KevB

I think this is where they work at their best. In fact nearly all the jam sessions I've regularly attended have been like this. I picked Paul's comment as I know he used to go to same pub as me for different jam/open mic nights. I found it odd when I read of people mentioning on here the 'big difference' between the two when in my experience both frequently happened at the same sessions. The 'free form blues jam' thing perhaps not so much as any organiser worth his salt won't let anyone hog the stage incessently unless it's a particularly dead session. I found at least one band as a result of going to these types of sessions and when I used to fill in for the house band bassist (and eventually took over the role permanently) my standard of playing took it's last major jump up to a better level than what I'd been doing before. I had dabbled with a blues jam night in the 90's but it was terribly cliquey and eventually put me off as there was little encouragement from most of the seasoned players there. I thought if I was in a similar position in the future I'd try to be more engaging and encouraging myself and 15 or so years later I hope I lived up to that.

On that particular occasion if the guitar player was worth his salt he really should have just switched guitar/vox parts to new key unless you'd started it miles higher than he was capable of singing.

I think prowla would be happier if we got Ged to fly over and tout his bass collection book ;-)

Well done folks another cool n casual outing on a nice sunny day. Maybe next year if im around i can bring along a mcmillan 12 step for anyone thinking of midi backing in their band?

Also played The Crew a few times with a previous band, good venue though the stage area isn't very large.

I vaguely recall it was Dominic Dale's brother who used to post here as silddx. I think he left after Waynepunk got banned?

I'm talking about virtually shouting at each other at a ticketed music venue gig to the point that it ruins the enjoyment of hearing the band for those around them. In retrospect I probably should have included the words 'and other audience members' on the end of the thread title. I didn't mean pub gigs down the dog & duck.

I had one of those at a wedding gig once at a golf club, they buggered off out on to the terrace but we could still see them. It was an odd one in that we go tbooked by the parents of one of the people getting married but on arriving at the venue neither the couple nor their friends seemed that bothered about having a live band. We seemed to go down OK with some family members though so you just soldier on through it get paid (well) and go home.

I also picked up a fairly cheap Chinese Fender telecaster bass (the one with the two mudbuckers in middle of pic) if anyone wants to see the reasonable build quality of Chinese Fenders these days. Fitted with flats currently for some suitably low end thuddy stuff. I'm not planning bringing any back line so hopefully some kind soul will loan use of their rig if anyone wants to try the basses I bring. From what I recall of other meetings is theres often too much ampage in use anyway.

Two days - what will you do with the remaining day and a half?

Some interesting points. At one time I might have gone down the 'you should be more entertaining then' route but I think it has gone beyond that. I'm not talking aboput pub bands here, I can understand that atmosphere to some extent. In that scenario you, the band, are invading someone's local for the night. I'm really talking about the gigs people have actively paid money to go see in 'neutral' venues and the bands are putting on a perfectly good show. It just seems some folk now will buy a ticket as just part of a night out and if they have been shouting at each other in conversation in a bar before the music venue then they just bring that in with them. If the band is playing loud then they just shout louder at each other. Not between the songs, during them. I've paid to hear the band, not their life's trivia. Saw an excellent Fleetwood mac tribute last Sat. The woman being C McVie had to stand there on stage and do Songbird (which she did flawlessly) whilst about 60% of the audience could be heard nattering away from front to back of the venue. It got so bad at the recent Kate Buch tribute I saw that the band leader had to make an announcement about it before they played a particularly quiet number. The band are playing another venue later this year which I know is even worse for this behaviour and I may well give the gig a miss as a result.

This has been coming up in conversation with a mate for a while when we've gone to see live acts. Is it just me or are people generally less respectful of the fact they have a live band in front of them and not some giant TV screen? People yapping away constantly through songs, shouting at each other rather than getting close to speak in their ear at a sensible volume. I've had 2 gigs (as a punter) severely compromised by this in th elast few weeks. I don't recall it being this bad 10 yrs ago and definitely not longer ago than that. I don't know if its just that people dont give a toss any more or its a carry over of them having big TVs at home and they just treat it the same when they go see a band. I assume classical and jazz audiences are still OK but the behaviour at pop/rock type gigs seems to have taken a real downturn in recent years.

I think at the time it was under £20 as well. Had no problems with it so far and it folds smaller than I was expecting. No children so hopefully will serve for a few years yet ;-)

I've had to stop the new (to me) band in rehearsal recently as we decided it would be good to take 2 songs to do back to back with no real gap as the opening salvo. It sounds slick when done properly but the problem is that it means the 2nd song (which used to be later in their set) needs to be speeded up slightly to match the tempo of the opening song and it's taking the drummer a few goes to break out of the tempo he's used on that song for last couple of years. It's coming on though. I've never used a metronome as i tend to learn new covers by playing against the recorded originals and then adapting depending what the drummer in th erelevant band is doing. I think my timing generally is fairly decent, I don't recall it ever cropping up as an issue in previous bands. It does surprise how much work some people I've played with seem to have to put in on this though so I count myself fairly lucky. I've never done any seriously weird time sig stuff though. One of the guitarists suggested we have a go at Soundgarden's 'Spoonman' the other week but me and the drummer looked at each other and said 'that will take quite a while to nail you know' ;-)

