Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Do I really need a spare bass...


Guest BeardyBob
 Share

Recommended Posts

Guest BeardyBob

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1418342853' post='2629468']
It's with the Mods. Please ignore. I'm sure he will be dealt with in due course.
[/quote]

hahaha. you got served in your own little private message. deal with it.

[quote name='Raymondo' timestamp='1418336557' post='2629408']
sense of humour passes us all by!
[/quote]

truth hurts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest BeardyBob

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1418215163' post='2628005']
There should be enough of a pause for the audience to show their appreciation and for the singer to announce who we are/tell the audience how they can get hold of a recording of the song we've just played (or are about to play)/thank the audience for coming
[/quote]

Allow me to explain my viewpoint...

Now I hope you don't mind, I've taken the relevant parts of the quote for a more focused context. I find it helps cut through the 4 pages of "oohh, I always take a spare" when really, 1 page was getting too much.

Before I continue, I'd better point out for the 'Brains' out there that these are my opinions. I might use "me" or "you", but actually it's only "me" or "you" that highlighted the topic - I don't know you as a person - they're generally meant to be more general terms.

Now I'll assume you're playing original songs as you're selling wares. If not please tell me you're paying your dues.

So. Why did your comments alarm me so? Because I fundamentally disagree with the implied attitude towards an audience, gigs & music. It makes it sound so "functional" and "corporate" - terms I would never strive to attribute towards what I do.

I've found honesty & personality such an important factor in connecting with an audience & "dead space" needent be "dead space" for that reason!

How many times have you heard "Stereophonics were good, but they just played the set - no interaction"

"Kings of Leon were good, but no stage presence"

Naturally, music is still an overwhelming factor, maybe only as much so?!

If you'd like to continue this discussion, please press 1. If you'd like to continue it with a little more personality please press 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I reckon WUM`s that are not very good at it are probably more insecure than people who take a spare bass, just in case. I like a good wind up. Some are very witty at it. The best ones are the ones that aren`t so obvious about it.

Edited by timmo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='ColinB' timestamp='1418372791' post='2629572']
There's an 'ignore list' in the [i]your profile[/i] drop-down at the top right. I suggest that putting BeardyBob on it might be a good idea for those who don't want to read his stuff.

Just a thought.
[/quote]

Spare a thought for us Mods, we can't put anyone on ignore :)[size=4] [/size]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='BeardyBob' timestamp='1418368517' post='2629549']
Allow me to explain my viewpoint...

So. Why did your comments alarm me so? Because I fundamentally disagree with the implied attitude towards an audience, gigs & music. It makes it sound so "functional" and "corporate" - terms I would never strive to attribute towards what I do.

I've found honesty & personality such an important factor in connecting with an audience & "dead space" needent be "dead space" for that reason!

How many times have you heard "Stereophonics were good, but they just played the set - no interaction"

"Kings of Leon were good, but no stage presence"

Naturally, music is still an overwhelming factor, maybe only as much so?!

If you'd like to continue this discussion, please press 1. If you'd like to continue it with a little more personality please press 2.
[/quote]

Thanks for taking the time to explain your view point in a manner that I was able to understand.

I think, based on what you've said above, we will have to disagree on what we think makes a band performance good.

My viewpoint comes as much from the PoV of an audience member as it does a performer. I find a lot of things that other bands do deeply distracting from the performance which ultimately is what the audience have come to see. As a performer I want to try and cut out as many of these "faults" from my own band as I can. One that particularly annoys me is what I consider needless messing about between songs.

It's fine if your band has a person who can engage with the audience in an eloquent and entertaining manner between the songs, but let's face it most bands aren't capable of much more than "Hello Birmingham! Are you reedy to rock!!?" Frank Zappa wasn't wrong when he described musicians as "people who can't talk", and who am I to disagree when I far prefer to express myself through music rather than words?

IME musicians worry too much about making mistakes whilst they are playing (which go largely unnoticed by the majority of the audience) and don't pay enough attention to what happens between the songs when they are not. If you are able to grab the audience's attention with your music you have to continue to work to keep it during those moments when you aren't actually playing and by far the easiest way to do this is to keep them to a minimum. By all means have a couple of beaks rather than relentlessly pumping out the tunes, but fill those breaks with something useful and meaningful, and for most small bands (which covers pretty much everyone here playing originals) that means telling the audience who you are and which of the songs you are playing can be bought from the band after the show.

