peteb

And the thing is that it's even harder these days

When I started getting back into playing Fender style basses again, I was looking for a ‘super jazz’. I did really fancy a Sadowsky, especially after hearing an interview with Roger where it seemed that he was very much building basses for players like me. However, the cost was somewhat of an issue. I went through a couple of decent active jazz basses then one day I went to Bass Direct to pick some accessories up and picked up an Xotic, which I decided was the best jazz bass I had ever played. I managed to quickly find a secondhand one on here, which has been my go-to gigging bass ever since. This has somewhat cured me of my Sadowsky GAS and to be honest I don’t think that I could justify the price tag, especially with how much the pound is worth these days. Mind you, I do sometimes look at how much a Satin series would cost and think that maybe a nice secondhand one might come up. I still can’t see it replacing the Xotic though…

That may well be true, but it still takes a lot of effort and commitment to establish yourself to get those very sought after gigs. The vast majority of pro musicians have to struggle to make a reasonable, yet very precarious, living. Most would have been far better off financially if they had put that effort and commitment into building a more mainstream career. I once went for a lesson with a guy who has an occasional very big paying gig with a very famous British rock band. He said that the uncertain income sometimes gets to him; some years he may be extremely well off but he has to bank most of that as the next year he could be struggling to pay the mortgage...!

To be honest, building a career as a musician is not the easiest thing to do and is not generally particularly lucrative. Anyone would have a much easier life developing other employment skills rather than committing to being a professional musician, unless they really loved doing it. I have a friend who has been a pro drummer all his life. He went and got his first (part time) office job in his fifties to give him a steady income alongside his drum teaching. He did this, not because he hated gigging, but so he could afford to take lower paying gigs with his mates playing music he liked, rather than his regular function band gig where he said that the highlight was always “picking up the money at the end of the night”!

I’ve just been working stagecrew at the Colne Blues Festival and on the Sunday had a few beers with a drummer from Ipswich, who set off at 5.00am to drive up to Lancashire to do a couple of gigs, all to get paid a couple of hundred quid and a night in a Holiday Inn. This guy was in his mid-sixties and says that he still keeps busy and will do every decent gig he gets offered (as well as teaching drums, running a local jam session, a bit of PA hire and doing a show on a local radio station). I think that we were all up to about three in the morning, with all the crew and musos from the bands playing at the festival who were staying over commandeering the bar of the local Holiday Inn. The point is that no one is forcing you to do this. This guy is in his sixties and still playing every week with no intention of dialling it back. There are certain sacrifices you have to make to be a musician, both in terms of learning to play and the lifestyle involved in gigging regularly. If you have issues dealing with other people, don’t like crowds, the camaraderie you get playing with other musicians, or you are not prepared (or able) to organise your life to allow you to take gigs (the killer for lots of decent players) then you just shouldn’t do it...

The thing is that I am currently playing higher profile gigs in bigger venues (size of crowd is somewhat variable), but not making money. This is great fun and has got me noticed to the point where I have been offered a potentially bigger gig. However, whilst the money is not such a big thing for me at the moment, I am still trying to get a side project going playing pubs to get some extra cash coming in...

You should definitely have a look at the EQ section on the mpulse to get the best out of it. It is one of the main things that distinguishes it from other really good amps. Probably best to start by trying out the factory sample settings in the manual, which you can download off the Mesa site if you haven't already got one (link: https://www.mesaboogie.com/support/user-manuals.html?page=2 / https://mesa-boogie.imgix.net/media/User Manuals/M-Pulse.pdf) I pretty much use the 'Driving Rock' setting with a few minor tweaks, mainly changing the frequency centre on the low mids to suit the room to ensure that there is no 'boominess'. Whatever you do, keep the mpulse...!

The Handbox has a great core sound and is very responsive. The only issue is the EQ is quite rudimentary if you are used to the semi-parametric on the mpulse. Of course the disadvantage of the Mesa is that if you don't know how to use the EQ then you can find some really horrible sounds in there if you try hard enough! The mids control on the HB is a hi-mid cut. In theory this should work for me but I have yet to really consistently find the sweet spot. If you leave it flat it is very mids focused, which of course is what players like MoT want. It's a bit of a work in progress for me, especially as I am not gigging as much at the moment. I'm not knocking the HB at all and would have no hesitation in recommending one to anyone wanting a new amp. It cost me about £650 in total (£590 for the amp, £30 postage and £30 in bank charges). I think that's good value for a great, handmade amp. Of course the price may go up significantly for some reason after 31 October, so if you fancy giving one a go it might be an idea to put an order in pretty soon...!

I have had a mpulse for many years and until recently, also had a Subway D800 as a lightweight option. I thought that the D800 was the nicest sounding Class D amp I had ever heard, but unfortunately I have had to move it on. Whilst it sounded great with a R&B band I was depping with last year and worked fine with a one guitar hard rock band, it just couldn't cope with a rock band with loads of keys on larger stages. Of course YMMV, but it seemed to lack power for an amp rated @ 800w. It does sound nice at lower volumes though. It has been replaced by a Handbox hybrid 400w amp, which has the power and cuts through a mix better even if I am still trying to come to terms with it's EQ options. The Handbox is obviously heavier, but still an easy one hand lift whereas the D800 was so light that it used to keep bouncing off the top of the cab until I got one of those car dashboard non-slip maps!

