tauzero

Would it be of any help for me to suggest having a listen to the Digitech Vocalist 2 or 4? You plug in a guitar and a mic, you get out a clean (or mucked-about, if you wish) guitar and original vocal and harmony vocal, and you can change the relative levels of each. The guitar input is so that it can work out what key you're playing in (in that respect, it is actually more intelligent than the average guitarist) and adjust the harmonies accordingly.

With both the covers bands I'm in, it tends to be suggestion a few days before rehearsal, run through it, if we've got it then good, if we haven't then we know which bits we all need to get straightened out. Neither band is doing a lot of gigging though, so there isn't any great time pressure - I think it would be better if there was a bit more pressure, it might act as a bit of a stimulus. The ceilidh band is a bit different - at a rehearsal the melodeon player will say "there's another one we could do, it goes like this", plays it to us, we play along, then it's in the next gig.

I was thinking of bringing Warwick JD Thumb Warwick Thumb fretless reprofiled as a JD Antoniotsai 5-string Mazeti 5-string fretless Peavey Grind 6-string Ashdown Superduperfly (Superfly 1000) Tech Soundsystems ND410S Maybe a Crate PB150 as a headphone amp. Or a Tascam CD-BT2.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1005503' date='Oct 29 2010, 05:31 PM']Is there anything anyone attending this bash would particularly like me to bring from the following?[/quote] The Pedulla and the Sei please. Please, please...

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1005715' date='Oct 29 2010, 08:27 PM']There surely has to be a single point of rhythm reference and I've always thought of that as being the kick drum. That's the drummer's key responsibility isn't it? Not that I'd ever claim to have a lot of live experience, but 4 bands spread over 6 playing years (excluding the schooldays) with a reasonable number of gigs ought to have taught me something I reckon.[/quote] I'd have said it was the drummer generally, not just the kick drum. I think I have a holistic approach to drummers. Especially as drummer #1 has a double bass pedal and occasionally (really) wanders off it.

I've now left the band in question - it gradually progressed from just hating "Dance the night away" to include all the UB40 stuff, and then a few others, and then we brought in the most rocky number of the set which was "Summer of 69" which I didn't hate playing but the guitarist didn't grasp the concept of down-down-down-down rather than down-up-down-up so I decided to go back to rock. Out of the stuff in all the current bands' repertoires, "Gloria" is the one. Now that Mrs Zero is probably the new lead vocalist, that's gone.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='1005973' date='Oct 30 2010, 01:47 AM']I emailed them to see if they had any and the guy responded by saying that he doubted that they would get any in - well don't advertise something at a fantastic price that you can't sell.[/quote] IIRC, the term for that is "illegal".

[quote name='silddx' post='1004362' date='Oct 28 2010, 08:51 PM']She had been excluded from music classes but she used to break in to the music room after school and learned music and practised piano on her own, until she got caught. They then recognised her ability and tutored her after hours.[/quote] IRTA "tortured her after hours", which did seem a little extreme.

[quote name='silddx' post='1004245' date='Oct 28 2010, 07:31 PM']God, I've been playing for 30 years and other than the first five frets on the E and A strings, I have to work out what the notes are called.[/quote] I've managed to learn most of the notes up to the 12th fret on the E and A strings and I've got a reasonable grasp of the B string. As everything else is across two and up two, that's it covered (though it does mean my 7-string playing can get a little slow as I have to across-2 and up-2 twice). I have had occasional stabs at learning dots but can't say that it would have been a significant help to me, though it would have come in handy now and again. It's all very well learning carpentry, but if you're putting up an Ikea flat-pack, the instructions come in very handy.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1003223' date='Oct 28 2010, 12:06 AM']Here's [url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2684648/Scorched-Jimi-Hendrix-guitar-sells-for-280000.html"]one of several Stratocasters burned by Hendrix[/url] - it sold for £280,000 in 2008: [/quote] Isn't that "roasted"? Where's tino when you want him? I regret not buying a Hofner violin bass of similar vintage to McCartney's back in the mid 80s - could have had it for £75 but it was such an utterly crap bass that I didn't. That could have been my pension, that could...

[quote name='chris_b' post='1002731' date='Oct 27 2010, 05:18 PM']Funny how everyone's so interested in James Jamerson’s bass, style, technique and strings but they're not bothered about the amp that he and many of the other studio aces used to create all those classics![/quote] Ampeg sent one of these back in time to him? That probably explains why it's so expensive.

I think that the "????" on the ??? amp currently [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=108194"]for sale in this very forum[/url] is vastly overrrrrated. I far prefer the "!!!!" but that just isn't on there.

