Standing on stage is an easy thing to do. WHERE to stand on stage to maximize your ability to lock into the drummer is something of debate among bass players.
Different areas of the stage can give you a different sense of how your music sounds and accentuate different parts of the band for you to hear. Too far up towards the front and you’re in the space of the singer and you’re likely to be hearing a lot of him. On the same side of the guitar player, you’re going to be butting heads with him sonically and hear a lot of his playing.
Bassists and drummers go together like peanut butter and jelly and that is a statement done to death but still rings true. There are a few different places that can be the best places for you to best work with a drummer in:
Enter Stage Right or Stage Left
Among bass players, it really can be a matter of preference.
Paul McCartney has chosen the right side:
As did John Entwistle:
Phish’ bass player Mike Gordon can be seen here during their 2003-2004 tour season on the left side of the kit (below). Phish, however, has had numerous changeups in their stage layout. Photos can be found of Mike on the right, keyboard player Page McConnell to the left, drummer Jon Fishman all the way to the left corner of the stage. During their most recent tour however, Fishman can be seen to the right most corner, followed by Mike almost in front of the kit.
Jaco during his time with Weather Report chose the left of drummer of Alex Acuna:
And even Mike Watt from his Minutemen days to the left of drummer George Hurley:
So what’s going on here? From this sample set, we can see that there doesn’t really seem to be an apparent rhyme or reason as to where a bass player should stand when playing live. These are just a few examples of prominent acts that show us that you can stand just about anywhere and still play. But it is not unreasonable to think that each of these players did have a reason for why they chose to stand where they did, but never disclosed the reason in an interview or book.
So what does this mean for us? The results have come back inconclusive – what can we determine?
Well, when playing with a drummer live consider these points to maximize your playing live:
1. Position yourself based on your kind of music. If you play more funk where the hi hat is used more than the ride cymbal, it might be smart to get yourself close to the hi hat.
2. If you’re a kick-lock player, make sure you can hear it. Whether you position yourself left, right or center, it is important to be able to 1. see the kick drum bump out as to know when it’s being hit and 2. to hear that thud through the monitor system.
3. If your band has an additional drummer or percussion section, consider putting yourself closer to the drummer rather than the percussion player. I’ve been in bands where we have had 2 drummers ala Grateful Dead and a drummer and a percussion player and in both of these situations, I’ve aimed to be closer to the drummer behind the kit. My rationale for this decision was that the percussion player is “filling in the holes” of the kit player and/or complimenting the kit player.
4. Position yourself slightly ahead of whatever side you choose to be on. Drawing from personal experience, if I’m too far ahead of the drums, it becomes harder for me to get the drummer’s attention and give him signals if I need to. If I’m only slightly ahead of the hi hat on the left side so that I can easily look over and make near-eye contact with the drummer, that has been the best place for me to be simply because of that little detail.
Of course, if your playing is not being hampered by your current set up, don’t feel like you need to change anything. But if you are looking for a way to tighten up from 95-98 percent, consider trying out some of these tips and see how they work for you.
Here’s a video of an interview with Phish guitar player, Trey Anastasio, explaining why he chooses to position himself on stage the way he does (it’s a 2 part interview):
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