KingBollock

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1445090781' post='2888742'] There is a whole generation of guitar and bass players who literally cannot do anything other than put their fingers where they are told to by a piece of tab. Theres a video of some guy who won a one-on-one lesson with Joe Satriani and when Joe asked him what he wanted to get out of the session all the guy could say was (paraphrasing) "I was hoping you could show me how to play some bits of your songs because I'm not sure the tabs I've been learning them from got it right". In the case your citing, if someone has audio and video of an isolated bass part and they still think they need tabs for it ... youve got to wonder if they have any real aptitude for the instrument. [/quote] Back in the early nineties some lads, that I sort of knew through mutual friends, knocked on my door to ask if I would rehearse with them as their bass player hadn't turned up. I said yes because I thought it might be fun, and they carried my gear for me. I don't know about fun, but it was certainly an experience... First of all, there was no drummer. I think I know who was supposed to be their drummer, but I also know that he had never owned a kit. There were two guitarists but one of them couldn't play at all (he had only just bought the guitar and hadn't learned anything yet), he quickly put it down and decided he was going to be a second vocalist. He was easily as good as the actual vocalist, in that neither of them could sing at all. Then there was the thing I found oddest of all... The lead guitarist could play Enter Sandman really well. But it was the [i]only[/i] song he could play and he could only play it if he had the tab in front of him. It was the strangest thing, he just absolutely fell apart if he looked up from the book. The book being the tab for the Metallica self titled album. He couldn't play any of the other songs in it and couldn't play any songs that weren't in it. They asked me if I would join them if they sacked their bassist... Yeah, that didn't happen. I'm not knocking tab, I use it myself to help with learning songs.

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1444915463' post='2887287'] High-profile deps include (off the top of my head): Metallica's guitar roadie playing James Hetfield's parts following a pyro accident. [/quote] That was John Marshall. I was all set to correct you because I knew him as the guitarist for Metal Church, but some prudent fact checking shows that he was also Kirk Hammet's guitar tech. I had no idea that was the case. I had wondered at the time why they picked him, now I know.

Every Alembic I have ever seen looks like it was designed by a toddler that has been asked to draw a guitar...

I love my T-35. I also have a headless Flying V six string that is unkillable. And I am considering getting one of their seven string guitars, too. You can get used ones really cheap. My T-35 cost £220 and it had been bought brand new less than four months before, it still had the protective stuff on the cavity cover and tuners.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1443875053' post='2878365'] Who are you calling an ignorant knucklehead? The rugby World Cup comes by once every 4 years and for some people it's a big deal. If you have such contempt for pub goers then perhaps it's a good thing you're not in a pub band. They pay our fee at the end of the day! [/quote] People who would turn their back to a band to watch a telly. I'd prefer to play to an empty room than that. The venue I was at wasn't even a pub, it was a band venue. I can see how it's a bit different if it's pub regulars and there happens to be a band on, but where I was the reason to be there was the bands. Pubs shouldn't book bands in the first place if they know they're going to be showing a big sport game and that that'll be all anyone's interested in.

I was at a gig last Saturday and the rugby was being shown on a tv behind the bar. I felt so bad for one of the bands, they put in a really good show, proper went for it, and they were totally ignored because everyone was watching the telly. And when the whole place erupted because Wales scored and particularly at the end of the match, Wales having won it, my heart broke for the band. It was just horrible. So perhaps it's not such a bad thing that they cancelled the gig rather than you having to compete with a telly for the attention of ignorant knuckleheads?

Damnit! Now I'm going to have that stuck in my head for the next three days. Y'know I have never actually heard the original, but I had a mate in college that used to sing the damned thing all day every bloomin' day. I'm not going to torture myself with it now, just reading the title of the thread was enough to start it going 'round. Argh!

