WORKING WHEN YOU AREN’T WORKING BY STEVE COOK
If you choose to work as a tour- ing bassist, you set yourself up
for several unavoidable situations.
The first is that your gigs will
not always be very glamorous.
The second is that guitarists will
always get the attention. The
third—unless you play for the
Grateful Dead—is you will have
downtime when you aren’t touring. I can’t help you with the first
two—and the third is not any
easier to address—but you can
use downtime to your advantage.
Touring schedules differ
according to style and region,
but here in Nashville (with some
big-name exceptions), touring generally slows down from
November through March. I
learned the hard way that touring
schedules don’t stay full all year,
and you have to budget your
touring income accordingly to get
through the leaner months. I can’t
tell you how many guys here in
town buy new gear in May, only
to sell at a loss in December.
There are a lot of variables
that contribute to the slowing
of touring. The artist may want
a break, there may not be any
new material to promote, or
the shows may just be acoustic
promotional shows for radio. For
the latter, the artist usually takes
only one or two players while
the rest of the band sits at home.
But fear not, because there are
many productive (and sometimes
profitable) ways to stay occupied
during the slow months.
When I see my calendar is not
that busy, instead of counting
shows I have, I count the days I
don’t have anything planned. I
see them as “opportunity days”
and begin thinking about all the
things I can do on those days off.
That’s a reversal of normal thinking. If you do this, you’ll soon
realize you can now accomplish
those things you put off during
your busy season.
Now, during your not-busy
season, what are you going to
work on? I suggest starting with
small goals and then moving on
to the more ambitious ones. Do
you need to dump those 4-track
cassette demos from high school
into your new recording soft-
ware? How is your gear holding
up? You could probably clean
three layers of state-fair dirt from
the inside of your rack. What
about your basses? This could
be a great time to upgrade some
hardware or pickups. Knock
I have heard of players taking on
40 or more students during the
off-season. That can add up to
rent money quickly, and again,
you’ll be making money with
a bass in your hand. If you are
tech savvy, teaching lessons via
Skype is becoming increasingly
popular, since you don’t have to
be in a particular town to have
a bunch of students. If you feel
your playing isn’t at a level to
teach, you could volunteer at a
With a few decent mics, a laptop, and some basic recording software,
you can help songwriters and cost-conscious bands cut demos.
Apple’s GarageBand is a popular option for recording music on a lean
budget. Image courtesy of Apple
out the busywork tasks that are
within your grasp, then you can
get to the fun stuff.
The fun stuff is making
money while doing something
that you are probably already
doing. The first and most obvious way to make money while
not on the road is to take local
gigs. They don’t pay nearly as
much, and there are probably
tons of cover songs to learn, but
you can handle it. In Nashville,
like many towns, playing locally
can open other players’ ears and
eyes to you, which may lead to
a better gig next year. Lower
Broadway in Nashville, a section of downtown famous for its
country bars, is sort of the farm
system for touring acts. If you
can make it there, who knows
what could be next?
Teaching is another way to
make good use of your time, and
school program and help some-
one who is just getting started.
The checking account won’t nec-
essarily fill up, but your karma
bank will.
STEVE COOK
has been fighting his rock-star frontman urges for
decades, holding down
the low end for such artists as Steve Cropper,
Sister Hazel, and Phil
Vassar. Join in his “touring therapy” on
Twitter @shinybass.
