MiltyG565

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1389732119' post='2337368']
Écureuil. Say it slowly at first. Yes, that's right. Savour it. Écureuil. Hear how it flows from the tongue..? Feel the suave hint of noisettes..? Écureuil. Ten times, before and after meals. Ah, you're doing better already. Well done. Écureuil.
[/quote]

That may be how you say "Squirrel" in French, but the Squirrel that Paul has is an English Squirrel. I follow a French guy on Vine, and he found a Squirrel one day. He said Squirrel like "Skew-www-well", which is at least 5 more Ws than is required to say Squirrel

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1389730605' post='2337345']
I could tell them it was by Jerry Lewis and they'd cough up the readies in an instant.

Squirrels. More fun than copyright or sidemens' fees. Well known fact.
[/quote]

I've just thought... you can't sell that to the French... How would they ever say "Squirrel" properly? No, that would cause far too many red faces. Scrap it. I SAID SCRAP IT, GOD DAMN IT! *storms over to liquor cabinet and has a brandy. Looks wistfully out the window.*

Is that squirrel on a Bonsai tree, or is it a massive mutant squirrel which has grown through radiation poisoning? (That's how radiation works, right?). Either way - Isn't it a bit... arty for the French?

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1389689203' post='2336853']
About as far as Darts is 'into the vast genre of' Sport...
[/quote]

Oh... well thats not so bad then, I can still pretend to not like Jazz

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1389696803' post='2336930']
Careful. You'll be wearing roll neck sweaters soon and start smoking a pipe!
[/quote]

I would quite like a pipe... just for emphasis, not to smoke.


[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1389690560' post='2336866']
This is your journey to the dark side Milty, never underestimate the power of the dark side...........
[/quote]

Jazz is my father

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1389687044' post='2336831']
I'm ordering your tweed jacket and beret right now
[/quote]

Tweed? Beret? It's actually moleskin and a flat cap, thankyaverymuch.

(it might actually be tweed)

I really am not sure what's going on, but I'm scared.

I've started listening to Jazz recently, and I have been enjoying it.

I blame my boss. He's a jazz musician. I know what's going on! The Jazz agenda is being promoted from those within the circle to incite new recruits!

On a serious note - how far into the vast genre of Jazz does Air lie? Probably pretty tame, right? Well, I've been listening to Air a lot recently. They have some seriously good songs, and are clearly very talented musicians - an aspect of Jazz which nobody could deny. Are they a "gateway" [s]drug[/s] band?

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1389612518' post='2336019']
Well lets turn that around - if you played something that you really thought was cool and saw your band mates wince and even a few audience members raise an eyebrow, would you still assume your own judgment of what you played was beyond question ?.
[/quote]

This is interesting. Maybe we're just easier to convince that we are crap at something than to convince we are good at something. I know it's certainly true for me (sometimes). If I feel I've made a bad job of something, nothing anybody says will make it right for me. If I feel I've done a good job, and somebody comes along and points out what's wrong, I feel that I've actually fooled myself and given myself an inflated ego, probably prematurely (ooo err missus).

First time I sold on Ebay, my money was held for 90 days because I was a first time seller. The money was paid when the buyer finally left me positive feedback. The problem with this, though, is that some buyers aren't too quick to leave feedback, and in fact, some never left any feedback. I had to wait 90 days to get my money. Worst of all - I was only selling the stuff to get money for a Red Hot Chili Peppers gig that I was going to, which meant travelling to Dublin and staying the weekend in ROI (with a relative). I didn't have the eBay money, so things were very tight that trip, and the prices of everything down south was sky high. I was pretty angry.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1389656423' post='2336751']
The big difference between a musician & a plumber though is that there will always be somebody that needs a plumber.
[/quote]

All too true - plumbing is a modern essential. Indoor domestic plumbing makes us healthier. A band is just for a good time, and when worst comes to worst, the things that are just for fun are the first to go.

It's a very wide question though, isn't it? I mean, to stop playing in bands or doing gigs isn't to give up a career in music, is it? If your fingers got chopped off tomorrow, what would you do to make money? Well, playing bass is probably out the window at that stage, but there are other capacities in which you can apply your skills and knowledge of music. If you ever woke up and thought "sh*t, I am not making any money here, and haven't made a decent living in years" what would you do? Go down to the job centre, or diversify?

Frankly, where I'm at right now is that I'm a pretty poor musician, but I have a good bit of technical info (thank you BassChat), and I am currently heading down a road which allows me to use that technical info and earn a wage, but also within a business environment.

If it's what you love to do, you never will give up on it, I think.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1389636857' post='2336403']
We are the only species with a financial system [i]at present[/i]. My experiment with squirrels is showing great potential.
[/quote]

Squirrels would be great for banks. After all, they do save their nuts by burying them, then they forget where they buried them and they are lost. Imagine how banks would take advantage of the poor squirrels!

*Squirrel walks into bank*
"Hi, I think I have an account here..."
*clerk taps furiously at keyboard and sees that Mr.Squirrel does indeed have an account with some money in it*
"No, sorry Mr.Squirrel, but I think you have the wrong bank. Have you tried the one down the street?"

[/digression]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1389620293' post='2336154']
Ah, the arrogance of man.

