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NoFrets80

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Dec 20, 2005
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167
Location
Western North Carolina
:So I had a great gig tonight playing my SUB 4 (fretted). I have all my stuff gathered up to load outat the end of the night, and my bass (in a undercover cases gigbag) was lying on the floor near the stage, out of the way to my eyes and everyone else's. Our drummer comes down off the steps with his kick drum, which is obscuring his view. He steps on my bass in the gig bag (which is a tank), and falls down with his drum. I'm more concerned about his ankle and such, and I'm checking to see if he's okay. The f*ed up thing is that he gets up and kicks my bass across the floor out of anger. I'm more shocked than anything, as this is a guy I've played with for over 6 years, and it's totally out of character. If I had been in a different state of mind I might have thrown a punch, but I'm not one to jump to that extreme in most cases. Anyway, after everything cooled down and he apologized, I took the bass out of the bag expecting the worst. It was barely out of tune. I know it was partly due to the bag protecting it, but a bass of any other quality I'm sure might have been damaged to a certain extent. The moral of the story? Drummers are insane, and I need to be more careful about where I lay my bass. :(
 

bovinehost

Administrator
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Jan 16, 2003
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Dall-Ass, TX
The moral of the story? Drummers are insane, and I need to be more careful about where I lay my bass.

I have to agree with the moral of the story.

I've done (accidentally) some scary things to MusicMan basses and they've survived quite nicely. Glad to hear your SUB is okay. One of these days, I'm going to get me a SUB, I swear.

Jack
 

Oldtoe

Intestinal Poltergeist
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Sep 10, 2004
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Paris, TX
I've read somewhere that the bass player is allowed to kick the drumset to get the drummer's attention when said drummer is screwing up the song with wankery. You might avail yourself of that at some point. I'm just saying.
 

KennethB

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Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
929
Location
Stavanger, Norway
Anyone seen the Jaco video "Modern Electric Bass"? The part where at the end of the song he throws his bass to Kenwood Dennard (the drummer) for him to catch it on the last downbeat?
Well, many, many years ago I was really into "showmanship", and when I saw that I thought: Wow, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen! I have to do it too!
And from longer distances, like 20 feet. The drummer in my band said; "Let's do it!" and from that day we had to practice me hurling the bass (Yes, my beautiful, shiny, new Stingray) in his direction and him catching it (or getting knocked out cold!). We had to be ready to do it on gigs dammit.
We made it most of the times, but of course sometimes I missed; throwing the bass into walls, hitting the cymbals and so on.
Results:Minor scratches at the end of the headstock. Barely visable riples to the finish at a few spots on the body. Unbelievable considering the treatment!
I did all this nonsense for a period of 2 months.
It was totally crazy,I know, and I will never do it again. But, please forgive me, I was young and dumb!
The point is when younger players ask me; "what's the bass with the best construction?"...I say:"MusicMan! Believe me...I KNOW!"
 
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barkatozz

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Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
689
Location
Gloucester, New Jersey
NoFrets80 said:
:So I had a great gig tonight playing my SUB 4 (fretted). I have all my stuff gathered up to load outat the end of the night, and my bass (in a undercover cases gigbag) was lying on the floor near the stage, out of the way to my eyes and everyone else's. Our drummer comes down off the steps with his kick drum, which is obscuring his view. He steps on my bass in the gig bag (which is a tank), and falls down with his drum. I'm more concerned about his ankle and such, and I'm checking to see if he's okay. The f*ed up thing is that he gets up and kicks my bass across the floor out of anger. I'm more shocked than anything, as this is a guy I've played with for over 6 years, and it's totally out of character. If I had been in a different state of mind I might have thrown a punch, but I'm not one to jump to that extreme in most cases. Anyway, after everything cooled down and he apologized, I took the bass out of the bag expecting the worst. It was barely out of tune. I know it was partly due to the bag protecting it, but a bass of any other quality I'm sure might have been damaged to a certain extent. The moral of the story? Drummers are insane, and I need to be more careful about where I lay my bass. :(
If it was my drummer who did that, he'd be laid up in a hospital right now. :cool:
 

hankSRay

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Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
848
Location
Yonkers, NY
my band has a restraining order against our drummer stating that he is not allowed within an arms reach of any of our equipment. If violated we reserve the right to use any necessary means of force, bats, knives, tasers, to get him back behind the drums where he belongs.
 

AnthonyD

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Mar 23, 2005
Messages
3,683
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New Jersey
KennetB said:
Anyone seen the Jaco video "Modern Electric Bass"? The part where at the end of the song he throws his bass to Kenwood Dennard (the drummer) for him to catch it on the last downbeat?
I saw that - and thought is was insane... In a crazy kinda way...

To each his own, but I don't see myself throwing my bass to anyone! :p
 

barkatozz

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Aug 13, 2004
Messages
689
Location
Gloucester, New Jersey
Anybody ever see the Rick James episode of the A-Team where Rick throws his Explorer bass to Hannibal & Hannibal catches.......an Explorer GUITAR? Oops.:eek:
 

xring

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Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
83
I think if I saw someone kick my bass for whatever reason - automatic postal.
New drummer (or bassist) needed.:mad:
 

Aussie Mark

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Nov 9, 2003
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Sydney, Australia
That's exactly why I use hard cases rather than gig bags. Tear down and load out is often a crazy time of the night, especially if it coincides with the venue's closing time, and a bass in a gig bag is too vulnerable to damage with all that gear and people milling around.
 

NoFrets80

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Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
167
Location
Western North Carolina
Aussie Mark said:
That's exactly why I use hard cases rather than gig bags. Tear down and load out is often a crazy time of the night, especially if it coincides with the venue's closing time, and a bass in a gig bag is too vulnerable to damage with all that gear and people milling around.

Agreed... the gravity of the situation resulted in from the fact that this was a BIG floor with plenty of space for the drummer to have exited the stage, coming nowhere close to my equipment, which he knew was there to begin with. For him to be angry at me or my equipment's location was ludicrous, as was his reaction. His drums have been in my way many times and I've not kicked them... yet. :eek:
 

SteveB

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Sep 3, 2004
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6,192
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
If that were me, there would be one less drummer in the world.

Maybe start a small fire inside his bass drum at the next gig? ;)
 
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Calaveras

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Jun 14, 2006
Messages
241
Location
New York City
I have dropped drummers and guitarists for less. Drummers get more leeway because they are harder to replace. Singers get none.
 
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