skankdelvar

I'm cursed with this thing where I'm watching the telly and a bit of music catches my ear and I think 'Ooh, that's nice' and I start trying to work out the chords and the melody. Then I lose track of what's happening in the show and I have to wind it back a minute or two which annoys the missus something rotten.

Gig Goer: "The phrasing on the solo wasn't the same as the recording"

I shouldn't have mentioned The Thing. Forget I spoke. It's all for the best.

There's an answer to people like that. String 'em up. It's the only language they understand.

Anyway, yeah, if you can't learn a song in one pass there's something wrong with you. Acquired motor skills, willpower, posture, tin ear, inner monologue, could be one of a hundred things. Some solutions: have lessons / sack off tab and learn to read music / wear loose trousers.

Would you believe I've had real life, post-gig conversations like that? Well, I have. Drummers get the same sort of thing except it's along the lines of 'Bonham definitely does four on the kick coming out of the fill' but most drummers are saps and just stand there and take it, not me, no siree.

Is he still on here? I thought he slung his hook after... well, you know, The Thing.

Horses for courses,YMMV, one man's roof is another man's floor, etc. Me, I'll practice just enough to do a sub-standard job that nobody notices. Anyone who comes up afterwards and says that I didn't play the bass line like it is on the record I tell them 'Well, f__k off home and listen to it there, then'.

Yeah, well if you want to obsess about girly swot stuff like 'subtlety'. Real men just hammer it out, collect the money and give the landlady a seeing to on the way out the door. I bet you that half the pop hits you know, the session bass player was sat there playing along and thinking 'So, dinner tonight. Burger? Pizza? Something healthy? No, f__k it, I'll have a burger'.

No truer word was spoken.

A Motor Torpedo Boat? You'll have to tell us that story one day.

Ah, busking a song. The so-called 'Third Way' between learning it and re-interpreting it.

One thing that grieves me is how many modern pop songs have the same chord progression all the way through, chorus, verse, the same, just adding and subtracting instruments, changing the vocal melody. Seriously, though, it's not really possible to properly 'learn' a song in one pass and I kind of reject the suggestion that the ability to do so is some sort of prerequisite for being in a covers band. Mind you, anyone who can't play My Boy Lollipop after one hearing should really take up stamp collecting instead.

I admit that Rick's a bit colonial in his excessive enthusiasm for stuff (my first reaction on watching him was 'Dial it back a bit, chum') but the 'What Makes This Song Great' vids (103 of 'em) are usually pretty cool. The one about Bohemian Rhapsody which included a comprehensive breakdown of the harmony vocals was pure class. YMMV.

He's my main man. Well, for some things, not all of them, but, yeah, him and Kenny Gioia for most stuff.

Acksherly, I think @TimR is more or less correct in his assertion. Most vanilla covers are pretty bog-standard; the changes are predictable to the extent you'll be sat there listening and you think 'I bet they change up a key' and five seconds later they do. You scribble it all down as you go, tidy your notes into a folder and off to rehearsal, there to iron out the group arrangement and sprinkle some fairy-dust on the choons. An ability to work out the skeleton of a song in one pass in no way reflects on my limited musical talents. It's just that a significant percentage of each generation of pop songs is written to a formula of the day and it's getting more formulaic as time goes on. For the last while everything's been about I, IV, V and VI in various permutations and if the K-Pop Wave takes off (as well it might) you can expect to hear I, V, VI, IV even more often than you do now. His Eminence Mr Rick Beato on cliche chord progressions:

Basically, with angled jacks the signal is going along in a straight line then suddenly has to go through an unexpected 90-degree turn. The lower frequencies move more slowly so they make it through the turn, no problem. The faster moving and frankly irresponsible high frequencies just spin out and never make it to the amplifier. Like I say, crack a hazelnut and have a cuppa while the spirit goblin sorts it out.

Not a bit of it. Hazelnut harvesting time is September and October, depending on one's geographic location and the type of Hazel. If you're looking for alternatives you could try filberts because that's another name for hazelnuts.

There's a simple, folkloric solution to this common problem. Crack a hazelnut and the sound of it cracking will awaken the spirit goblin who guards your house and he'll restore the top end. Give it a try and let us know how you get on.

Ignite SHB freebie amp sim here: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/1132/ Some free bass amp sims don't include a cabinet simulator so you may need a cab loader and some cab sims. Free cab loader here: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/1790/ Some OK free bass cab sims here - use the link 'Download the bass IR pack': https://shift-line.com/irpackbass

Hi Fat1975j and to the forum

Hi DOg and to the forum.

Sorry to hear your guitarist's ill. Shame, that. Wikipedia list of rock trios here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_trios. The obvious UK rock trios are The Police, The Jam, Motorhead, Cream, Muse, Biffy Clyro, the Manics and - er- Budgie? Fact is, any band that's gigged with three instruments and a vocalist is technically a three-piece for your purposes so you can chuck in The Who, the Zeppelin, Sabbath, Blur, The Smiths, U2. A possibly radical option is to use material by two-piece bands like The Black Keys and the White Stripes and, like, y'know, add an extra part.