Monkey Steve

Also, online tabs have a lot to answer for. Especially guitar tabs

Playing wise, I’ve only had this once - a mate asked me to replace the departing guitarist in his punk covers band. Turning up at the first practice with charts for the very hastily learned set of about 25 songs, well over half were in the wrong key or had the wrong arrangement. All a hangover from the previous guitarists somewhat limited abilities. fortunately the band were eager to get the songs right - there were a lot of “oh yeah, that’s how it goes/that sounds a lot more like the original/that sounds better” from the rest of the band. Having then learned the set and after playing it for a few years I’d sometimes be surprised to hear the originals with a slightly different arrangement - our version would subtly morph over time

fortunately I'm not a sufferer, so this isn't a tip about dealing with depression, but the one thing that gets me out of bass boredom and the general feeling of not being that bothered about playing: just changing the strings! New, zingy sound, and suddenly the ennui is lifted and I want to play again. Fully appreciate that it's my solution, and won't work for everybody. Good luck in finding what works for you

it depends what you mean by flexibility... I can get pretty much all the sounds I need from my five string Warwick Stage 1 with coil tappable passive $$ pickups with active eq, and by varying my playing technique. If the bass doesn't do it then a pedal probably can, although I do have exactly the set up for "my" sound and I don;t often feel the need for something that sounds any different. Not fretless so if that's a requirement I'd get a five string fretless of some description, but personally that's not on my radar. I do, however, have a five string fretted Wal on order, as that sound is pretty much unique...and once I get that (in about a year) I may find that my Warwick is of less use...

yeah, from mates who have deals it seems highly variable. In the band I depped with at Christmas, the rhythm guitarist and the last but one bass player got deals with ESP/LTD, right at the point they were trying to sign everybody in extreme metal (it was noticeable just how many on stage at Bloodstock were playing ESPs that year) and got a few free guitars (good ones too) but in exchange they had to sell their souls sign a contract that they wouldn't play anything else. The lead guitarist, who had been playing Jacksons, didn't like the ESPs that he tried and didn't want to commit to one company, so instead asked management to get him an endorsement with Jackson. So far he's had a free t-shirt, his photo is in a Jackson catalogue, and if he ever wants a new guitar they'll sell him one at half the list price, but he's happy with the ones he's already got so he has no intention of doing that. Not really worth his bother...though his ego does like being a Jackson endorsee... Another lead guitarist mate who's in a much higher profile band has deals with Ibanez and Mesa Boogie. For Boogie it's mates rates (but he does use that to save money on his purchases) and for Ibanez it's a bit more about getting guitars from their custom shop, which they only offer to their endorsed artists, not to the public

I put off watching it for years because I thought it would make me dislike the band that I'd loved - I actually saw it for the first time over Christmas (as I found it on Netflix). I'm glad I did, because I think I would have hated it at the time - Hetfield is controlling, as is Lars but in a slightly more charming and conciliatory way, Kirk just seems pleased to be there while around the band, and then goes home silently fuming that he's not been given a say in anything. And the irony of the film - all prompted by a bass player quitting because of how badly they treated him, they recognise that they must do better (as appear to do so when they hire Trujillo - his face when they give him a $1m advance, and when they reject the lawyer's suggestion that he shouldn't be a full partner in the band) but dismiss any suggestion that maybe they should re-hire Newsted (who presumably will never be sending Bob Rock a Christmas card again after he led the discussion about why they didn't need him...coincidentally when he's been playing bass on the new album...). But watching it now, and especially watching the half hour follow up from ten years later, I think they come out of it OK. And worth mentioning that in the follow up, Lars concedes that the therapist comes over as very controlling and doesn't get the credit for the work he did holding the band together. Also, now that I understand what they were trying to do on St Anger, it's made me view that quite differently. Still no excuse for Lars' drum sound though

