Happy Jack

If you want to play it more often, Mick, I'd suggest you stop leaving it lying outside on the lawn ...

I'm guessing it wasn't this one, then ...

Kev Fletcher isn't real? Say it ain't so ...

Northampton and Brentwood to Earlsfield? Good luck with that ...

Just buy half a dozen copies of The Real Book and leave them scattered about the stage area. "OK lads, Autumn Leaves in G, a-one, a-two, a-one the autumn leeeeeeeeaves ..."

Good grief! Geographically challenged or what? Try the King's Cross area, or possibly Camden.

Define "fairly central" ... do you mean City / West End or just inside the North/South Circular?

When we set up to play in a pub, the people who are there have chosen to be there. They could have gone somewhere else, but this is where they want to be. Some (a few, a very small number) are there specifically to see us, some are there to check out the music because it's a music pub, and some are there for all sorts of other random reasons. Once we start playing, those punters who don't like rock music will leave. Those punters who don't like our particular brand of rock music will also leave, but not so quickly. Meanwhile, those punters who DO like what we're doing will be texting or phoning their mates and saying "great band on tonight, you should come down here". By the time we play our last set, the people in the pub will have self-selected to be only those who actually like what we're doing, and who will respond to the music ... dance maybe, or sing along, or at least applaud after each song. The gig is far more involving for the band, far more fun for everyone, far more likely to bring repeat bookings. ************************************************************************************ When we set up to play in a club (Social, WMC, whatever), the people who are there are always there. Most of them cannot imagine going somewhere else on a Saturday night, and if they do their friends will ask where they were. They are there for the venue and to see their friends, and the music is almost incidental. They sit there with their arms folded, staring at us, and daring us to entertain them. It's THEIR club and we are the intruders. Once we start playing, those members who don't like rock music will complain. Those members who don't like our particular brand of rock music will also complain, but not so quickly. Meanwhile, those members who DO like what we're doing will NOT be texting or phoning their mates and saying "great band on tonight, you should come down here", because the club is Members Only. After the first set, one of the members (almost invariably a guitarist, allegedly) will buttonhole a bandmate and explain in enormous detail what we are 'doing wrong', advise the lead guitarist and the drummer to play louder because no one can hear them, and then disappear into the smoker's paradise for the rest of the evening. After the second set, there will be a 30-minute hiatus while everyone pretends they've joined the Jarrow Hunger March of 1936 so that they can get excited about the Meat Raffle. Have these people never heard of Sainsburys? By the time we play our last set, most of the people in the club will be sitting grim-faced and glowering their sense of entitlement at us, waiting for us to finish so that they can return to playing Abba on the jukebox (last Saturday it was Phil Collins!). Those who actually enjoy what we are doing and want to dance will be intimidated off the dancefloor by the drunken poseurs trying to throw shapes while playing air guitar, and stumbling into the PA. The club gigs are well-paid and the venues are usually excellent ... big stage, loads of power, built-in lightshow, etc. But in truth if I never play another club I won't miss it. Silvie and I do all the gig-getting for my main band, and we have already decided not to bother with clubs at all for 2019. Life's too short.

Oiiiii!!! I resemble that remark ...

We are a London based Singer/songwriter Guitarist,Bassist and Drummer Who are seeking second Guitarist's to start an original QUALITY Pop Rock band. When i say pop i mean in the good sense of the word with a difference. We are Looking for pro/semi pro musicians from 19 upwards Who dare to dream and believe in what their doing and would want to stay in the band and are looking to push hard and get ahead IDEALLY FULLY COMMITTED PEOPLE I am looking for a Lead Guitarists or Rhtyhm Guitarist with (Energy,Style,Stage Presence,Charisma and possibly own Gear Bv even better) who know their instruments like they know their prick lol who are really creative to help in the creation of new material however if you are a guitarist who can play well and tick all the boxes but is not that creative you may still be of use :-0 !!IMAGE IS IMPORTANT!! SO A GOOD LOOK IS REQUIRED OR A KOOL QUIRKY MUSICIAN LOOK IT ADDS WEIGHT The music is as important also We take musical influences from across the board including :Kings of Leon, Guns and Roses ,Lenny Kravitz , The strokes, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Biffy Clyro , Foo Fighters, The Cure , Black keys, Michael Jackson ,Motown , James Brown, Queens Of the Stone age, Queen , Beatles, The who, Rolling stones, Led Zepplin , Artic monkeys, Jimi hendrix, Linkin Park, Bring me the horizon, Janes Addiction etc etc. We are open minded and down to earth, We have lots of written material and are VERY SERIOUS and if you write or have any other contributions they will be welcomed however (JAMMING IS ALSO A GOOD WAY OF CREATING NEW MATERIAL AND TAKING THE MUSIC IN A DIRECTION EVERY MEMBERS OF THE BAND IS HAPPY WITH) We are looking to make modern rock so We are looking for like minded people who want to move fast once everything is together :-0 !!BUT ARE PATIENT AND WILLING TO TAKE THE TIME TO BUILD MORE QUALITY MATERIAL !! WE HAVE SONGS TO LEARN READY TO GO OUT AND PLAY WE LOOKING TO BOOK SHOWS ASAP (HOWEVER I FEEL STRONGLY IT IS IMPORTANT TO CREATE MATERIAL AS A BAND THAT CAN BE ADDED TO THE SET LIST SO DONT THINK IT WILL BE ONLY ABOUT THE MATERIAL WE HAVE BUT IT GETS US OUT THIER PLAYING AND MOVING FAST ) NUMEROUS INDUSTRY CONTACTS (If your interested you can send me a private message) (Please send a visual/audio of yourself playing and any social media links) PS. Although We are taking this seriously. Getting on and having a laugh together is just as important as making the music. NO BIGOTS your Boring And Strictly No TIME WASTERS you're useless lol. CAUTION (If you are really busy with work or busy with life or Any other reason which will stop you from giving 100% then this is not for you ok its a sacrifice of your time and effort at the best of times so its more than just a hobby for us

