bass players who speed up

bromasi

Senior Member
How do you deal with bass players that speed up, I played wth a bass players thay sped up so bad that the beat turned around, and the leader turned around thought I was wrong and he never thought the bass player was at fault..
 
I'm a bass player and you're right - they do terrible things.

Tell him/her to focus on the beat and practice with a metronome!

Cheers
Davo
 
Tell them to play without you, and watch them speed up. Then tell the bass player to drop out for a couple of numbers. They should see where the problem lies. (I've done this).
 
You work on it with them. Get together with him one on one if necessary and iron out any issues.

Rehearsing is as much about learning to play with one another, identifying problems and fixing them, as it is about learning new material.
 
Usually it's bassists complaining about speeding drummers. There are a fair few conversations about that on bass forums.

Usually, if a player is off then I want to ignore that player and try to lock in with the most reliable musician (or singer). If the bassist is isolated then he's the one who will have to make adjustments.

While this runs contrary to the usual bass/drum marriage but I'd rather lock in with a solid guitar or vocal than chase an errant bassist around.
 
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