In an old punk covers band of mine we split the set into about a third of the songs that were undroppable and the rest that were picked from a long list that could rotate in and out. We typically had about ten or twelve more songs than we needed for any gig, so you put up with ones you didn't enjoy, and then rotated them out when it was your turn to do the set list. the crowd was king, and if they liked a song that you disliked so much that it became undroppable then you put up with it (and equally, if they were indifferent to your personal favourite, it was banished forever, tough luck...we did an absolutely cracking version of London's Burning by the Clash that only lasted two gigs because it's not one that the casual punk fan will remember and it's never been used in an advert, so there's no point in arguing that it's a much better song than I Fought The Law)

that's not what I was suggesting/asking about - can't see how you thought I was saying that it's an amp. What I'm interested in is whether it's designed to emulate his sound exactly, and is more designed to go into a desk, or a very neutral/flat sounding amp if you want to use it that way, or if it's there to colour the sound and will happily interact with the amp's eq/drive etc if you want to change the sound there...of course you can do that anyway: I like the sound of my VT pedal going into a valve amp, for extra aggression, but it's not exactly what it was intended to do if you want a pure Ampeg impression perhaps neutral isn't the word as, yes, they will have their own "sound" but you can usually set them for a fairly flat response for eq and gain and let them be driven by the eq, etc from a pre-amp/pedal

Has anyone used the pre-amp? I saw him on the Snakes & Arrows tour and was really impressed with the sound he got without any amps - I wasn't sure how much was the bass and how much was the pre-amp/eq he was using. It's not really on my shopping list as I'm happy with my set up (Ampeg SVT, or Tech21 VT pedal is I'm being DI'd) but I'd be interested to hear whether this is designed to go straight into the mixing desk or neutral sounding amp, or if it plays well with an amp

I always struggle with originals bands that don't want to play their biggest hits - Nirvana not wanting to do Smells Like Teen Spirit, or Robert Plant being bored of Stairway To Heaven. I have some sympathy, and I've become bored of playing the odd song, either originals or covers (depending on the band) just because of the repetition - usually it's the ones that are no challenge to play, and sometimes that makes me really dislike the song, but I prefer Lemmy's attitude, sick of playing Aces Of Spades but doing it every night because he knew that it was the one song that fans wanted to hear

Yeah, I think I'd draw that same distinction, that it's not about the bass line per se, it's more that you don't like the song and the bass line doesn't give you any reason to like it any better. Had a drummer in an old band of mine who was exactly the same about one song in particular - thought it was dull and the drums didn't give him anything interesting to do. But the rest of the band loved it, as did the crowds, so he never spat his dummy out, or sabotaged it, just let us know that it was his personal three minutes of hell every at gig. Really helps if it's a crowd pleaser though.

can't think of any that particularly annoy me. there are plenty of songs that I don't like, and a bass line may well contribute to that, and plenty of bands with bass players that I don't particularly rate. But simplicity certainly wouldn't be something to object to, unless it's not appropriate. Loads of bands in rock and metal (AC/DC for starters) where the bass isn't doing much more than holding down the rhythm and underpinning the vocal melody - the start of Live Wire is proof that sometimes you only need one note, as long as it's the right one

Music is only worth doing if you’re having fun

He’s left his e-mail...perhaps Basschat can let him know what we think of his proposal... perhaps we can enquire about holding a party at his hotel, we don’t want to pay for it but there will be lots of guests, what a great opportunity for him to promote his establishment

we all think he's a c#nt. Because he's a c#nt, but he's a c#nt that we can point and laugh at. The drummer mate who I refer to at the start of the thread had to relocate to the other end of the country a couple of years ago, and the last thing he did with his then band was to record an album, which didn't get released for almost a year. Solid 8/10 reviews everywhere, with the exception of Metal Hammer who didn't like it. The c#nt in question contacts my mate for the first time in over a year to send him the Metal Hammer review - look at how bad people think your old band is. When questioned, he admitted that he hadn't heard it himself so didn't have an opinion of his own, hadn't looked for any other reviews, he just wanted to share the bad one in case my mate had missed it.