And that Glockenklang rig apparently belonged to The Beatles ...

Also known as The DFA Filter ...

Before doing a full soundproof conversion on an integral double garage, you really REALLY want to be sure that you have no plans to move house for at least the next ten years. Most house buyers are neither drummers nor bassists (weird, but true) and will be thoroughly offput by the way in which you have prevented them from parking the BMW / Harley in the garage.

Ultimately, it's your rig and you're the one playing through it. Buy & use whatever makes you happy and allows you to hear yourself clearly. When your bandmates criticise, smile politely and change the subject. When the sound engineer tells you to turn down, pretend to adjust one of the knobs, then play lightly for the next few minutes before reverting to exactly where you were before. Basically, ignore them, but do it in a polite, non-confrontational way.

Definitely go with the five you already know, but learn five more so that you can deal with it if they call them unexpectedly (often happens) or if the audition goes really well and they don't chuck you out after 30 minutes but instead want to carry on playing (sometimes happens). Anyway, learning new material is always good.

You can't go far wrong with the K&M 141. The combination of telescopic main support plus fully adjustable side-arms means that you can rig it in a number of ways depending on circumstances. For example, you can keep the support short and have the side-arms 'reach up' to hold the shoulders of the bass. Or you can have the support at maximum height and use the side-arms to grasp the sides of the bass. It's actually possible to play the DB while it's in this stand, allowing you to swing your electric bass behind you on its strap, and step up to the DB to play. I've done this with a uke-bass, but in all honesty I've never done it with a Mike Lull Thunderbird!

Which is best for you depends on your needs. Try this search: https://www.thomann.de/gb/cat_rank.html?ar=263906 Does that link work for you?

And it shows in the quality of that post. I was about to post, before I read yours, that every jam takes its character directly from the organiser. I played for years at the famous Blues Jam at the Kings Head, Acton / Drayton Arms, Hanwell run by the late, lamented Andy Falconer. Andy wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but by God did he know how to run a jam, and his approach was exactly the same as yours. It must be six, seven years since he died and I've never yet found another jam in West London that really clicked the way his did. Closest I ever got was the old Red Lion jam in Twickenham before its many moves (the Red Lion is now a Tesco Metro) but even that had some serious issues, enough to have me give it up. I've recently been trying out the local jams again, having moved to a different part of London. F*** me, but there are some appalling messes out there ...

In fairness, Graham, most of the pro-Ishibashi posts on this thread were made before the UK voted for economic suicide and destroyed the value of the UK£.

Ah ... you didn't swop it for a date? Fair enough, as you were.

And again! This was the original 'Junkyard' studio, at my house in Chiswick. Since then we've had Junkyard #2 in an industrial unit in Acton (2014-17) and now The Final Junkyard in Harrow. Junkyard #2 needed virtually no setting-up at all, it just worked right from the off. It was alongside a freight rail-line, backed onto Bell Percussion and faced an all-night laundry, so noise was never going to be an issue. The Final Junkyard is very much a re-visit of the first Junkyard, a single-garage conversion into a noise-reduced (but not soundproof) rehearsal space, with the great majority of the work being done by a keen DIY type. Probably the biggest single difference with The Final Junkyard (you're singing along now, aren't you?) is that it has an industrial heating/aircon unit built into it, which makes it a genuinely comfortable place to be whatever the weather.

What is access like to the site? Do you have a garage? Do you already have outbuildings in place? Are you any good at DIY? Are your neighbours the overbearing type? All these will have a bearing on what's best for you in your particular circumstances. As to budget, if you haven't already checked out the cost of building a 'garden room' then sit down and pour yourself a stiff drink. You may find this old thread helpful:

Point taken Mick, but a whole generation of Basschatters has grown up with this topic title, and I don't want to confuse them ...

Well, just so long as they don't move about during the gig ...