ubit

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

Over the many years i've been playing i've come across some guitarists that can play a song after a once thru. It always amazed me but these were guys that were always playing regulary in pubs and clubs and maybe it was just a refresher for them. Maybe the solos were ad-libbed and i just couldn't tell LOL

Dave

Mrs Ubit's brother is one such guitarist. He really is a prodigy. Self taught, no lessons, no Youtube back then. Left handed but plays right handed. Can play any stringed instrument after a quick familiarity. He can pick up songs in no time. He is by far in a minority. Even other good guitarists are in awe of his talent.

I do take Tim R's point that it's possible but to come away with a statement that anyone can do it is a little bit condescending. Certainly to me. I am not saying it was meant that way but it has come across that way to a few of us. Maybe he is a prodigy like my Brother in law or maybe he is satisfied to play stuff not caring if it is perfect. Saying that if I can't do it I shouldn't be in a cover band is definitely condescending.

9 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

The attitude expressed would explain why I’ve heard some utterly shocking performances in pubs and clubs over the years though…..

Listening to a song once and being told by the guitarist that it's A-E and G, then the verse is A-E-B and F isn't learning a song. You would only be playing root notes with your own connecting runs. If you want to learn a song properly you need to spend more time than that. Boys and Girls by Blur, Rio by Duran Duran. No one could play them purely on one listen. Same with Cake By The ocean. All do-able pop covers.

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

Hey, it's a good Country song. I love the sound of the original recording.

 

There's  also a great version on Daryl's House.

Don't get me wrong, when I first heard it by Old Crow Medicine Show I thought it was great but it got so over played that I grew to hate it. We learned it way back before it was so well known and I was dismayed when I heard lots of other bands doing it. The punters loved it!

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

 

I think you may be taking what I wrote a little bit too literally and specifically.

 

Most cover songs can be learned in one listen through. We aren't talking about film scores, neither are we talking about 20minute prog rock songs. We are taking about songs with 3 or 4 very predictable chords in them. 

 

I'd listen to the verse and chorus and then pick up my bass and put the notes in. By the end of the second chorus for 'most songs' I'd have the chords sorted.

 

Not all songs, but that's exactly how I learned the majority of our current set list. 

 

I'd then work on any sections that are particularly difficult (if there were any) and look at harder songs on the set list.

 

Remember we were talking about joining a covers band. Most of the hard work would have been already done by the guitars, drums and vocals. 

 

Once in the rehearsal, you can guarantee they will have already made changes to their arrangement to suit band instrumentation and ability. 

 

 

You are either a child prodigy or you are playing very simplified versions of songs in your cover band.

One listen and you know them?

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

given a choice between Rush and Mustang Sally / S3x on fire most punters will vote for the former option with their feet 

See this is where I'm different. If I found a band doing Rush covers in a bar I would be over the moon and I would enjoy my evening with both my fellow local Rush fans. Everyone else would be somewhere else!

6 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

This may vary from person to person. Definitely not one listen for me I'm afraid, and I do invest hours for covers.

If there's a method I'm all ears!

He must be talking about Status Quo songs mate. Not many musicians can play any song after one listen.

1 hour ago, TimR said:

Our setlist seems to consist mainly of simple 3 and 4 chord songs. I wouldn't want to go through and check which ones I like playing and which ones I don't. 

 

But I wouldn't listen to a single on of them given the choice. I tend to change radio stations if any of them come on.  

This was my exact point. If we played songs that were only what I wanted to play because they were songs I liked, the bar would empty. We were forced, because we wanted more gigs, to play what went down well and brought people in to the bar. You used to hear massive cheers when we played Wagon Wheel. I detest that song and it's beyond boring to play but drunken punters loved it. We used to fill our set with rubbish like this and throw in a couple of songs that we liked and you could tell. They preferred the rubbish, commercialised bore fest that every other band did.

On 16/10/2021 at 17:13, dmccombe7 said:

Have to say Skerryvore did ok with the island scene. Bit of Scottish Trad rock going on there. I think it all stems from that other trad rock foot-stomping band from Scotland Runrig but they are probably the exceptions to the rule. Capercaillie another great trad rock band.

I know what you mean about the local scene in Oban or even Highlands for that matter. Inverness probably an exception there too.

You'll just have to travel down to the big City. 

How unlucky am i that our first gig in 18mths with the Glam band is the night they shut off all the streets in Glasgow for the COP thing.

Dave

Yeah mate, I hear ya about the bands mentioned. No doubt they have made money out of this genre. I just hated that that's all everyone wants. There are fans of other genres but we just found that on the whole that kind of music got people dancing and if we wanted gigs we gradually had to develop our own take on it. Its when our accordion player started jamming with the rock stuff that I got cheesed off.

On 16/10/2021 at 16:07, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

On 16/10/2021 at 16:07, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I do remember having a disagreement over a song called 'Cake By The Ocean' some years ago when I was in a function band that has since folded. That had more to do with the person suggesting it than the actual song itself in all honesty. Looking back at it, I should have handled that differently, but he was the band leader and in my view looking for an easy add-on of a song that his kids liked that had (IMHO) a limited lifespan

 

You should have done it, its a great song when done right!

13 minutes ago, Coilte said:

To my ears, it sounds as turgid and boring today as when I first placed the LP on the turntable back in '69. 😎

There, I fixed that for you. 😉

10 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

No such thing as "music that doesn't date". Everything is of its time. However, that and whether or not it continues to be liked are separate issues. I like Bach, but I certainly can't and wouldn't claim his music hasn't "dated".

