

Demonstrating that you know how to play bass and have learnt some of the band's songs shows that you have the ability to learn the rest, all in good time.

ICBM

(That's an Audition bass, if you can't quite see the logo! )

mudslide73

Whistler said:

An audition should be as much about whether you get along with the other band members well enough that you all want to spend time together.

This with massive knobs on. Our current bassist wasn't the best technical bassist we auditioned but he was exactly the right guy. Also, do you like it/them? 

I hope it goes well  

fretmeister

If in doubt, turn on the envelope filter and the drive.
Always good advice!

ICBM

mudslide73 said:

Our current bassist wasn't the best technical bassist we auditioned but he was exactly the right guy.

I haven't ever been technically the best bass player for any band, including all the ones I've been in... hopefully I have sometimes been the right guy .

fretmeister said:

If in doubt, turn on the envelope filter and the drive.

Fuzz. Always fuzz!




(Actually a good fuzz can have a slight envelope-filter-like sound about it as well, especially if you play on the higher strings.)

Balrog68

fretmeister said:

If in doubt, turn on the envelope filter and the drive.

Fuzz. Always fuzz!




(Actually a good fuzz can have a slight envelope-filter-like sound about it as well, especially if you play on the higher strings.)

Think I'm not going to use any compression or fuzz or any effects at all and plan on just keeping it all simple.. Tiddly and diddly can join the party later if all goes well.
And your right Mr Whistler... the meeting new people, being the new boy, is the bit I'm most nervous about! 

Musicwolf

We're auditioning bass players this Thursday (the dates and location don't match so I guess that you're not one of them).  If it's any consolation, the rest of the band are also a bit nervous as it's not something that we do every day.

This will be unusual as we've had quite a few responses and we're seeing more than one candidate during the evening.  Our drummer placed the ad and handled the responses so I can't be too critical but I think that if I'd done it I would have tried to narrow the field earlier by talking to them over the phone.

As a previous poster has pointed out.  It's not so much about getting the best player as it is about finding the right fit.

mudslide73

Balrog68 said:

Tomorrow night... 7pm, got an audition as Bassist for a local band. First time in a long time!
I did the whole 'band' thing for several years as a teenager until my early twenties and a hosted regular 'jams' in my late twenties but not much n the last 20+ years.
I've learnt all the material as well as I can but I'm still 'bricking' like it was the first time. 

How was it? - I hope it went well.

Balrog68

Went great thanks... Lovely bunch of guys, had a total blast myself and, whilst we were playing, I could see them looking at each other and nodding and grinning. We played for nearly 3 hours and I've been asked back next week.
Looks promising. 

pintspiller

The old invite him back but don't actually tell him he's in the band thing.

Sounds normal. I'd say you've got the job.

I've been the hirer and the hired. It's rarely ever said on the night that you're now in the band.

midlifecrisis

pintspiller said:

The old invite him back but don't actually tell him he's in the band thing.

Sounds normal. I'd say you've got the job.

I've been the hirer and the hired. It's rarely ever said on the night that you're now in the band.

yes usually the case. I did audition for a band many years ago and after playing for 40 minutes had a  break and they offered me the job. however at the end of the session i think they only offered it to me as they were short of cash to pay for the rehearsal room and wanted me to contribute lol, i walked

Blueingreen

pintspiller said:

The old invite him back but don't actually tell him he's in the band thing.

Sounds normal. I'd say you've got the job.

I've been the hirer and the hired. It's rarely ever said on the night that you're now in the band.

Reminds me of an embarrassing experience.  Biggish band, horns etc but we decided to audition drummers with just bare bones, singer, guitar, bass.  We auditioned one guy, good technique and a bit of flair but nervy, and it affected his performance.  Auditioned the second, decent time-keeper but stolid, lacking flair or punch. 

At the end of the second guy's audition the singer, having decided he was clearly the better player, said, fine, thanks, you've got the gig, we'll let you know when the next rehearsal is.

After the second drummer left, we turned to the singer and said, why did you say that?  We liked the first guy better.  Sure he was nervous but we both thought he had the potential to be the better drummer.

So there was a debate and we agreed to give the first guy a chance to prove he hadn't done himself justice first time around.  And he was much improved, by miles the better drummer.

So we now have a guy who's been told he's got the gig, and we don't want him.  So we say to the singer, it's your fault, you jumped the gun, it's only fair you should tell him.

Which with the benefit of hindsight I regretted.  The singer wasn't cut out to be the guy to deliver the bad news and was really quite upset by it.  It seemed fair given that it was his mistake, but we should let somebody volunteer who wouldn't have been quite so sensitive about having to do it. You live and learn.

Musicwolf

Don't talk to me about bass players and auditions!

We were meant to see three last night. 7:00. 8:00 & 9:00 pm.  7:00 shows, 8:00 had called to say that his car had broken down and asked to reschedule which left us sat there freezing our backsides off waiting for 9:00 - who didn't bloody show.  No call or text, just no show.

Sodding 4 string knuckle-draggers

CeeJay

Musicwolf said:

Don't talk to me about bass players and auditions!

We were meant to see three last night. 7:00. 8:00 & 9:00 pm.  7:00 shows, 8:00 had called to say that his car had broken down and asked to reschedule which left us sat there freezing our backsides off waiting for 9:00 - who didn't bloody show.  No call or text, just no show.

Sodding 4 string knuckle-draggers

I feel you have to take the positives out of these situations. At least you know your new bass player is punctual 

Musicwolf

Well, the punctual one got the gig (and not just because he was the only one to show that evening).