KevB

I guess it depends on how imaginitive and talented the players are and how much kit you are prepared to haul around. Rush seem to cope OK with only 3 players but there's a whole swathe of technical stuff ging on as backup with samples and pedals as well as a huge amount of talent in the band. I once saw a band that was a 4 piece where the lead singer played guitar to a good standard and the other guitarist also had a midi pickup set up on his guitar so he could fill in on pseudo keyboards when required, so between the two of them they could do twin/harmony guitar or guitar+keys and the vocals. The important thing was they had it well rehearsed so they knew just who was responsible for what in a song [b]and they stuck to it[/b] and it sounded great. On the other hand I saw an old band mate's current project over the weekend and that is a 5 piece with 2 lead guitars where the singer also plays guitar so at times there were 3 guitars all going at it and it was all a bit unnecessary.

I've done 5's and 4's in different combinations (2 guitars and a singer, singer/guitarist plus keys) and the latest is a 3 piece so I've blown the dust off my midi pedals to flesh out one or two songs. I think for rock my ideal line up would still be a 5 piece of drums/bass/guitar/keys fronted by a top notch singer. Deep Purple or Yes basically, you can't see how those bands would function properly with one of the 5 missing. Zeppelin had a huge slice of luck in having a multi instrumentalist bass player, like a 4 and a half piece really.

Fortunately not been much of a problem for me in previous bands even though a couple of them had 2 guitarists, they tended to stick to what was required for the song. It won't be a problem in the current venture as there's only 3 of us, if the guitarist starts playing my bits half the song will mysteriously disappear!

Did this in one of my first gigging bands (informal party band) and thought at the time we did it reasonable justice though if there were recordings I'm sure they would prove otherwise! As has been said it's a bit of a stamina excercise and it took me a few goes to get the timing right. I always used open A string rather than fretting them at F5 on the E string. Found it helped get the rhythm right as you are doing the whole riff on just one string, fretting the D's at F5, B's at F3 and A's open stringed. The bit we had to work on as a unit was where the band all comes back in after the (snare?) drum roll after the isolated bass riff, before the final verse. Looking at the video online I didn't play it anywhere near the same part of the neck that Foxton did! I'm the same age as the OP so can sympathise...

Immediately demonstrates to me why an instrument like saxophone works as a solo instrument and electric bass just don't.

I don't play guitar but presumably the alternative route is to find a guitar that is really playable and feels right to you and like the design of then go down the midi pickup / sound module route to be able to play the sounds you wanted? I don't know if there are dedicated sound modules or specialised cards for specific models of guitars but I would have thought they exist as that presumably is what is in the variax set up?

Surely more of the 'fretless sound' is dependent on what's going on with the fretting hand than the plucking hand? I don't see how using a pick 'defeats' anything, it won't sound much more different than fingerstyle v picking on a fretted instrument.

I've seen one used by the acoustic Sheffield band Treebeard (featuring all the ex members of do it yourself proggers Haze); [url="http://chrisgabadon.demonweb.co.uk/treebeard/"]http://chrisgabadon.demonweb.co.uk/treebeard/[/url]

[quote name='fatboyslimfast' post='1324321' date='Aug 2 2011, 02:50 PM']Just a question - how do you know if you are good enough to join a band? Obv a bit of a wide open Q, but not having played in one before and keen to get "out there", are a few dozen songs enough, or do you need to be able to busk along or similar?[/quote] Again I'd say open mic / jams are a good way of gauging how you are doing alongsid eother players. Having said that I went to a few that were very cliquey in my early playing days and it put me off and as a result I didn't join my first band until about 10 years later than I should have. There are a lot more of these kinds of informal gatherings now so in some ways it is easier to get up and have a go. If they ask you to play with them again you are at least doing something right and it is something to build on until the next jam. There will always be someone there that's better than you, try not to get intimidated and learn from them.

Another vote for Rio here, though Girls On Film has its moments too...and The Reflex. Oh hell there's lots of them!

Jam sessions and open mic nights at local venues can also be a way in, can be useful networking opportunities.

Was this the only model they produced with that funny 3 pin output jack in addition to the traditional stereo and mono outputs. I assume that is the low impedence output for studio work that is mentioned in the description? Never noticed one on any other rics.

