Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was watching a performance tonight where the bassist was sight-reading his parts, and then got to wonder what it might be like to be a session bassist. I'm sure you have to play everything! Interested in hearing some stories of people who do this kind of thing for a living. I have recorded MY songs with MY band, but never had to walk in and play someone else's song or jingle or whatever while on the clock. Any insight or stories on this topic, I'd love to hear em!
Thanks!

I try to avoid session work ... I did a little ... but I ended up doing country western music to advertise real estate and other similar lame stuff ... music can be a lame way to make money ... by the time you consider the investment and time put in you can easily end up making less than minimum wage ...

Hello Steve,

I'm brand new to the Ric forum here and mostly have only posted in the "Another 4003 project bass" thread as Ted Staberow his graciously offered to do a custom Ric 4003 for me, and we're all sort of following along as the Master weaves his magic! It's a really cool project if you haven't checked it out do so---I can hardly wait to see the progress. Anyway...

Well, fire away with the session questions.
I'll try to get back to you ASAP but I'm flying to Vegas tomorrow for a one-nighter corporate gig, then Harrah's at Tahoe for one show on Saturday, then back home to Florida... Watch out what you wish for, as they say, you just might get it. heh heh... Now I'm trying to figure a way out so to speak.

I'm mostly through with my bass playing career, but during the late 70's and through the 80s and early 90s I did a fair amount of TV and Film session work in L.A. I'm 56 now, and quite over the hill, thank you very much!

You can hear my TV work on most any of the shows where Mike Post & Pete Carpenter did the musical scores...and later just Mike Post after Pete retired. Stuff like, Hill St. Blues, The Rockford Files, Magnum P.I., White Shadow, "A" Team, Quantum Leap, Greatest American Hero. I know I'm forgetting some. "CRS" sets in around 50 or so. Anyway, ask away, I'll be happy to jog my old brain as best I can. And like I say, I've got a really tough schedule until I return home this coming Sunday so if I don't get back right away, I'm not ignoring you. I just didn't want this to go unanswered until Sunday. BTW, after this my next live playing gig is with the Ft. Wayne Symphony Orchestra. Fender "P" bass on that one coming up two nights on 10/29 and 10/30...If you're near there, stop by! That one is a "Pops" kind of thing. Now that I think about it, I think it would be cool to show up for a symphony date with a nice custom 4003FG ! How about that!

Marty

Marty, take the Rick. I do sessions in Nashville for Christian and a little country and I use a Musicman SR5 and I am attempting to incorporate my Ricks into the action... Feel free to ask session questions also....

See, thats what I am talking about!
I am sure there are a lot of stories behind work like that. I was just trying to put myself in the head of someone who comes in cold and has to interpret someone else's work, and do it in one or two takes. Those TV theme song stories are exactly the kind of thing I wonder about.
How does one start doing sessions? Do you know what you'll be doing before you show up? I'm sure if you work with the same people over and over you might develop a comfort level. But it is a part of the business that isn't often discussed, we talk about our bands and our sound, but how often do you need to have someone ELSE's sound? I would think flexibility and great chops would be a prerequisite here.
Marty, I appreciate you coming in on this, and good luck on the gig with the Pops.

Hey Steve,

As mentioned in my previous post, I just returned from my two "one-nighters". (Vegas, Lake Tahoe).

I'll answer your questions as best I can, but you must remember, there are probably as many paths to becoming a 'session player' as there are players.
Here's mine...

Re: >>How does one start doing sessions?<<

There are a couple of obvious things we need to get out of the way first; Like it's understood you already have great chops, and can sight read fly-**** at twenty paces... With that out of the way...

First you have to have a burning desire to do it. Not everyone does. You have to love all styles, and really be into all styles, not just 'posing' at them.

Also, don't stay in Hutchinson Kansas. Let's face it, you can't break in to the studio scene unless you live in L.A., Nashville, or the Big Apple. You may get some work in other big cities, but those are the "big three" in the biz. Do you have the desire bad enough to move to one of these cities and tough it out?

For me, I was VERY lucky, I already lived in L.A. and it started this way---playing for free!
I took four years off from playing bass guitar when I was in my early twenty somethings. When I decided to try to get my chops back I knew I had to make up valuable lost time. So, I started playing with any, and EVERY, group of players that would have me. I was with a different rehearsal band nearly every night---from jazz (where I fell flat on my face) to rock, to country---you name it---I turned down nothing---and my chops started to come back, and get better, and I met a ton of people.

I also went back to school to improve my sight reading. I was the 4th chair bass player at the local Junior College because my sight reading sucked. But when I took the 8 bar solo, THAT was a different matter! So, you MUST, and I say, MUST be an excellent sight reader. In L.A. if you hold up a session because you can't read the part---they NEVER call you back. I mean that. You can spend all the time you want making, and getting all your personal contacts, and connections together, and blow it all with sight reading mistakes. Sorry to report that, but that's just the way it is. LEARN TO READ.

