Performing bass at the convention center with a steel drum band.

I’m creating this post as I go. When I’m not on stage, I’m trying to add little things here and there to update this post.

Traffic and Parking:

I always talk about traffic and parking in my other Southern California posts, so I figured I would throw it in here too.
Traffic sucked and it should have been easy. Apple Maps is not my friend. I don’t know why I don’t know why I ever let myself get talked into using apple maps.
Parking was easy to find thanks to @steelparade’s scouting efforts. Also, PARKING WAS FREE!!! I was happy.

Here we are at another convention center performance. I’m playing bass with @steelparde in a new convention center event location.

Our performance will be broadcasted on Periscope here: https://www.pscp.tv/Tetrahedroseph/follow

Update!
If you like steel drum music and wanna hear what happens when a bass player performs in a boomy room...

This is the live broadcast:
https://www.pscp.tv/w/b0iWCDFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MU1ZeE55a1B2UlFKd8q7mOd5Uga9sOH1SQ1TL6YFYQdAt4ZJvg4BBgkIt_b6?t=6s

I have more images, but Patiko doesn’t let me add more than one while posting.

Posted using Partiko iOS

We can see Phil setting up the sound system in this image of the stage from far away:

This is an image of the steel drum as we make our way in to perform:

Here we go...

Sonically speaking, the venue was a mess. Lots of reflections coming from many directions. Food truck engines and generators seemed to be creating a low bass hum that was almost the same note as mybass guitar’s lowest C. I probably got blamed for a lot of sloppy sub frequencies. My entire approach for the night was to focus on sonic clarity. Fast busy bass notes get lost. Sticky moist bass strings and finger times make it difficult anyway. It’s better to play it safe. Make the chord obvious and simplify my bass parts for the sake of clarity.

GIF:
This is me helping bring the steel drum back after performing. I’m holding it by the “skirt” as I spin. I’m good at holding onto skirts.

Tomorrow we perform again and it’s going to be wacky with drunk people. Look for tomorrow’s live performance at 6pm pst on my Periscope again. We perform from 6-9.

Thanks for reading.

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