dmccombe7

Set yourself a time limit on any band you join. If your not satisfied with them after that time period - move on. If they're not gig ready in that time - move on. If they don't all pull their own weight by that time - move on Max time limit for me is 1 year mainly because i allow for playing in original bands where i'm starting from scratch. Also like to allow enough time to gel with a band and to see if they are all still nice guys well after you join and its not a case of them making the extra effort because they are desperate for a bassist. Dave

Fantastic line up. Few really good ones too, Tom Petty, Moody Blues. Styx (well almost), Willie Nelson (WOW), Frampton, Steve Miller Jings the list of acts from all eras that i like is unimaginable in one venue too. Brilliant. You are lucky. Assume the weather is usually not an issue for you Blue. Dave

Are Ampeg amps as reliable as i originally thought they were.? My Ampeg is booked in for repair next week. Nothing from pre-amp but power amp working. Tried all the usual jack socket tests and no joy. Had the amp 2 years and not really had any issues before. Its a 2nd hand US 1993 era which i had the mains transformer changed from 110V to 230V. Just curious. ? Dave

That's why i'd rather pick up myself even if it means a long drive or meet half way if poss. Obviously coming from abroad its not practical. I'm still waiting to see where the bass is actually hung up. Does the tracking show it as being picked up at all. If not then i would be very suspect that there is no bass to begin with no matter how nice the sender says he is. Modern tracking is usually pretty good as every change of location or vehicle is scanned and recorded. Dave

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1492189241' post='3278613'] Let's be clear: people who play in a band but through laziness (or ego) can't be bothered to learn the arrangements should be lured to a deserted warehouse and shot in the face. [color=#faebd7].[/color] [/quote] No strong feelings there then Dave

Well done. Have fun enjoy and smile for the pic. Pulling a face is very unprofessional so just do it anyway Dave

Is it a well known courier as tracking info remaining unchanged is a bit unusual these days with modern scanning techniques. Not saying it doesn't happen but quite rare. Is the tracking number genuine. was the item picked up from sender and where does it sit at moment. ? Dave

The 3.5mm jack plug will have a cable clamp to hold it safe and make sure no strain on the soldered connection. Just means you will see a small gap where cable enters plug or as someone said use heat shrink or tape to pack it out. Personally i just solder the joints and then clamp the cable sheath as required. Dave

I guess in an ideal world i would like everyone to show up having learned their parts to perfection but i get some enjoyment from structuring a song to fit our band. I've done the covers band where i had approx 30 songs to learn in 3 weeks without a rehearsal only to find out the week before that a large number were in different keys. I did it and played the 2 weekend gigs with tha band. It was extremely hard work learning them but i enjoyed it to be honest but i couldn't keep up with the bands ever changing set list and 2-3 gigs a wekend and had to move on. Without a rehearsal left me feeling that i was playing a jam session at times. Once i agree a song and its structure i like it to be 100% perfect before doing a gig. That way i'm comfortable and can enjoy playing without worrying what's coming next in the song. Dave

I guess that's in case the seller is scamming you. Did the seller not provide you with the tracking number. ? You can then tell where it went lost. Dave

Should pick up a good 2nd hand combo with that budget. Is your intention to restrict to practice at home or do you think you'll move on to band practices where you will need something a bit louder. Too many to list but Roland cube is a good choice, Trace Elliots, Gallien Kruger, Ashdowns, Orange, Warwick and the list goes on. I've no experience in any of the smaler praectice amps. If noise is an issue you could consider one of the headphone amp options where you can connect your Ipod or music device to an aux input and hear both thru headphones. Again quite a few to look at but not sure if that's an option and i've only ever tried Phil Jones one and was very impressed. Again look for 2nd hand Dave

Only if nothing else on. The bands are too extreme or boring for me. You only get the occasional exception that stands out from that. Used to never miss it years ago. Sadly gone down hill in my opinion Dave

The tracking should show where it currently sits. I've found Parcelforce central HUB to be a nightmare at Xmas time. Things just seem to disappear from there even tho it clearly shows it being scanned on arrival. Just a huge black hole and they are no help at all when you enquire. I avoid ordering anything in December if i can help it. All Xmas pressies are ordered in Nov latest. Sad i know but hell it works for me. Dave

