What are your bass player priorities / red flags?

Andy

Honorary Member
We're set to lose our current bass player, & we're auditioning for a replacement over the next few weeks. Other than the usual basics, I'm curious as to your priorities. Are there any playing / interpretation elements you find especially attractive?

Additionally, any little red flags you look for in the application process? I have a few that I look for - what are yours?
 
We're set to lose our current bass player, & we're auditioning for a replacement over the next few weeks. Other than the usual basics, I'm curious as to your priorities. Are there any playing / interpretation elements you find especially attractive?

Additionally, any little red flags you look for in the application process? I have a few that I look for - what are yours?

This is dependent on the music you're playing (obviously), but when in cover band territory, I just want to hear the recorded part. I did a gig where the bass player didn't play parts original to the song, and all the songs had this weird bass part going on - not something very grooving when you know what you need to hear.

A big red flag for me also is when a bass player pulls out a 6-string bass - there will be a propensity for him to become an additional guitarist, so I want to curtail that ASAP. If it's a 5-string with a low-B string, then you're safe because hearing the bass part go down further than open E is cool. And it allowed me to call tunes in Db and Eb, and he simply goes down, fulfilling his bass part.

He also should have his own gear in order. Things shouldn't be breaking. Take pride, right?
 
This is dependent on the music you're playing (obviously), but when in cover band territory, I just want to hear the recorded part. I did a gig where the bass player didn't play parts original to the song, and all the songs had this weird bass part going on - not something very grooving when you know what you need to hear.

A big red flag for me also is when a bass player pulls out a 6-string bass - there will be a propensity for him to become an additional guitarist, so I want to curtail that ASAP. If it's a 5-string with a low-B string, then you're safe because hearing the bass part go down further than open E is cool. And it allowed me to call tunes in Db and Eb, and he simply goes down, fulfilling his bass part.

He also should have his own gear in order. Things shouldn't be breaking. Take pride, right?
Agreed all points in general, although in Fired Up, we're purposely looking for interesting but appropriate interpretations of the original song bass lines. Of course, you have to be able to play the original part too in order to judge the interpreted part.

With you on 6 string + basses too, but I'm (sometimes) a fan of 5 string dropped below E too :)

My big red flag is bassists who are ex 6 string guitarists. Every time I encounter such a player, their bass sensibility is lacking. Maybe I'm just unlucky in that respect, but ex 6 string players always tend to lack pulse & lose sight of the overall purpose of bass in a band.
 
For me, I like a bassist to lock in with drums, it makes the rhythm section sound much bigger and makes the songs you play pop. It sounds like an obvious but the amount of bassists and drummers that can't lock into each other is scary.

Volume control. I've played with way too many bassists that are louder than anyone else on stage with a shocking tone and wont turn down. These guys have trouble with tuning and playing the right notes.

If you can get a bassist that knows what the top 2 strings are for and can play them bonus. 4 strings are usually 2 strings too many!

I'm realizing as this list gets longer the chances of finding a bassist that can do the above points is slim.

A good bassist is hard to find, good luck Andy!
 
I like bass players that don't hog all the available space. They leave some for others.

Why the departure of your original bass guy?
 
Hey Andy, I'd say the #1 thing I would look at is a good attitude including a nice little dose of humility. Of course, skill is a close second; however, I'd rather play with someone who isn't perfect but is fun to be around as opposed to a bassist who is a jerk but is an amazing player.

Little red flag 2. I always assume that a bassist has his/her own gear, but if not, he/she should own a fairly decent bass rig.

Little red flag 3. Ask the person their influences. This gives a lot of insight to what he/she is thinking if bass parts need to be written in the future.

Little red flag 4. This may sound terrible, but I like to play with bass players in which bass was one of the first instruments they learned. I hate playing with converted guitar players because they don't understand locking in with the drummer. With these guys, I always want to grab a piece of painters tape, walk over to their bass and put the tape at about the 6th fret and say, "Don't play past this! Oh, and don't play anything faster than an 8th note either." Bass players get it. Converted guitar players don't. Find out how they learned.

