neepheid

Well, I find it wholly disgusting. I stopped working behind bars because of changes in the licensing laws which basically passed a lot of the blame for patrons' drunkenness onto the staff. We don't pour it down their throats! We had a loosely defined duty of care and we stopped serving someone who is out of it, but who's to stop someone buying a drink for some poor SOB who is already legless then falls over and splits their head open? Now that's our fault? Up yours. I quit. Venues are being hounded and harassed on all sides by the Police, Councils' licensing boards, the PRS and now stuff like this? Sometimes I'm surprised they bother to open their doors at all. And before you question my credentials, I know venue owners personally and have installed and maintained CCTV in a couple of places. What fun - bouncers getting put in the dock for doing their job - physically restraining someone who is throwing punches around is assault, apparently. I've been hauled to court as a witness to something I never actually saw because I lifted the CCTV footage, I spent a whole morning waiting around then finally the perp changed his plea. Wonderful. It's not a morning off work by the way - it's a morning of sitting around uneasily in a waiting area playing spot the junkie. Fun. As far as I can see, rather than the courts tackle the drunken individuals who can't or won't handle their ale, they'd rather solve the problem by harassing venue owners and staff. They'd love it if all the bars in the country closed. Someone also told me that if a contractor falls off their own badly maintained ladder on your property, you're liable and can be sued? Is that right? Now someone has taken their eye off the ball, something bad happened that was completely unforeseeable by the venue staff/management (and indeed, unless they're running a bass crèche, not their problem) and he's trying to extract compensation out of the venue? Balls to that. In a perfect world you would be able to leave your property lying out and people that have nothing to do with it would leave it well alone, but this isn't a perfect world. I despise the way this world is going. Blame anyone but yourself. In my opinion there are two problems here - of course the vast majority of the blame is on the drunken idiots who fkd about with the bass in the first place but a smidgeon of blame rests with the owner for not taking the appropriate steps to secure his property IF he left it unattended. It's no-one else's problem or concern. Deal with it.

Yes, one will be more expensive than the other for ill-defined reasons

Well, at least you've got a pickguard to hide the routing, which will be a strange amalgam of jazz and precision shapes. Or sack trading - just buy the P/J Deluxe

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1370808087' post='2105889'] I just pick up my spare bass. [/quote] I do not possess the cat-like reflexes and physical dexterity required to execute that manoeuvre mid song. I salute you. I do find that I can flick a switch that fast, so that is my coping mechanism.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1370690530' post='2104404'] (though why you'd want the passive I don't know) [/quote] Safety net in case the batteries start dying on you mid-song/gig. Quicker than changing the battery especially if a screwdriver is involved. Yes, one should be keeping on top of the battery situation, but one is only human after all.

Surely it's the fault of the idiots concerned? Where has personal responsibility gone?

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

You could try a thing like this to sharpen up your skills? [url="http://www.fretboardmaster.com/fretboardgame.html"]http://www.fretboardmaster.com/fretboardgame.html[/url]

I don't see how the Beatles can be held responsible for a lack of innovation on the part of other people. The title of this thread is a little too combative for my tastes also. Are you trying particularly hard to be controversial today?

I do try and stash gig bags etc. off to the side/hidden behind PA speakers or in the wings somewhere. Can't stand having clutter around me. Never mind it looking bad, I'll probably trip over it. On the subject of clothing - at my last gig I wore a fuzzy trilby. Never let it be said that I don't make an effort.

I wouldn't humph an 8x10 around. I've got a lovely light Zoot 4x10, I feed it up to 500W and I've never wanted for volume, even without PA. Done pubs, function rooms in hotels, marquees and last weekend filled a byre (that's a cow shed, in case you're unfamiliar with the word) with lovely bass. Pretty easy to get in/out of car/venues/up/down stairs.

I used to have a Hodad. Sold it a while ago. Still got a picture of it though:

[quote name='tonybassplayer' timestamp='1370271511' post='2098366'] Just a minor comment but wouldn't it be better if those lights were on the band not the audience ?? [/quote] Are you asking me or telling me? I dunno how these things work - too used to being spoon-fed lights and PA in established music venues.

Saturday's gig was the inaugural gig for The Inevitable Teaspoons. Well, most of them anyway. Singer comes on board next week to relieve a relieved keyboard player from lead vocal duties. Sax player called in sick in the morning with an inner ear problem/dizziness - when he was standing still he felt like he was on a ship so in no position to drive to the middle of nowhere then blow into a saxophone. So the four of us took to the stage. And what a stage. We were playing at a house/farmwarming in rural Aberdeenshire. We were playing in an old byre (cow shed for non-locals) which had a raised concrete level and a channel which would have been a trough. Certainly the most solid stage I've ever stood on which is more than I could say for the wall behind us (we were advised to move all our gear forward ). (Photo courtesy of Jo Norris) Anyway, it went pretty well. We had a set of our own stuff and then a set of covers. We had a song up our sleeve for an encore, but even after that people still wanted more. A quick conflab amongst the band decided we all kinda knew "One Step Beyond", so we played that, then someone asked for "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". A quick work out of the chords and someone holding up an iPhone for the singer for the words and we did it - first time I've ever done that. It was probably a bit crap but people seemed to appreciate that we gave it a go. Anyway, have a vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfrH_DQxDR0

The simple answer to the question posed in the thread title is, in my opinion, no.

Yay for pay day. Lacquer is ordered. Got a new, slightly more palatable option for the second pickup - Aaron Armstrong can clone the pickup I have. Similar base cost to the Seymour Duncan custom shop replacement, but without all the international carriage and added VAT so will work out cheaper, and means me doing my bit to keep the UK consumer spending figures up.

[quote name='kristo' timestamp='1370008527' post='2095500'] I'd just like to be able to put bass lines I use in the band into tab so I don't forget them. The ability to save as PDFs would be cool so I could save them for future reference. Does Tuxguitar do that? [/quote] Yes and no - it's built in PDF export is a bit poor. Better to install a free PDF creator (there are a plethora of them out there) and "print" to your chosen PDF creating "printer".

No, I don't, because there are only x number of strings, therefore x number of positions for my fingers to be and the muscle memory for that isn't too taxing, can do it by feel alone.

Tuxguitar is easy for bass. 1) go to the Track menu and choose Properties. Set the Instrument to be something like "Fingered bass". Set the number of strings to however many you want (I generally use 4) - check the note values but they should go appropriate values (E,A,D,G) 2) go to the Composition menu and choose Clef. Change it to bass clef.

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1369982653' post='2095107'] This might have all ready been covered so apologies if it has but I'm looking for a cure to the neck dive with my BB415, I have read else where that new tuners will do the job, is there anything that could work? If not what tuners do I need to be looking at and how much money will I be I looking at? [/quote] What kind of strap are you using? If it's a slippy nylon one then try a wide leather strap with a grippy suede back or one of those neoprene comfort type straps. Cheaper and a lot less hassle than changing tuners.