Monkey Steve

Not helpful to the OP, but my experience of everything I’ve ever tried is that everybody agrees that a band calendar/diary/app/whatever will be used, and that it is everybody’s responsibility to fill it out as soon as they know they won’t be able to play on a particular date, and if a date is free then whoever is booking the gig can book it without having to wait for three or four other people to respond to extra or e-mails, etc And half the band will do it, and half the band won’t, and as soon as a gig is booked the guitarist (always the guitarist) will tell you that he can’t make the date and that you should have checked with him first because he’s a word that BassChat won’t let me use

Yeah, a bit of honesty usually works much better than trying to fudge things and pretending that they didn't mean any harm. I expect there's something behind it, but I doubt you'll ever get to the bottom of it, and there's probably nothing to be gained if you do Onwards and upwards

nice looking instrument

Nothing I have ever tried has worked Unfortunately you are dealing with musicians

yeah, that's not nice Have there been any issues with you and any of the band members over the years? I was talking to a mate about this sort of thing recently, about the stream of band members who have joined and left for various reasons, and whether they could solve a current issue by asking one of them back who I know to be a good musician and who would be open to returning. And the reply was that while he personally liked the person concerned and would be happy to see him back, the band leader had a very scorched earth policy - if you crossed him then you were out and there would be no return. And the reason for not inviting him back (there had been an opportunity to do so) was nothing to do with his playing, it was around an incident or two that seemed very minor to me, and I'm sure the individual has absolutely no idea would have upset the band leader So, feck 'em. You're better off without them

yeah - Rainbow. Not there any more, but used to be opposite the George Robey...which isn't there any more either...Finsbury Park would be more helpful

When I first started playing the common opinion in my group of mates was that using a tuner pedal was some sort of awful affectation and they were only used by non-serious musicians with too much money. You just needed an accurate E and it's harmonics for the rest. So I used to tune up at home using a flexi disk from a "learn to play the bass" book, and when we all got to practice/gigs everybody would tune to my E. None of us understood about stretching strings. We did understand about staring at everybody else and insisting that they were out of tune, definitely not me

I always remember my first trip to Denmark St to sell a guitar, many, many moons ago. A very good lesson from one of the assistants, who explained that while he could see that I had put better components on the Gibson Les Paul (really just my preference, whether sound or cosmetic), you're never getting any more money for doing it, and often you'll get less for it not being "original". I was reminded of that when I was window shopping on Reverb - someone was trying to sell a quite limited guitar (also a Les Paul by coincidence) and he'd changed the pickups, the knobs, and swapped the case, all to make it look and feel more vintage. It was listed for about a grand less than one without the "upgrades", and it's been listed for a while with no takers. I'm happy to make changes to anything that I think is a keeper (and usually keep the parts, just in case it isn't). And I'm generally in agreement with the OP - the one that makes me laugh is when the ad assures the potential buyers that any "upgrades" have been professionally installed, which apparently is worth paying more for than having soldered it correctly yourself

not had to play anything going that low, but from my experiences of needing to go lower than standard, it's more or less the same as for a 5 string bass - get the right gauge strings and tune to the note, don't try to get anything to track it. Personally I'd want at least a five string bass if I was going that low, possibly six, but it depends on whether you need the higher notes so putting thicker strings on a four string will be fine if you don't need the full regular set. You will need to do a proper set up though That may then give you an issue with the tone across the whole set lower strings often "boom" a bit, or can be muddy. I found that when I went to a low B a lot of it is getting used to the difference in tone from the E and adapting your playing technique, which is a longer term solution. In the short term, the best "out of the box" tone I got across lower strings was from EMG pickups on a relatively cheap ESP/LTD bass. I didn't especially like the bass in the long run and don't have it any more, but the EMGs really handled the tone across the whole set brilliantly, so that the low B didn't boom

I don't suppose we'll ever know exactly what was really behind it, but it sounds like he wanted to be part of the band, and they were happy to keep him as the hired help. If he was after a share of the sweet, sweet T-shirt money then that may have forced their hand, and while it may seem short sighted, I can understand why they might want to have a distinction between original members and latecomers, whether financial or otherwise. I've certainly seen that sort of thing force issues in other bands, admittedly not at that level, but one name band I know have a level of tolerance for musicians who can turn up and do their job even if they don't especially like them as individuals, but that wanes if the musician struts around like they own the band, which makes them focus on any shortcomings. One hired hand is on very thin ice at the moment and I'd put money on him not seeing out the year. But to the public, you'd never know that he wasn't really part of the band, because the good PR thing to do is announce that he's in the band and everything's great, and when someone is sacked it's never a sacking, they have decided to devote their time to other projects and the band wishes them well, etc. This one is unusual that the dirty washing is being aired in public, but I suspect it's more common that we think

You sir must be a fraud - honestly, I can't believe you've ever played with any other musicians if you think they're all nice guys 🤣 Seriously though, these two are really good mates, and two of the best guitarists I've ever played with in our previous band...but as soon as the studio door closed the gloves were off and they never held back about their opinions on what the band was playing, whether any band members were performing to standard, if they thought the songs were any good, etc. It really surprised me when the band first started, but unlike any other bands I've been in, it was kept strictly to the studio, and actually was really healthy - nobody went home feeling resentful or annoyed at what somebody had been doing, all the arguments were had in public and resolved. And it was always about the music, not personal. Nine times out of ten we'd go to the pub after practice and there would be no hard feelings about what had been said at rehearsal. It was a really healthy attitude. Ironically enough, the "drummer" recently sacked the actual drummer in his main band for not being up to scratch Like I say, we'll give him the chance to fail, and if he's not up to it and can't improve enough to be the drummer we need then we'll tell him. In fact we've already told him that he'll be sacked if he isn't up to scratch, only half joking. The guitarist is happy enough if we tell him that he can't be the drummer but can play guitar instead, though whether his ego will allow that would remain to be seen. It might also be an issue if one of our ideas for a singer works, as the person who has been making noises about maybe wanting to do it also plays guitar...

He might take that personally...still, it'll solve a problem if he quits

Two suggestions for fixing it using pedals If it's purely volume then a simple booster like an MXR Micro Amp would work - I use one live to balance active and non-active basses as a clean boost to adjust volume levels, and it's excellent. Well, I used to use one live but now don't need to... If it's more of an issue with the active electronics being underwhelming, I had a very similar issue with a Warwick, and I ummed and aahed about changing the active eq, but in the end fixed it with a Darkglass Harmonic Booster. It is now my "make everything better" pedal for any passive basses and the underwhelming Warwick. Honestly, it makes it sound like a brilliant active circuit and just adds a bit of sparkle and depth to the sound

I don't have any criticism of the OP's position, and am a bit similar - partly it's because of my interest in the bass, but also because vocals tend to follow the roots of the bass melody. Not always, but often But of late I am coming to the opinion that I've been missing a trick when writing songs by not focusing on the vocal melodies (not the lyrics per se) Possibly from a punk/metal background where often there aren't any vocal melodies, and I am aware that I've trained myself to not listen too closely to the singer from too many years of playing in bands at an early age when the vox were just shouting. I also think it's a failing of guitarists that they write riffs, when people listen to melodies. F'rinstance - listen to Zombie by the Cranberries. There's a very clear verse bridge chorus structure, but actually it's all over the same four chords. If I presented just the chords or bass to a band they'd complain that I hadn't written a song

funnily enough I'm the opposite - I'm drawn to music that I can't understand how to play