Little red flag 5. If the bass player shows up and gets a pick out of his case, just tell him to leave right then (I'm sort of kidding, but I'm sort of not too).

Little red flag 6.Find out of the person is married and/or has kids. The answer can be either a pro or a con depending your band members' stages of life. Right now, all of the guys I'm playing with right now are married and have small-ish kids. If there is a rehearsal cancellation because a kid is sick, we all get it and wish them well and to get well soon. There are no grudges or anything like that. However, if I was playing with a bunch of 20-somethings, it wouldn't fly.

Little red flag 7. Find out what kind of job they work. Day jobs are good. If they can't keep a job, this may reflect on their personality and/or work ethic.

Little red flag 8. If you ask them about their previous band experiences, and they've been in 5 bands, and all of them were a_ _holes, then you need to look at the common denominator. Granted, some people just have bad luck; however, I've never left a band or group in bad blood in 25 years as an active musician.

Little red flag 9. Look for signs of drug use. It's really bad in my area, so I always feel the need to mention it.

Maybe these are obvious, but maybe they're not. Auditioning is TOUGH business. Prayers and thoughts are with you!
 
I don't want pushy people in the band. Some people try to take control of the band.
 
Way back in an 80s cover band, we would audition bass players with only one song, "Footloose", and instruct the player to learn the song note for note.

It turns out, there are only two types of bass players: those that play Footloose note for note, and those who don't.
 
I'm realizing as this list gets longer the chances of finding a bassist that can do the above points is slim.

A good bassist is hard to find, good luck Andy!
That certainly narrows the field, but nothing compared to how many criteria my bandmates have stipulated!

I like bass players that don't hog all the available space. They leave some for others.

Why the departure of your original bass guy?
As with all players Larry, the ability to play the spaces is a big deal.

Reasons for leaving = life demands taking over - it happens :(

Little red flag 4. This may sound terrible, but I like to play with bass players in which bass was one of the first instruments they learned. I hate playing with converted guitar players because they don't understand locking in with the drummer. With these guys, I always want to grab a piece of painters tape, walk over to their bass and put the tape at about the 6th fret and say, "Don't play past this! Oh, and don't play anything faster than an 8th note either." Bass players get it. Converted guitar players don't. Find out how they learned.
Good list, & 100% agreed, but this one is a big one for me. Never met a good bass player who started substantially on 6 string. of course, I'm sure they exist, & I know many bassists who can play 6 string, but it was never their primary instrument. Now, a drummer who started as a bass player, or a bass player who started as a drummer = different deal altogether!

I don't want pushy people in the band. Some people try to take control of the band.
Oh yes - actually - hell yes!
 
Top priority for me is someone who can play time. Last bass player I worked with rushed like mad. Drove me nuts.
 
Way back in an 80s cover band, we would audition bass players with only one song, "Footloose", and instruct the player to learn the song note for note.

It turns out, there are only two types of bass players: those that play Footloose note for note, and those who don't.
Finding one song that's a deal breaker is certainly one approach, but one that we'd struggle with due to our breadth of requirement. Also, as we're not wedded to verbatim ourselves, it's not high on the list for us.

Our biggest additional requirement is good BV / harmony ability. That cuts the field down very substantially.

Top priority for me is someone who can play time. Last bass player I worked with rushed like mad. Drove me nuts.
That's number 1,2, & 3 right there!
 
Good time and sense/care about groove.

It's the one thing that takes the longest to learn if it's not there.
 
Issues we've had to deal with recently as we're auditioning bassists (again):

1. Mud-tone. We've had a couple guys audition and their amp settings were all bass. Barely any mids or highs. Several songs, "Valerie" by Ronson & Winehouse in particular, I couldn't tell what they heck the bassist was playing. Two guys specifically gave me a weird look when I told them to brighten their sound. I guy I had to tell to just even out their eq settings and he mumbled about "bass tone."

2. Undisclosed medical condition. Ok, so this one is a red flag. We had a bassist who left the stage right before the 4th song after coming off our break. As he's walking off he says, "I gotta go pee" -right by a mic so the whole joint heard it. After the show I tells us that when he's gotta go, he's gotta go. He had some other issues we weren't happy about so as he said, he had to go.