I think that this sums it up. He's not being offered the gig in Deep Purple, he's trying to break into a close knit local music scene where everybody is likely to have played with each other in the past and have long term, rather convoluted friendships. Stealing another muso's gig after depping for them is generally considered to be bad form - would you want him to dep for you going foward?? To then demand that the band sacks their singer is just going to make too many enemies. It doesn't matter how good you are if no one wants to play with you because you've got a reputation for being a ruthless d1ck...! However, nothing to stop you suggesting trying out a side project with guys who you've been gigging with...

Hey Daryl As someone who has recently joined a tribute band, I think the point is that you avoid the 4 hour bar (or 2 hour pub) gigs and play less frequently as part of bigger and better shows. Exactly how less frequently and how much money you make depends on the act you are doing a tribute to. Personally I would want a band to run alongside to keep gigging / earning regularly.

1) I probably wouldn't be the right fit for them but sounds an interesting project. I might go and see them if they start gigging. 2) I would certainly fit their criteria but their songlist is way too diverse and the 'summer got in the way' thing isn't promising. I might give them a ring if I was new to an area and didn't have anything better on the go. 3) Can't really see myself in an Eagles tribute but sounds like it might be good if you like that sort of thing. 4) Not for me, but if I had a lid then probably something they might be interested in. So none of the above for me, but nothing suggests that they wouldn't work for the right bass player...

Quite a few years ago I used to play in a rock covers band (think loads of Van Halen and a few daft stuff done in the same style) who played pubs, but also a load of motorcycle rallies. We did one in Scarborough and got there early on the Friday (we were the headline on the Saturday) and got talking to a group of lads who said that their mate had decided not to come but would be disappointed to miss us as we were his favourite band on the circuit. Apparently they rang him on Saturday morning and told him we were playing. He immediately packed a bag, put his tent on the back of his bike and rode about four hours just to come and see us. We had a bit of a beer rider backstage, which we ended up sharing with him as we were amazed that he would drop everything and ride that far just to see a cover band.

Thanks for posting that - just reminded me that I needed another kettle lead...

The thing is that you can’t physically play the guitar riff for Alright Now without the open strings. I think that you would agree that the main riff is rather an important part of the song?? There’s a reason why many old bands that recorded their biggest hits in concert pitch are now playing live tuned down a half step, or often more. I once played in a band with a (female) singer who tried to do a Beth Hart song, but kept wanting to change the key (original in C). In the end she had tried five different versions, each time a further half step down. I pulled the plug at G# and said that it wasn’t going to work and to look for an alternative. Sometimes you have to accept that a singer can’t pull off a particular song and play something that they can sing instead…

It's one thing changing keys to accommodate singers, but there is a line you have draw. If they want to change the key that drastically it means that they just can't do it! Not to mention that there are many signature guitar parts that are important to performing certain songs that can only be played in a particular key...

FIVE steps down...!! Did you have a Barry White's big brother singing for you??

The thing is that you don't need to over complicate it. Essentially he walks between the I and the IV (sometimes up, sometimes down) for six bars before going to the V in the seventh bar and then finishing each line off, rinse and repeat. It's got a bit of a swing feel and he throws in the odd triplet to give it a bit of movement. I doubt that he would have played the song the same way twice live, so there's no need for you to worry too much about replicating every bar exactly. Funnily enough, I've just found a live CD today of an early Bad Co gig from just before the first album came out. It's got a six and a half minute version of Can't Get Enough, so perhaps I will have a better idea of what he actually did play live! Boz was always one of my favourite bass players.

Whilst that is true generally about the arrangements, both bass players could be quite busy at times. As far as CGE goes, just remember that on the single version, Boz is generally just walking from the I to the IV and back again at the beginning of each line in the solo. On the album version / live he plays a bit more (ie. he plays a riff that goes up to the 6th if I remember correctly), but it's all pretty simple really.

I really don't think that anyone wants to hear an unknown band play two hours of original material...! If I was the OP, the first thing I would do is to check.

I should just point out that the vast majority of guitar players I have played with have never had any formal training (like myself). Of course that doesn't mean that they don't know scales, modes, etc or don't have a working knowledge of harmony.

Surely the answer to this is that it depends on the gig. I've been playing live for over 40 years and I have yet to see anyone produce a music score in a band situation, even when playing with guys who are capable sight readers. I have never found communicating musical ideas without using music notation to be a problem.when dealing with decent guitar player players.

I don't live anywhere near you, but I did own one of those MB 310 combos at one time. It was a great amp! I did loads of gigs all over the place with it and it never let me down. If you can get it repaired for £200 (and it doesn't have any other major issues) then I would suggest you go ahead. If you want a bass combo then that is one I would definitely recommend.

I think that the fist thing you need to understand is that a pub will pay for a band as a whole, not per member...! It is about how many people you can pull in and how much they will spend behind the bar behind the bar. it doesn't matter if it is a 3 piece or a 7 piece band - the fee will be the same. Around here (the West Yorkshire area) most pubs will pay between £200 and £300, depending on what crowd you can pull in that particular area and the size of the pub, with an average of £250