ubit

My early days were filled with listening to records and moving the stylus back until I'd learned the parts. With modern technology, it's so much easier for people to pick up an instrument, but it still takes hours of hard work. I'm taking guitar lessons at the moment because I could always strum a few tunes but wanted to get better. It's amazing how much I miss the teenage years when I had time to sit in my bedroom for hours practising. It's harder as an adult to find this time, which is absolutely essential to develop muscle memory. The rule is play something a thousand times till you learn it, then play it a thousand times more just to get it perfect!

Hello, how ya doin ?

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1418590441' post='2631547'] Beyer, thats the one I am always being told is best, its what I have for the last 6 years, and it seems bulletproof [url="http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Beyerdynamic-GST-400-Mic-Boom-Stand-with-Removable-Boom-Black/1VH?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Beyerdynamic&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=Beyerdynamic+PLA&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=2429d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=58653103964&gclid=CjwKEAiAh7WkBRCQj-_zwZvk52ISJADj7z8C4xT-ekIg__xVqSpQzHlI8q2sUhshfeDDyvmBjxJ89RoCQenw_wcB"]http://www.gear4musi...xJ89RoCQenw_wcB[/url] [/quote] +1 for the Bayer, they are nice and heavy, which cuts out booming. I've tried loads over the years but always come back to Bayer dynamic

It looks good if you have a stand with two guitars on it. Three would be just too opulent for a pub band, but the two is just about right. Not too showey, but dribbling classy player!

I'm just impressed with the wealth of live acts that are available on any given night that some of you have the choice to actually be able to pick and choose who you watch on the basis of whether they have a music stand or not. I'm even more impressed that you have friends/ wife/ girlfriends who will not bother about walking to another bar, in the rain, just because you have decided that those music stands bother you so much. I must say, I'm very jealous indeed, as my friends/ wife/ girlfriend, would probably tell me where to go in a biblical sense!

I have a mate who was sent for some thickers cos they had put too much thinners in the paint. Another asked for a set of tappet clearances, so many more!

It's all very well saying a band should produce a whole evening of entertainment with lots of interaction with the audience. Trouble is, this is a very difficult art to master if you have an unresponsive audience. I've seen us try and try, and get no reaction from them. Then get told at the end of the night" that was great" . Personally, I find it hard to think of anything that I want to say to them and prefer getting into the next number as quickly as possible. There's another place we play regularly, where the noise is so loud from the chat , that there's absolutely no point in trying to talk over them. " This is a song by so and so" loses its appeal really quickly. I have seen bands that have a great knack of interacting. I just don't have it. I'm just gonna keep playing music and hope they like it. It's worked ok for us for a great number of years

I can't understand how this post about whether to take a spare bass, has turned into a slagging match! Nowt as queers as folks, eh?

We play in two different tunings, so I've always got another bass tuned slightly differently. Once in my long bass playing career, I broke a string and didn't have a spare and had to get a lift up the road to get one. I've always carried spare strings since then but never needed them. If you are really worried, have a spare !

Try very simple bass lines and so your muscle memory will develop. I can't remember exactly what I was like the first time I picked up a bass, but don't try to run before you can walk. It all takes time and you must start small and gradually memory and ability will develop

Buy a Fender!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1418197157' post='2627778'] That's just crazy and also not going to work if you get a gig that requires volume because of the feed back from his mic, bizarre as you say! [/quote] Tell him the whole band matters more than him and if you can't hear, that's no use. I can't stand control freaks!

Try the piece slow for three times , then fast for once, then back to slow for three etc. eventually your speed will develop. Speed is not the be all anyway, it's clarity of notes that's important. Speed comes naturally after

