Monkey Steve

Ah, Jethro Tull... I once explained to an American what a Wimpy Bar was, and it completely changed their understanding of Up To Me

Yeah, I'm with @Dubs Good lyrics are an unexpected pleasure, a real bonus but most people don't listen and don't care, so the singer is mostly polishing his own knob when worrying about the exact word choice. A chorus that people can sing along to does 99% of the job. But when lyrics are excellent, it adds a bonus level of enjoyment. However, bad lyrics often stick out a mile. If the singer can achieve "ignoreable" that's OK with me Back to the OP, I'm not sure I agree with the premise - I tend to agree that most people like songs because of the tune, not the words, but I'm perfectly able to like songs that I don't agree with from a political standpoint, or frankly haven't considered from more than what the words are. That is when I can understand it - Eton Rifles isn't as obviously against public schoolboys as Cameron's critics seem to think, it's slightly oblique

Playing music with other people is both the best and the worst parts of being a musician. Best when it works - nothing like when the band clicks, better still when it happens in front of an audience. Worst because, well, other people. And musicians are the worst of humanity - petulant toddlers the lot of them. I've just hit 50, and have been in and out of bands since I was a teenager, often with a few years between bands. Something usually turns up. However, I'm quite lucky in that a good chunk of the people i hang out with are also in bands, and when they need a bass player they'll come and ask me, so I've never had to audition or reply to small ads and demonstrate my bass playing skills to a room full of strangers. If I'd moved to a new area and didn't have any contacts then I'd probably be having the same thoughts as the OP My advice is to give it a go. If it doesn't work, sack off that band and try again (or sack the offending band member who is responsible for it not working), at least until you decide that maybe bands aren't for you after all. And do keep that in mind - if you're not enjoying playing with a particular individual then don't - either quit or sack them, life#s too short (especially at your advanced age 🤣) If you can network, then do so - jam nights, local live venues - have a few pints and start chatting to people. In my experience jam nights can be a bit limited in terms of music played, but that said i was once in a band with two guys who had met at a jam night and agreed that while it was fun to play every week, they'd really like to do something completely different. Beyond that, decide what you want to do - covers (easier choice if you just want to play, especially if you want to be paid for gigging) or originals (harder but not unheard of at 42), which style of music, etc. then start looking for small ads, or place some yourself. You may get lucky and find exactly what you want, but I'd suggest working out just how far you're happy to compromise on music choices - you may only want to play Nine Inch Nails B sides, but you'll find it a lot easier to get into a band if you're happy playing the Foo Fighters and AC/DC The other comment I'd make is that things have changed from 15 years ago. Back in the day, especially playing originals, it was always serial monogamy - one band and one band only. these days it's a very open relationship - you can easily be in two or three bands at the same time, and nobody will judge you for it Good luck

I can only speak for the "low power mode" switch on my Marshall, and that's maybe not an ideal comparison, because that's simply the sound that the amp makes! I haven't used it in full fat 5W output mode since i got it and established that 5 watts is way too loud for practicing in the front room. Whether or not it would have been better handled by a different attenuator is moot (as explained above) so perhaps it's simply something that you'll have to test when you try the amps out - cut the output and see if you like the sound

I have a Marshall Power Brake and used it as a master volume on an old 50w Super Lead II combo. Worked brilliantly. Hence my slight annoyance that the Class 5 combo is hard wired so you can't just unplug the speaker and use the Power Brake. That said, different attenuators seem to produce different results so I'd suggest watching as many demo videos as you can before shelling out

From a playing perspective, I'd do the gig. Not for the money, for the fun - it's come up on other threads, but my attitude is that I can put up with all of the other crap like late nights and unloading in the wee small hours, as long as i get to play the bass, which is better than staying in and not playing the bass From a band perspective, as long as I get on with you, and as long as it doesn't happen every other time there's a gig, it wouldn't worry me and you wouldn't be any closer to a sacking because of not wanting to play a gig that is a major pain in the backside from a personal perspective, even if it meant cancelling the gig. But even with the dep, my attitude might change if you were turning down a lot of gigs and cherry picking which ones you were doing. From experience, the only other time it would become an issue is where the band has an unconnected problem with you. If they do then it becomes another reason on the list of why to sack you

Nothing in my diary until Akercocke at the Boston Arms on New Years Eve...but the train strikes that have been announced for the whole of December may put paid to that 👿

I was slightly reluctantly dragged along to see them at Download this year. Best band of the festival!

must admit, I do fancy the walnut 5 string version

I love the look for the Walnut ones (especially the maple board) but having had a walnut (non-Rick) bass before I'm a bit twitchy as it tends to add a bit of warmness Has it still got the Rick growl?