BTW, I got a "drop fail" in band class because I missed a class to do a 'paid' recording session; Universal Sound Stage 10 "The Rockford Files" (for the young-uns that old James Garner detective TV show). My prof said it was probably a good move, but gave me the "F" anyway! heh heh... I never went back.

In the beginning I did more gigs for free than I could count. My dad used to get really ****** at me, wondering when I was EVER going to make a buck in the music business. But... I got better VERY quickly, met a ton of people in ALL genres, and didn't realize at the time that I was laying the groundwork of taking it to the next level---doing sessions---also for free. There is an interesting thing about doing sessions for free...the people I'd run into at the studios didn't know I was doing another freebie. All they remember is they kept seeing that "Marty" guy all over town. This is important---be seen---the money will come.

So in closing out this question; take all the gigs you can find, take all the sessions you can find, even for free. Go back to school. Do the school jazz big band thing. You'll be amazed how much that will help simulate the studio scene. Yea, they won't stop like your garage band, they take it from the top and keep on goin'! Besides, you meet some great players that you probably won't run into in your rock/country/casual bar-band scene, and that's a good thing...

To keep growing take all you can! Because you can practice in your bedroom all you want, or with your band all you want, but when the red light goes on---for me, that's what it's all about. And I must say, there's really no better rush for me than delivering a track in one or two takes... You gotta live for that moment if you want to be a studio guy.

That's my two cents for now.

Network. A drummer I used to play with (this happened in the '80's) got a DUI. He got off with attending AA or something. Anyway, he attended in Malibu, where he met a guy in a very famous, MOR hit-making band. Everyone would know them by name. This guy, upon learning my friend's "profession" and expressed interest in being a session drummer was told by the star forget it. "We (the famous band) and a handful of others are playing on just about everything you hear". It's a tight clique, at least out here. I don't know how true that was, but it's got to be as tough as breaking into any phase of show biz.

Marty,
Well said! What I am gathering is that you go in cold and need to adapt on the spot. I guess if you are doing a session with a musician for a record, you might have an idea of his sound and style going in, but for something like "The Rockford Files", you're on your own.

A lot of players (including myself) are lacking in sight reading skills, with the advent of things like Tabulature, it has made it easier to get by without it. I would think you would need to be able to have a look and hear it in your head almost immediately.

Since we are talking 70's TV themes, I dont suppose you know who did the "Barney Miller" theme, do you? The reason why I ask was that my old man told me, "You can't play if you can't play that!"

So I recorded it off of the TV on a cassette and worked on it for a week or 2, and then when it came back on TV, I played along with it. He was impressed.

What basses would you take to a session if you didn't know what you were going to be doing? I'm assuming a P or J-Bass would be a tone most people request, just wondering what you take, out of curiousity.

I've always been fascinated with this part of playing, although I dont do it. I used to read Tommy Tedesco's "Studio Log" columns in Guitar Player and wonder how someone could do so many different styles so convincingly.

Believe me, I'm not the kind of player who could do that. I really admire those who can.

Jerry,

Let me hazard a guess...
Toto?... ;-O

Yeah, those guys did play on a lot of records, and that was when I was still in town. But hey, there was still plenty of work to go around in those days. Hungate, Sklar, Osborne, Bennett, and Ritz played on most of the "A" commercial stuff...but that didn't cut me out from making a great living too! ...and I didn't have to play in smoky bars anymore!

And yes, it is tough breaking into studio work, but it's sure worth a try. If you don't, someone else will.

As far as a handful of guys doing ALL the work, I found that to be a bunch of "LA" hype. For me there was all kinds of studio work, not just making records. There's TV, Film, jingles (radio commercials), and tons of demo recording work. The "Stars" won't do demo work. So guess what? That's where you start. I did hundreds (well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a wee bit) of demos before I ever got a paycheck.

But let me qualify that last bit, because I'm an old guy...and admittedly could be out of touch...
I would have to think nowadays there is probably much less demo work available because of the popularity of the home studio trip.
Someone else will have to address that issue.
I missed all that because I'm an old geezer. When I was still playing, home studios were not an affordable option for most of us. So people had to save up their money and buy 'real' studio time, and better yet, use "real" musicians! Imagine that! Heck, even a lot of big scoring is now done in home studios. I subscribe to Electronic Musician, and the stuff I read about being done with soft synths, and samples is amazing. Oh well... I'll shuffle off to the corner in my walker now. heh heh....

Have fun guys.

Hey Steve,

I've noticed I get rather long winded here so I'll try to answer and be more to the point.
But again, what I say here has just been my experience, and isn't necessarily the gospel.