I have several of [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110602209843"]these[/url] (now discontinued, sadly) and they're handy, resilient, and do the job. They can just about home in on a low B but it makes life a bit easier for them if you hit the octave harmonic. Also useful as they use PP3s, so if your active bass battery dies, you can take the one out of the tuner... There's another tuner, the Fender AT-3, which looks similar but it's not chromatic. I also like the Korg CA-30 (I think the CA-40 replaced it) - however, it does have a needle as well as lights and this seems to trigger full-on OCD in some musicians. They also do the CA-1 which doesn't go as far down as low B (it goes to one semitone above). I prefer chromatics to guitar/bass-specific tuners as you're then covered for 6- and 7-string basses, plus brass and woodwind instruments if you should ever allow them to emit sound rather than make attractive ornaments.

I find it annoying that they've moved the "Ask seller a question" from where it was if you win something. I often want to arrange collection with the seller and it completely baffled me initially how to do that, then there used to be a handy link up at the top in the "you've won this thing" page.

Preshape on Traces. Octave muffler on Ashdowns. Not too bothered about the VU meter on Ashdowns, I only use VU-equipped ones in rehearsal studios and those only work about 10% of the time Not being able to bridge a Superfly (or indeed a Supderduperfly). My Superduperfly has 1000W of Ashdown loveliness waiting to burst on my ears in a torrent of sound, but I can only get to 500W of it. The Crate Power Block's "speaker simulation circuitry" (ie. mush generator). This can be bypassed though.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1001836' date='Oct 26 2010, 10:30 PM']But it's not just cheap amps that can suffer such indignities. Our guitarist's Laney LC30 amp suffered the same problem when the tip of a 1/4-inch jack came off and lodged in the jack socket.[/quote] I suppose the irony is that the worst sockets for this to happen to are the blind-ended ones so you can't push the offending stray bit of plug back out again, which are also the most expensive variety. There's a lot to be said for these:

Just to add to the Wakemanny stuff, he also played keyboards on Bowie's "Life on Mars". And I once supported the Strawbs, and got the chance to tell Dave Cousins he was a major songwriting inspiration to me. Just hope he didn't think my songs were crap...

Concentrate on the bass, the backing vocals are the added bonus. You need to click with the drummer. You also need to provide the glue between the drums and the rhythm guitar. After you've got locked in with the drums, listen to the guitar to see whether they're doing the odd passing chord that you hadn't planned for. Priorities go rhythm, chord roots, fancy bits. And be yourself, unless you're a giant mutant star goat, in which case a disguise might e in order.

Something I'm curious about is what amps have been blown up by other bands, and just how the bloody hell they manage it. I wouldn't want to own an amp so fragile that it can be blown up in a fairly normal gigging situation.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='997640' date='Oct 22 2010, 11:25 PM']Also: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sakai-bass-guitar-RARE-99p-start-NO-RESERVE-/140468980512?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item20b49a8b20"]Sakai.[/url][/quote] Might be just a poor picture, but it looks like the nut is orientated somewhat differently to the bridge. Twisted neck, bad photo, or both?

[quote name='Gust0o' post='992448' date='Oct 18 2010, 05:02 PM']Short of sitting on stage I'm considering replacements.[/quote] Why not consider the alternative and get a bar stool to sit on on stage? [url="http://www.axemusic.co.uk/products/Kinsman_KGS_Stool/Guitar_Stand.html"]Kinsman KGS[/url]

[quote name='PaulWarning' post='995938' date='Oct 21 2010, 01:55 PM']I've no experience with sadowsky basses but I've owned a few P copies over the years including a Squire and I've had a MIM Fender Jazz, but none of these cut through/sat in the mix nearly as well as my old Stingray and my current MIA P, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.[/quote] Were you playing all of these through the same gear, with the same band?

I had a couple of minor issues with it: It was upstairs - at least this year I've got a lighter cab... I'm not sure how well off we were for car parking space - I got there early so didn't have a problem but it looked as if there might have been a bit of an issue. Did anyone who came have problems paring there? Neither of those would put me off coming back there again.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='992947' date='Oct 18 2010, 11:30 PM']Heatherlovesashley - I bet they have that across the top of the windscreen in their Vauxhall Corsa.[/quote] As it's heatherlovesashley2010, perhaps she has a best-before date for her affections.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='992240' date='Oct 18 2010, 02:28 PM']It seems to be the theme thru this is that originals bands are always the ones wanting to borrow gear, however I suspect that the underlying theme to this is that the real issue is that promoters don`t want major gear changeovers, so are trying to get the headliners to make things easy for them.[/quote] Possibly also that originals bands are the ones more likely to be on a multi-band line-up.