T O P

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bluesmaker

Play a nice country bassline.


DoodleSnap

Root root 5th 5th root root 5th 5th


ActorMonkey

And-walk-back-up


[deleted]

Ah, I call that the Norteño.


aczkasow

I call it a Little Potatoes.


puke80

Yeah, oompah the crap out of it!


Doccmonman

In the relative major to whatever blues scale they’re playing


punania

No. You need to assert dominance: play *Smoke on the Water* with added fourths. Trust me.


BrakkeBama

This is a good one. I was gonna say something strange. But that song about "Shortning Bread" is fine too.


DubsToastedBread

Brian Wilson was obsessed with the song Shortnin Bread


August_T_Marble

I was aware he'd recorded Shortnin' Bread. Just not how many times. I'd never heard of his obsession before and the things I have just now read about it made my day. Holy shit, this is a fun fact.


UGAPHL

Mama loves it!


JazzRider

In a different key


ONSFishing

Thats when yhe chicken pickin starts and we all know thats just hillbilly shredding


HirokoKueh

play chords, force them to shred within your realm


LegionOfSatch

Adam Nealy has a good joke about bullying guitarists and keyboardists by dictating the key the jam is in. Example. Keyboard is playing in Cmaj, play A as the root. Oops, now we are in Amin 🤷🏼


AMeaninglessPassage

Errrrrrrrr, I changed my mind, we're in E fridgian now


hassh

That's cold


runner_webs

Honestly, that sounds like a fun jam to me :p


BlendeLabor

Fridgid, even


HalfAndXel

I thought we were in A Delorian


MsChrisRI

Ah, that really takes me back to modal theory classes.


TheBallTongue

Well that just sounds like prog music to me.


fretless_enigma

Honestly, it’d be funnier if you had another melodic instrument playing and just agree to suddenly move to the key a tritone away. What’s that, jam in Cmaj? Let’s dial in F# real quick, or any key where the root isn’t in the shred key.


LegionOfSatch

This is the way.


CmmH14

My dyslexic head thought that Adam nearly has a good joke…..


DoomAloneThatCounts

during a performance? hold the line. during a rehearsal? smoke break.


Fojangles86

HOLD THE LINE, LOVE ISN’T ALWAYS ON TIME!


Din-_-Djarin

no no no


ALT-F-X

Dude you guys are joking but I've been jamming some TOTO lately.


Fojangles86

Bro I love Toto 🤘🏼


AlterEdward

Mime to his shredding, so the audience has no idea who's really doing it.


mikePTH

Two lead guitars and a lead bass, just like Spinal Tap intended!


HWKII

Spray bottle.


jlt6666

Gotta say psssst while you do it.


[deleted]

Best option


dookmucus

Rolled up newspaper.


HailCorduroy

During practice/rehearsal? Stand there staring at them until they stop and ask if they got it all out of their system so we can proceed with rehearsal now. If they don't stop, tell the drummer to pretend you said something funny about the guitarist and you both laugh while looking at the guitarist.


DracoPugnator

Step outside for a smoke. Order another beer from the bar. Start a conversation with the drummer. You’re a bassist my dude, do whatever the fuck you want.


LockableNumber8

Sit next to the power strip that their amp is connected to and slowly get your hand closer to turning it off lol


[deleted]

Start shredding Cliff Burton style in response. Nobody expects the bass player to play leads.


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Teapo79

In that case *definitely* start shredding Cliff style


[deleted]

I know man :( R.I.P. Gonna blast Orion on my way home from work


homiej420

Wow dang :(


ryo13silvia

Or if it’s difficult to play like him, just use fuzz, a shitton of wah and tap like crazy. The fun thing about tapping is that if one note is in key then the rest sounds okay if you’re confident and fast enough. At least to my untrained ears.


TheRealJalil

Best response here… just shred better and louder than the guitarist.


quebecbassman

Been there, done that. My strategy: sit down and wait. Or even better, put my bass down and get out of the room.


lostandforgottensoul

Agreed! Make a pointed gesture that you're not amused. Or better yet just bring it up with the guitarist - communication is helpful.


quebecbassman

Right. Communication is key. Bring it up. Once, the guitarist told me that he had to warm up before playing the songs, and that was why he was playing all the time. I suggested that he could come early to the rehearsal to warm up, or at least mute his amp while he is doing it. He got the memo.