Considering how important it is it amazes me that bands never seem to do this. Just take one whole rehearsal and go through all the sounds, tones and levels. Record the session and then listen to the recording after each song, then make the changes deemed necessary, and repeat until you've got it right. You need to be honest with each other about tones, too. If the drums sound like cardboard boxes, the bass like a damp pillow or the guitarist like a wasp in a biscuit tin, then it needs to be discussed. I might initially be disappointed if I was told my bass sounds like Elephantine flatulance, but if I know I need to make changes and if I make those changes and can hear that the whole band sounds better for it, then I will be a lot happier. Otherwise if I am not told, I might assume my sound is ok and that the reason the band sounds poo is because of other people. Even if it takes more than one rehearsal it is worth it. Rehearsals are there to get you gig ready, if you haven't worked on this aspect then you ain't gig ready. I am aware that you can't get it spot on without a genuine gig environment, but it's a bloomin' good start. This is not a critique on your recordings by the way, this is praise for going to the effort of recording the sessions and trying to make sure you get it all, because you can only judge the results when you can hear everything that's going on. I don't have any advice on the Zoom thingumie, we used to use a mono cassette player/recorder...

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1441323359' post='2858027'] Should be good for metal. [/quote] Fuel for a forge?

We're talking a long time ago, but the one song I always hated playing was Metallica's Seek & Destroy. I played it in several bands but I had never heard the original version (which wasn't that unusual for me) and didn't hear it until I had stopped playing in bands. The last couple of bands I played in started playing Enter Sandman instead (which I also hadn't heard) which was actually a relief.

I can't remember how long we were there, but I remember waiting many, many hours for the bride and groom to turn up because it they had booked an open, horse drawn carriage, and it was raining. The church was literally just over the road from the venue. By the time they set off it had been dark for at least three hours and you couldn't even see them, and it was still raining. The whole damned thing was a joke. They tried to do the balloons falling from the ceiling from a net thing, but actually used helium balloons... It sounds like something from a crappy sketch show but it really happened. And I nearly lamped the bride's dad after he accused me of trying to steal the helium canister. I was moving it because he had left it in front of the stairs of the stage and we needed to get the gear off. I moved it all of three feet. I really hated doing weddings, but at least there were no actual fights at that one. I didn't mind those so much if we had a stage for separation. But when the battle lines are drawn and the bloodbath starts, being in the firing line could get scary.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1439591634' post='2844319'] At that point it's not really a band it's a guys basement social event. IMO Blue [/quote] I might agree with you if the music wasn't a priority. I'm not interested in just having a doss, the creation and playing of music is the most important part, and getting along with your band mates makes that process easier and more fun. When I say I don't care about the other stuff, I mean that I am flexible. That's the stuff I am prepared to compromise on to fit a band that gets me the things that are more important to me.

For me, my personal wants/needs are so specific that they are a real problem, or so vague that they're useless. The most important part is the music, there is no way I'd be interested in playing music I wasn't totally into. Running a very close second/joint first is the people. I don't want to play with knob'eads. There's no fun in constant arguments and butting of egos. If I could find both of those I wouldn't care if we never made any money, in fact I'd be quite prepared to lose money to enjoy it. As for gigs and recording and stuff, I don't really care. It'd be nice to have the extra stuff but getting together with some mates, having a laugh, writing tunes and playing them loudly would be enough for me.

[quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1438883656' post='2838427'] Not bass related but got up in the middle of the night for a widdle when i lived with my parents, pushed the bathroom door open ( it opened in to the bathroom) and it got pushed back onto me so hard i nearly went down the stairs, because of the force of it i thought its obviously my dad in there, after shouting and hollering for 5 minutes at him for nearly knocking me flying he came out of his bedroom door asking me who I'm shouting at, opened bathroom door and bathroom was empty... Ooh.. Shudder. I don't believe in all that but?? It weren't the wind. [/quote] I remember one time, back when we lived in the Midlands, starting from the front of the house and going through to the back, every window started to rattle and every door slammed shut. It scared the sh*t out of the dogs and the atmosphere felt really heavy and oppressive afterwards. It was just the air pressure outside changing, but I had never known it to go like that before. In this house we used to have to keep the bathroom door open when the air pressure was messing about else it used to lift the attic door out of its frame. We now have a better fitting attic door with a lock on it.