What you don't want between songs is endless tuning up, fiddling with effects pedals settings and discussions happening between the band members on stage. So the last thing I want to be doing is adding to these problems and further breaking the flow of the set whilst I change a string or fix some other problem with my equipment. Sometimes musicians are so wrapped up in their own little creative world that they can't see the bigger picture when it comes to presenting the band to the public.

As in point. I went to see a fairly well known band Six by Seven some years ago. They come on stage a launch into an impressive-sounding opening song that gets the audience up and enthusiastic. At the end of this song the guitarist goes to swap his Strat for a Rickenbacker to use on the second song. The Ric produces no sound and for several minutes little happens on stage other than the guitarist checking his pedal board and amp, while the rest of the band stand about looking sheepish. Finally the Rickenbacker bursts into life and the gig can continue, but by then all of the impact of the opening song had been lost and even worse than that - from out in the audience there is absolutely no sonic difference between the two guitars, so we were left wondering what all the messing about was actually for.

Also in my opinion there is more to audience interaction that just talking to them between the songs. You can acknowledge that the audience are there simply by facing towards them and looking at them rather than be seemingly lost in world of your own playing. I'm a great believer in the Ramones ethos of always facing the audience whilst they were on stage. Maybe, if like a lot of bands I see where the musicians huddle around the drummer for comfort whilst the singer struggles to project any further than the end of the microphone, you need those gaps between the songs to try and engage the audience, but IMO it is far better to do it whilst you are actually playing songs - which after all is what people have come to see you do.

I'm going to leave it here and let people get back to discussing the original topic (although everything that needs to be said has been) and if you want to take this further maybe we should start a new one about what bands should be doing between songs on stage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1418401753' post='2629960']
What you don't want between songs is endless tuning up, fiddling with effects pedals settings and discussions happening between the band members on stage. So the last thing I want to be doing is adding to these problems and further breaking the flow of the set whilst I change a string or fix some other problem with my equipment. Sometimes musicians are so wrapped up in their own little creative world that they can't see the bigger picture when it comes to presenting the band to the public.[/quote]

I agree, I like a more structured performance not a lot dead air, following the set list ect. It comes off as more professional. Yes, even at the bar/pub band level. I wish my band had this protocol, however we do have a female front who is also our lead guitarist that does an outstanding job interacting and engaging the audience.

Blue

Edited by blue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1418413423' post='2630101']
You have two different Club basses, or have you swapped one for another..? :unsure:

Confused, of Norwich
[/quote]

Swapped the Contemporary for the real thing and worth every penny. The German made is the Limited Edition 502 Club with the closer Cavern Club PU spacing. Check the similar spacing on Paul's bass.

Don't get me wrong, The Contemporary Club is a nice bass, however it doesn't have the [i]"thump"[/i] you get with the real thing. I have wanted a real German made Hofner since 1966. It took 48 years till I could afford one. :D

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread.

Blue

Edited by blue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's all very well saying a band should produce a whole evening of entertainment with lots of interaction with the audience. Trouble is, this is a very difficult art to master if you have an unresponsive audience. I've seen us try and try, and get no reaction from them. Then get told at the end of the night" that was great" . Personally, I find it hard to think of anything that I want to say to them and prefer getting into the next number as quickly as possible.
There's another place we play regularly, where the noise is so loud from the chat , that there's absolutely no point in trying to talk over them. " This is a song by so and so" loses its appeal really quickly. I have seen bands that have a great knack of interacting. I just don't have it. I'm just gonna keep playing music and hope they like it. It's worked ok for us for a great number of years

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luckily our guitarist/singer has the gift of the gab and audience interaction is a large part of the performance. In fact he'd probably like me to break a string to make a 'feature' of it!

Whether you take a spare depends on the gig. A corporate function or originals band are a world away from a night of banter at the Dog and Duck. I have had equipment fail at gigs, the worst being a speaker coil going on my 1x15 combo. We've always coped, in that case by going through the PA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...