>>What I am gathering is that you go in cold and need to adapt on the spot, for something like "The Rockford Files", you're on your own<<

Exactly! With records, you have a little more time to kick it around and try stuff, but with TV music, you never know what you are going to see, and with TV, time is money. They will do one run-through so the engineer can get some levels on the orchestra, and then they start cutting tracks.
It is NOT unusual to get a lot, if not most tracks on the first take. The copyist's ink is nearly always perfect, and half the string section is from the L.A. Philharmonic, and the horns are usually the local jazz greats, (I remember Chuck Findley, and Bud Shank being there a lot). It's quite humbling, and I often wondered what the heck I was doing there. So basically you're just there to read the ink and make it feel natural, like you're NOT reading the ink.

>>A lot of players (including myself) are lacking in sight reading skills, with the advent of things like Tabulature...<<

Well put, but sight reading is just a skill. Anyone can develope it. It's like a video game.
The notes run by, and you jump on them with the right timing and note value. That's all it is. If you WORK at it, you can become VERY good.

>>I would think you would need to be able to have a look and hear it in your head almost mmediately<<

Not really. In TV work, trying to second guess what the writer had in mind can get you in trouble. Example; You see a thumping eighth note part and it immediatly conjurs up a rock feel. Until they "roll tape" and you're the ONLY one in the orchestra playing that feel...against a legato string section pad, and no drums, just that annoying click track in your headphone to keep you locked.


>>Since we are talking 70's TV themes, do you know who did the "Barney Miller" theme?<<

I'm having a "senior moment"... I think it may have been Wilton Felder. Maybe someone here knows for sure. Isn't that just about the coolest TV bass part EVER!! Glad you can play it too! Some nice intervals on that last reach! (1,8,6,5,1 stay in the same position. Use that pinky!) Glad you impressed your Dad too! Now, when you need that loan for that cool new bass rig, he sees promise...

>>What basses would you take to a session if you didn't know what you were going to be doing? I'm assuming a P or J-Bass<<

You hit it right on the head. My choice of weapon was my '63 Fender "P" bass that I put low impedance EMG pickups in. I used the split P and an EMG Jazz bass bridge pickup. By mixing in a bit of the Jazz pickup, and depending where you plucked the string with your fingers, or pick, you can duplicate just about any bass sound...EXCEPT THE RIC OF COURSE!! OK?? Had to cover myself here!

>>I used to read Tommy Tedesco's "Studio Log" columns in Guitar Player and wonder how someone could do so many different styles so convincingly<<

It's my opinion that you "do it" by playing as many different type gigs, with as many different players as possible. It all just rubs off on you.
I know many of the young players just want to stay in their "bag" and that's cool. But that does not "the studio cat make". Again, it's not for everybody and there's nothing wrong with playing one style.

>>Believe me, I'm not the kind of player who could do that. I really admire those who can.<<

How do you know that? You already have an interest and fascination with taking it to the next level, and that's what it takes. Now, go find yourself a bunch of different rehearsal bands, at school, guys you know, guys you don't know, answer "bass player wanted adds" all the time! Check them ALL out. You never know where it will lead you. It's about maximizing yourself. Throw yourself into it, screw up big time, (like me), but keep coming back. If you do that instead of just playing with your same buddies all the time, in six months (or much less!) you won't believe your the same dude---and you won't be.

Now go spend ten bucks on a good sight reading book, (borrow the $$ from your Dad, and blame it on me) and start snoopin' around town for some rehearsal situations. You CAN make yourself happen--and part of what I just said has to do with making your own luck, if you get what I mean.

FYI, did a little snoopin' around the web.
Chuck Rainey played bass on the "Barney Miller" theme.

Marty

Martin,
Buzzz....oooh, I'm sorry, the correct answer is Chicago...let's move on to the bonus round...
Seriously folks, in the local Music Connection, there are ads by guys hiring themselves out...my band sometimes wants a rythym guitarist for a gig, so we go there...but you know something, most of these guys don't play as well as I do (no brag, just fact), so I suppose anyone could start doing sessions or live gigs at any level. Just do it!

Chicago? Oh no, not the first time I "buzzed in" too early! I was soooo sure too! Heh heh...
Could it have been my ol' buddy Chris Pinnick (Chicago lead guitar) in there with him. FYI, Chris and I could pound 'em down pretty good in the old days. (Glad it's only you and me here reading this)

"Just do it!" Is right on. You know, regarding going to an audition where the players aren't as good, or going to a band where the band isn't as good, actually served a pretty good purpose. It lets the guys that are worse know they have to raise their line, but also gives the better player a bit of a boost in self esteem as well. I remember sayin' "gee, these guys suck, I must be getting better!" In the beginning it was quite the other way 'round, I assure you. I've got some pretty embarassing stories from my "early auditions"... oh the pain.

Toto...good answer...I think it was the drummer he was talking to.
I don't consider myself a good player, but, yeah, if the hired help can't do what I'm doing, I feel like I have something going for me.

I must say that one of my favourite guitar leads (for tone and melody) is that of "The Rockford Files".. great warmth and punch. Martin, you mention your involvement there.. do you recall anything about that guitar/player?