I see things moving about in the corners of my vision all the time, usually spiders that aren't actually there. They always freak me out, even though I know they're not there and I'm not even scared of spiders. The worst time was when I had gone to bed in the middle of the day (my sleep pattern was buggered again), so it was daylight and I could see perfectly well. I lay down and, looking towards my wife's side of the bed (she was at work), I could see a little man standing on her pillow. Think Chucky. He was about that height and build but his face was different, he looked both mean and sad. He was wearing blue jeans, black shoes, white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. And he had a small knife in each hand. He was looking right at me, I could see him breathing. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them he was still there. I tried looking away and back but he wouldn't go. In the end, and this was an incredibly difficult thing to do, even [i]knowing[/i] that he wasn't really there, I turned onto my other side and eventually went to sleep without looking over again. My problem is that I suffer with stress induced hallucinations. Which is bloomin scary, but not supernatural. What really is fascinating is the science behind what can cause supernatural seeming experiences. The things that happen internally, such as the brain filling in information to make up for the incredibly poor way that humans eyes actually work (or barely work). And the external things that can cause several people to experience the same thing, even though it isn't real.

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And why did the tiger get lost in the jungle? Because the jungle is massive! ...

The worst part of the Motorhead set was the tuning of Phil's guitars. It was fine until he came out with that Explorer, which sounded bloody awful. Then he went back to the white guitar he did the first song with, and that was out of tune as well.

The most disappointing part of the stuff the BBC showed was a rapper who came out with a string of at least a couple of dozen words that rhymed with sprouts, without actually using the word sprouts. It was probably quite a clever feat but I was disappointed.

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1435360431' post='2808201'] Interesting you say that because I actually thought he looked ill. Certainly when you see Lemmy the Movie, filmed in 2010/11(?) he has aged considerably. [/quote] He's had a pacemaker fitted since then. In fact, I think, internally, he's mostly mechanical by now.

I've been a motorhead fan since I was twelve. The best time I ever saw them was in 1994 at the Kentish Town Forum, that was a bloomin' brilliant gig. I've seen them a few times since and they were good, but I wouldn't go see them now. I can understand Lemmy not wanting to stop but... In the interview I saw about half an our before they showed them playing, he was shaking like a shitting dog and at one point he did a proper, full on, old man gurn.

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1435233796' post='2806764'] That's my setup - what gauge strings are you using? [/quote] I play in C standard and use the bottom four of a five string set, I have to tune up to it, rather than dropping, which helps stop it from being floppy, especially as it is a 34" scale. The C is a .130 but if you could get hold of a string between .118 and .125 that'd do it.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1434250298' post='2798018'] You did say 'sitting' didn't you? [/quote] Yes. I drape it over my shoulder to avoid any unpleasantries.

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1434305594' post='2798519'] Never mind the hair doo, it`s these bloomin eyebrows that get me. [attachment=194319:rowan276.jpg] You would think that someone would have said. [/quote] That's been happening to me for years. My wife thinks it's cute, but I still trim them.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1434285555' post='2798276'] D'oh! Five hours too late - was going to say 'Isn't that Aragorn, son of Arathorn on vocals?' ...but you beat me to it. Other news: I'm just happy to have hair and happier it hasn't gone grey yet. I was musing on whether to grow it long one last time... probably the last chance I'll get, but on the other hand doing that may well cause what I've got left to fall out! Young master discreet and myself have a good TV game - when any bald people appear on the screen we both point and shout 'HE'S BALD!', which is actually a lot more fun than it sounds. [/quote] When I was eighteen I had a Purple Ronnie book that had a Ten Commandments in it. One of them was "Thou shalt not point at baldies.". It might sound odd, but my brother (who was seventeen at the time) loved me reading that book to him. Anyway, one day, after being awake for about thirty hours and suffering sleep deprivation (we couldn't afford alcohol), my brother, a friend, my wife and I went into town. For some reason, it became the most hilarious thing ever to spot baldies and giggle like little schoolgirls while trying our hardest to not point at them. The second funniest thing ever (that we discovered that day) was a toy we found in Woolworths called a Jibber Jabber. We laughed until we cried that day.