I have a gig on Thursday, but all of our practices have been with an electric bass. Our bassist decided to play acousstic stand-up bass for this gig, and I'll only have one practice with the stand-up bass. Anything I should know or prepare extra for seeing as we'll only have one practice with the stand-up?

I know the differences in sound between an electric and stand-up, but I've never played a show with a stand-up bass. Any ideas or advice would be helpful. Thanks!








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A stand-up is usually a whole lot softer than a regular bass. You'll be hearing more of the physical "pop" of the strings rather than the tones from the bass itself. It's strongly suggested (if it's an "unplugged" gig) heading out and getting yourself a set of some sort of dowel sticks (like Pro-Mark Hot Rods) or brushes posthaste. Sticks will drown that standup right out, and you won't hear anything. If there will be some sort of pickup in the bass, then ask your sound person for more bass in your monitor, you'll need it.

Good luck!








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Yes I'd go for the hot rods too, and they have a nice balance and it's fun to play with them.








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Thanks for the advice! I was thinking of going with the hotrods, but I'm a procrastinator. One time, my kick pedal broke the week before we had a gig, and I put off replacing it with the pedal I have now right up until about 30 minutes before our show. Yes, while my guitar player and bassist were on stage sound checking, I was about 10 miles down the road in a music shop, 30 minutes before close, dropping $225 on a replacement pedal. I hauled back and hooked on the pedal still with the pricetag on it just in time to take ten mintutes to sound check my kit before we started. So I'm most likely to be back in the music store, 30 minutes before close, buying a pair of hot rods. I once had a pair, but they broke. My arsenal for the practice will be Zildjian 5A's, Zildjian 7A's, a pair of brushes, an egg shaker, a train whistle, and of course a scaled down 4-piece version of my 5-piece kit minus three cymbals. I appreciate the input. If the bass has a pick up, which it more than likely will, I'll tell the sound engineer to make a note to turn up the bass on my monitor. If no pick up, which would completely suck, I'll go pick up a pair of hot rods. I've been meaning to pick up a pair for about three months now...








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I'm part of the brotherhood of like-minded individuals who like to bang on things.

if you can't get the bass in your monitor, chances are that even dowel sticks will be too loud to hear what he's doing.

vater Monster brushes are pretty cool, they're a LOT heavier than typical nylon brushes and have a solid thwack to them, but won't disintegrate on you like dowel sticks tend to once you get wound up onstage.
http://www.vater.com/newproducts/product.cfm?M=283

If you do go with rutes or hotrods, I'd recommend getting several pairs-
they just don't last long at all, unless you're a jazz tapper.

I wish you well, and hope to heck they can give you some bass in your monitor.
Otherwise, watch his fingers I guess!








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It's ok, the practice went very well today and everything is in order for tomorrow's show. Now I'm just stuck at home updating my setlist for tomorrow night. The bass has a pickup, and he's planning on bringing his own amp, and micing the amp through the PA. I had plenty of bass in my monitor, but it also helps when he's standing like ten inches away from my kit. I don't use a lot of cymbal work with these guys so the drowning out of the bass in my ears from the wash and crash of cymbals is down to a minimum. All in all, it's going to be a great show. Thanks for your advice and help though, because I sure would have not told the engineer to bump up the bass volume in my monitor and ended up a beat behind or something.








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I'm part of the brotherhood of like-minded individuals who like to bang on things.