Yes it is a number of factors. The guy in the OP's clip is using a ric that doesn't have either horshoe or toaster PU's but is getting a very Squiresque tone. It is interesting if you go to other clips of that same bloke playing he also has a youtube clip of Long Distance Runaround. There are other clips of other people also playing this bassline, some on Rics and others on other basses and none of them sound as close. From this I'd hazard a guess that a lot of it is down to amps and other processing, though as also has been pointed out Chris himself doesn't sound quite the same using other basses through his own rig, it's got to be a combination. I noticed when I bought my Hatke Bass Attack pedal it had some guide settings in the booklet and one of these was supposed to emulate Squire's very high end tone as it was called something like 'Roundabout'.

[quote name='SlackAlice' post='1322086' date='Jul 31 2011, 12:26 PM']Wow Thought the experince was too good to be true.......perhaps I'm just gullible & naive . Indeed I've just had a look on their website: they have the P-bass on there and is listed as 'used'......no mention of that on the tag yesterday. I thought £629 was cheap for a new one Cheapest I have seen new is £647. The bass itself is in immaculate condition but they should say if it's second hand. Angie (gullible )[/quote] I had a look on the web site, very nice bass. I have one that is very similar except it's the US version with the double humbucker on the bridge end and thru body strings. I got mine via eBay earlier this year for not much more than the one in Wunjo. However if it is the colour/fingerboard that's a big factor for you then hanging on for a US version S/H for similar money isn't worth it. If you get it go easy with the mid range boost, the bloke who sold me mine said he'd destroyed an amp by using too much boost!

Quo started doing this a lot a few years back as they have a huge back catalog. It does start getting a bit 'clubland' though if you're not careful. As mentioned it works better if you stick to medleys by the same band and preferably bands with plenty of hits like the Beatles. Maybe you could work up a medley of the existing classic Estonian tunes to free up more time for new stuff?

My 2X10 cab that sits on the lower tier of my rig (TE 1X15 combo on top) has a footprint that is a little bigger than the regular pad and it still works OK. Most of my gigs are smallish pubs with small playing areas, a bigger pad would start getting in the way of the drum kit.

Didn't go (not a massive fan, saw them at Donington on 7th Son era though) but thought I'd chip in re Airbourne. Saw them doing a gig at Rock City a year or two back and they were excellent in that environment, they are all about close interaction with the audience and work well in small venues, they'd be fish out of water in arenas. The ACDC wannabe music isn't really my thing but as entertainment value they were great.

Might consider it but it brings up visions of 80's hair metal a bit too much for me

I'd been down at High Voltage on Sunday so was pretty exhausted travelling back yesterday when I get a text from the guitarist in the new band project - could I do a jam on Monday night? It was at a pub only a few miles from home so I got home and cleaned up and went straight back out. We did 4 songs I thought I might have a stab at from a list of 40 or so I'd been sent last week. It was all a bit of a surreal blur as I was running on empty (the band said I looked knackered as soon as I set foot in the pub).The landlady dashed over after our mini set and offered us a gig straight off, totally bizarre. We don't even have a name yet. At least it gives us something to aim at but I was a bit shellshocked at taking on a gig while I'm still learning the set! It's not till early Sep so we should knock something into shape by then, better get some rehearsal time booked!

Quote 'Geddy Lee’s bass sound is a combination of five channels, which represent various aspects of an entire bass sound, and run from clean to distorted-beyond-all-reason' Not enough of the former an way too much of the latter still for me. As others have said, it's not what he likes or wants in some isolated booth that's really the important thing. It's what it sounds like in the mix of drums, guitars, keyboard samples or whatever else is going on with it in a particular song. They'd be better off starting with a half decent quality recording taken from the audience perspective from a gig with a crowd there and then asking themselves 'is this a good bass sound for that song for the paying public to hear'.

I have a jazz and a P in Buttercotch blonde (not quite honey but close) and both have black plates, quite like the look myself.

If it works don't knock it. If it'd been a black strap and used a black mouse mat it's be pretty much indistinguishable while playing.

The rest of you can have a quick drool and start filling in your lottery tickets... [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RICKENBACKER-4002-BASS-1982-PRISTINE-Rare-hens-t-/140578558216?pt=Guitar&hash=item20bb229108"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RICKENBACKER-400...=item20bb229108[/url]

rOB - I think this is the first person I've spotted here with a Schecter C4 like I used to have and from your pic it looks like it's the same colour as well. I sold mine about 5 or 6 yrs ago, I wonder if it's the same one or did you have yours from new?

Cheers for the info, must use wiki more often. Well it *sounds* like it belongs in the 80's