bass_dinger

If your PC passes all of the tests, there is minimal latency - milliseconds. The tests are designed to eliminate the users with latency issues.

For chatting, WhatsApp. For playing music and sharing it live, JamKazam - but even entry level requires a high specification set up (ethernet rather than WiFi, a fast PC. If you fail the speed tests, JamKazam won't let you join).

@ezbassyou wouldn't last 10 minutes in a church band, then! So, is a pitchfork similar to a tuning fork, but slightly sharp?

I think I _am_ him!

That's a bit harsh, although I see where you are coming from. Church bands don't really have a concept of playing a song right. Rather, they play up to their own ability, and what they feel. So, if the original version of the song has a bass riff between verses that they can't play, then there won't be a bass riff. I am perhaps the only one in the band who has a recent background playing covers, and understands the concept of playing in the key, and version of the recording. The guitarist is more of a soloist who expects others to hear and follow his chordal embellishments - he is so instinctive a player that sometimes he is unsure what he played, when I ask. That makes it nearly impossible to follow him perfectly (but if he is happy with D in the bass when he goes to an Em to C, then I can play with him). It also means that playing covers note-perfect is more of a challenge for him. He is a good guy, with a narrower skill set. I am perhaps a bit of a plonker, but with experience of more bands, and reading, chord charts, and tab - but minimal ear playing.

@dmc79 @Ralf1e I was on a roll and added more words while you were commenting. Of course, the other way of looking at it is that they saw my obvious distress and anguish, without understanding why - and therefore gave me the space to stay away from the band. When I spoke with the randomising guitarist he said that he felt that in such situations there is little that can be done in the heat of the moment. He also explained that he does not like to by tied to a piece of paper (or, as I call it, use the music), and prefers to do it by memory so that he cango with the flow. So, I understand his reasoning, but I am unsure how to follow him when he does his own thing. Perhaps it is best to promote unity, by leaving the band.

General issues. ○ We have a rota supposedly showing attendance 3 months in advance, maintenened by the Worship Leader. It is regularly allowed to run out, leaving the team to ask on Friday whether they are playing on Sunday. ○ The rota should include one person from the church choir. The WL regularly forgets to invite someone or they can't make it and tell him- but he forgets to invite a replacement. ○ We did a Worship Central course but the last one clashed with the August summer break. He never rescheduled it. ○ The song chord charts are often late, or never sent. Apparently I am the only one who asks for them ○ A guitarist plays from memory, while the rest of us use the chord charts. Occasionally the guitarist will play differently to the rest of the band but won't tell us that he is doing his own thing. ○ 3 ½ years ago, I was told that I would be on the rota for guitar. A year ago, I gave up waiting for it to happen. ○ the WL said that new singers would be given 3 rehearsals before they were allowed in a service. It never happened. ○ I have frequently mentioned these issues, but they are not dealt with. I have concluded that it does not matter to them. Specifically ○ The guitarist for that rehearsal played something that other than what written. "What are you playing for the bit that says C G C?" ",oh I am not playing that" (,(but did not say what he was playing). ○ The WL was the drummer, and was speeding up. I told him so - and he said that he knew, and carried on. ○ The WLs wife sang, and one phrase was so off key that I stopped, and asked the WL what had happened (I thought that I was in the wrong key). He said that it was "a bit pitchy ". ○ When I asked for clarification and guidance, they carried on playing. ○ When I packed up (which took about 3 minutes) they carried on playing. They did not stop to ask what the issue was. ○ Over the next day, I got two WhatsApp messages saying not to turn up for the band . I have been asked to meet up with the leaders. So lots of general issues, that make me wonder how supportive the band is, and if I want to be part of it. Indeed, if I have the ability to play with elastic drummers, fretless singers, and guitarists who go off piste in the songs. Walking out was not my finest moment, but I am not impressed with them either. Right now I am off to visit my dad, in a Covid ward where he is on oxygen. Somehow, that feels worse his mild stroke and heart attack that hospitalised him on Christmas eve, and his next hospital visit on new year's eve. My feeling is that I just wanted to play in the band, and not have to deal with the hassle of the band.

To me it sounds like a fumble, especially when I listened to the stems of the whole track, and heard that other specific bars felt a little inconsistent and imprecise. There is a whole BC thread on errors that made the released recording, and September got a mention there too.