Heres one from the 'shoe on other foot' camp... I recall one band I was in the band revolved around singer (well dont they all really?) who liked to keep a few backup musos on his contacts so he could always take work without consulting others and if a 'regular' couldnt do the gig he had deps ready to step in. No problem with this. So it looks like regular guitarist may be missing a few gigs due to impending birth of first child. Band leader (vox) talk up a lad who he says he's seen on video and looks the business. He turns up to a jam session and joins us for 1 song which I'm less than convinced in his performance but put it down to nerves. Therefore a proper rehearsal/audition session is booked for a couple of weeks hence so he can get to grips with our covers set (none of which are tough to play, a lot is indie stuff with a few beatles/kinks etc thrown in and occasional recent chart hits). He turns up and almost from the outset starts to struggle with even the most basic tunes. As this guy is from the personal recommendation of the singer me and the drummer look at him as if to say 'what's going on'. Some songs he just plain blanks at admitting he hasn't got round to learning. Fair enough, so we work back from the ones he says he does know. But he only half knows them and the session breaks down. Band leader calls a break, me and drummer go outside for air and we can hear bandleader having a go at the lad. We reconvene to a bit of an 'atmosphere' and after another 2 songs the budding dep declares that he's getting cramp in his hand and can't carry on any longer. We've been playing less than an hour, 2 hours of rehearsal room still booked! In the end we desperately call the regular guitar player to see if he's around (as he doesnt live too far from where we are rehearsing) and luckily he had a spare couple of hours and comes down after auditionee has packed up and sulked off ('Its really starting to hurt, honest') so we get to use the remaining room time to get a few songs a bit more polished.

I currently have one of these from Lidl but they don't sell them all the time. It was really bought as a stand in for another type I use but which got knackered trying to manoeuver round a badly parked van. I never got round to replacing the stand in so far it has been fine, might find one on ebay or gumtree?

Yes it's a year 2000 ric 4003 in jetglo. I had the push-pull cpacitor pot installed as an add-on a few years back. I don't play it much at the moment, the Fenders have been a better match for the last few bands so it could do with a dust off.

For various reasons I've not been around for the last 3 though I recall coming to the first one. Assuming I'm not gigging (new band coming together but might not be gig ready by early May) I will try to call in. Not sure if I will bring anything, unless there's anyone attending who's still never played a Ric I could bring mine though Norris usually has one there?

I had a cheapo acoustic 6 string for about 5 minutes in a vain attempt to learn some chords and stuff but it never developed. I think it was lack of time on top of other interests and still would be so I've never had another go. If I need to programme chords into the Macmillan 12 step I just cheat and look them up. When I was at school I was in a band as the singer and wasn't required to play anything. I came to the conclusion that though I could carry a tune I probably wasn't quite good enough to hack it as a lead vox. Ended up teaching myself bass from scratch one summer whilst still at college when I had enough time to do it.

Caught the Dead Daisies on the offchance last Friday at Rock City. Marco Mendoza's a bit of an underrated player I think but he was undermixed so was difficult to hear the bass anyway. Very good backing singer, perfect sort of band for him.

Didn't they do this with Ronnie Dio and that Elvis fella? (though not on stage together).

Very little Pete, though it wasn't one of my regular haunts back then and my cousin worked behind the bar there for a while. I sometimes call in when I'm up visiting family as its one of the very few pubs in town still doing live music, the other main one is the Station tavern near tescos. If you are ever in Cleck with the rock band I'd def try to call in.

I grew up in Cleckheaton (though I've not lived there for over 30 yrs) and get up there from time to time to see family. That looks very much like the Old House At Home. We're a tough audience in Cleck yknow ;-)

I was a bit surprised to hear dear old Jeff Lynne use the f word the first time I heard 'Oh No Not Susan'. I was more surprised when it wasn't changed for a BBC live session recording (available on CD but i think now deleted). I don't know if it was broadcast with a bleep or the BBC never noticed.

A few yrs back I left a band (they wanted me out but I had had enough of them anyway) but I used to provide the power amp for the PA (very nice Crown unit bought from a BC member) but the guitarist used to bring it to gigs in his car so he still had it after I quit. I knew they had a booking local to me coming up so I just said I'd get it off them then. Then I get a panic call asking if they could use it for a gig as they didnt have a replacement ready yet. Very reluctantly agreed but told them to look after it. Then days later i get the 'sorry its been damaged by a punter spilling beer on it , ruined mate' but then they had the cheek to refuse to pay what it had cost me only a couple of months earlier and actually insisted that I'd told them it was worth a value far less than what I was asking (despite the fact I could get written proof of what I'd paid for it from previous owner). I could have taken them to small claims court but was sick of the two tools that had refused to offer any money. The guitarist was so embarassed he scraped together what he could personally (I knew he was in a low paid job and had kids) and handed that over when i met him before the gig they had coming up local to me. It still left me £120 out of pocket. The guitarist left the band within a year of the whole fiasco. The other two shitehawks have carried on, for all I know the story was cobblers and they still have my power amp but I've never been arsed to investigate.