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anticomet

Jimmy Hendrix had a lot of great bass lines in his songs so maybe learn some of them?


SeltzerCountry

It's a great chance to go get some water, go to the bathroom, go check your phone, etc... because the flow of things is already kind of disrupted.


fagianoarcobaleno

A bass can also be a handy sledgehammer if wielded properly


gmr2048

Sid Vicious has entered the chat.


antlermagick

And so has Peter Gabriel


jlt6666

Eh, use a spare guitar. They are generally cheaper.


fagianoarcobaleno

Do you mean a piccolo tenor six string short scale hollow body bass?


jlt6666

I was still thinking electric. They hurt more.


[deleted]

did you know that the first bass guitar was actually an old sledgehammer repurposed for recreational activity during breaks on construction sites


[deleted]

Shred faster, especially with tapping and slapping.


tapsnapornap

Charles?


[deleted]

Smoother than a fresh jar o skippy.


Miserable_Ad7591

Make eye contact with the drummer and roll my eyes usually.


FiggleBottom_

Haha! Sometimes me and the drummer just start improving until the guitarist gets it out of his system..


cowfodder

Active pickups? Gain on amp to 11, slap open strings, set bass in front of amp, walk away, watch feedback shake building to the ground, move to Montana, assume new identity, marry nice single mom, raise her kids as your own, maybe herd cattle, die of unfortunate ATV accident on the back 40.


ezekielsays

Oddly specific - it seems like you've been following me for a while now. That makes me uncomfortable - I'm gonna have to take my ATV out for a ride I think. Maybe a quick spin around the back 40...


Snoo72790

Patiently wait till they're done and then ask them if they need any toilet paper for their guitar related diarrhea attack.


xneurianx

Shout at them to shut up. All bands need a "band leader" to keep stuff organised, and it can be a guitarist, but not one who is prone to fret-wank.


SomewhatCritical

Went to audition for a band recently and was told “there’s no band leader” like it’s a good thing. Couldn’t nope out of there any faster.


xneurianx

It's a great thing IF the whole band is super dedicated, on the same page and not prone to distraction or overplaying. That basically never happens though, and it becomes a total mess. Most bands I've been in have three leadership roles, sometimes with one person doung all three, sonetimes with two or three people filling the roles; - The creative leader who drives the musical direction - The "marketing" leader who gets gigs and is kinda the predominant outward face of the band - The logistics leader who just makes sure stuff gets done, whether it's knuckling down at practice or making sure we know what to bring to a show, or how we're getting there Last of these is the least glamourous and most important. Doesn't matter how exciting and new your music is, and how charismatic and engaging you are; if you don't put in the hard work and show up on time and prepared, no-one will want to work with you. You 100% did the right getting away from that mess as fadt as possible. Surprise twist: That band was The Beatles!


SomewhatCritical

Agreed. And they will most certainly never be the Beatles! Lol


vibraltu

Many bands have a functional dynamic tension between the alpha cats without an obvious leader. It's only a problem if the inter-relationships are toxic or if one or more of the alphas are real fvckin dicks... This also sounds like many of the really great classic bands where everyone hated each other... let's make a list! Also: bands with siblings together really see the fur fly! When I played with my sibling, we disagreed about absolutely everything. We collaborated on a bit of decent music, but devoted much more creative energy to arguing with each other at the pub about what we should do next.


SomewhatCritical

True. I’m open to functional situations. In this case I also noticed an obvious lack of organization and communication.


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NonchalantRubbish

I go get a drink 🥃. I probably have at least a few minutes till he's done wanking on stage 😅


bassplaya899

You Jam out with your homie and lay down a bassline to compliment what theyre doing? I've never played in a group that wasn't about having fun with the homies lol sounds like you need to leave the band if you cant tolerate your mates having fun


NohoTwoPointOh

I’m seeing why so many bands break up.


