Norris

If you're really of that persuasion to have to try to conceal such things, the conversation goes thusly... "This old thing? This is the one that I've been saying I need to upgrade to a better bass for years. I thought I'd give it just one more try. You mean to say you've not been listening to me all this time?"

Recent Discogs purchases include Liquid Tension Experiment, John Martyn and Prodigy albums. They all get ripped and go into the iPod mega-shuffle

I stopped coming on here for a while. I'm back to lurking and the very occasional post now

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There's a mono / line out 1/4" jack on the back, so just plug your guitar lead into that and then into your combo. That's how mine is set up at home for playing around on. There are other connections if you want to hook it up to your computer for recording, but you'll only need that one for playing live Oh, and the keyboard probably starts on C because most DJ mix music is in C. You can always transpose it if you want

Bloke says something that makes him look like a knob Roll eyes, carry on, nobody died Seriously? Seven pages?

A few years ago my band was playing and had a fairly long break between sets. A chap we knew quite well was playing just down the road so we went down there to check him out. We lasted about 1 1/2 songs before going outside, to join the majority of the audience, most of whom were talking about the excessive volume. It's not big and it's not clever, and it will drive away any punters that have an ounce of sense. It doesn't matter what ear protection YOU have, the audience probably won't have any at all

Alternatively turn any "gaps" into a mega slap-fest to showboat your skills (I'm joking of course!)

Most songs don't need filling out that much. I play a precision mostly, and never scoop the sound - which does help. On some songs I play the rhythm guitar riff rather than the bass line (e.g. Witch Queen by Redbone), roll off the treble and play up near the neck to let the guitar really take centre stage (Black Magic Woman by Peter Green/Santana), wind up the overdrive to create a wall of sound behind the guitar (All Along The Watchtower by Hendrix), or occasionally play 5th chords where it definitely needs filling out (a couple of accents in Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy). Mostly, just be in balance with the guitar and don't be a shrinking violet

No. They really don't have to be. There are a lot of egotistical knobs out there, but there are also nice people too. You just have to find them

My Fender Rumble v3 500 can easily fill a room. Any louder and you'd be wanting the PA involved anyway Oh, and it's an easy one hand lift

You've broken the ice, now dive in

Walk No, run!

Ebay. I must have had half a dozen today

I'm not the most confident singer, and not a particularly good voice either. However in my experience it's better to "go for it" rather than doing it half-heartedly. Keep projecting, but back off the mic a bit to get the vocals in balance. Certainly hearing yourself is a lot better than NOT hearing yourself. If your band(s) are keen for you to do backing vocals, have a vocal session. Put down your instruments, get the guitarist to play along quietly and practice just the vocals together without mics. If you have difficulty pitching, sing your starting note off mic for a bit before you come in

Well that should keep the crowd at a safe distance

In a lot of music stores BASSES are niche. Full-stop

He could play it fine by himself or accompanying the record. He just struggled to get the rhythm in a band situation. I was a little surprised actually - it's the first time I've ever known him to struggle, he's an excellent guitarist

Our guitarist was struggling to get the syncopated bit in Black Betty in time. I came up with the phrase "(Oh) I want a nice cup of tea" to help him - the "(Oh)" is silent on the 1st beat. We then repeated it over and over with me and the drummer shouting the phrase at the guitarist as we played - quite an amusing exercise at the time

You could try scraping it off with a razor blade (used like a cabinet scraper)

Espadrillicious

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There, you said it in the OP Perfect "corporate" band name

I've played in a trio for a few decades. There really isn't much limitation on what you can cover, depending on your abilities. You may need to rearrange stuff a little bit, maybe cover the rhythm guitar part on bass if it's a "hook" or something, fill out a bit here and there where necessary. I mean, we do 25 or 6 to four by Chicago and no one has ever complained at the lack of a brass section

Or candle wax works well too