Pinball

Wowzer, lovely looking bass and a great job

Positive stories Dad and Josie. Another issue that makes is difficult for a band starting now is the way the promotional media and audience habbits is fragmented. When I started promoting our band 4 years ago I used to be on FB and Twitter and used to get a pretty good response from that. Now FB has changed and isn't as effective at reaching people and Instagram, Snapchat and watszap or whatever divide peoples time. I'm also on Reverbation, Ents 24 and need somewhere to sell gear so am looking at joining Bandcamp. That means that the amount of time spent infront of the PC has multiplied and the message about say our next gig is more difficult to get across. Add that to the change in audience habbits that seems to be going on and promotion is becoming a bit of a nightmare. Thank goodness there are so many festivals about as at least you know that there will be people there.

I couldn't agree more, it's very enjoyable and rewarding. I'm ain a band that I think is a success, because we get a lot of fun out of it and we're producing recordings etc. (see the video below). I have also been in 3 or 4 other projects which have not shown much if anything in the way of results. The reasons for this are all covered somewhere in the origonal post. Making this was fun, satisfying and non commercial. I also know of some great more mainstream bands that seem to be getting nowhere very slowly:

I agree with you about the devotion and it is easier to make music than it was. The problem in my experience is that going back a couple of decades most people worked Monday to Friday and had Sundays off. Now people commonly work evenings and weekends. For example in our band one person works in a care home, two in supermarket logistics so early starts and working weekends and I'm 9-5. In addition some have family care duties. My point is that it's not easy for bands with 4 or 5 members unless they are established or financially secure-unless you are lucky. That is great but you have been going for 10 years. Hats off for your hard work but I think that things have got more difficult even since 2008. Promotion and getting paid gigs that will get you on the road with a band of 4 or 5 people sounds a tall order to me, unless you both really lucky and very good. I know of four very good local bands that have started up in the last 4 years (the life of my current band) and were successful e.g. morning TV, high profile gigs etc. but they all folded beciuase of the difficulties in keeping going and not being able to make a living out of it. Cover of Wedding bands on the other hand, they seem to do OK. Note: I have heard of your band, I must try and catch them sometime

It seems to me that everything is stacked against bands these days I suspect that some of the reasons are: The high costs of touring with a band Venues often don't pay enough to support a band People just don't flock to see specific bands in the way they used too Cover bands seem favoured by audiences Money from recordings has shrunk to nowt and people expect to get their music free anyway Younger people tend to listen to specific tracks rather than buy albums or follow bands Not much record label support for artists Modern living! In my experience is that band members struggle to get time to practice and get to travel to gigs Unless bands are full time they really need a manager get money in from PRS, radio and gig royalties etc. It seems to me that everything is stacked against bands and I struggle to think of reallty successful bands that have come to the fore recently. Tell me that I'm wrong please as I love playing in and listening to a good band !

Yes he does but I feel that is part of the show. At one point he asked people to raise their hands to signify if they hadn't seen Chic before and a significant number hadn't so I took it as part of the show I'm with you on that one. I thought they were great both in terms of the show and the sound.

I'd go for Ibanaz ATK 800 or 1200. They are really easy to dial in and the electric system is superb at least on mine. I leave everything flat and flick the swith down to some jazz or stingray fizz or in the up position it is very P like. There is a blend to focus on the neck pickup if you want to. I find that I rarely need to touch the other controls when changing the pickup selection. Here's the 800. As an alternative I'd look at G&L's but they are less easy to change on the fly.

But if you make a bass out of parts and use a gebuine Fender neck that is logo'd then that is OK isn't it? As long as you let people know

I agree all Stingrays, G&L's, Fenders, Gibsons, Laklands and guilds made out side the USA should be banned as they aren't the real thing..tongue firmly in cheek

Hi, I always loved flats on my Stingray and thought they soundded great for rock, although I did change to Status half rounds, which are no longer in production. I now play an Ibanez with coated Elixurs but have TI flats on my fretless Stingray. I don't think that you will go wrong as you will have lots of aadjustment to play with on the amp. I had mine set at 12 oclock on both the bass and a bit of scoop on the amp and loved it. A bit plus is that they stay sounding good for years

It also depends on how the mband create their music. Fot instance it is much easier for a lead singer to stamp around the stage, wave and engage with the audience, compared to a singer guitarist, who is stuck infront of his mic stand and pedal board for the the majority of the time. I watched Queens of the Stone Age recently at the O2, They sounded great but they were so tiny from my seat at the back. I think the problem is worse at those large venues.

Forget it "Kevin can wait"

No not here, have you tried Knock Knock Knocking on Kevins Door?

GAK is £718 today but many others like PMT will price match. I bought one yestarday after recording bass with one recently. First impressions are "It be big and black and I be afraid of it". I've been down the multieffects route before and hated it but I so far I find using this is amazingly similar and inuitive.

I nitice that searches for G&L come up with nothing.....I suspect there are a few threads lurking out there.