This! Music does date for the reason you provided. Production and recording techniques give a good idea of when a song was brought out. Its all down to whether people still listen to it and like it. 

Personally I like new music but I also like old music, so I am keeping some old music current.

I don't know but I have commented that the old folks homes soon will be filled with people who like to listen to Slipknot or Lamb of God, Seems quite strange. Most punks who were pogo'ing back in '77 will be well into their sixties now!

13 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

It's nice to collect stuff but it's also fairly pointless.

Thats too sensible. I know I don't NEED the extra basses but I want them!

I would totally buy that and own it. You gotta just own it!

8 minutes ago, 4000 said:

As usual, there seems to be a lot of not understanding that people play for different reasons going on here.

It's not just for different reasons. Its down to geographical areas too. Up here there isn't the amount of people to form a scene where bands could get a following doing originals. It's not like in cities where there is a scene for that kind of thing. You have bands that throw in a couple of their own but they usually get told to "play something we know".

If you want to be in a band where I come from you are more or less forced into the cover band area. I wish I had the talent to write decent original music but I don't. I also don't jam with people who come up with decent original material. If our guitarist was able to write superb original music I would be delighted to do it. These days with social media you can showcase your own music so at least reach people that way.

As I say, the flavour at the moment is this Scottish trad. with a rock edge. The kids love it up here. I detest it but had to play it  if I wanted to be in a gigging band.

1 minute ago, Grassie said:

Watched this the other night, really enjoyed it. One thing that struck me though was Eddie Vedder's interview where he says part of the reason he felt guilty about Pearl Jam's success was that there were many other bands from Seattle that should've had the same amount of exposure as his band.

Having watched the film I feel that the reason PJ, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and AIC were massive was because they were great bands with great songs. A lot of the bands featured in the documentary were actually pretty uninteresting and not that great.

I agree, take the Melvins for instance. I think they suck and I love the bands you listed.

2 minutes ago, Paul S said:

In a covers band I'll play songs I am ambivalent about, will play songs I don't like but refuse to play songs I hate - that crosses a line as far as I am concerned.  Don't care if the rest of the band, the punters, the Queen or the Pope love it - if I hate it I won't play it.  I play for fun, because I enjoy it, and for me it isn't fun to play a song I loathe with a passion.  There are quite literally thousands of songs to choose from and it seems completely unreasonable for a band to try to pressurise a member into doing something they hate when there is so much choice.  It is something I feel pretty strongly about, actually.

I find this quite a strange attitude, certainly up this way the young ones who go out drinking all seem to like this traditional Scottish music but rocked up. I hate this kind of music but we had to play it because that's what got people in and dancing. If we played music I liked the pub would empty.

I hated most of our set but loved to see and hear people enjoying themselves. If we got a massive cheer at the end it was a great buzz.

I was told when we first started that you have to play what the public wants. We said nah, we will play what we want. We didn't get many gigs until we changed and played music that got people dancing. Certainly up this way you have to be a musical prostitute.

I realise that  Rickenbacker selling  is banned but I wondered does anyone know of any decent copies? I find them on Youtube but no one says what make they are or where they get them.

I quite fancy one but there is no way I am paying two and a half grand for the privilege.

Are the fakes any good? Most budget guitars these days are so much better than they used to be.

To be fair I have only briefly dabbled into research on this subject and maybe there is a wealth of information. I just don't know where to look.

8 minutes ago, TimR said:

a crowded pub has emptied when the band started*. That's a very long night.

We played in a bar on the Island of Mull. We had been booked for a bunch of students who were on the island for some reason or other. The owner put on a huge pot of chilli for them. The pub was heaving and we struggled to set up in the throng. We got set up and with five minutes until we started they all flipped off!

Ungrateful twatts left and went somewhere else. We played the whole night to 5 or 6 people.

I hated plenty of our set but it was decided on what the punters liked. If we loved a song and played it a number of times and it was met with a wall of silence we would drop it.

What used to annoy me was the fact that I seemed to be better than the rest at knowing which songs would go down well and so if I suggested something and the guitarist didn't like it we wouldn't do it. It was a democracy up until he didn't want to do something. We would all agree and then next week at rehearsal we would ask did everyone learn it? He would often say no but I learned this and launch into something he had fancied. It was total passive aggression.

33 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Is it expensive to get a bass repainted?

I got a few quotes for a full body strip down and re paint and they were all around £300

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

So you didn't measure nut height at the same time?

It was  all done in the best possible taste.

51 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

'm hoping you measured your own 

They were plucked and then presented for measurement. Definitely not done in situ.

16 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

With regards the neck relief my quick way of setting it is when changing the strings i look down the neck without strings and adjust neck to be perfectly straight. When strings are added it draws the neck slightly concave. That would be my approx guide and from there i would then tweak it

I'm the same with the neck. No fancy tools for neck just hold the guitar and look down the neck to see if it needs a tweak. Ive never had a fear of turning truss rods, Maybe it's because of my mechanical background but I know to turn in increments and that it needs time to settle. Some folks keep turning because they don't see instant results.

42 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Gnats ball hairs are 0.000001 , which are very useful for fine tuning 😁

Years ago for a laugh at work a bunch of us got the digital micrometer and measured our ball hairs. It was amazing the difference in some!