dand666

Anything from Sufjan Stevens

+1 for Mr Bungle - California

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1441964999' post='2863268'] What is the criteria for describing yourself as 'pro' bass player? Does a 'pro' have to play more hours compared to a weekend warrior? I'm guessing that plenty of young guys have given up work to dedicate themselves to going pro and sitting at home with the [i]Wal[/i] waiting for the phone to ring [/quote] Well, for me, music is my full time job. I work on contracts on ships throughout most of the year, and when I'm back in the UK, I do corporate events, weddings and sessions when I can. If you've given up your day job to pursue a career in music, then why aren't you a pro. You're trying your best, and kudos for giving it your best shot.

Come on Eileen. Sir Duke. Any Sam Cooke or Beatles song.

[quote name='socrates' timestamp='1441889304' post='2862625'] OK I nominate Bennie Hill's "Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west)" -I actually think that is a good song and any time I hear it I am immediately transported back to my 70s childhood... [/quote] A classic 1 6 4 5 progression. Great song. And modulates after each chorus! nice.

You should ^^ Hofner basses are the shiz!

Agreed. On stage sound can be horrible. From Jan to May I was made to play through a SWR and I just couldn't get a good tone out of it, no matter what setting I had. We play in different venues round the ship and all the amps in every venue were shocking. It really affected me onstage as I know my bass sounded terrible.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1441292147' post='2857647'] It's aproblem with Jazzers. We know all sorts of stuff about music and have an appalling attitude to commercial musics of any kind. The philosphy seems to be that 'it's pop, it's mostly sh*t and we can play it standing on our heads and probably better'. What they do badly is, for a start, sound. They just turn up with their 'portable' gear and don't really consider the timbre of their instrument as part of the ensemble sound. They see a chord and play 'their' version of it without any insight into voice leading aspects of the [i]song [/i](as opposed to the harmony). They miss out details that are often definitive; riffs, licks etc (I do a commercial gig where they do 'I WIll Survive'. When it comes to that wonderful 'solo' (the one Robbie WIlliams nicked for Millenium), the keyboard player blows a solo - it just sounds so wrong) and are often quite uninformed about genres and sub-genres. They are very casual about starts and endings and can be appalling at 'stage craft' (lots of standing around deciding what to do next). They have their strengths as well; they tend to be better at dynamics and their tempos tend to be a little more centred but, fundamentally, the average Jazzer's attitude to the integrity of commercial music is s***. When they get it right, when they have a respected MD etc, these players can be the absoute best but, being absolutely honest about it, Jazz musicians can, if not 'contained', be an absolute nightamre [/quote] It's funny, because on the ships, the jazz band is amazing, like phenomenal, but they couldn't get up on stage and rock the sh*t out of Taylor Swift. It's weird, because when I'm finished, I always go and watch the jazzers play, and they do the same to us. A lot of mutual respect which I love.

All professionals want it reliability that's it. Most professional musicians don't care what effects/instruments they use, as long as it's serving the purpose that they are using it for.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1441185323' post='2856666'] If you do something you love and enjoy as a full time job, it's possible that you won't love and enjoy it any more and it becomes worse than doing something unrelated - because you don't even have the option of doing it as a hobby or for relaxation in your spare time. [/quote] Not always true. Music is my full time job and I love it. I think someone who truly loves it will happily do it 24/7.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1441199101' post='2856855'] I can't believe that any decent musician doesn't have the ears to realise that the Do Do Do part is in no way connected to bass guitar part which is a standard funky finger-style bass with the occasional slap and pop for accents. If I was in a covers band playing this, to Do Do Do would be handed off to the keyboard player straight away. [/quote] This.

Some great points here. Some times when people try and emulate the record too much it often sounds flat. Trust me, now one in the audience is looking to see if Uptown Funk is played correctly, they're too busy partying and dancing. And thus our job is complete. I play on cruise ships normally, but do functions when I'm on land. And as long as people can hear the hook, the chorus, that's all they care about. It seems too many people are hung on getting the right sound, when in all honesty, not a lot of people care. We play ALOT of pop music, we find if we just strip it back a little, work out what's going on, it's relatively easy to fill out. Get that groove down then everything should fit in to place.

I downgraded my SVT4pro head and 4x10cab to a Aguilar TH500 and SL112. SO much lighter, easier to transport and imo better on the ears. You don't need anything to big for the bigger stages, just go through a monitor then you're fine.

I would not trust anything other than a full flight case when put in the hold. And they will go through it so don't lock it.