The-Ox

I think my wording was a bit off here, i think the chromatic comment above nailed it. I also meant to try and say that i felt it was easier to play chords and i also feel that my musical theory can br transferred over to keys. I say this because i find it easier to pick up chords on keys rather than guitar, despite the similarities between guitar and bass

What with the layout of a keyboard/synth being similar to say a bass (in terms of black keys being sharps and flats - and how you can easily play the c major scale for example) do any of you find it eady to crossover your bass knowledge to keyboard? I'm thinking of recording my own stuff and i want to add synths in some parts, I'm not gonna be Keith Emerson any time soon, but i feel like my bass playing would really help with keys. Wonder what you guys think

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1451748825' post='2943069'] Yes, I need to be guarded about what I say but we are lucky in having 4-5 very well connected guys who have very decent CV's.. How much they stand out is interesting, but there is one guy ...who also has had a very impressive 'career'..and he is another league...IMO. I do find this whole 'good' thing fascinating. But everyone is generally pleased that someone's hard work pays off.... but luck, circumstance and relationships also play a part. I would say the two guys I'm mainly talking about are very nice and personable people as well, so no one begrudges them their day in the sun. [/quote] Ofx, i only admire and take my hat off to them! Another question i had around this that you guys might have an opinion on: are there any musicians out there who are on very good money (say equivalent of over £60k pa) who aren't mainstream or well known? Do these sort of opportunities exist? I ask this as i am trying to liken it to football for example. You don't have to be a champions league level player to make good money, the players at my local club Stevenage even make a decent wage and aren't really known at all. Are there any musicians of the 'stevenage' level making good money?

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1451737215' post='2942903'] Good and well known are relative... I say good luck to him for getting the gig... and it is a very well known gig. The other guy has lucked out and is currently very busy... no idea how much it is worth to him but both gigs are basically at years work. One might last more than that as they are on a roll... but the other is World tour and then over, I'd reckon. Just as well the money will make him. and yes, it is interesting to see how good these guys that can get this work are... The is one very best guy on these instruments around here and he can't get those gigs anymore....so..?? Very very illuminating... [/quote] Thats exactly what i mean on your last part. I was wondering if you knew people who were better than the million dollar guy, seems you do and I'm not surprised. I find it quite interesting that it's not always necessarily the most talented, quite a bit of it comes down to other circumstances, would you agree to some extent? Now the million dollar guy will obviously be a class act, but from what I take from it here is that there are better musicians without the big paying gigs, or at least it seems that this can sometimes be the case

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1450274595' post='2931248'] There was a time when I really wanted this..... and then I realised it is VERY hard to get enough good gigs to pay for that... and it was then I decided to do something that paid me well and often and on time rather than convince myself I was 'making' it doing something I love. Two 'mates' (read guys I know) are currently on World tours and one of them will gross over a £1m but too many guys I know struggle to make £30k p.a...or even £20k and that is where the fun disappears, IMO, as I know they work pretty hard for that sort of money. 'Hard' means up and down the country for gigs... and this country would fit into most U.S states a few times over.. [/quote] Thats pretty interesting! How good and well known are your mates who are grossing one million? This isn't a dig at all btw, im hust curious because if he wasn't well known but still making a big amount thrn i reckon thats pretty cool! Is he way better thsn us as bassists?

Agreed that Pete has more freedon nowadays, his playing was a lot nkre pronounced when I saw them. Roger has a lit more control of the band nowadays too

Cheers Lozz! Will swing by next week and see what they can do!

Cheers mate!

Hi Looking for any places that do decent paint jobs, was thinking of getting a splattercaster type finish thanks!

just wondering if anyone's worked with him? Seems like a nice guy with lots of experience!

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1451504146' post='2941083'] Pretty good - it adds a whole new dimension to Ableton as you can trigger off your loops on the fly from the pads rather than point-click, much like you would on an MPC-style interface. With a well set-up Session and a good array of loops/samples you can play the pad like an instrument in its own right. [/quote] thanks! Deffo want to use it for recording purposes like you described

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1451486750' post='2940884'] I've used a launchpad...not a push tho. [/quote] how do you find it?

haha let me know how it goes! I want to record bass and guitar parts using the ableton live, and maybe add some obscure instruments on top like a marimba or something along those lines

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1451481226' post='2940808'] You'll be very lucky to find a US or Japanese Fender Strat for £400. "Decent fender" is a difficult one - don't assume spending more money will automatically get you a better guitar where Fenders are concerned. Personally if I was looking for a decent Fender where good quality was pretty much assured I'd only look at Japanese ones. [/quote] thanks mate, will scour the market and any 2nd hand ones properly

cool thread, some nice answers here! my goals are to push on with my current band (who I joined late this year) and to get some gigs and new songs underway, and also to learn the guitar to a fairly decent level so I can start recording demos

cheers mate! Seems like £400 is a good bet for a solid guitar

Its good mate I'd recommend it, also get cubase with it too

Like the title says above Does it turn you into Pete Townshend?

thanks for the heads up regarding the price! Saved me there. Is it possible to buy a normal strat and then get a paintjob on it? So my workings are this (speculative figures) Mexican Splattercaster for sale: £599 Normal Mexican Strat: £300 Decent Fender (better than Mexican Splattercaster): £450 roughly? so with these rough (and probably wrong) calculations, I could get a better instrument that's cheaper than the splattercaster, and then get the paintjob to take it up to roughly £600 if that makes sense? (going by the logic that a £599 splattercaster is the same quality as a £300 normal paint job strat) I'm using words like better, good and decent rather loosely here - but my point is that a £599 splattercaster worth the same as a £300 mexican, so by buying a slightly 'better' fender for around £450/£500, I can get the paintjob myself, hence a 'better' instrument with my preferred paintjob?

cheers man, I've seen one for £599, worth the money? In terms of quality that is, not paintjob. Is this what a good Mexican strat is worth?

anyone know much about Splattercasters? I know they're Mexican built, does that really have any bearing when compared to an American model?

good luck, hope it goes well and you enjoy it just record a load of demos like Pete Townshend used to do. If you listen back to the Quadrophenia demos, they're completely different than than final output once the rest of the band added their stuff in

will be watching them both. I saw him a few years back at the Hard Rock Calling concert, was a top performance!

A fascinating thread I must say, gives a good insight into your gigging experiences! I see no issue with Blue using it as a full time job, in fact I respect it because he loves his work (how many people can say that?) But then there is nothing wrong if you're gigging for fun or whatever, if you enjoy it then that's all that matters! I don't want to divert the thread too much, but how do people compare festival gigs to bar gigs? What are your thoughts? I might have a couple of festival gigs lined up in the new year Taran