cheddatom

I guess when you said "a pro bass player touring the world" I imagined more professional tours, playing as a session player with big shows etc. rather than the "lower level" tour you describe

I'm not sure why you've decided that? Say your musical skills are up to it (and they almost certainly are) then you just need to work on your networking and self promotion skills, then you'd have what it takes.

I'd say they key to that is a drummer who actually sounds good in the room. So many drummers play their cymbals louder than their drums, and if they're doing that, you really need to close mic everything

I'd say in most live contexts, it won't make any difference. In the studio it can make a significant difference, depending on the sound of the bass/player/amp/effects/bassline but then in the studio you can just drop in with the fretted note if it's a difficult jump to make

This sounds a bit depressing to me. If I didn't have a day job I'd spend hours every day practising bass, drums, and guitar, and I would without a doubt improve my skills. I'm always improving despite the fact I have no time to practise. This isn't limited to my abilities on my instrument(s), I hope to improve all of my skills, continuously, for the whole of my life. I'll still be getting better when I'm 60, and if I ever manage to retire I'll be getting better at a faster rate as I'll have more time I think the expression is "Every day is a school day"

For me, if I can enjoy the art without contributing the the disgraced artist, IE pirate the gary glitter back catalogue, I don't see a problem with it. As someone said earlier, you don't want to be sponsoring one of these horrible bastards. If someone still enjoys listening to the lost prophets CD they bought years ago, I wouldn't judge them, but if they're streaming it off spotify or the like then they're guilty of at least ignorance. I was talking about Kevin Spacey the other day - has he ever had a role that wasn't creepy? I can't think of one. The first film I saw him in was American Beauty, in which his character obsessed over a school girl. He played it pretty convincingly. It's a truly brilliant film, and I wouldn't blame anyone for watching it, but hopefully they can find a way to do so without giving their money to Spacey IE nick it off the internet.

Brilliant! Thanks!

Hah, A LOT better, yes. I'm in a band with a guy who is very nice. If there's ever any sort of debate or confrontation in person he can generally deal with it calmly, but he'll often bring up his own gripes in massive emails to the whole band. It's led to big arguments in the past as his email tone is so obnoxious and thoughtless. After a while we learned, so now when he sends them the rest of us either refuse to reply, or just say "OK". It's working so far

cool!

great interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO12j2-ga4w

We used to do pubs taking our own lighting and PA, and in that situation we'd be soundchecked and ready within 45 minutes of arriving at the pub. When I said 5 minutes for my kit I'm talking about multi-band bills where you're supposed to have quick turnarounds. I prefer to skip soundcheck at these types of gigs as more often than not the "headliner" will overrun on their check and none of the other bands get chance. [quote name='steantval' timestamp='1510075798' post='3403807'] Is your drum kit carried in pro flight cases, if so it would take well over 5 minutes just to take the full kit, stands and cymbals out of them before actually putting the kit together. [/quote] I have soft cases. Unzip the case, take the drum out, put it where you want it - about 20 seconds! Multiply by 4 and this is not the most time consuming operation

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1510064426' post='3403658'] I drum in a band and I use a marked rug, memory locks on the convenient stuff and tape on the tricky stuff. Takes 10 mins start to finish. Thats for a 5 drum kit, hi-hat 4 cymbals and a couple of cow bells. [/quote] Very professional! I tend to set up my cymbals on their stands before I get to the stage if possible, then just whack them on there and I'm ready to go I know a drummer who calls himself a pro, and is "endorsed" by a cymbal company and a stick company - he takes between 1 and 1.5 hours to set up. Granted it's a big setup but FFS he tweaks and tweaks and it's still not right! He clamps his side snare onto his hat stand it it falls over multiple times before he gets the legs right. Drives me nuts!