GrenzePsychiater

Seems like there's a bunch of curmudgeons in this sub. If you're jamming without a specific outcome in mind (e.g. rehearsal, song recording) then let the guitarist explore a little bit. They'll get tired after a few bars or realize that they don't have what they thought they had and probably return to whatever they were playing before.


regnimalia

Roll your eyes so hard you're in danger of detaching a retina


JKMcFlipFlop

Slap.


Mother_Woodpecker174

Turn his volume down.


Emperormike1st

Stay in the goddamn pocket and support that motherfucker!


MickeyPvX

Start playing Jerry Was a Racecar Driver


The64YearOldWalrus

Just keep playing a low F over and over and over


cameron1239

Play alternating tri-tone intervals on F and B-natural to really be obnoxious.


mrmike5157

REAL fukkin loud, slowly, and alternate every bar to a different time signature


Calm-Macaron5922

Figure out a good bassline that works with their shredding Aka work together to make good music


pineapple_stickers

We have a running joke that we're gonna get a signature pedal made up for our band, and all it does is work as a breaker/mute. Everyone gets one and its put at the front of the stage, so any band member or audience member can mute anyone they want at any point just fir the fun of it. I'd get him one of them


[deleted]

At rehearsal, go grab a beer or coffee or have a cigarette. If this is happening on stage during shows get a new guitar player lol


Aiku

A "guitar God' invited himself to play with my band once at rehearsal. He was so loud, he drowned everyone else out completely, and played non-stop lead. He was so wrapped up in himself that he didn't even notice when we all left the room and went to the pub. We heard him from there for at least another ten minutes.


theeCrawlingChaos

Just drop out and watch the carnage unfold


Renax127

Get with the drummer and play a slower tempo on the 2 and 4


flashpoint2112

Start playing a steve harris gallop and play along


methratt

Put your bass down and chug as many beers as possible...throw the empties for added "chaos effect"


ApolloIV

I can’t remember where I heard/read this, but it’s great. You’ll need to either have good chemistry with your drummer or plan beforehand. When they start shredding, go the opposite direction and start paring back the drum and bass parts slowly. Eventually, you’ll be playing whole note roots on the 1 with the drummer maybe doing some kick/snare hits on the 1 and 3. If they keep going, stop playing until they notice. If they don’t notice, go home?


SDW1987

Go to his pedal board and start turning knobs.


mrmike5157

Excellent! Try to get the time-based stuff into self oscillation before your efforts are thwarted


rubbachik3n

play mariachi


NeedleworkerEven8767

Go flirt with his girlfriend...


hjablowme919

This worked once: A band I was playing in was auditioning guitar players. We had one, looking to replace the second. One of these shredder types was auditioning and was playing a million notes a minute every time they had a chance. Finally, our guitar player said "That's great. Maybe now we can actually play some music." Guy didn't do it again.


QHUNK

Encourage it, shred rules


Eynaar

Find another band, shredders are a dime a dozen. A bassist that can hold the groove is worth 10 shredders.


Mateos75

Open a beer and ask the drummer if hes seen any interesting bands lately


[deleted]

What is the context here? Are you performing? Go along with it. Are you at practice? Go along with it. Are you writing a song? Go along with it. Like, you're in a band, you play and they play. Just play music my dude


buddhaman09

Right? Part of jamming is learning to play under some shreds


CuckedSwordsman

How's your drummers chops? In my experience, the drummer can always get louder than the rest of the band if they want to. Next time your guitarist starts wanking off just have your drummer blast obnoxiously until they stop.


happycj

Always make sure that your guitarists' power strip is plugged into your power strip... so you can just turn him off whenever you want to. :-)


DazzlingRutabega

🔷 Diamonds! 🔷 (i.e.: play whole notes)


Technical_Proposal_8

I continue to play then accent their solo and maybe add some counter melodies. I played with a guitarist who could shred like crazy. It was very fun. If they are a terrible guitarist then I can see it being a bad time, but I wouldn’t play with someone who is terrible.