3. Inability to respond to calls/texts/emails within a day. This may be a personal pet peeve, but if someone doesn't get back to me within a day, especially someone I'm trying to get paid, it's usually not going to work out.

4. If their cell phone or landline isn't always "on" -meaning service was suspended or terminated by their phone company. If they aren't paying the bills then they have outside issues bigger than the band environment.

5. Too much rig for the show/rehearsal. We've had a couple guys show up w/ a bass stack. Each of them has two 4x10 cabinets and a monster head...just to audition.

6. Not learning the songs in the proper key. We give players a set of songs to learn for the audition and the key they are in along w/ an audio or video link of the recording that we've done or is what we've learned from. We've had guys come in and have learned the songs in the wrong key for a variety of reasons: "their" version is easier to play, they just Googled the song and learned the first one that came up, they downloaded a tab or sheet music in the wrong key, etc.

7. They show up to auditions with a cooler full of beer and/or have been drinking. Nothing wrong with having a beer or two at rehearsals, but you don't show up to an interview with a buzz or expecting to get buzzed. I know some people think it's a way to break the ice, but having dealt with too many alcoholics, it's an immediate red flag.
 
Our biggest additional requirement is good BV / harmony ability. That cuts the field down very substantially.

Good bassist with backing vocals. Think that needs to go on the list!
 

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Agreed all points in general, although in Fired Up, we're purposely looking for interesting but appropriate interpretations of the original song bass lines. Of course, you have to be able to play the original part too in order to judge the interpreted part.

With you on 6 string + basses too, but I'm (sometimes) a fan of 5 string dropped below E too :)

My big red flag is bassists who are ex 6 string guitarists. Every time I encounter such a player, their bass sensibility is lacking. Maybe I'm just unlucky in that respect, but ex 6 string players always tend to lack pulse & lose sight of the overall purpose of bass in a band.

I hear you about the ex-Guitar player types. It’s like a different headspace among rhythm and lead guitarists. Lead guys are always noodling about and rhythm guys play for the band. Why these lead types even consider going to bass guitar is baffling. Not every bass gig is a Doug Wimbish gig. Most are still 1 & 3 1st position playing last I checked ;)

But a lot of drummers still have to learn that too!
 
I haven't heard a lot of bass players I like that play with a pick. I guess that's a personal preference thing but I'll always lean towards a bass player who uses their fingers. I'm also in agreement with bo, if a 6 string gets pulled out of the guitar bag then you'd better put your guard up. A lot of bass players don't originally start off on bass, so ask them what else they play. Usually ex drummers who play bass have really solid timing, and ex piano player bassists have good sense of musicality and where the bass should fit in the song. Ex guitar players who pick up the bass usually like to try to play the bass like a guitar... from my own experience
 
After I mostly determine that they aren't jerks, which is number 1 to me, the next few questions I ask:

- What is the band you've listened to more than any other band over your lifetime? -- This one gets some really interesting responses that in my experience actually almost never align with my assumptions about a new player in the group.

-What style or technique are you best at?

-What style/technique are you worst at?

-How often do you practice on your own, or how many times per week do you play for more than 1 hour on your own? -- As much as I wish I could say otherwise, the answer to this has always aligned to how good they are as a musician, how tight they play and how well I can lock with them. Especially as I get older, it seems people joining bands are doing so in order to spur themselves to play more rather than already having a current desire and drive to make music.

One last advice I'm sure you're already aware of... People don't always play to the best of their ability in audition situations. Give lots of leeway on that first meetup and do a second if you need to! Listen to the specifics of the parts that they don't mess up rather than focusing on mistakes that get made.
 
I like them to understand how to set up the amp properly (an issue for some).
I work best with a bassist that understands that everyone is the time keeper.
I like a bass player who knows when it is time to change the strings.
I find that the ones with a mellow character have a better sensibility of music in general.
I like a player who has very good improvisational skills
It also helps if they listen to a wide rage of music with classical and jazz being high on their list.
I also prefer a player who knows how to fill out the bottom end rather than giving us his or her impression of Flea, unless they can actually do it.

Those are just a few personal preferences.

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