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1418123704' post='2627005'] I would walk straight out before going to the bar, if it was a 4/5 piece [u][b] pub band[/b][/u], I dont care how good they are, nor who they are or who they think they are, with music stands all over the stage they are going to have the visual appeal of a wet weekend in Withernsea. Nothing to do with hate, more to do with I have a choice as to the standard of visual performance of the people playing in the band. Personally, it screams pants band that will resemble something the council put together. If they can not be arsed to learn a few covers, then I am not that arsed watching. I want to be in the pub with the singer with a radio mic climbing the PA stack, the guitarist fretting behind his head on fire and the bass player slapping out a fire solo whilst pretending to look the other way disinterested. Learning to play an instrument is quite easy if you stick at it, learning some stage craft is a lot harder. Some people might like to watch 4 people standing like cardboard cut outs reading from stands , fine by me, we all have our own choices. [/quote] Sorry mate, but that's just so narrow minded. You would walk out because they had music stands? We rehearse a lot when I'm home and we learn the songs very well, it's just I struggle to have time to learn every lyric perfectly. I use a stand for idiot notes. I don't stare at it all night. It's there to help me when I need it. We don't play large stages where we have room to jump all over the place, so the stand is usually quite anonymous

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1418109005' post='2626835'] There are of course situations and performances where you want everything polished and fully rehearsed to show standard with no stands in sight, but there are plenty of situations where this cannot be, and there are plenty of examples of seasoned professionals doing in both situations. What I don't get is people making blanket rules for others I've done plenty of gigs with fantastic singers who use a stand (generally set quite low and just for the odd prompt) , along with aweful gigs with no stand in sight . When I dep I use index cards with structure prompts of required , I clip them onto my Hercules stand, not sure a singer could get anyway with something that small [/quote] Thank you for speaking the truth

Some people just have the luck to have a great voice with no tuition or care of said voice. Look at Bon Scott! I personally find I sing a lot better after a few lagers, within reason of course cos I play as well ........but it's all rock n roll innit?

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1418031971' post='2626054'] but then they play ridiculously long gigs.. 4x45 hrs plus 1 hr..!! You've got to love the band to do that..!!! [/quote] I think anyone's voice would go after 45 hrs, never mind four sets of that!!!!!

I'm talking about stands for lyrics. We learn the songs well. We don't play by numbers. It's just hard to learn all the lyrics in short order when you are concentrating on playing the bloody bass too

[quote name='DogHammer' timestamp='1418029951' post='2626024'] We have this with our singer. It is something that happens. Usually if he has an illness coming and his voice is pretty bad then we will cancel the gig. It can do long term damage if a singer strains his vocals really hard. It has happened in the middle of a gig before, but he usually recovers, even if it hurts him to do so. Manuka Honey is supposed to be really good. Couple of spoonfulls before the gig is supposed to coat the throat and help. [/quote] Dark rum and green ginger helps too!

Happened to me one on more than one occasion. I've wanted to cancel, but the guitarists going oh, you'll manage, don't worry, it'll be ok.......... Disaster. I now have vowed that if I'm suffering with a cold, the gigs cancelled, end of story. I've seen me straining to the point that it's painful on my throat and I'm sure equally so to the punters ears!

Well all I can say is congratulations to all you " professionals" that can commit every lyric to memory. I work month on, month off, therefore we can only rehearse, far less gig, on my time at home. I try to learn lyrics and my bass parts in this time, but it's not always possible. When we get gigs, I am forced to use a stand otherwise it would be a disaster. When I was younger and we were playing far more regularly, rehearsing every week. Lyrics simply stuck in my mind, but with a busy life with other things to think about apart from being a rock star, these days it's not quite so easy. Maybe some shouldn't be so quick to judge next time you see a stand in a covers band.

That's a bad problem to have and I don't think I could live with it. Our drummer keeps time great but when he has a few, he gets excited and plays some of the songs a lot faster than when we rehearse them, which can be annoying when you develop cramp in your fingers through playing too fast!

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1417388999' post='2619997'] Hmmmm, depending on how you set up a compressor you can get up to 6dB of compression without even knowing its happening from the sound or feel, I achieved this for Urb at a bass bash a couple of years ago with just a couple of minutes tweaking. Similar results for SilverfoxNik a year or so before that. Simple thing is if you can feel it its set with too low a threshold for the ratio, if your compressor can't go down to a ration of less than 2:1 then its not really fit for anything other than hitting transients IME. The best use for a compressor live is closer to 1.25:1 with a low threshold IMO, that way its always working, but you cant feel it hurting you when you dig in, yet every note is a bit less different in volume to all those around it. Follow that up with a limiter set to catch the nastiest peaks only and you are 100% golden. [/quote] Nice one Simon, now if you could please translate that into English for me, I would be very grateful

I always use it and love the sound it gives. I use a Boss unit