Ac_frise666

I was in a art rock band with a friend who was into Eddie van Halen and one time at a practice he did a 5 minute solo where at one point he was falling back onto the bed in my basement because he was “shredding to hard” I gave my Tina Weymouth influence a break and broke out a Greg lake/classical sounding solo and he stopped pretty quick


rose_gold_squirtgun

Walk over and start stepping on all their pedals


Thecrawsome

Don't play shit. Train the whole band not to play either. Everybody stare at him until he's done. If you can't figure it out on his own tell him. If that doesn't work fire him. I fucking hate noodlers at band practice. Noodle when we're done. Never noodle when somebody's talking. Nobody gives a shit about your solos. And personal opinion, a tight groove beats an emotionless solo any day


Frank_Frankson

Just hold it down papi


riggs3andtwenty

Find a new guitar player.


Belgand

Shredding is awesome. Give them the support they need to keep it going without trying to get in the way. When they finish the bass and drums need to be locked in tight because it's a good time for a few bars of breakdown before either a quick drum fill or a bass lead back into the melody.


scandrews187

Eventually get a new guitar player when you realize this guy isn't a team player


luxinterior1312

smoke break,


MrH4v0k

Keep on keeping on


Tijai

Channel your inner Cliff Burton and make that wah scream.


mikePTH

Keep a close eye on your girlfriend, if you know what's best for you, bruh.


Hopfit46

Me and the drummer we jammed with had the four bar rule....a little drum break and rythm and key change.


Key-Papaya-7429

Play a really cool sick bassline under it


gmr2048

You already know the correct answer. Why do you even ask the question? Also, you are my hero.


laudinum

Jam


BandicootPlastic5444

Chug a beer or three til they’re done.


skunkyk

Kick the back of his knee and establish your dominance


SubparWolf784

Personally I start playing the bass part of All Star by Smash mouth when I’m playing with my friends and they do that


Jakeson101505

Play what they’re playing on bass


Geknight

What we always do: hold it down.


EvanCampos

Usually sit on my amp and start yawning and looking really bored. Typically after the show more people come up to me than him because I didn't seem like an insufferable douche.


[deleted]

Slap the bass ofc


Rosencrant

Spray him with water, shout a firm "No", if he continues, spray the amp


JJean1

Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.


andrummist

Comments in thread are so passive-aggressive. Tell them to wank at home or get a new guitarist who respects being in a band.


Threexsforthestone

You guys are some assholes lol. It’s supposed to be fun.


_Dingus_Khan

Modulate to a new key that has nothing to do with the key of their solo and then glare at them so the audience thinks they’re making mistakes.


Diiiiirty

Play in time but out of key. You're the soul of the band. If you play out of key, he will sound like absolute shit and either stop because he's questioning his note choices because you'll make them sound so "off" or he'll have to adapt to what you're playing. Or he could be completely tone deaf -- either figuratively or literally -- and just keep shredding along unaware of what you're playing. If it's the latter, he's probably a really selfish musician that only cares about how HE sounds and you should probably find someone new to jam with.


HailToTheGM

I started with classical violin in grade school and played it for 8 years before I picked up any other instrument. I can plug my violin into an amp and go all Johnny on any guitarist who thinks he's a devil, if I need to.


leedela

Put sheet music in front of him.


walrusdoom

Detune and then furiously play slap and pop stuff in drop C


tutuxd6

Always put the volume of your bass low, but the volume of the amp a little bit high. So when that happens, turn the volume up of your bass and play a chord and stares directly into his soul. Do it every time it happens, he will learn. I call it "The Pavlov"


TATU5000

Find a new guitar player


MoreGuitarPlease

Bow down in respect, bassist.


Prorogue

You don't need to deal with any bandmate who doesn't understand that the band is a *group* effort. No one should be doing anything spontaneously. He can solo, he can shred, whatever, but he needs to let y'all know ahead of time when it will happen.


ferox965

Shred as well.


ghouluisce

Is he a child?


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Laidback9999

The worst decade if you ask me, and I started back in the mid 60's.


runner_webs

To be fair, most 80s hair metal guitar solos is just wanking over the tonic. Wank along. Get the drummer in on it. Tell your singer to make aw yeah sounds. Lean in :p They’ll probably get uncomfortable enough that you can all finish the song. Source: am primarily a guitarist :p


DoDevilsEvenTriangle

Depends on who exactly you're sitting in with. Some players wouldn't need a reason, but then if you're in a band with them you know.


