3V17C

Les Claypool from Primus has been known to rock the pith helmet look from time to time I believe - am personally thinking of going the bowler hat route myself! peace c

would like to go but its miles away from me!! I am playing at that same venue in Sutton on 17th June though!! peace c

I live in Lowestoft but couldn't make it down to Kfest this year as was busy with other things (have played there before). I think its in its 3rd year now and raises money for Cancer charities as it was set up by friends of a local female bassist who succumbed to the big C. But yes, normally a good day out (weather permitting - often windy as anything down there - when we played the roof had to be removed from the stage because it kept trying to take off!!) peace C

[quote name='silddx' post='839403' date='May 16 2010, 11:51 PM']TBH, the only way a band is going to get truly as tight as a duck's backside is to gig often. No amount of rehearsal can come near the tightening effects of regular gigs IMO, there are so many other factors in a gig that you can't replicate in rehearsals.[/quote] agreed. my covers band is ok because we gig regularly and just rehearse occasionally if we've had a lay off period or want to chuck a few new songs in. c

i'm in the same boat as the OP. Recently joined new band, been rehearsing once a week but now first gig is getting closer band leader has upped it to twice a week... we're only doing a 45 minute set so does seem overkill to me..theres only so many times you can go through the same handful of songs!! Also most of the rehearsals are 45 minutes away and in the 9pm til midnight slot which twice a week is a bit much i reckon. Admittedly the band leader pays for all rehearsal costs and is aware that i'm more than up to speed with the songs (extra rehearsals seem to be for drummers benefit) and he's even offered to pay my petrol money (which i won't take as thats not an issue) but i dunno... i don't want to get bored with the songs before we've even gigged them!! peace c

Must admit I was always one to dismiss blues bass playing as 'easy' and up to a point, yes it is. However having just recently joined a bluesy band with a [i]very[/i] accomplished blues guitarist I have found there's more to it than initially meets the eye! One thing I would add to what others have already said is to play with feel and listen out for light and shade/when to bring it down etc. peace C

5-3-2-1 (D-C-B-Bflat)

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='828634' date='May 5 2010, 04:43 PM']Any good shops in the Seattle area too? I'm there at the end of this month.[/quote] [url="http://www.bassnw.com/"]bass northwest[/url] lots of goodies in there!! c

most annoying... My band was meant to be playing at a local venue that we play at regularly on the 15th but somehow I came across the website/myspace of another band and noticed they had the same date/venue on their gig list too. Contacted the venue and apparently due to useless and now sacked booker they weren't just double booked, they were in fact triple booked!! Idiots. Another venue we play at occasionally (and always fill) recently rang and cancelled all our gigs there as they were 'stopping having live music' with immediate effect. But since then I've seen in the local paper that other bands are still playing there!! Don't know what thats all about, as like I say we always got alot of people in but sod 'em! yeah, its very annoying, but it happens. peace c

bass wise, just noodle about.. band wise we normally do Thin Lizzy 'Are You Ready' as it covers everything we need: both guitarists get a solo, backing vox etc, plus its nice and easy with lots of open E,A,D string bits which means easy amp tweaking without stopping playing. c

I of course appreciate Marcus's (?) playing, but I can never listen to more than a few tracks of his because I really don't like his tone... now I love a bit of jazz bass slap/growl etc but I don't know, his sound always seems a bit too harsh in the context of the music he's playing. peace c

i'm 40, and like yourself fought against doing the covers band thing for years, but unfortunately the older you get the chances of doing something original get smaller. So last couple of years I've been doing the pub covers circuit and while its kinda ok I don't enjoy it as much as doing originals... kinda feels like 'well.. is this it?' Lets be honest, who amongst us first picked up their instrument with the lofty ambition of joining a pub covers band!? Probably not many! Having said that, a chance look at the Musicians Wanted section on Gumtree the other week has led me to hook up with a freshly formed originals band with a couple of musos my own age. The singer/guitarist has quite a good reputation (and a manager!) and despite only one rehearsal so far we've already got a a handful of decent support gigs up and down the country which I'm quite looking forward to.. so i guess.. never say never! Alternatively, as jase says... home recording could be the way forward... something else i'm trying to get into also. peace c

[quote name='paul h' post='791615' date='Mar 31 2010, 09:14 AM']The ESP's do it for me. Lovely.[/quote] agreed! the cream one ESPecially!! c

i remember seeing an ad several years ago for an interesting looking Yamaha strap which was made of neoprene type stuff and had 'air pockets' in it.... looked really good and comfortable but couldn't find one anywhere. c

