cheddatom

The Flapper, in Birmingham on Friday. It's a cool venue I'd heard about but never been. Pretty good sound, nice sound guy. It should have been a good one but I just don't think the two support acts were a good fit at all, and it was really quite loud. A lot of people paid to get in but they seemed to be back and forth to the bar upstairs a lot. Anyway, I had fun

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1507112057' post='3383335'] If I was going to collect and was going to pay cash, I'd be disappointed if it was sold to someone else. I'd say it's sold when a timed appointment to meet is also a point when it's sold. [/quote] I've just been stuck on a Facebook group sale - agreed the sale and arranged the place and approximate time. I confirm within an hour It'll be 7pm and the seller goes cold. 72 hours later and he tells me he's sold it to someone else, and thinks I'm an idiot for getting wound up about it

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1507024586' post='3382746'] There's probably someone in the crowd watching [i]you [/i]getting the same 'buzz' from your own playing..! [/quote] Hah, I doubt it!

I had low expectations tonight, but I always want to play well. I had intended to have half an hour in the van breathing, thinking about songs in the set, and warming up with sticks. Unfortunately I got distracted by an absolutely inspirational drummer in the band before us. He clearly had some kind of disability but that was nothing compared to the passion he had for thrashing the kit, and his timing was near perfect. I was grinning for their whole set just watching this guy So then when I got on stage I was still in that great frame of mind, didn't hear any of my minuscule errors, and once again everything was easy and I played really well. Maybe I'll try to remember this guy every time I'm about to go on

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1506939575' post='3382070'] Yes, it will be told once we sure there is no truth in her reporting us to the police! All I can say at this stage is that if anyone is offered a gig around Melksham it might be worth checking with me that you're about to play the gig you'll never forget, for all the wrong reasons!! [/quote] Can't wait, I love a bit of gig drama

Friday night I played at Rock Stock and Barrel Autumn Gathering (or something like that). I don't know how many were watching as I couldn't see past the 5th row of people. Most of the people at this festival seem to know us and our songs so that helped. The sound on stage was great. It sounded like he'd forgotten to turn the drum-fill on which suits me fine, as the guys at the front always have things too loud [quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1506843131' post='3381388'] ...Last night was a welcome contrast to the night before, where we played to an almost empty pub on the edge of a town in Wiltshire and the landlady was trying to pick a fight with the band! [/quote] It sounds like we're missing out on a great story here!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1506781904' post='3381097'] I'm a drummer. After several years of 'pro' playing, I asked a friend, a drum teacher, if he could give me lessons. When we got down to it, and after auditioning my playing, he told me he didn't see much point in going over technical aspects, but instead set up a programme of breathing and relaxation/posture sessions instead. The difference astounded me; after a few weeks, I was much more able to get 'into the zone', simply by going through some elementary routines, not dissimilar to yoga, but without the meditation stuff. I should perhaps say that, from birth, I have had duff breathing (early tuberculosis...) and stamina issues (duff adrenal glands...), and these 'lessons' enabled me to make the most of what limited capacities I had in these matters. I'd suggest, therefore, seeing if there's something other than technique that you could look for in a good drum teacher, focusing on relaxation and posture rather than rudiments. Any mileage in such an approach..? Hope this helps. [/quote] I often ask drummers to look at my technique. I know 3 or 4 world class players and they all say what I'm doing is fine, but that I need to relax more. I've done a bunch of Benny Greb's breathing exercises, not thought to do them before playing, I think this combined with warming up with stick in the back of the van might work. I've only ever done that before when I've been nervous, which is quite rare for me, but I might try doing it before each gig. I have one tonight I'm not really looking forward to so I'll report back tomorrow [quote name='Tony p' timestamp='1506860975' post='3381541'] If I'm not driving it's turn up, drink a beer, set up, get another beer and play. I hate hanging about before a gig for too long, our bodhran player and general organiser starts having kittens if we're not there 2 hrs beforehand too.... [/quote] Hah, I've seen you guys play, and your bodhran player has been on stage with us! Your band is ace