exactly - as the Logan Paul vs KSI boxing match this weekend proves. Very well argued piece on Radio 5 last night from Steve Bunce that it is good for boxing because it's bringing attention to the sport from millions of people who wouldn't ever go along to a boxing match As regards modelling amps, they definitely have their place. The guitarists in a name band i know both have Kempers because they can instantly have any amp sound they want, they can be DI'd so soundchecks are a breeze, and with the added bonus that they can be taken on a plane as hand luggage for overseas festivals. the only thing they miss is the kick in the chest you get from a roaring valve amp, but it's a small price to pay

Bepanthen's also the best thing for new tattoos...something I have to explain very loudly to visitors to my child-free house who spot half empty tubes of it in my bathroom

yes - once played guitar in a covers band where one song had a delay on the guitar which only occurred during a mid-song break before everybody else comes back in (Going Underground I think). Fortunately we were shambolic enough between songs that me putting the delay on and playing a couple of chords so that the drummer could pick up the tempo didn't stick out as more ragged than usual. The drummer just picked up his count in from that so we'#d go into the song pretty quickly after I'd done it

true but... I'm not sure I'd want to trust that the burglars turning over my place were from the same school of light fingered misappropriation. I once had a conversation with someone who was the manager of a pawn shop. He certainly saw enough obviously stolen instruments to indicate that while the thieves might not know the difference between a Gibson and an Encore, they knew that guitars were worth picking up and seeing what they could sell them for My advice to the OP is to get some insurance

the Cornford is a Class A amp, right? If so, and that's the sound you like then I'd suggest sticking to other Class A amps rather than Class AB - particularly if you don't want the high gain options. There's been a real growth in small Class A amps over the last few years, as you can see from all the recommendations Your other consideration being weight, I have to say that for home use, an 8 inch speaker is plenty big enough. The obvious swap for lower volume would be to a Cornford Harlequin, but I think they still have 12 inch speakers so it wouldn't tick all your boxes (albeit that it would retain the sound you like) Beyond that, I'd throw in that while there are plenty of 5w amps, for home use that can still be pretty loud, so one with an option to reduce the output levels without simply turning the volume down (so that you are still getting that warm valve sound) is very useful. You could look at adding some sort of power attenuation, but that's not always an option for some combos - for instance I couldn't use one with my Marshall Class 5 unless I completely dismantle it so that the speaker isn't hard wired in. Regarding @NancyJohnson's modeller idea, while it's not the solution you're looking for, I would say that if you want to get some other amp sounds out of your combo, putting an amp modeller pedal in front of a nice warm valve amp works brilliantly - something like a Sansamp GT2 will sound excellent

Depends how good a drummer you have, because they are the one that needs to adjust. The best one I've played with from that perspective, we knew each other well enough to trust the other if one of us felt that the song needed speeding up or slowing down, just based on feel, or sometimes because a guitarist has got the tempo wrong when playing the intro. We'd lock eyes, maybe shout "faster" or "slower" and then drive each other towards the right speed - I could certainly vary my playing to change the tempo, although that's maybe because he was good at picking up the subtleties of what i was doing. No point just changing speed without taking the drummer with you, as you're the one that the audience thinks has got it wrong If nobody else had followed you then they get the hard stare at the end of the song so that everybody knows it was them that made a mistake

Probably a nerve issue rather than a splinter. I've very occasionally had something similar, and the solution has been to ignore it and it goes away after a day or two And it seems we're not alone: https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=24109 Precis for those without the will to read it all, it does seem to be something that afflicts people on their fretting finger, with one guy who went to a doctor known for treating musicians being told that the doctor has seen it in violinists, but not guitarists (until then). Though I don't necessarily buy the doctor's theory about it being the inside of a callous growing inwards and hitting a nerve...

You too? I'm a whisker under 6 foot and was once in a band with a singer who was about 6'2". A mate was telling me how weird it was that there were two exceptionally tall in the same band, with me being 6'2" and the singer being at least 6'4". Based on him believing that he was 6 feet rather than 5'9"

I'm broadly in agreement, but I'd say that bands generally do know when they have a very good drummer. In fact most musicians do, as long as they have experience of playing with one. And once they have, they'll always be able to spot when they have a less than exceptional drummer. A mate of mine is currently depping as a drummer in a band who had no intentions of replacing their current drummer as they thought he was fine and he just needed to skip a couple of gigs...until they gigged with my mate and saw the possibilities of what they could play with a much, much better drummer on board. Depping may become permanent... Tend to find the same with bass (YMMV) and rhythm guitarists. Bands/musicians who haven't played with very good ones probably don't know what they're missing, but ones that have had a very good bass player can spot what they are missing when they get an bad or average one

