bassbloke

Been looking at the JumDunlopUSA YouTube channel. Whilst most manufacturers have inane shredders and nobodies demoing their gear, Dunlop have the great Bobby Vega laying down some fantastic pick, fingerstyle and slap work on a number of demos. This is a man who has played on some absolutely classic recordings. He was in Sly and the family Stone for f*cks sake. Yet this is lost on the pr*cks of cyberspace who rip his playing apart.

Just noticed that you're in Leatherhead. You could put up a musician available ad in Tweeters, The Peel (Kingston), Backline and Andertons in Guildford. You could pop down to the Blues and rock jam at the Elm Tree in Surbiton or to the jam at the Grey Horse Kingston. There's loads of music really close to you.

[quote name='starman' post='941329' date='Aug 31 2010, 08:13 PM']I've been playing bass with a band for about four months, we've been playing along to original tracks so far as at the moment we have no singer. I was given the task of looking for one and forwarded various mp3 tracks and details from about six interested singers onto my bandmates, who weren't interested in any of them without even giving them an audition (their comments were too cheesy/too heavy/not really us etc etc). Last week I found two singers that were going to audition, one changed her mind as she didn't like the material we were doing, but one had an excellent voice and would have been perfect. She asked if she could audition three of our songs and three of the songs she likes. I checked with the band members if that would be ok (as it was ok with me), of which only one replied saying she would probably want to do Celine Dion type stuff and to tell her no. I had already asked her what songs she would like to do and they were by Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi). When I forwarded this on to the band, they sent a really rude email back saying "If we have to play that stuff its over, tell her to poke it". So we are back to no singer again. The material we were playing was great at first (Motown, Bowie, Squeeze, Ace, Wild Cherry) but it's now getting too diverse (Dusty Springfield, Pulp and Ian Dury, Byrds, Buzzcocks, a song called Pirate Aggro by the Housemartins). I feel we need less diversity and to stick to more of a genre than be all over the place if we want to eventually gig. I've spoken to the band about this and they agreed, though nothings changed. Do you think I'm wrong? I'm 45 and bands are fairly hard to find around this area. Would you put up with it, keep quiet and play something you don't enjoy or quit and have no band? If you've read this far, thanks![/quote] Based on how your bandmates have handled the process of auditioning a new singer, they sound like a bunch of losers and arseholes and, from experience, I've found that a lot of people believe in guilt by association... ...So if it were me, I'd leave.

Although not as extreme, I've been in the same situation a couple of times. Although people set out, I would hope, with the best of intentions, human nature kicks in and the realisation that they're not going to be centre of attention during their farewell gig and that life will go on without them makes them spiteful and unpredictable.

[quote name='Johnston' post='929408' date='Aug 19 2010, 09:28 AM']Has anyone ever managed to get into or start a band just for the craic with none of the politics involved?? Just get together play some tunes from over the last 6+ decades . I would love to get back into it again sometime but the whole back stabbing and bitching that goes on really puts me off.[/quote] Yes, I got back together with a load of old bandmates for the sole purpose of playing a load of our old songs from 10+ years ago and having a laugh. It sounded good as we'd all matured and improved as musicians so everything sounded more fluid. We then decided that we wanted to gig and write new material because there was only so much enjoyment from playing songs to each other, and there began the issues associated with sorting childcare, etc... Shame.

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='925181' date='Aug 14 2010, 08:52 PM']This is a perfect example of why I feel Myung is an overrated bassist - in my opinion there is no musicality in this piece whatsoever... it's just a collection of really fast arpeggios and scale exercises played not very well at all to quite a nice ballad background piece! What's so special about that? Any bassist with half a mind to practice can do this given time and patience. I can't help but feel John really wanted to be a guitarist but got landed the role of bassist instead because no else would do it... this is just spanking the plank! PS... I know it's a jam session, but still![/quote] IIRC, that video is around 15 years old, so probably not truly representative.

[quote name='benzies123' post='924061' date='Aug 13 2010, 03:47 PM']Came across this, provided a good 20 minutes of cringe worthy entertainment - Not quite the worlds worst bassist as he does his part... it's just... you will see... [url="http://www.i-mockery.com/bad-albums/hogan/"]http://www.i-mockery.com/bad-albums/hogan/[/url][/quote] Thank you for curing my writer's block.

Do you have MU membership, because that comes with £2000 equipment cover and PLI. Granted, 2K doesn't go a long way, but additional cover on top is reasonable.

Local music shops don;t do themselves any favours. I walk into local music shop on the off chance they'll have a set of my preferred Fender Superbass strings in stock in a 5 string set. "Na" Says shop assistant. "Can order 'em in". "No point" I say. "You'll inevitably wait until your next big order because you either have to order a minimum amount from your distributor or because you want to save on shipping charges." I go home and order it from stringsdirect. If I'm really really progressive, I'll walk outside the shop, browse to said online shop's website and order it from my phone. Unfortunately, musicians aere a notoriously fickle breed, which explains how it is possible for there to be so many string companies. Unless I was in a real pickle, I wouldn;t dream of picking up any old set of strings. I'd want to use my preferred brand. Now, if I walked into my local music shop and they said "We don't carry those strings as a stock item because they're so specialist. You have to really know what you're doing to be so specific about them. What if we order a couple of sets for you and get them delivered straight to you. Pay for them now and we'll chuck shipping in for free. If this is your local shop and you let us know how often to change strings we could arrange to get a set in ready for when you next need them."

