Nicko

Ah, take the Me First and The Gimme Gimmes approach? It has been considered

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1450191682' post='2930414'] The trouble with covers is you have to play what the punters want to hear, or you end up with no work. How busy are you? You could stay in this band and join another playing songs you prefer... or join an originals band. Or form your own band... It's probably not a mid-life crisis unless you've already woken up naked in a skip. [/quote] I agree you have to play what the punters will like, but there must be something better than Rocks (Primal Scream), How You Remind Me (Nickleback) or Are you Gonna Go My Way (Lenny Kravitz) to fill a set list.. I don't really have the time for another band. I never woke up naked in a skip, but I did once wake up with my head in a KFC Bargain bucket.

I'm becoming a little bit bored with the setlist. I like a lot of the songs on the our list to listen to and despise a few. Theres a few classic tracks too that are really not what I want to play but the punters seem to like them. I'm not sure whether I'm just bored with the list because I've been playing it a while now or whether I really want to try something new. We started off as a "post punk" band, quickly descended into indie and alternative due to lack of recognisable material. I think the drummer is a hard rock fan, the guittard is a blues player who has little musical knowledge outside that genre (except that he doesn't like britpop). Choosing new songs is a real chore because someone either hates the suggestions or most of the band have no idea what is being suggested. Surely the 90s and later indie and alternative that the audience is likely to recognise is a wide enough genre? Is this a mid life crisis, or do we really need to expand the list to keep it fresh? ps this is not a euphamism - it really is about the set list.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1450106943' post='2929626'] And unsurprisingly AFAIAC the Telecaster is the most boring guitar in the world ;-) Having played nothing but relatively high-end guitars for the last 20 years I recently tried some Fenders belonging to a friend. I couldn't believe how chunky and horrible the necks felt. I suppose it all depends on what you are used to! [/quote] I prefer to think of them as everything you need and nothing you don't. But, my Tele is my second guitar and my main is a similarly basic Patrick Eggle NY with 'buckers fore and aft. The neck profiles vary according to vintage btw.

The one you pick up in the shop and can't resist taking to the counter. I like my US special because the neck profile suits me. I'm sure some would look don on a top loaded bridge and maple neck though.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1450093499' post='2929448'] Anything more than a Telecaster is just showing off. [/quote] I agree, preferably a thinline, with a 'bucker in the neck position. I'll get my coat.

[quote name='Mattpt85' timestamp='1449592115' post='2924966'] I find this with a lot of lines I'm trying to learn, get stuck and end up feeling a bit deflated then go back to it after it's had time to sink in mentally and I can usually do a lot better. I need the time to play it in my head first! [/quote] Its this exactly for me. I had more trouble with Under the Bridge than anything else. It just took me ages to be able to "hear" the lines in my head.

Came across this quote on t'net. [color=#252525][font=sans-serif] "I distinctly remember trying to play along to Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" – at first I just could not get it. I threw the guitar on my bed and walked out in a huff, but the next day I came back, picked it up and played it all the way through note-for-note! Once I got going, I started getting into bass-lines with a bit more subtlety to them...".[/font][/color] [color=#252525][font=sans-serif]None other than Steve Harris. I must say it took me more than a day to get it right though.[/font][/color]

Its not really the chord sequence, but at around 20 seconds into Hot Fuss the bass comes in to Jenny was Friend, and the album just gets better and better from there. For opening chords American Idiot (Greenday) or Highway to Hell (ACDC) are both great title tracks and openers and show exactly what you're gonna get.

I always start off playing as the original and only look to change if it sounds pants. Sometimes for some parts of songs in a 1 guitar band I feel there's too much space and use an octave pedal to fill the sound out a bit. Sometimes I will play extra notes.

I use a pedaltrain mini. Aside from a tuner I have compression, overdrive, octaver and eq.I use them sparingly but the board keeps the setup quick and simple. Are they worth it. No - they are far too expensive considering what they actually are - I was just too lazy to make my own..

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1448540774' post='2916251'] An acoustic guitar. Stuck alone on a desert island with an instrument that's only ever fun for me in a group environment would be cruel. [/quote] +1

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1448359123' post='2914646'] Maybe open your studio to rehearsal slots too? The place my band used to use was also a recording studio. Place had bands in every night; probably 2 nights a week recording, and the rest of the time rehearsals. Kept the money rolling in and because the bands that used it to rehearse in were familiar with it they would all record there aswell. [/quote] This for me. If you are used to the place and equipment and get to know the engineers why would you go anywhere else? We are a covers band and about to record some promo stuff. We're not looking anywhere except where we rehearse.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1448096412' post='2912970'] It sounds to me (after a few reads of the OP) like the grub screws are working loose and lowering the action on the E string. If so, a dab of nail varnish or Loctite should sort it. I'd be very surprised if the saddle was moving laterally as the break angle on the string down to the anchor point should prevent that [/quote] Yes, its this exactly, the saddle ends up on the base plate, affecting action. Sorry I should have been clearer in my first post that its action and vertical movement of the saddle not longitudinal movement. What I was looking for was some explanation or ideas about why ths is happening but you seem to agree a dab of something to hold it in position might be the immediate answer.