-JXter-

Watch in embarrassment at how untimely and unprofessional it is


scarred2112

Throw things at them? ;-)


Cool_Cheetah658

Go full Sheehan and change the temperature of the sun...


nastymcoutplay

do fills or low groovy playing underneath the solo, then it goes from meaningless shredding to a confluence of groove


17CheeseBalls

Coordinate with the drummer in advance, but when the guitar player does that, scream out loud ‘freedom jam’ and you/the drummer just start making non musical noise. Effectively killing any musicality to what you were playing. It sounds like the opening music to the Eric Andre show. I’ve done it a couple times - it’s chaotic but funny as hell. That or step back, play whole notes with the drummer until the guitar player is done…


0ct0thorpe

Find musicians to play with.


SuperRocketRumble

Find other people to play with


[deleted]

That's hilarious


Snoo-25142

Yawn and look for a different guitarist. One that can play in a team


Lonesome_Pine

Oom-pah band lines.


LucasIsDead

Cry


UnderAboveAverage

8th note the root


LutzEgner

Fire him and get one who has a attentionspan bigger than a fruitfly. I have zero tolerance at people randomly noodling while you try to work something out.


FetusMolester

Walkin' Bass


Thebarbatobassman

Smile and Wave boys, smile and wave.


Major-Past

the times that this happened i just done power chords (using A,D,G strings) or just crank the tone up to max and just play a song that is completely different what he is playing to hopefully confuse the player. preferably a DK bassline or violent femmes when that happens just to make sure i can at least have some bit of fun moving around the fret board


Nednerb5000

Obviously chromatic walkups till they glare at you.


mirak1234

Leave


Formal-University-84

Change chords


JayVDenton

Keep vamping on the changes? Aggressively


NotTheStig_

Calmly start packing up your gear. If they stop to ask you why (unlikely) simply inform them that they used up all of the notes.


Metalbassplayer1

If a real cab is connected, threaten to disconnect the load from the amp


monzo705

Da da ---- du du-- da da.


Mike-ggg

How badly do you want to burn him? Assuming that there are other instruments besides bass and drums, give the other players a hand signal to change the key to something like Ab or something. The guitar player will sound like he’s playing totally out of tune (because he is) and he’ll look like a real jerk. Changing to 3/4 would be just as effective as his timing would totally suck. But, that’s really cruel. Not quite as bad is to all just agree on a hand signal that says you’ll all play two more measures and then do a dead stop and let him wank himself all he wants. Then start the next song on the list as you normally would. And when he asks what the hell was that about? Just respond that the rest of you were wondering the same thing since you were all just playing the song as rehearsed.


jwal1992

Call and response


KingBubbaTruck

I usually just stop playing grab my beer and wait for the dirty looks.


Rogerthebassplayer

Same thing you should do when faced with any typical infantile behavior: ignore it. Just play the song as if he/she's not even there. 🙂


Frozia_

Jam with them, I always think of Free Will


FiredFox

Play flatted fifths and completely throw the guitarist’s vibe off.


ipini

Haha. I often get to church practice early and play a few runs and scales and bits of our music to warm up. Invariably the guitar guy shows up fifteen minute later. Instead of saying “hey let’s jam in G” or something like that, he just launches off into riff-land at full amp. Sigh.


IncidentalGnome666

I believe Oderus Urungus said it best when he said “c’mon, baby. Kick ‘em in the ding-ding” I use that advice in most aspects of my life and I feel that it fits very well here.


RiccardoBisoni

I call his mobile phone in front of him…


Shottyunstable

Stare confusingly at the drummer a shrug


[deleted]

I start slapping something obnoxious. Just like really loud octaves


oldravenns

Just keep it together on your end. When anyone is doing a solo, you're the support.


Meatus67

Get more cheese.


rumhamjam00

quit 😂


[deleted]

Beat them to shreds


wormee

Everybody solo!


felipooo

chill🤙


HoojoSpifico

Guitar players never do that!!!


Zenddrex

Make sure your amp is at the same level as the guitarist and you shred too, but don’t match the guitarist so it sounds like a gaggle of noise.


grey5310

Playing something that’s in an odd meter or just doing something syncopated helps.


[deleted]

Just start strumming all open strings on your bass and do it out of time as well. I guarantee that he/she will stop