I'm in the "I can appreciate his talent but the music's not for me" camp too. It's not a type of music that I enjoy listening to, so the fact that it's got what is clearly very talented bass playing on it doesn't make me like it any more

Amps and pedals tend to be tools for the job - I've certainly bought pedals knowing that they wouldn't get a lot of use but would be called upon as and when required, and I've bought a "holy grail" or two that didn't live up to expectations, but they get weeded out very quickly - sometimes not even making it to a rehearsal. But basses and guitars... I've come a cropper where I've tried to get a cheaper bass as a reserve, to be taken to gigs for use in case of a problem with my main bass. The worst offender being an ESP LTD B-205 SM (I think, that's from what looks closest from a Google search, I couldn't swear that was the model I got) Looked great, sounded OK in the shop...fell way short when I got it home and in rehearsals. Felt flimsy because of cheap hardware, too light for me, and while the ESP pickups did a pretty good job of handling the low B, they didn't have the character or response I like for my assortment of playing techniques, and it sounded quite anonymous. Just didn't feel right Didn't make it past a few rehearsals with one band, then sat lonely and unloved for a while until i tried it with a different band...just the once. Finally moved it on. Taught me not to buy reserve basses. Buy two basses that could be my first choice I have a worse track record with guitars, actually semi's being the worst of these. A Rickenbacker 360 (should have got a 330) and a Gretsch Electromatic that looked brilliant but was a pig to play

this - this all day long As one on the other side of the camera, I was slightly more annoyed than I let on when a few people circulated shots of me at a gig at the Underworld last year, almost all of which were taken between songs - look, here's the back of my head as I'm having a drink, here's my backside as I'm adjusting the amp, and here's me standing around waiting for the lead guitarist to tune up, etc. Only one shot of me actually playing. One mate then gave his feedback of the gig, and commented that in all the photos I looked really bored (the fact that he was there and saw the show but was commenting on what the photos looked like rather than what he saw with his own eyes is another matter) whereas the bass player in the other band really put on a show! BECAUSE HE WAS LOOKING AT PICTURES OF ME STANDING AROUND BETWEEN SONGS!!! GAH! I've also had the pleasure (not) of having to wade through several dozen shots of a show from a photographer to find the two or three that were OK to pass on to a journalist who was doing a review and asked us for a picture. Gave the distinct impression that the photographer wasn't very talented and got lucky in the two or three usable ones, whereas if he'd shown some judgement and just sent us those two or three we'd have thought that he was a genius

Tech 21 VT Bass pedal I have a SVT 2 Pro which sounds amazing, but wasn't very practical when heading to practice straight from work, so i got the VT pedal to do an Ampeg impression through whatever amp the studio was providing. Obviously I'd use the SVT for actual gigs and whenever we were recording... The I played a few gigs in London where we were getting the tube and, again, using whatever amps were knocking around at the venue, or I'd DI, and again, the VT pedal makes it sound like I'm using an Ampeg. And used it for a demo recording session - the engineer being amazed at the sound i was getting from the studio Marshall I've now got to the stage where I rarely think about using my actual SVT - did a couple of reasonable sized dep shows last year and had to be persuaded by the rest of the band to take their bass stack with us as I just wanted to DI through the VT (and in fact that's what the sound man did each night) - they had promised the support bands a bass amp so I used that as my monitor

for all the excellent suggestions made, it all boils down to the individual band members actually using whatever method has been agreed. And quite often they don't. I know @Quilly's pain - musicians generally behave like petulant toddlers who expect somebody else to do everything for them, refuse to play gigs or rehearse on days when they can think of anything else to do, won't respond to e-mails and texts or use band calendars and then whinge that the band isn't playing very much like it's somebody else's fault. Typical exchange: BL - Everybody's been using the band calendar and marking off dates you can't make? Band - Yes, of course, it's easy, don't treat us like children BL - Great, so we've got a gig next month on the 12th, it's free on the calendar and I've booked it. We're supporting a reformed Led Zeppelin at Wembley stadium Lead Guitarist - Sorry, I might have something on that night, I should know for certain by about the 10th BL - *head explodes* Time for a serious sit down band discussion. The band members who will not commit to dates, or who agree to them and then cancel, need to know that they are a problem that is ruining the band for everybody else. If they want to be in a band that plays gigs then they will actually have to show some commitment and agree to play some gigs. If they don't, can't or won't then it's time for them to move on, whether by their own volition or not You might want to dress that up a bit and not start with the threat of a sacking, but you need to be clear that they all need to pull their socks up and show some commitment. And if they don't, well it's never going to improve so if you're not happy about it then maybe you and the guitarist need to do something about finding a band who can play as frequently as you want

I don't disagree, more that I can see how the casual listener can get the impression that the music is pretty macho b/s