show them the clip of UNT at pasic. i guarantee you that bassline is better than any high school and a ton of college snare lines.

i can't really relate. we have an opposite thing at my school. freshmen are almost never on bass because they can't handle splits as well as they could handle a snare part, but they usually just don't make drums anyway. we had our first freshman bass last year, but he was good. he deserved it.

Bass is awesome. The only problem I had is that I was able to play bass really well, and stuck with other kids who didn't know squat about the instrument and didn't practice...

BUT, I got them in shape this year and now we have a rockin' bass line that people actually are looking forward to joining next year.

I think the bassline is usually the closest section in the drumline because they have to be to get their crap right. You know? 1 person playing all the drums.

This year as bass captain ive made sure that all the bass drumers bonded by having extra sectionals were we got stuff done, but had fun...Making bassline hoodys ect.

It all helps.

I find it interesting that a lot of people have issues with bass. At my high school, a lot of people got upset about being in pit. Bass was a step-up from pit, and from there tenors, and snare.

Like said, show them awesome bass lines. Write difficult exercises and challenge them to learn them. Chances are they think they are too good for bass. Once you show them what a good bass line is capable of, they will no longer think that.

Let them know that if they dislike bass, it is just a stepping stone. Say, "If you can't handle learning bass and doing a good job, why do you think you can handle a snare, or tenors?"

Now, the only thing I didn't like about bass was that I kept whacking my fingers on the rim when I played. By the way, how do you help to not do that?

yeah at my school we have auditions or watev even though most ppl head into them alrdy knowing that the freshman r gonna b in the pit or possibly play bass.... like generally speaking ur gonna b a better player if ur older thats y most lines have junior/senior snare lines... theyll get a chance one day they just have to practice at it... remind them that its a progressional ladder.... u have to start at the bottom rung until u can play with the experienced ones... u cant just start at the top.... then theres nowhere 2 go but down...

I think this happens very often.. but i agree, showing them a good bassline is key. If you can show them DCI lines or WGI dvds or especially can take them to see these lines that is something inspiring. A lot of people put an emphasis on bass like it is easier, and i did that in high school, but now that i have given help here and there its so much easier for me on the outside to see that bass is a different entity, and the skill to playing bass is different than snare and tenor, because how many snare lines can right away play a split between themselves? For example, you have a line of 4 snares and 4 basses or something and midway through the season you give both the same split... you designate which snare will represent which part... how successful will the snares be able to do this in the time that the basses can master it. There is a very different sense of team work and communication, and basses are all individuals contributing to a whole while most of the time the snares and tenors are units that contribute to that whole. The parts may be 'easier' in the sense that there are less notes, but the basses learn timing and fitting their parts into the show more strictly. thats how i feel at least, but i never marched a bass line. a good bass line can take the crowd over for anyline.. phantom does it a lot.

well my drumlines stupid see I'm the best snare we have but my director cut it down to two snares instead of three cause we had two veterans and one of the snares hates me b/c I"m better than her and she's a year older so she thinks it should be the other way around which is incredibly sweet and then I'm not going to make tenors because I had to join try outs on the last day of try outs cause that's when our director told us we'd only have two snares and they expected me to learn everything in two hours and the director has ignored all the corps level exercises I've been playing so he'll probably try to stick me on bass

now don't get me wrong I love basses but it's just not were my passion lies and I'm no good at it and I'm not going to drag the line down and I haven't been treated fairly lately so if he tries to put me on bass I'll probably leave my drumline and the wierdest part is I'm in a drum corps and everything looks down on me so I'll still have another place to shine, even though I'm the worst in drum corps they still respect and teach me while it's opposite at my school

how can you say your the best snare if your not good at playing bass? dont let this drag you down . . .i play snare but i started on bass, earn that girls respect man. . .