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1510054961' post='3403542'] I'm sure some do, but I haven't played with any drummers who don't take at least 30 minutes to set up, and the current one takes about 45 minutes. Me? about 5 minutes. [/quote] See the drummer taking 30+ minutes to set up his kit seems pretty standard and generally tolerated. I don't understand! If I have to stand there waiting for them it's a real wind up. Thankfully there's normally a pub I can escape to

How long does it take you to set up? If I'm on bass I plug my pedalboard into a DI and tune up. It takes abut 20 seconds. I play a lot of drums and can set up my full kit in about 5 minutes. If I'm on a "shared kit" it's about the same as every other drummer seems to sit about a foot lower than me. My main band is generally ready within 10 minutes. Most bands seem to take significantly longer. I've waited over an hour for the "headline" drummer to set up for soundcheck at a multi band gig. It really winds me up!

The New Cross Inn on Saturday - we don't get down to London very often. This was about 4.5 hours drive down for a 30 minute set. I think there were about 3 people there who actually came to see us, and the rest were there to enjoy the rather heavy punk played by the other 5 bands. Once again I'm baffled - half our songs are on acoustic guitar, half of them are fairly down tempo, and they all have folk inspired melodies, and yet we went down really well with all these hard noise loving punks! Can't complain [quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1509458110' post='3399061'] Anytime I've played in a multi band, short turnaround situation, the back line is provided (often by the 'main' band, sometimes by the organisers) and the drummer only needs breakables s the rest of the kit is in place and ready mic'd. For me, setting up means plugging my bass into the amp and I'm ready to go, leaving the stage means simply put amp on mute, unplug the lead and walk off. More like 15 seconds than 15 minutes! [/quote] I'm on drums to be fair. I have to take the nuts off the stands, put the cymbals on, put the nuts back on, get the snare at the right height, put my pint down somewhere it won't spill etc. Then there's the guitarist who has to tune two guitars and put them on stands... maybe I'll start a thread to see who's the fastest to set up

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1509622275' post='3400341'] No, not another thread on an age old topic. Our stickman turned up last night with a pair of earplugs. For some reason this ended up with him playing more quietly. Result. [/quote] That's very weird. I play a lot of drums and play a LOT quieter without my earplugs in, for obvious reasons

[quote name='Tony p' timestamp='1509379084' post='3398448'] Getting your set time chopped always annoys me, I think multi act bills need to allow for a proper change over time between bands, most seem to go for 15mins which always leads to timing problems. I'm suprised they put you downstairs too, we've struggled to fit on that stage without a drumkit! [/quote] I agree. My band can set up in 10 minutes and get off stage in 5, no problem, but lots of others just seem to take ages. If every single band were as quick as we are (and some have some complicated setups) then 15 minutes changeover would still be too tight.

Saturday night at The Queens Hall in Nuneaton. We played the big room upstairs last time we were there, but this time it was on the tiny stage downstairs. It went really well but they cut our set from 45 minutes to 28 (we have a timer on stage). I wouldn't normally mind but some fans had travelled quite some distance, and spent a significant amount on their train tickets, for 28 minutes, and they seemed a bit annoyed. Oh well!

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1508428640' post='3392150'] The neck carve is pretty much complete. Bit of a tweak to do on the volute but ready now to get the blighter fretted Here's how the back is starting to look: [/quote] It looks so smooth!

Hah, Dave good to see you posting

[quote name='Tony p' timestamp='1508167056' post='3390195'] I saw the photos of that on fb, looked good. Our maty popped up again to bang his bin lid, I take it you managed to keep him off your stage this time.... [/quote] Hah, I don't know who managed to keep him off stage for our set... perhaps it was the buffet

Saturday night was a "living wake" which is a new concept for me. Still, it was a very cheerful affair, rather boozy and sweaty Last night was my first ever gig on electric guitar. I was so nervous it might as well have been my first ever gig. I got away with it though. I'm not sure if I like being at the front and taking solos!

[quote name='chrisanthony1211' timestamp='1507702383' post='3387274'] I hate cancelling gigs (it sends you straight to hell...) I spoke with the nurse and she said that they encourage movement to prevent excessive scar tissue build up, apparently playing bass is good post op physio for carpal tunnel..... I'm hoping that as long as there are no complications I should be ok. [/quote] I'd take the advice of the medical professional!

very nice!

it's a brilliant plugin! I've not managed to replicate it with pedals, would be very interested if you do!