It's not really about expectations. Sometimes I know for sure it's going to be a great gig, but I'm still not in the right mood to play If I'm not in the mood I have to really try hard to concentrate and focus, I get annoyed by the slightest mistakes, I get too tense which can hurt physically etc. If I'm in the mood then everything is just easy, and even if I'm making small mistakes, they're just fleeting insignificant moments I'm mainly gigging on drums by the way, can't remember if I got this on bass

Last night I got to the gig and I was really in the mood to play, and I played much better than I usually do, and really enjoyed it. Often I'll not play so well and try to figure out why - maybe I didn't have enough sleep, or too much, or not enough to eat, or too much to drink... whatever. It seems to me that no matter what "state" I'm in, if I'm in the mood for the gig I play well, but if I feel like I've just turned up to do a job, I play badly I'm hoping others are like this and have developed a technique for getting into the mood to play?

ace!

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1505408707' post='3371732'] I named myself after my cat who is named after a late Roman Republic senator. It was a spur of the moment thing, I needed something I could remember. I didn't think I'd end up being such a frequent visitor to this site. I never use my real name on the internet, it makes it that much harder for the angry mob to track me down. [/quote] I was thinking the other day how cool it'd be if you were actually Louis Cato. You've shattered the illusion

wow!

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1506530007' post='3379396'] Is anyone here in a band in which responsibility for getting gigs and making sure everyone knows about them is not the bass player's job? Are there similar threads to this on guitar chat, drum chat, sing chat and keys chat? I often get the feeling that being organised always needs a bass player! My band has played 140 gigs over the last 4 years. Left to their own devices, I doubt that they'd have managed to get 14! [/quote] Yeh the front man for the main band I play in (Headsticks) organises everything and he's brilliant at it

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1506497186' post='3379078'] ...yet no booming low-end... [/quote] You mean no heft?

I went on Sunday, absolutely incredible

beautiful!

I've just started on guitar in a band and I'm definitely the weakest player. No-one seems to mind but I feel like I don't really have much to contribute. Hopefully it'll just be a matter of time before I "get it" I play drums in a band with a sh*t-hot guitarist, and sh*t-hot bassist, but then the front man attempts harmonica so I'm not the worst player I play bass in a band where I'm definitely better than the other guys - on their instruments too! But that band is about having a laugh and making awesome noisy music with my mates, and I love it

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1505833964' post='3374642'] Whats everyones definition of choking.? [/quote] This is a weird one but... if you strike a tom tom with a drum stick, but "bury" the stick - leave it touching the head - this chokes the sound and you get less of the note. If you let the stick bounce off after hitting the head, the drum sounds out properly. That's what I mean by "choking" and it's a similar effect on my basses

I feel like if I play a bass with a sufficiently high action, the note gets to it's "fullest" quicker than a bass with a low action - same on guitar. Again I'm probably just imagining things

forgetting pickups and magnetic fields, I'm convinced I can hear the differences acoustically - am I just imagining this?

I agree, sounds better, lower action sounds "choked" as discreet says, no idea if there's any truth in it

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1505817626' post='3374477'] ... the objection is not about being 'ogled'... [/quote] Quite a few posters in here seem to have equated the wolf whistling and "smutty comments" with simply looking. Looking at/watching the dancers is fine. Whistling and making smutty comments is unacceptable, surely?

the quieter you listen, the less "bass" (I guess 40-200Hz) you'll hear. Without changing the EQ at all, but simply by turning everything up, you'll hear more bass. Combine this with the fact you're monitoring on headphones which will have a totally different response to your amp and cab in a room a distance away from your ears, you can see why what you're trying to do is actually impossible.

you perceive bass differently at different volume levels. It's important to set your pedals plugged into your amp, turned up to gigging volume

A couple of festivals - brilliant on Friday night, ace sound, great venue, great audience. Saturday night was a similar sized affair but the stage was tiny, I managed to whack my head on the lights a few times, only the kick drum was mic'd up on the kit but even that wasn't cutting through... still, appreciate little audience and I got to see Lozz's band Knock Off play their last few songs - Tight as can be and a brilliant sound from them (they were on a different stage)