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Get to use my new Squier Bass VI, but I have to brush up very quickly on bass clef. Takes me a couple of days to get used to transposing down one space/line. Reading bass charts is like going into another world for a couple of weeks. Just finishing "Bullet over Broadway" today on guitar/banjo/uke (very jazzy score!) but after today probably won't even touch a regular guitar until after "Guys." Will be living on the Bass VI for a few weeks now.
ps - From my seat in the pit for "Bullets." My wife leading on elec violin next to the video monitors. I put together a little pedalboard for her with famous vintage violin sampling (Strads, Guarns, etc), chorus and delay, she sounds like an orchestral string section on one violin, it's very cool. The music director has raved about the sound.
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02-13-2022 10:09 AM
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Well done, and best of luck!
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Have fun! Some thoughts:
a) Although I play bass guitar with a pick, for this gig Officer Bass says to put your hands on the strings and step away from the pick.
b) If that's hard on the Bass VI, or if you think you will ever play BG again, consider buying a ratty $150 BG from a pawnshop for this gig and putting a new set of nickel rounds on it.
c) Most of the time big-band bass-playing is a forensic exercise: There is at least one Ideal Part and it is almost never on the page. But for pit gigs, 100% hit the page.
d) As always but really even more so on bass, the spaces are as important as the notes. Note length and spacing affects the feel of the entire ensemble. Even while your head is stuck on the stand reading the notes and articulations, keep your ears open for how changing length and space actually works out.
e) You've got this, maestro. People nowhere near as skilled or bright as you pull it off.
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Back in the day I was playing and practicing a lot, and I played guitar in the pit for Jesus Christ Superstar around 1980. They handed me piano charts for many of the tunes. Man, that was hard.
Yeah, reading Bass notation, your brain will probably never get to rest.
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Thanks for the advice, I swapped out my regular bass (which I always played with fingers) for the Bass VI, mainly so when reading bass clef I can stay in lower positions. (The high e and b strings allow you to stay lower.) I've tried to play it with my fingers but it's a bit tight in the right hand. But I am a reasonably proficient classical player, so I may be able to do it. If not, will us a heavy pick with highs turned way down. The part is fairly easy, lots of long sustained notes and lots of 1-rest-3-rest. Several parts above the staff. If it was guitar (treble clef) I could do this entire book in one reading. I've played two shows on bass, but maybe 20 years ago. It's a total paradigm shift when reading it. At least I have a couple of weeks to live exclusively in bass clef to get ready and "change gears" so I don't have to think about transposing.
Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
Last edited by Woody Sound; 02-14-2022 at 08:20 AM.
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ps - Here is the simple little violin pedalboard I put together for her for shows. We have the vsound 2 (on the right) set for one of the Strad samples, then the chorus sounds more like a full string section, and then the slight analog delay gives hall ambience. The vsound 2 was expensive, but the other two I already had lying around loose in a box of old pedals along with the Pedaltrain mini.
vsound
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Spend some time listening to "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat", before you try and read it cold.
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Great, have fun, Woody!
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I just picked up a week with The Wedding Singer, which calls for 3 guitars, for some strange reason. I'm playing Guitar 1, which is NOT the lead stuff, but the very rhythmic hits with the drums and the keyboard "horns". Easy to play, tough to read. Great timing to get this gig after switching over to Gretsch guitars, perfect for this along with my Digitech 360, which I will spend the next couple of days programming the sounds in an order that works, maybe adding an outboard pedal or two if necessary. Good luck with the bass gig, it's a great show.
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Sounds like it's going to be a fun time. If you mess up does the other half ignore you on the ride home?
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I didn’t know there is a “wedding singer” musical. Is there anything in that that would be inappropriate for a high school? Originally Posted by ronjazz
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Not sure, maybe some nasty words, but those are easy enough to change. Haven't done a rehearsal with the cast yet, but the online versions do contain some f-bombs. It's a terrible score: lots of Broadway irrelevancies in each tune, and mostly Springsteen-Type rock riffs. Easy to play, rough to read. It's only 6 shows, thankfully. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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In "Bullets over Broadway" The floozie sings a song "I want a Hot Dog for my Roll." Originally Posted by ronjazz
A few of the lines:
I want a Hot Dog for my Roll.
I want it hot, I don't want it cold.
Give me a big one, that's what I say.
I want it so it will fit my bread.
Now is it young, I don't want it old.
I sure will be disgusted if this dog ain't full of mustard.
Don't want no excuse, it must have lots of juice.
I want a hot dog for my roll.
etc
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No, the only thing we argue about is when I have to help her with her electronics. "Take care of your own stuff, I have enough to deal with!" She hates that. One time she clumsily knocked over my Henriksen Tweety and broke it just before the show. Then I mutter "women in the pit..." and that makes her even madder at me. But we're always good the next day. Take it from me, it's not always easy working with your spouse. It's definitely a blessing, but can be difficult at times. Mine is a fabulous musician, but when it comes to tech she's lost. One time just before a show shea started yelling to me "Nothing's working, nothing's working!" I went over, and she hadn't turned on the amp. Originally Posted by Strbender
Sounds like it's going to be a fun time. If you mess up does the other half ignore you on the ride home?
Last edited by Woody Sound; 02-24-2022 at 08:32 AM.
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Entendres travel in pairs, like bluesmen. It's safer that way. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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Thanks, I appreciate the tip, but that looks like one of the easier numbers. Originally Posted by unknownguitarplayer
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I don't understand, are you being facetious? That's one of the simpler numbers to read in the entire book. Did it the first time through. Just a lot of accidentals. Originally Posted by unknownguitarplayer
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BTW, this is actually an upright bass part, with a bunch of arco (bow) parts. I can turn the pick sideways and lightly and quickly "flutter" over the string for long notes. Wife is a string player and she thinks it sounds really good.
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test Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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Your perspective is enlightening, because the show has some great reviews. Maybe just for the show and not the music. Originally Posted by ronjazz
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I just might wear a white or silver tie for the shows instead of the usual requisite all-black pit outfit. Might raise some eyebrows. Put a guitar in Brando's hands and he's a rock star. (I never knew he could sing fairly decently.)
Last edited by Woody Sound; 02-28-2022 at 09:35 PM.
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I'm finishing a run of The Wedding Singer tomorrow. Interesting experience to really put my new Gretsch through the paces. It's a banging part, lots of "power chord" chunking in 1/8 notes and chorused ballads, 80's vintage. The Gretsch did fine: was in tune from the start to the finish of several of the sets, which are both over an hour long. On the other hand, the effects rig was difficult to manage due to my inexperience with that dance, having done mostly classic Broadway stuff and a couple of earlier rock-oriented things, like Bye Bye Birdie. I twice mistakenly hit the looper. That was fun. Glad it was only a week. But it proved that the Gretsch is a wonderful combination of Gibson and Fender aspects, with a personality of its own as well. I found it very capable of all the demands of a professional instrument.
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It's interesting that George was so attached to the Gretsch sound in the early Beatles days, but after that he switched to the Rick. Originally Posted by ronjazz
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The Bass VI prevails!
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Raney and Abersold, great interview.
Yesterday, 11:21 PM in Improvisation