gt4ever

Buy a really old iPad for twenty odd quid and only use is it for gigging, that way if it gets damaged or nicked it ain’t the end of the world. I use a generic holder with an old iPad, combined cost about 30 quid. Happy days

I’ll be putting a few bars of ‘invaders must die’ into a bridge of one of our tunes on Saturday. RIP Keith

Know your enemy RATM was my first bass line I ever played, followed by gratitude beastie boys.

I joined a new band about 14 months ago. They showed me 86 songs and said that they never play the same set twice. As said before, we were all sensible about it and worked on 12 songs over 2 weeks and then another 12 songs and we gigged those the next month. There was a mix of tricky and easy. I had to decide to play the trickier ones within boxes first so I could jam them at rehearsal to see if their arrangements were true to original. From there it was a case of putting in the time and having fun with it. I’m now fully up to speed, have put forward a good dozen of my choices and I’m now comfortable playing duke box gigs with them. This is where clients get a full list of our repertoire on their tables and they tick ones they like. We gather them up while they’re finishing their meal and make a set list on the fly, keeps you on your toes as a musician and it’s pretty good fun. Main thing is to enjoy yourself, have fun, and be realistic as to what is possible in time constraints. Good luck!

They are one of the few bands that I grieve not seeing live. The stars never aligned when they were nearby and it is one of only a few gig regrets. I’ve loved them in every era/genre they’ve been a part of from the beginning to the present.

I’m sure this must have been previously recommended but it’s a great book, properly enjoyable read with loads of musical references to check out. Only shame is that Yauch was no longer around to put his mind and wisdom into the book. Even if you’re not a big fan, I urge people to give it a go, you won’t be disappointed.

Open string playing gives me a chance to adjust my levels on the nobs if I feel I need it. Open string bass face is IMO the worst thing in the world lol

You play all 13 mins??

I think it’s important to keep your hand in. Live music is live music as far as I’m concerned. It’s about entertaining the audience, sometimes having to win them over, but most importantly having a great time while doing it. I play in a covers band at the moment that has a function/pub mix of tunes. 70% of it ain’t really my thing but I have a great time and rapport with the band when we play so to me it doesn’t matter. It is whatever you make of it. Some may just play with a stale face cos it’s not their thing and just be happy to get money at the end of it, if that’s you then fair enough, but I will always make the most of the live music moment and have fun whatever. Rich

I'm sorry to hear of your hearing issues too. A good mate of mine couldn't afford IEM's and so tried using headphones on stage and I gotta say he did look pretty ridiculous. It looked like he was in his own little world and just not interacting with anyone. If it's your only option then it's gotta be though. Good luck. Rich

Thanks people, its been an epic wait!

Praise the Lord!! I have my amp back. June 17th it went bang and we are now November 27th, cray.

It is a monster amp with the famous GK growl, I just got unlucky

Yeah man I do and have been offered that. The problem is that polarhave my money and the part is in transit.

Polar have had my money in full since June and they say it is on a ship container...

I spoke to Jason from Day one back in June and he fobbed me off to Polar and then a couple of months later offered to ship it to me for £180 if I wanted it sooner. Cant afford that and now over 5 months on I am still without my amp!

Still not received anything. I went direct to GK and they told me I refused their offer of sending it direct to me, but they wanted £180 just for delivery. Polar apologised and said they had trouble sourcing the part from GK, which is a lie as it is an off the shelf product. Towards the end of October they told me mid-November ETA, and am yet to hear anything back and I just cant bring myself to contact them to be told another date. I am pretty much resigned to the fact that i'll be using my trace elliot back up rig for a while yet. My back is nackered and last gig it cut out half way through, gave it a whack and it came back on. I dont have money to purchase a back up for my back up!! I am desperately miserable about the situation to the point of me quitting live music for a time out.

I’m properly fuming and just don’t know what to do or say.

I just received an email from Polar saying they’ve heard from GK that my part will arrive mid-November. That is 5 and a half months!!!!!!!!! That’s nearly half a year to get a replacement part of an amp!!!! WTF!?!?

Avoid gallien Krueger like the plague. If it goes wrong and needs parts then your are in for a long wait. I’ve been waiting since June for a transformer for my class D amp, just sayin...

For me the tempo and timing should breath slightly instead of being a rigid tight rhythm and the locking in is to have a joint inner feeling of this slight flexibility of rhythm and sounds awesome when you’re in it and both feeling it.