My local bike shop sold these to me as suitable for my cyclocross bike. They aren't. I managed about 10 hours offroad riding before they started rubbing against the stays. Anyway. I could chuck them in the bin, but there's plenty of life left in them and the tubes are fine. They'd be perfect on a mountain bike or offroader with 29" wheels. Collection from near Kingston Upon Thames.

Which instrument do you use/prefer when composing/writing material?

Photo from our gig at the Scala on Saturday 26th June, taken by our guitarist's very talented wife. I'm either still growing at 35 or my bass is getting smaller - it looks tiny on me for some reason. [attachment=53360:untitled.jpg]

The MXR DI+ is a great piece of kit. 3 band EQ, colour switch, blendable overdrive/distortion and noise gate. I usually just take bass + MXR to rehearsals and use the rig there and for gigs, it's bass > MXR > amp with DI out of MXR to the desk. Sounds great and very very simple. Not sure how much use you'd have for the dirty channel on an acoustic gig though.

[quote name='JPJ' post='875638' date='Jun 23 2010, 05:43 PM']Call me a luddite but big and heavy is the only thing that delivers the type of bass I like on stage.[/quote] +1 My own rig is a very light 4x10 and reasonably hefty 600 Watt head. I think it sounds great, but it doesn't produce the same effect as an Ampeg 8x10. I'd love to own a quality 8x10 rig, but simply couldn't justify the hassle, especially as I used to own a Peavey 810TX. Savvy bass players may opt for lightweight gear to make their lives easier, but anyone playing reasonable sized venues will find an 810 provided.

[quote name='silddx' post='867409' date='Jun 14 2010, 08:37 PM']In a world where, in a minute, you can find an unknown kid bass player on Youtube who is so much better than you are at operating the instrument with the requisite level of feel, what importance do you place on soft skills in the quest for musical success and longevity when playing in a band, or as a session player? Why are you different to the kid? Why could the kid not deliver the goods in your band? Reliability is a given I think, what about the other stuff?[/quote] Soft skills are incredibly important. We recently conducted auditions for a new vocalist and one of the questions was "What can you bring to the band other than your musical ability?" Someone who is likeable, approachable and a good communicator can help you build up a network of promoters, labels, managers, etc... who are happy to help you out because, assuming you have a decent following and will make them money, you are easy to work with. I reckon most people would take £80 and an easy time over £100 and loads of hassle any day.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='839780' date='May 17 2010, 02:23 PM']I don't get some of the replies in here. If you're not writing songs or learning songs or in some other way becoming more familiar with songs when you've got the whole band in a rehearsal room, what exactly are you doing there?[/quote] Perfecting songs we've already written and learnt at home.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='839492' date='May 17 2010, 09:02 AM']I can't stand it when rehearsals are used to practice rather than rehearse. Waste of everyone's time & money. Too many people don't know the difference.[/quote] +1 Too many people treat reherasals as a substitute for practice. I've been in plenty of bands with people who fell into this category. Sometimes, the perpetrators really did themselves no favours. I remember at least two occasions where a bandmate broke a string towards the end of a rehearsal and so we called it a day, only for them to pitch up at the next rehearsal and pull their guitar out of the case with a string still missing. I also have an issue with bands writing or learning material in rehearsal. This is stuff that should be done away from the rehearsal studio. We rehearse every other week and everyone makes a point of doing their homework and turning up to rehearsal knowing all of the songs. It's the fairest way.

Strange. Last few times I have been in there they have been perfectly courteous and I picked up a set of my fave Fender superbass strings for a great price.

[quote name='Jerry_B' post='816745' date='Apr 23 2010, 09:48 PM']I'd be wary of Aurora. They made me two - one of which was good, one of which was really shoddy so I sent it back. And they have yet to refund me for it. It's taken them nearly 2 months so far.[/quote] +1 I ordered two from them and they were both pretty shocking. I never sent it back or complained, but based on your experiences, it wouldn't have done me much good, so I'll settle for spreading the love instead.

I used to gig with an SWR Bass 350 and a pair of Triads. Lovely Hi Fi tone, but they aren't at all efficient and I frequently found myself buried by the rest of the band. Even when I 'upgraded' the SWR to a Hartke HA7000 I still found myself struggling. I think you'd be very surprised by what you could achieve with a decent 2 x 10, so maybe consider opting for a rig with 2 x 10 and treat yourself to either a 2nd 2 x 10 or 1x15 for larger gigs. Or, start with the just the head and single cab. I'd be very tempted to try the TC Electronics RH450 and 2x10. Compact and very versatile.