The technique is different but isn't that part of the slap sound? Can't see that it would damage anything.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1448039155' post='2912621'] Have you taken the bridge apart and checked the springs for their strength? Is this on all strings, or just 1 or 2? [/quote] Just the E string. I wasn't aware the springs were supposed to hold the saddle down as well as to maintain the intonation but I'll bear it in mind next time I take the strings off. I maybe should have mentioned its only a couple of years old and I only noticed it recently.

Last night everything was fine when I started and but 2 hours later the bass was unplayable because the saddle had moved all the way onto the backplate. This is the second time in about 4 months I've had the same thing happen I play a top loaded US special precision which has the traditional 4 saddle bridge, each with its own pair or grub screw adjusters. I'm assuming I can solve this by a dab of clear nail varnish or something, but I'm struggling to understand why this is happening. If I was paying really heavy strings I'd think it was because there was insufficient tension on the string to hold the saddle firmly enough and prevent the screws moving but I'm playing standard 105 gauge and only tuning to drop D for a couple of songs. Any ideas?

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1447775798' post='2910249'] First of all Leeroyuk45 thanks for getting involved in the conversation, not just posting the poll and running! Nicko, I'd agree with Leeroy, that the opposite is probably more likely - the pro doing a pub gig could well feel more out of his comfort zone. I would have thought as you progress through bigger gigs your anxiety levels would stay about the same as you would be building confidence. Also, as the gigs get really big the become far less personal, no worries about being next to a punter at the urinals of the O2!! [/quote] You might both be right, but Isn't the point of the questionnaire to confirm such assumptions?

Done. Would have thought the level of performance should be included in the questions (Pre/Semi-pro/amateur) and size of the gigs. I guess my level of anxiety might increase if I was doing this as my main source of food.

The MP3 is on random. These people are not necessarily "bass player" bands but these songs made me sit up and think "wow". Just from a tone point of view. Pararmore - Brick by Boring Brick The Vaccines - Aftershave ocean The Wombats - Backfire at the Disco Placebo - Hang on to your IQ Plain White Tees - Hold On My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade - the fast bit I might have to go home and fiddle with my knobs tonight!

I have to admit I was in Denmark street last week and ended up buying a 6 string electro acoustic. My sig line should now read "Fender Telecaster, Patrick Eggle NY, Simon and Patrick SP6, Fender Sonoran" in addition to the Bass kit. I was always a guitarist, but not a very good one. I still enjoy playing guitar in my bedroom and to be honest if I'm writing songs I generally start on the six string.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1447089052' post='2904743'] It is all down to learning how and when to breathe. If you dont get enough air in and out of your face, there is no way you can sing in tune or with any kind of tone at all. I had a pulmonary embolism which caused both my lungs to collapse and it took me a few months to regain anything like my original power. Doctor said I had lost about 30% of my lung capacity permanently & I would just have to do a lot of breathing exercises. It worked and I got most of my voice back, but in the process lost my falsetto range and gained bit on the top end "normal voice" range. So the answer is, get a vocal coach who can teach you how and when to breathe or google up some instructional stuff on youtube. Anyone can end up with at the least a passable voice. Oh - but for those of you who were told in school " you will never be able to sing" ignore them!!!! I have only ever come across one person who didnt make it and she was so shy there was no way he was ever going to open her mouth wide enough and yell loud enough for it to sound tuneful. [/quote] My inability to sing has nothing to do with my breathing. Even if I want to sing a short two note phrase I can't hit the notes. I'm better if I stylise the voice - singing through my nose a bit a la Dylan helps wit the tuning but not with whether anyone would want to listen to it. I did consider attending the "anyone can sing" lessons at my local college just to see if they'd change the title of the course to "almost anyone can sing". I'm sure with some lessons I might get somewhere passable but TBH playing and singing at the same time puts my timing off anyway.

I really like the Stereophonics music, but Kelly Jones is an absolute 1st class a**hole IMHO. Slash. Need I say more? On the subject of U2, The Edge is almost as bad.

Well, its taken some time to catch up on that lot. Lots of interesting stuff above, but I'm not sure anyone's really nailed the answer though. Ultimately a Watt is a measure of rate of energy (Joules per second). If you put 1 watt into a speaker the speaker dissipates the energy. Remember you cant destroy energy. The main outputs of the speaker are heat (due to resistance of the coil) and sound. Given that the heating effect is completely associated with the speaker resistance I'm still lost as to why 1 watt from a MB amp is not the same as 1 watt from a TC through the same speaker. I think there's a possibility that power can be wasted producing sound we cant hear (too high frequency). This would be amp specific. So my conclusion is if Markbass claim to be louder for a given wattage gives us the following possibilities: [list] [*]the competitors are overstating their claimed output or markbass are underclaiming [*]Markbass are telling porkies [*]Markbass frequency response is different so that we can actually perceive a different volume [*]theres a bigger difference between the RMS wattage claimed and the peak wattage achieved by markbass compared to others. . [/list]

Editors at Hammersmith. Awesome band - I can't believe they haven't had more success. Before that it was The Strokes at Hyde Park, with the added bonus of Future Islands as support, and the drawback of Beck. Even though I live in London decent bands at venues other than the O2 (O Poo more like) are few and far between.