mrtcat

I'm really encouraged by the responses here. I'm happy to be helpful with any venue but it's reassuring that the common philosophy is that the venue needs to let people know what they're offering. I guess it'd be like putting on a free buffet but not advertising it - you'll please the people who would have been there anyway but it won't bring you any extra trade as nobody will know there's anything worth coming for.

I'm 34 yrs old and still keep our band's entire PA system, lighting rig and my bass cab in my parents garage which has been part converted so is warm, dry and secure. I get the feeling I'm pushing it a bit tho as they've recently started talking about moving away from the area.

Please tell me if I'm wrong about this. We're a rock covers band and play probs 30 - 50 gigs a year and have a good following of people who come to see us when we're in their local pub. We charge a very reasonable price to the venue for a night of playing and without meaning to sound cocky everyone who sees us really seems to enjoy it and we always get really good feedback. As a result we are selling cd's and T-Shirts which are selling far better than we ever thought they would. We provide all lighting, pa etc and are insured to the max Some venues are great and advertise well but others seem to think promotion is entirely down to the band and if the turn out is low they look to us for an explanation. Now we advertise all our gigs on Lemonrock, Myspace, Twitter and Facebook. For many places this helps bring back the people that have seen us before and are now following us online but if we play a place where we've not picked up "cyber fans" before then this has a limited effect. It still amazes me the number of places that will fork out for a band but do absolutely nothing other than write on a chalk board a day or so before and then expect a full pub. We also get regularly asked to provide posters etc, which we do and send them to the venue weeks in advance. They then put one poster in the gents loo, one behind the bar and the rest they lose and blame the band if they don't take £1,000,000 over the bar. We have even been told before "we only book bands if they put adverts in the local papers and charge less than £100" (we don't do either of these). I must admit I feel that the real responsibility for promoting a night of live music should lie with the venue. As long as the band advertise on their sites then the rest is up to the person booking. I'd be intrigued to know what other players feel about this?

I still enjoy gigging a lot but in recent years a lot of the excitement has been worn away a bit by miserable landlords/ladies, low numbers of punters and our whinging drummer. We have a good few regular haunts where people come out to see us which are always fun. More and more we get booked by new venues, some of which are an hour+ away and when we get there they want to know where all the "followers" are like they expect us to bring a bus with us or something. I find it hard to comprehend them booking a band and then not advertising. We always advertise our gigs on our various sites but can't expect our regular punters (who come and see us when we play their local) to follow us across the counties. Our drummer is very negative tho. He's got a wife and nipper so I totally understand that he's got pressures on his time but we always feel like we have to keep him happy or he just won't turn up. On a couple of occasions he's actually emailed us to say he's cancelled a gig with the venue as he can't make it. When we do gig he's always grumbling about "it's a crap venue", "I don't like the landlord's attitude", "the money's not good enough" etc etc. It's almost like he thinks we should be treated like royalty cos "we're the band". Now he's a great drummer and he can be great fun too. He almost left once in the past so we auditioned heaps of new guys but none of them were even close to being good enough to gig pubs with let alone play functions etc. I guess almost every band will have someone a bit like this tho.

Wow love it. True feeling in every note from the whole band and very cool styling in the videos. Something to aspire to methinks.

I've got a lot of respect for those who sing and play and even more for those who front a band. I do simple backing vox on half a dozen songs in out set and am told I have a good singing voice. Anything more complicated than that is a real struggle for me as the first thing to fall apart is my playing. I know our band would benefit if I could do more. If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them.

[quote name='J.R.Bass' post='1050454' date='Dec 7 2010, 01:00 PM']There is no way Nathan East is sterile.[/quote] Apologies, I really shouldn't have referred to the players as sterile more the gig's they seem to get. I am aware that Nathan East (like all the names mentioned here) is an incredibly talented player who could shine in any band and by all accounts he's a really nice guy. It's more the music that I find really bland thus to me it wouldn't be a satisfying job. Age old case of differing taste.

They sound pretty poor. Not really impressed with most insurers as the limitations of cover with most seem ridiculous. I had a car stolen two years ago from outside the venue we were playing and even though there was glass everywhere from the window they smashed AND my car insurance paid out for the vehicle the company insuring the guitar inside the car said that without the car I couldn't prove entry had been forced so they didn't pay.

Paul Turner has it for me. Very funky and upbeat gig. Don't desperately like JK but at least the music has drive. I'm sorry but I find all the Nathan East / Will Lee etc etc sterilized slap playing session players absolutely mind numbingly dull particularly as 99% of the time they're playing to 40 something yanks in comfy pullovers. I'm sure they're incredibly talented but it all just sounds like bad elevator music to me.

Unless your guitarist is out of this world talented or he owns a brewery, a tour bus and a recording studio I'd suggest being totally blunt and tell him to stop being a c**k. Ultimately he'll drive punters away and then your band will struggle to get re booked anywhere. Landlords are not all as stupid as they appear to be. His rig is clearly an extension of his penis and nothing more. If he were a musician he'd know his amp really is there to produce a nice sound that can go into the pa via a mic and only really has to act as a monitor for himself. a 60w 1x12 is more than enough for pubs and clubs. If he's not interested in listening to feedback now then it's unlikely he ever will. Our guitarist is great and only uses a little 60w amp but by christ he can steal the show anytime he wants because he's got bags of talent, he sits well in the mix and he has everything under control (possibly a bass player in disguise).