I recorded an originals song by the guitarist mainly to allow me to put a better bass line to it rather than waste rehearsal time. When we returned the next rehearsal i had produced a new bass line and knew the song structure. Oddly enough the guitarist debated the structure of the song and when i played it back he had gotten it wrong. However we did change it because it sounded better Bands are such fun. Dave

With our band myself and the drummer both write down everything about the song for our parts. Before i learn a suggested song i specifically ask what version as i've been caught out before with key changes on the spot which i just don't appreciate. I literally write out the bass part and the structure of the song. Drummer learns his part and writes out the structure and keeps a note of the tempo. Vocalist tends to suggest the songs which i'm in favour off as he then knows what he can sing. He generally knows the song but keeps a copy of all lyrics he uses. One guitarist has a basic listen to a song and then learns it at rehearsal unless he already knows the song. Main guitarist usually learns his bit well but doesn't always get the structure right. Keyboard player tends to learn basics at home and polishes off at rehearsal. They now rely on me for making sure we have the exact structure of the song as played by the artist and from there we will re-arrange parts to suit our style of playing and how we want to start, play, solos or end a song. Once we agree how we will play we will run through it to make sure it sounds good and then I'll write out the new structure and we rehearse to that version every time. It can be frustrating when others suggest a song and when you turn up for rehearsal you are the only one that knows your part correctly but that's bandmates for you. I don't get invoved in arranging the gigs. Mostly the 2 guitarists that do that. With regards song selection its down to mostly singer making a suggestion and we have a listen to it before we finally agree to learn it. Occasionally we've tried a song and it just doesn't suit our style so we drop it. That's now quite rare as we have a better feel for what suits us and what we are capable of covering. Dave

D'Addarios nickel EXL190. Recently bought set of DR's but not put them on my jazz as yet. Liked the Fender nickels as well. Can't get used to Rotosound strings at all Dave EDIT with reasons for using. :- D'Addarios because the nickel is not as harsh on fingers, They don't sound as biting as steels, They seem to last a bit longer than Rotosounds or Fender nickels i was using before that. They have a better balance of tone across the strings. They aren't hugely expensive .These reasons are probably subjective and others will have different opinions. DR's i still haven't put on my bass yet but just thought iw ould see what all the fuss was about. Are expensive tho. I do have Elixirs on some basses and altho more expensive they will last up to a year without massive tonal change. I do however find they have more tension than D'Addarios or Fenders. They also have a nice even tonal balance across the strings.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1492036396' post='3277469'] Hi Dave, 64, 3-4 gigs a week is my sweet spot. Interesting comment regarding playing. My band, we take playing seriously and that's why we enjoy what we do. Blue [/quote] Think it depends on what you are looking for when playing with a band. For some the enjoyment is regular well paid gigs and for others its just the fun of playing without the stress of it being an income. I may have mis-interpreted what i meant by not taking seriously. We take playing the songs seriously but not the making money side of it. Majority of our band have other bands that regularly gig and they only got together to enjoy playing the songs they liked and wanted to play for themselves. From the word go when i was asked to join that was made clear to me. As i don't need the income it kinda just suited what i wanted. Hasn't always been that way and i've gone thru the various stages of seeking fame and fortune to regular income to trying to fit in between work commitments and then back to regular gigging again and then getting sick of it all and back to a band that just enjoys playing for the sake of playing together. If people want to hear us then we'll gig. Band is only learning set list at moment and all songs i've never played before or even heard before. (not my usual style of music). We've already done a few private functions for friends and have been asked by local venues to play. We've not gone out looking so quite lucky in that respect that the people who have heard us play have passed on comments to various venues they either play or attend. That's probably a different outlook to others that take the music very seriously as its more a business to them where they need to be good to get the best paying gigs. I totally get that as some of the best musicians or bands i know are function bands. They earn good money because they are good at what they do however they are mainly function bands playing a selection of songs to please their audience. That's the big difference for me. We play songs to please us. We don't have the pressure of seeking out the well paid gigs or playing "the wedding scene" gigs. Its just not what we are looking for from a band. For me personally playing 3-4 gigs a week is more like a job and i would lose interest if all my weekends were taken up with playing in band while friends are out watching bands, enjoying a meal with friends. Not sure that al makes sense but hopefully it does highlight the different levels of commitment and attitude towards bands and what they get from it. Dave