I will run out of time before I run out of things to learn (and not just because I am in my 50s)! I am in a band that does not stretch me. Actually, I am in a band that does not stretch itself, and is becoming less discerning. I am struggling with whether I want to carry on with them, and am no longer feeling it. I have a few feelers out for new projects - playing Indian ragas by ear; playing with other members of my family (all competent musicians, and I now feel capable enough to play with them): joining a rock choir to improve my vocals; learning mandolin.

This is very special indeed. It is rare to hear a recording of this quality.

I think that I was mainly musing, but I also wanted to improve my skills, and to understand what lifts a musical and creative genius above the likes of me (someone who can mimic other bassists, badly and slowly). It seems to me that some basslines are very easy to create and play - U2 songs, perhaps. That feels as if being a bassist should be easy, but it clearly isn't. And I didn't understand why it sometimes looks easy, but often isn't. I have learnt a lot from this thread and have been inspired to carry on improving. Playing, and attitude!

I just spent a happy but fruitless 10 minutes looking for Hadyn's 106th! It seems that there are 104 numbered symphonies, and two others, A and B, bringing the total to 106. But nothing numbered 106. 104 it is!

Calling the non rock n roll bassist, @zbd1960

on mandolin, the Bach Cello suites. They work on stringed instruments tuned it 5ths, but are less easy on instruments tuned in 4ths I have found. Listen to the chords change - and then realise that the instrument is not playing chords, but arpeggios.

Good choice! And, for fun, listen to and watch this bass line. At 2'37", listen to the ascending chromatic scale - so clever, so musical. Slow it down to half speed and you may be able to play it on a five string, once you realise that most every note has a second note an octave away from it.

And Post Modern Juke Box have made a living from retro-covering songs. Modern song, covered as if it was originally done in the 50s or the 30s. It can be fun to do - and as Nigel Kennedy once said at a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, if you want to hear the original, buy the record.

I was in a ukulele band that spent more time discussing a song, than we spent playing it. People would suggest obscure album tracks that not even the band's mum would know, or stuff that doesn't work well for musicians that only know one strumming pattern and three chords. Looking back, I realise that I was part of the problem - I did not have the talent to learn songs quickly (ironic, given that my other (church) band could prepare a 35 minute set in 25 minutes). I have learnt to be more "wasteful" of material, in an event band. Learn a song, perform it live once, and throw it away, never to be used again. I enjoyed learning a new song, and gained the confidence that I can improvise. Most recently, Dance Monkey, as a swing tune - the singer suggested it as a joke, but we went with it, primarily because it was quicker to do it than to think of other options.

Won't the bridge also have to be moved?

I see that I was not clear. When I say "move on", I mean move on from the church band, but remain in the church. That gives the leaders the problem of explaining why I am not playing - or me the problem of keeping my mouth shut!

You don't know how close you are to being right! Actually, the fact that I laughed means that I am probably going in the right direction. On an attitude scale of Sid Vicious to Guy Pratt, I am definitely a Pratt. At least, that's what people shout out when I arrive at the rehearsal....

I like that the line "the whole earth shakes" has the B chord falling on the word "shakes". Time for that low B!

And not in a way that would persuade other bands that he would be an easy-going guy to have around...

The time seems to have come to leave the church band. I am not feeling it any more. There were various issues, but I am not here to publish the problems of others. However, I walked out mid rehearsal, while the band continued playing. Two WhatsApp messages said that I should not turn up for the Christmas service. I will be charitable, and say that was out of concern for the stress that I was suffering. After three weeks, I realise that I am not missing the music or the stress. Time to take a break, or move on, perhaps. Last night and today, I was playing some new basslines - You Should Be Dancing, Killing Me Softly, for example- and very much enjoyed it. So, I want to play, but right now, not at church. So long, and thanks for all the fish (and loaves).

And that is why I asked the question.... Surely if he can do it, why do others of us need to practice, learn music, study chord charts, and nurture a good attitude? I guess that Sid V had a short career in a single band that was more about attitude, and less about the technical aspects of the music. I would say that he was primarily a professional entertainer, and not so much a bass musician.

Weird Al Jankovich. The name put me off. Having listened to what he has released, I see that he has a huge amount of talent as a lyricist, and is a vocal chameleon who is able to adapt to just about any style.