Don't think its monitor mute... on different 'puter at the mo so can't check for sure, but that did pop up when i was initially playing with garageband and pretty sure i disabled it ... also like i say its the same when i'm not even in garageband... playing along with songs in itunes, playing about with audacity - basically anything where i need to hear what i'm playing[b] in[/b] along with what is coming [b]out[/b]. i even today set my old pc back up so i could try it out thru there again to make sure there was nothing up with the mixer/leads etc. and all worked fine straight off. cheers c

well having been a devout PC user for many years I took the plunge the other week and bought an iMac (see earlier post 'Mac Ponderings'). Now one of the reasons I got a Mac was because [i]apparently [/i] they're better for home recording etc..... hmmmm.... NOT CONVINCED!!! Kinda hard to explain but here goes.... Basically my setup that has worked pretty well for years on PC doesn't work with the iMac. I'm running Garageband and will be using software instruments for drums/keyboards etc but adding live guitar/bass/vocals (all recorded one at a time). Now the trouble is if I playback say a drumloop and try to record some bass over the top of it, although the iMac is getting plenty of input signal and records ok I can't hear what I'm playing at the same time as running the playback. Now yes, this does mean that i CAN record just listening to the bass acoustically but I really need to be able to monitor both what i'm recording and whats playing through headphones at the same time.... If i turn the iMac output volume down and crank my bass input all the way up i can [i]just about[/i] hear a vague distorted bass signal. I've tried going through some preamps/fx to see i i can boost my signal that way but its still just the same. I have a Spirit Folio Notepad mixer which everything goes through and like I say with the old PC it was all fine (the audio from computer comes back through mixer so i can monitor etc). Everything is wired up exactly the same but I'm guessing the only difference is that previously i was coming out of the PC soundcard 'Audio Out' but on the iMac i'm coming out of a headphone socket? Its annoying as well because I've got a bunch of songs to learn for a new band and normally I sit with headphones on and play along with them on my computer for ease of pausing/rewinding/slowing down etc but I can't even do that at the moment as a again I can't hear my bass! I don't seem to have any latency problems so was hoping to do without buying any kind of external audio interface but I'm guessing that is what I'm gonna need if I want to hear what I'm playing at the same time as recording? And if I did get say a firewire or USB interface will it definitely work as I can see only very minimal options for inputs etc in Garageband.... Very annoying because it seems every single time I attempt to do some recording something gets in the way.. honestly, its like its just not meant to happen!! drives me f@*king mad tbh!!! I may just give up! ..also the caps lock light is in a stoopid place as when you're typing you can't see it!!!!!!!!!!!!! grrrrrrrrr C

I reliced mine!!! I did have all the metal work etc meticulously dirtied up too, but I gave it to my guitarist/tech to do a bit of work and and he decided to clean it.... idiot!! peace c

hmm ok.. so...I am now the owner of an intel iMac with 2gb of Ram - less than 6 months old, hardly used and at a very good price..so.. pretty pleased with that.. Now... one of the main reasons for getting this was to do some proper home recording - I don't want to get into anything too technical and after having a quick play with garageband it looks like that should be able to do everything I want (recording live vox, bass, guitars with midi keyboards/drums)..... BUT..... drum sounds on it are rubbish!!! Back in the land of Cubase i was using Battery VST instrument and had spent some time setting up a really realistic live sounding kit... how/where can i get something similar for Garageband?!.... I have zero budget at the mo.. so maybe soundfonts are the way to go? any pointers for some good ones as I really want a decent drum sound to start with.... cheers c

[quote name='woolz' post='781873' date='Mar 21 2010, 06:11 PM']im wondering wether it is my eq? i also have an active bass and i always plug it into the passive input.[/quote] why do you do that??! but back on topic... yeah if you're tuned down like that the string is going to be flapping about a lot more, couple that with right hand technique like people have already mentioned and you'll get the rattling. active bass probably makes it more noticeable too peace c

in case you couldn't guess... we play Rock and Metal!! Its a couple of years old now but was quite pleased with this pic considering I did it on self timer with no flash and just a couple of stagelights! Can't really remember now but i think i had to photoshop in the little guitarist (with the goatee in the waistcoat) and also had to sort out the drummers camoflage tee-shirt, as despite strict instructions to wear dark/black items he went for white/light grey! Grrrrr (and knowing him, probably on purpose just to be awkward!!) peace c

Hmmm.. some useful info so far.. cheers for that... lots to ponder!! i'm terrible when it comes to making decisions!! One thing... will all these possibilities play streaming video etc ok?... I only ask because my old iBook struggles and stutters when attempting to play youtube vids or anything similar and i wouldn't want that to happen!! A common thing too apparently.... cheers c

We've been playing Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City for a while now... I figured it out by ear although aside from certain key bits I do improvise alot as theres lots of room for the bass to wander... Great song though with a great feel and always a pleasure to play in amongst all our usual heads down, root note plodding rock!! peace c