I'm probably the odd one out on this thread as 2-4 gigs a month is about as much as i would ever want to play. Playing is a hobby for me and never really bothered too much about the money side of it. If i liked the band and the music then i'd probably be happy. I do believe in regular rehearsals to make sure songs are spot on altho gigging does improve the band a fair bit from that point. The other thing for me is i enjoy rehearsals and see it as a group of guys getting together for a laugh and playing some great music. No we don't take playing as serious as many bands but that's why we enjoy doing what we do. For me i would probably contact any band from their advert and find out more details. I have joined bands even after the audition only to find the changes in character temprements was too much and i had to move on. My point being that you just can't tell enough from an advert. If you want to play in a band you need to look at all adverts and take it further as there's not a lot of bands in my area looking for bass players these days. Dave

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1282590249' post='934109'] The contact details for Dennis Marshall on Pp1 of this thread is out of date. He's now in Newmills, Dunfermline. [url="http://www.dennismarshall.co.uk/contact.htm"]http://www.dennismar....uk/contact.htm[/url] I can highly recommend him, he's an absolute guru on valve amps, all of the main brands (he lives & breathes Sound City) and is well worth the trip over the river. I lived in Edinburgh for 24 years & never found anyone in his league. Check out his client list, it speaks for itself. [/quote] Just an update. I spoke to Dennis this morning about my Ampeg SVT and he is no longer doing bass amps as they are a bit too heavy. Shame as he seemed to be getting some great feedback on his work. Any other recommended repair shops. I used Glasgow Studio Electronics to replace the 110V transformer with 230V and they did a great job but was just wondering who else is out there.

Used to do Blockbuster and Jean Genie and sometimes as a medoly because they are very similar. Have to admit Trevor Bolder bass lines always have a slightly more difficult fast bit with far more bass runs in the song rather than straight 8's Both great songs. Was a big fan of Sweet. Probably the first real band i ever got into. Dave

That's pretty good stuff. Cheers Blue Dave

Played in couple rock based Trio's and they are just great fun, less hassle and allow you to be a little more extrovert with your playing style and tone. Shouldn't be too difficult to work round it. All the best with it. Dave

I've always assumed a drumer gets use to where everything is on his kit and instinctively can play each drum, snare, cymbal without thinking where it might be on a rack. I guess there's a fair comment about having to adapt. I've allowed other bass players to use my basses in the past mainly because my basses have always been good quality but wouldn't let just anyone do it. They were all guys i knew and trusted to look after it. I've allowed other guys to use my bass rig but they always want to fiddle with the settings and i need to return everything to where it was for me. Its all going thru PA so front of house won't make a lot of difference to the sound. I won't let anyone use my bass now unless its an emergency and no other choice as its pretty unhygienic to be honest. If i use someone else amp i leave the settings as they are and use EQ on my active bass to get as close to what i want. Again front of house should correct any short falls via PA. So all in all i suppose a drummer has every right to expect same as guitarists with kit. Dave

Our drummer is left handed so usually means 2 kits on stage if sharing with another band. Add to that 2 different keyboard players and there's not a lt of room on a stage for the rest of us. Dave

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1491828172' post='3275641'] I don't see a problem here other than your confidence is sagging a little. The songs you're recording are also in the set? You don't need rehearsals, you need practise time.So learn those 5 till you can play them in your sleep, then focus on the rest. You can do this. You've got nearly 2 weeks. For 5 songs? Play those 5 as many times a day as you need. When you're done with them run through the rest of the set. [/quote] +1 on this. You'll be fine if you focus on those 5 songs. Doesn't matter if you've only played them with the band once or twice. You're not recording them as a band so as long as you know your bit it will work out just fine and as somebody pointed out a good engineer can drop in to correct any mistakes that might be made and believe me the rest of the band will be doing the same. Its a different ball game when you do recording and find out what you can and cant do. Guitarists are renowned for wanting to do retakes cause they haven't quite captured "their sound" I'd just go with it, try and relax and just enjoy it for what it is. An adventure and all part of band fun time. Dave