peteb

I've had this discussion with a guy who's worked in A&R and actively tries to find great new bands - he does not think that there are that many coming through, certainly not compared to previous eras.

But look at some 'old codger' like Leland Sklar. He's very definitely a 'feel' player and doesn't have a load of chops, but he's one of the most in-demand players out there and probably the most recorded bass player of all time.

I'm part of the 'old guard' and he certainly doesn't get up my nose. I find his humour a bit twee at times but he can obviously play, most of his stuff is pretty musical and he has the sense to keep all of his clips showcasing his chops pretty short! All in all, he can be quite entertaining at times so that's cool. Like it or not, stand alone YT music clips are a thing now and lots of good young players choose to express themselves in this way rather than being part of a band. If they can make a living doing this then good luck to them, but I'm guessing that it is a small part of the reason why there aren't as many good young bands around as there used to be...

MXR M87 (settings for tonight's gig)

I don't necessarily agree (Come Taste The Band is currently on my car CD player), but Paice is certainly a great rock drummer!

Funnily enough, I preferred the Coverdale / Hughes version, especially the album with Tommy Bolin! Not the same band, but certainly more to my taste (not that I didn't like the classic Gillan / Glover line-up).

You're the guy who didn't think that there was a difference between a tax break for people buying a bike to ride to work and an offshore K2 tax avoidance scheme. Nuance is everything. I know that this something that you have no experience of, but FFS. The point is that it was a reply to Al about the relative importance of various members of a band i.e. the idea of the principal members and the more replaceable other members ('hired hands', sidemen or whatever you want to call them). Usually the principals tend to include the LV / frontperson, but there are exceptions. Obviously not all bands are the same, which is why I qualified my statements with terms like 'generally' and 'tends to be', etc. Anyway, enough of this nonsense - I'm sure that anyone who has a clue about (or is interested in) how bands above the pub circuit level tend to operate will be able to understand the point that I was making.

I said that "Generally, the most important members of a band are the frontman and the songwriters". All you have done is pointed out the exceptions that prove the rule, mainly acts where the singer wasn't necessarily the main focus of the band. You might note that three of those bands reunited with the singer who fronted them when they became famous, once the subsequent version of the band ran out of steam. You are very literal, aren't you. Nuance is something that just happens to other people...

WTF are you on about? You have just brought up several bands that illustrate what I was saying pretty well: Iron Maiden: sacked their drummer as soon as they got a record deal AC/DC: run as a vehicle for the Young brothers, with everyone else as hired hands (even the LV) and a constantly changing line-up, especially in the early years Black Sabbath: originally run more as a democratic band, but with Iommi as the leader until they fell out with Dio with singers and drummers coming and going – when Ozzy came back for the reunions, obviously the dynamic changed, and he had the biggest say due to his commercial clout Deep Purple: constantly changing singers & bass players, mainly due to the whim of Blackmore in their Mk 2 /Mk 3 heyday Genesis: a more democratic set-up with people coming and going of their own volition Pink Floyd: like Genesis until Waters started throwing his weight around – once he went the principals were Gilmour, Mason & Wright with Gilmour as the clear leader You have obviously misunderstood what I was saying and picked out bands that changed the lead singer! Certainly, the LV tends to be the frontman and as such, often more difficult to replace, but the focal point / band leader in the acts you have mentioned was not the singer.

Thanks for that - very helpful

Oh I struggled for ages to get it right, especially when I moved away from a simple two knob pedal. In the end I got a studio engineer (who was also a bass player and had the same comp pedal) to show me the settings he used. I just copied him and it sounds spot on now...

That depends and it can vary from band to band. Generally, the most important members of a band are the frontman and the songwriters. Occasionally there might be a star guitarist / instrumentalist who makes the cut. Usually, the rest of the band are considered to be hired hands and replaceable if need be. For your old school rock / funk / pop band that gets a record contract, that might not have been the case when they were on the way up playing the clubs, but that is what tends to happen once they start getting money and management / record companies behind them. The hired hands might be on a wage, or they might be on a wage plus points, but usually they won't be getting the same deal as the principals. Some bands might be more democratic, but most aren't, especially once they start to get a glimpse of success. Unfortunately, the drummer, second guitar, keys or bass player can be replaced pretty easily. You might miss them if they aren't onstage, but not for long because there will be the new guy up there doing their job...!

Don't judge whether you need a compressor from being on a stage, get someone who really knows what they're doing to listen out front when the band is playing. If you are using a compressor properly, you shouldn't notice much of a difference until you turn it off. The idea is that it should help the bass find its place in the mix...

It depends on the genre a bit, so if you're playing reggae or funk the bass might be a bit more to the fore. Generally, the bass player is playing the bottom line to an invisible (usually) score. You miss us if we're not there, but unless you are a virtuoso or have a strong stage presence, you won't necessarily grab the attention. At least we aren't as easily replaceable as the drummer...!

Good question! I suppose that it's just if I wasn't to use the wireless for some reason (forgot to charge up the transmitter or whatever), I would still have the tuner / mute to plug straight into. I don't have pedals fighting for space on my mini pedaltrain board, so there's no reason not to take the tuner pedal. It's not as if I haven't got a TC clip-on tuner for checking the tuning backstage, but to be frank, I'm just used to (and trust) the pitchblack pedal.

I'm surprised that you think this, as I've got a GLDX16 and it is certainly the best wireless that I have ever used (and I've gone through a fair few over the years). I've never had any issues with it at all, and I play a variety of venues, from small pubs to theatres / outdoor festivals with big pro stages / lighting rigs, etc. If I could find one s/h for a reasonable price, I would get it just as a back-up. I quite like having the receiver on my pedalboard, as it means that I don't have to carry a rack around and it makes it easier when I have to use a house rig, etc. Mind you, my pedalboard at the moment contains just the GLDX16 receiver, a tuner and a compressor...

Not metal enough either...! 🙂

I assume that you are referring to Dan McCafferty??

Do you know what the push button next to the mid control does? Edit: I guessed it was a frequency switch, but I can't quite make out what the the bottom frequency is, even when I have zoomed in on the picture.

He does have a bit of a point. The vocals define what the band is about to a large measure and while the drummer doesn't necessarily have to be great, he at least has to be solid. That is not to say that, generally, a guitarist isn't more important to the sound of a band, but there are many times when you have seen a band get a more experienced drummer once they got a record or management deal, because the old guy couldn't immediately cut it at the higher level they were going to play at. You can carry a mediocre guitarist or bass player to an extent, but not a drummer.

Wasn't it because he started out making flightcases??

Unfortunately the demand for live music has! With increased bills and a likely recession around the corner, this is unlikely to get better any time soon. I am certainly not saying that musos shouldn't get paid for playing (far from it), but we all have to bear this in mind when setting band fees in the current economic climate.

The occasional car issue at the end of the night are just part of being a muso really! What annoys me is driving on a motorway to a gig, only for it to be closed at one o'clock in the morning when you're driving home. Always good fun playing Zep tunes and unleashing your inner JPJ. I was always a massive Zep fan coming up, but I hadn't really had to learn too many of their tunes prior to joining the tribute. Once I sat down and started working out JPJ's parts, I was surprised at how much I picked up from him without really realising and how much he had influenced my playing!

I think that there are about seven 'best tribute to Led Zeppelin’ acts knocking about (I know, I'm in one of them)...!