I always follow the riff as we only have 1 guitarist. Love this tune and it always goes down surprisingly well. You can hear us playing it on our myspace page. Recorded live in studio before our keyboard player left so it's got a keys solo which is poss a bit different. www.myspace.com/crudemeasure

I play this with my band and can only do our own version because much as it appears a simple song on paper Leon Wilkeson was an incredible player with an amazing feel for songs. Sweet home is very subtle and clever in places and it is 110% about feel. Sometimes it's the simplest stuff that's hardest to pull off. I would give my left nut to have his skills tho. As a pub song it's a winner though because punters love it and ultimately they pay the bands fee. If you think this one is tough to get sounding good try Freebird. It's a monster. We do it regularly but I always feel we don't really do it justice. There's an isolated bass line on the tube that highlights how unique Leon's playing was [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJBBW1Kl94"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJBBW1Kl94[/url]

I picked up a s/h fender 1975 reissue jazz bass for that exact sum. It was in pristine condition and has a beautiful glossy finish, maple neck, a nice big body and they hold value really well. I never want to part with it so it's not for sale but they do come up now and again and I'd certainly recommend one. Only issue for you may be that a jazz neck is not your cup of tea. I always had warwicks and a p bass before but found the slim jazz neck surprisingly easy to play.

I was always a fingers player through and through and was snobby about pick players. I'm now working hard on using a plectrum for some Thin Lizzy stuff we do and really starting to like it. It really cuts through too. Only problem is I keep dropping the pick. As for slap, I like it a lot and am nowhere near as good at it as I'd like to be. The only thing that puts me off it is all the numpties in the guitar shops and at bass shows doing it at full volume. It just makes me think "you tosser stop showing off and go get a girlfriend". Double thumbing just sounds painful

[quote name='paul h' post='1043957' date='Dec 1 2010, 03:50 PM']It's a £115 copy! I can drill all I want ! [/quote] At that price you may not even choose to use a drill?

A handful of lessons with a good teacher can really help here too. A decent teacher will be able to give you some pointers on how to get close to the sound you're after. He/she should also be able to tell you if your gear is holding you back. Beyond that I firmly believe practice and experimentation will be your biggest help. A friend of mine went and bought the exact same gear as a youtube bass player he was really into but couldn't get anywhere near the sound of his idol. It's 99% in the fingers IMO

I've put a thumb rest on my battered Pbass between the bridge and the pickup and it works well and sounds good. My P is a fake tho (very convincing with nice pickups but a fake nontheless)which has been "aged" so I was not too reluctant to screw in a thumb rest in a new position. If it were a more valuable genuine usa or something I would be worried about de-valuing it by putting more holes in it.

Hey Jim I'm sorry to hear that. The chap who plays bass for pub rock legends "The Hamsters" suffers with this and has made some changes to his playing technique to enable him to continue playing a very busy full time schedule. There's an interview on their site about it. [url="http://www.thehamsters.co.uk/interviews/dystonia.php"]http://www.thehamsters.co.uk/interviews/dystonia.php[/url] I gather medical knowledge is limited and you may find his experiences helpful.

I like Lady Ga-Ga, Ellie Goulding and metal. Not ALL Lady Ga-Ga, not ALL Ellie Goulding and not ALL metal but generally I have time for all of it. Not keen on EJ as a person cos I hear he's a bit of a jumped up nitwit but I can't deny he's got more than just a little bit of talent. I've got a lot of respect for both the ladies I've mentioned (I don't include EJ in those two although I respect his music) as I've seen both do some great live stuff and both seem very genuine (if a little nuts in Lady G's case) when interviewed. Ellie Goulding is also v - cute unlike Ga-Ga, EJ and 99.99999% of heavy metal (IMO)

I wouldn't worry too much about the male / female thing as they can both be as bonkers as each other - I'd be more concerned about singer and guitarist in one cos that's two whole portions of mental in one person!

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1040974' date='Nov 29 2010, 11:41 AM']What are the chances of a drummer being called Mr Drums?[/quote] My guitarist is called Russ Axeman

We used to have a rhythm guitarist who was cr@p and we regularly used to "accidentally" leave his amp behind and make him play direct into the pa so we could simply mix him out completely. Funnily enough he quit after just a few months of gigging.

Not my bag at all and Elvis really does nothing for me but cannot deny this guy is a class act and I could quite happily watch him play all day long.

Ordered some Seymour Duncan pups from Bass Centre a few months back. I was after two different sets and ordered one set from BC and the other from Blue Arran. The Blue Arran ones arrived next day and the BC ones arrived two weeks later with no explanation. Says enough IMO to keep me from buying from them again when 99% of online stores give excellent service.