Dad3353

... until you drop. ...

Possibly true in absolute terms, but there are scores (hundreds..? thousands..?) of musicians playing variety gigs; not all of them are immersed in all the genres in the repertoire. The case in point (the TV show...), the objective was not to become 'fabulous' (although that would have been a bonus...), but to get to the gig and make it work. Any songs could have been chosen; one or more of the musicians would not have been steeped in it, whatever the genre. 'Fake' reggae is as easy to cobble up as 'fake' disco, 'fake' flamenco', 'fake' electronica... I could go on.

Quite so, and you're right, in that the fellow wasn't 'wired' for reggae, but in swapping feet, he'd have been playing 'his' style, whilst giving off a back-beat feel. It wouldn't have brought out a rash of dreadlocks, but would have helped the song along (it need all the help it could get, as it sounded like quite a struggle shoe-horning it into such a feel, anyway. It's not as if there are no 'four on the floor' reggae songs to choose from..! 'Is This Love', 'The Tide Is High' ... )

I was surprised that the 'easy' solution for getting a Reggae beat wasn't tried. Swap the hi-hat and bass drum pedals and play as normal. Instant riddim..! It's like playing 'leftie' with the feet. OK, it's not authentic, there's much more involved to get a proper reggae feel, but it would have made all the difference in the situation portrayed. The bloke could easily manage the bass drum with his gammy leg, and have full control over the hi-hat as a bonus. Just sayin'.

That's incomplete; it should be 'Don't put it in 'bridge' mode unless you need to, and you know what you're doing.' Some folks burn their fingers on the doubly-live terminals. Others link to earth one or other of the wires. Some use guitar leads to connect to the cabs. (Don't do any of those things..! ) There are many reasons for not bridging, but if it's needed, and done properly, it's fine. As I mentioned right from the outset, there are hundreds of amps working in that mode all over the globe. It's not an Issue.

Take your tablets, like that nice doctor fellow said. Chill. Breath. Earl Grey, or camomile tea may help. Take a walk (not, not on the Wild Side..! D'oh..!). For the purposes of the interogations you're torturing yourself with, there is no difference, none whatsoever, between what comes from one amp channel or two bridged amp channels. Whatever difference there may be is only of interest (and even then, not much...) to a lab technicien studying high-falluting stuff of purely academic use. Now, take those pills, go for a nice long walk and get back to practicing bass playing, there's a good chap. ...

A cab connected to one or the other would not react any differently. Tha amps with such a specification would have a different price on them, though, if of the same quality.

800w bridged and 800w per channel unbridged..? Seems odd to me.

Just as a simple way of illustrating, take an amp with a voltage to its power stage of 40v. Whatever the currrent, the amp's PSU cannot deliver more volts. To get the watts up, the current must increase, and the o/p transistors may not be capable. In comes 'bridge' mode, where one amp, with the same 40v limit, is bridged with an identical, but phase-inversed, '-40v' amp. The cab 'sees' an 80v swing. That's what bridging achieves; 'double' the power for the same current. OK, it's a simple view, but that's the gist of it.

There are thousands of PA systems, world-wide, running in bridge mode, many on a 24/7 basis. There's nothing particular about this mode per se that makes it, for any adequate speaker system, different. To a cab, it's just applied tension across its terminals. As for power ratings, the 'real world' audible difference between 800 and 830 (or even 1200...) is negligeable. If there's any risk of damaging cabs, in this, or any other, situation, I would question the matching, or even the necessity, of such wattage. Any decently-efficient cabs would be crushing concrete at those acoustic levels anywhere other than a wide-open space such as an open-air concert. However, if one's music relies on this to be heard, so be it, and accept that damage may occur, either to the rig, or one's ears, or the building, or all of the above. If it's a concern, turn it down or double up on the cabs.

