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I've been asked to double the string bass in a big band on tuba (as a bone player). It seems like it will suck the life out of me in a couple of tunes, if they move around much. I've never done this or been in a group that did it. Should I come up with an excuse or will this be a good way to start playing tuba in public?

I've played a lot of sets and a lot of gigs in four to seven piece jazz bands, and I have subbed for bass players in big bands, as well as acting as the bass (with a sousaphone - playing what the electric bass players played on the records) in funk bands. It's a lot of work, and it's a lot of fun.
The smaller the jazz band (in other words four piece versus seven), the more obligated I felt to play 4/4 time for solo choruses, but I did eventually become more creative and figured out some other types of things to do. Besides all the work of doing that, it got to be monotonous playing so much 4/4.
I don't know how helpful this reply is, because a lot of big band charts have all the notes written out for the bass players. It does require a lot of endurance to play entire two or three set gigs with a tuba ir sousaphone versus playing upright bass or certainly electric bass (being the easiest of all).

Relying on amplification, playing something around "mezzo" - volume-wise, thumping the beginnings of each pitch gently, and letting them fade out over each of their beats will probably at least triple the amount of time that you're able to play that stuff on some sort of tuba without getting worn out.

I've never gotten a real clue as to how old you are or how busy you are otherwise, but electric bass is really a pretty easy instrument to learn how to play - and I still think it's the ideal instrument today (even though out of vogue) to play bass lines in big bands - they have gotten so loud over the last four or five decades, and because it's so easy to alter the sound these days and an electric base can be made to sound almost like an upright bass.
Have a friend who is picky and has a really nice electric bass with a really nice neck help you pick out a exceptionally well set up cheap electric bass, and take some lessons from a classical guitarist (applying it to electric bass) regarding classical guitar technique, scales, and shifts.

Getting back to playing bass parts in a big band on the tuba, yes they are busy and relentless and probably move over a couple of octaves or more when written out, but somehow I think you can manage it.

Itz a full-on 18 piece band. The band is trying to improve, but the string bass is a weak spot right now . I'm old enough to know not to be seen playing tuba in public unless I want to be known for that.

The band has a couple of charts that were all written out such that it looked like electric bass part in rock or disco tunes. I learned e bass years ago, but never read music and never thought of playing in this capacity. I don't think they want me to replace the string bass, just to supplement on tuba for a couple of charts. I've just got a very small horn, and no amplification. Overall the band isn't crazy loud, I can always be heard on bass bone when I need to be.

Generally just wondering about others with more tuba experience playing in big bands, and if I should go down this rabbit hole.

First of all, I apologize for such a stream-of-consciousness reply.

Secondly, if you're talking about doubling the bass, I think that's a little bit weird, but - if it sounds good - it sounds good. If your bass player is playing upright (as that's the in-vogue thing to do in a big band these days) and those particular charts are really better on bass guitar, it seems to me that they probably also play bass guitar, and could switch to that for those pieces.
They're already lugging and upright and (surely) an amp, so a bass guitar in a bag or case isn't that much more gear... but every single time I try to guess someone's specific situation, they tell me that I'm not guessing right.

(sorry)

Just give it a try. You cant judge it without trying it.

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That's interesting, because - when I've covered fourth trombone in big bands on the F cimbasso, more than once they've asked me to bring a tuba along to play (only) one song.

I brought a big one, because I'm sure they wanted it to sound like a tuba.

bloke wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 7:20 am Secondly, if you're talking about doubling the bass, I think that's a little bit weird, but - if it sounds good - it sounds good. If your bass player is playing upright (as that's the in-vogue thing to do in a big band these days) and those particular charts are really better on bass guitar, it seems to me that they probably also play bass guitar, and could switch to that for those pieces.

I really haven't paid much attention to be honest, but I've seen him playing both upright and e bass with an amp on each. This one particular tune has no bass bone, but has a tuba part and in parenthesis says (doubles bass).

I'll give it a shot. The tuba part is easy enough I can probably play it on tuba. I've been playing it on bass bone. The bass player is typically 1/2 a beat behind the beat. I can push him harder on bass bone, it might be more difficult for me to do that on tuba.

bone-a-phone wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 2:37 pm ... The bass player is typically 1/2 a beat behind the beat. I can push him harder on bass bone, it might be more difficult for me to do that on tuba.

That seems really frustrating for almost everyone.

jtm wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 3:38 pm

bone-a-phone wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 2:37 pm ... The bass player is typically 1/2 a beat behind the beat. I can push him harder on bass bone, it might be more difficult for me to do that on tuba.

That seems really frustrating for almost everyone.

Oh, yea. We have two drummers one pretty good and the other really good. Drives them crazy. You have to pick who you listen to.

The bass player is typically 1/2 a beat behind the beat.

Drummers (with whom I've worked before) always seem (??) happy to see me.
my self-view: I can play good changes/lines/time...and/but certainly am NOT God's gift to the tuba/bass/electric bass.

Obviously, I never work with other bass/tuba players...

Maybe (??), the median examples (around here) are sorta bleak...

If someone (OK...) doesn't play time and (OK...let's say) gets lost in the changes a good bit, I can certainly imagine that a drummer would find it VERY difficult to phrase, and would - somehow - then have to try to ignore the bass and listen to all the "tweedle-deedle" coming from everyone else for their context clues...

...That sounds like a pretty tough gig, for a drummer.

Well, I gave it a try. The tune was Mustang Sally, and the part was pretty simple. I gave it my all on the tuba, but the band decided that the bass bone had more "bite", and this time that was a good thing. It turns out that the bass bone book has several tunes where it doubles the bass, probably because some of the charts only have 3 bone parts, and our bass player isn't strong. On some of the funk tunes, the bass part is a little repetitive, and no space to breathe, but still cool. We also had a version of Day Tripper, but they changed the rhythm of the classic bass line slightly. I played what was in my head until I actually read the notes on the page. "Oh".

I inherited this book from a friend of mine who passed away last fall. He played it on a single valve bass 70h, and had trigger positions and note names where there were more than 2 or 3 ledger lines written in all over the place. He wasn't as, well, let's say aggressive as I can get sometimes. The lead bone player was cheering me on, just baiting me to lay into it. I consider bass bone to be a section all it's own, sometimes in concert or maybe competition with the bari sax and bass.