In the race of life, intelligence is vastly overrated. Indeed, it could be argued that intelligence is the very thing responsible for buggering up the planet for all the other life forms that have survived perfectly well without it for billions of years. Indeed, intelligence seems to be a prime reason for buggering up the lives of the organism that posesses the most of it. Life on our planet managed perfectly well without 'complex financial systems' for billions of years and will surely manage without them again.
[/quote]

I have no doubt that you are correct (and I personally hold the view that our knowledge overtook us, leading us to make some very large mistakes without fully understanding their impact before it was too late) - however, this is a discussion about a financial matter. The fact is that we are the only species with a financial system.

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1389601666' post='2335868']
I know that they have a different name so I guess that's one difference and also that they were strung with metal strings, which I've never seen on a ukulele before. They were also different size to the instruments brought across and had a different tuning.

Hawaiians obviously had to start building their own version at some point which would be the 'ukulele'. And they were merely based on these instruments rather than direct copies. Hence the different tuning and size.
[/quote]

We have electric ukuleles in the shop, which have metal strings. Is a different tuning enough to make a different instrument? Is a guitar in drop-D no longer a guitar? (not being facetious, maybe just a little philosophical).

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1389569882' post='2335746']
The ukulele is a Hawaiian instrument. It is an interpretation of a Portuguese instrument.

Google it, twas what I did
[/quote]

An interpretation? Portuguese settlers brought over "small guitars" to Hawaii and gifted them to the natives. Don't know where the crossover between "small guitars" and ukuleles happened, but as far as I can tell, it's a Portuguese instrument which the Hawaiians are known for. Don't know what differences would be, but I can't see them being too large. Everyone comes into our shop and says "What are these wee guitars?".

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1389562655' post='2335615']
Seems to have worked pretty well for most organisms on the planet.
[/quote]

Are you referring to all the organisms with complex financial systems or the ones without?

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1389549759' post='2335415']
Or we would be, had not a certain irascible, gotch-eyed Hibernian intervened in the process a few years ago.
[/quote]

I never intervened in anything!

Some say it will increase the sustain of the instrument, which might have scientific foundation or merit to it (more downward pressure on saddles - less vibration absorbed by saddle). Although if you really want more sustain, there are far more effective ways to get it - changing the bridge would be my first and possibly only step.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1379377953' post='2212038']
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][pedant] Ukulele. [/pedant][/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Factoid: In Hawaii, the name roughly translates as 'jumping flea'.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Another factoid, contradicting the first one: According to Queen Liliʻuokalani - the last Hawaiian monarch - the name means 'the gift that came here', from the Hawaiian words [i]uku[/i] (gift or reward) and [i]lele[/i] (to come).[/font]
[/quote]

It's a contentious discussion in work - Me and the boss say it's a Portuguese instrument, and the other guy reckons it's Hawaiian.

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1389486458' post='2334797']
I was being facetious – did I really need to add a smiley??

Not strictly about songwriting, but still pertinent…
[url="http://www.audioprointernational.com/news/read/ben-hammond-public-misconception-of-the-music-industry/06700"]http://www.audioproi...-industry/06700[/url]
[/quote]

Oh...

Turns out yes... yes you did need a smiley

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1389485274' post='2334788']
Perhaps there should be an hourly rate for songwriters, where they are paid for the quantity of their output rather than how good or successful their songs are??
[/quote]

But how does that work? If their work isn't popular and doesn't make enough sales, where does this hourly rate come form?

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1389477072' post='2334683']
It's just a made up convention
[/quote]

A bit like money.

Going to honestly need something a little better than "It's just made up" to persuade most, fellas. Most things are just made up.

I have the solution!

From now on, all musicians get paid in sandwiches and beverages. Every time you're played on the radio, that's a ham and cheese sandwich. Every time your music is used in a movie, that's a foot-long chicken, ham, and stuffing sub. And basically, it works a bit like that.

[quote name='Chris Sharman' timestamp='1389397969' post='2333952']
No Thanks!

On the original subject of minor sale becoming major indebtedness I once went to a music shop in Derby (the late lamented Neville Brothers) to buy a set of strings for my acoustic (£6.00 or so).

I went back to the office after lunch with a nice, shiny, brand new saxophone.

I still dont understand how. Any ideas?
[/quote]

Were the strings at the very back of the shop, so you had to walk past everything to get to them? And on the way, the saxophone caught your eye and you had a look at it - then over comes the shop assistant. You had a bit of a blast on it and asked how much it was - at this point, you probably had already decided whether you wanted it or not.

Does that sound about right?

[quote name='col.decker' timestamp='1387463860' post='2312254']
Hi all, long time lurker - seldom poster here, but as my boss has finished work for the year thats about to change.

Anyway I just GAS'd on a Zoom B3 and got a nice £30 discount. So with my £30 in hand I looked around the shop and spent a further £120 on stuff I no intention of getting as I walked in. Funny how that happens ain't it?
[/quote]

Ha! Yup - that's what they were hoping for So long as you can get somebody into your shop, they are likely to buy more than they intended to. There's normally only a few reasons for sales/discounts/reductions - to get rid of old stock, and to encourage people in.