The one in the photo,no, but mine was identical, bought at auction from the Gendarmerie at Rennes, Brittany for 2000 FF (about £200...). Mileage (well, kilometers, actually...) was 30,000, which I worked out as being one circuit of the Rennes ringroad per week since new, so only just run in, really. Too thirsty with the petrol engine, though, so I removed it and fitted a diesel that I'd refurbished and fitted to my Peugeot 404 estate. The result was a real bombardier; sound-proofing was not 'optimum'. Getting back from gigs at the point of Brittany was err... challenging. I'd just bought it; a few days later, out shopping, I was stopped by (oh the irony...) the local gendarmes, and given a fine for driving a vehicle displaying military insignia (the Red Crosses...). The fine was subject to a general amnesty at the occasion of the election of Mitterand as president, so didn't get paid. I 'tagged' the crosses on the sides, but never got around to the roof..! I gave it away in the end to a pal, who took it down to the Pyrenees, and I lost track of it decades ago now? My first car in France was a 3cv, just like the Arcadiane in its concept, but older. Happy daze.

Nah, lutons are for wimps...

So there we have it, official. 'Fuzz' pedals will destroy your speakers, word. ...

The speed of cone movement is the frequency, no..?

Modes are a useful notion to know about, but probably not the main focus, on any instrument (disclaimer: I'm a drummer, so what would I know about 'modes'..? ). I like to think of them as 'colour', or 'mood'. It's quite easy to test out this idea (even more so on a piano, but...). Get a major chord as a drone, and play the major scale notes over it, with emphasis on the root. Sounds fine..? Of course it does. Now, with this same drone, play that same set of notes, but with the emphasis on the second note ('D' in the case of a C Major scale...). Using only the same notes, but insisting on the 'D'. Sounds different..? It should. Try the same exercise, but with the emphasis on other notes in the scale. That's what 'modes' sound like. Some have a Hispanic feel to them, others more Eastern European; that's what I mean by 'colour'. Personally, I don't spend much (read 'any'...) time on memorising which mode has which name; I just play whatever sounds good in the context of the moment, but it would help if wanting to transmit to others what 'feeling' is intended. As I mentioned, useful to know about, but there's much, much more to concentrate on, so it's just a part of a whole. Intervals..? Voice-leading..? Pedals..? Substitutions..? Lots more than modes to dig into.

Of course; I was confusing with another post I'd looked at. Put it down to dotage, a 'senior' moment. Sorry.

OK, I've worked it out, by entering it into Guitar Pro; yes, I've heard it before, but could only really recognise it once I'd completed the riff (it makes no sense to me, even now, when it's incomplete...). I wouldn't have known who played it, though. S'not that I'm deaf (although that's true ...), it's that I have never had to play stuff of the sort, on any instrument; it's a bit too modern for my 'natural' repertoire, and I've a saint horror of 'disco-ish' stuff in general. The tab shown does, however, contain just about all the information that a 'normal' score would contain, including the rhythmic elements, so I don't see what 'dots' notation would bring to that particular party. Where tab falls down is when the sax player wants to share your sheet. As a drummer (no tab for us, thank you very much ...), I've not really been called upon to 'read' for keys or horns, but most musicians can swap sheet music between them (allowing for bass/treble staves...). That can't work for tab sheets. As a drummer, a chord chart is of little use to me, except as a very rough guide as to what the song is doing. Drummers usually have to write it all out for themselves, so reading/writing is just part of the job in hand. Many drummers double as percussion, though, so scores for kettle drums or vibraphone are commonplace. No tab there, either, of course.

Sammy Davis Junior..?

Rhythmically, it sounds like 'Yesterday' (I'm a drummer, so I know these things...), but when I pick it out on the bass (or guitar...), it doesn't. Maybe I'm not as good on drums as I used to be..? Is there a shadow hanging over me..? Oh, how I long to find out what this is. (S'not Chopin, though, that's certain...)

Sorry. I can play it, but it's ringing no bells, so I'm guessing that it's not Sibelius or Grieg. Handel seems unlikely, too. A bit more modern, maybe..? David Bowie..? No..? OK, I'm stumped.

And the winner is... @skankdelvar ..! Here, then, is your Winner's Certificate (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ... ... which looks like this (but bigger, of course..!)...

It's a bit late to mention, but there's no link to this Voting topic in the February Compo Challenge topic. Just sayin'...

A tidy set-up, but beware of becoming dependant on the music stand. So unprofessional, according to some 'experts'..! ...

It's the jack plug that activates the switch to turn on the power to the pre-amp inside. This avoids the requirement of an on-off switch, but is often forgotten about, and that's why the battery gets used up too quickly. Just unplug when not in use, that's all. It's the same for battery-powered floor pedals; they, too, have a short battery life if left plugged in.