I have the opposite, a mate who cannot play the guitar to save his life, but has bought eight of them over the last 30 years (five amps, a load of pedals and effects and loads of recording software) and likes to make out that his is a musician despite no evidence to support this, and quite a lot to the contrary. The last time I saw him play a couple of years ago he could barely make a 5th chord, and had to stare at his hand to get his fingers arranged, then stop playing and repeat when he moved the 5th chord shape down two frets. His girlfriend of three years, who he has been living with for the last few months, has yet to see him actually play the guitar - he always has an excuse of why he doesn't want to play it right now, he doesn't feel like it, or he's working on something and it's not ready to show her yet... However, he knows a lot of people who play in bands, some at a fairly decent level, and seems to think that he is in the same class, and that we all want to hear his opinions on the string gauge he uses, his picks, effects pedals, and his opinions on guitars and amps. All of which we ignore because we know he cannot play. He seems to genuinely be sure that he is as talented as everybody else, it's just that he needs to sit down and practice a bit more to turn his undoubted talent into excellent guitar playing. After all, it can't be that difficult if everybody else he knows are in bands and playing gigs. So at some as yet to be determined point in the future he will be just as good as those in his circle who are playing European festivals and US tour dates. And he is quite dismissive of my bass playing because basses only have four strings (regardless of the fact that mine have five) and so are easy to play compared to the guitar. In fact he's quite dismissive and belittling of any of his mates bands, going out of his way to find criticisms, as though his standards are much higher.

Comparing notes with a drummer mate over our festive season activities, the common theme was that we both suffered at the hands of people who know that we have played in bands and therefore think that we want to hear all about their own musical tastes and experiences. Mine was fairly run of the mill but I am very well versed in the "here, you like music..." opening from somebody who's about to tell me all about the four hour documentary they watched on the Tibetan nose flute last night. His was much worse. Having been invited for Christmas lunch by a neighbour, him and his wife, who both love a traditional Christmas, were looking forward to some turkey, sprouts and snoozing on the sofa while Wizzard and Slade are on repeat. They arrived to find no sign of any tinsel, a curry bubbling away on the cooker, and "here, you like music..." resulting in him being subjected to a live Led Zep recording featuring the best part of half an hour's guitar noodling for a single solo by Jimmy Page, before moving on to 15 minutes of unaccompanied drum thumping in Moby Richard. Drugs are bad I mean, I love Led Zep and so does he, but there's a reason that punk had to happen and that reason is the live version of Dazed and Confused. I do wonder if people actually enjoy that sort of thing, or if they know that Jimmy Page is a great guitarist, and that Led Zep are a great band, known for their live shows, and think that they should be enjoying it even if they don't really like it. Does anybody actually look forward to the moment that the rest of the band leaves the stage and the drummer starts warming up? Anyway, anybody else who regularly has to try and smile and look interested when somebody talks at you about their musical interests?

Bill Ward's: Ward One: Along The Way - one of my favourite albums, like Sabbath recording a Pink Floyd Tribute Bill does most of the vocals, with able assistance from Jack Bruce and Ozzy, and a few other guests

My Lowden O22c is set next to my sofa and my go to instrument whether it's aimless strumming or working on a particular song. Never played it outside of my front room as I've never put myself forward as an acoustic player, but I probably play it more than all my other instruments combined. But I wouldn't say I'm especially/specifically a fan of acoustic music. Not that I dislike it - I even went to a Gordon Giltrap gig once - more that I just see it as part of a guitarist's pallet rather than only wanting to hear that. So the acoustic stuff I listen to is more incidentally acoustic rather than picked because it is acoustic, if that makes sense. I don't listen to acoustic players in order to study their technique or to learn their songs So lots of this sort of thing: Love me some Elliot Smith: and this album of AC/DC covers by Mark Kozalek -

I wonder if it's simply their ham-fisted attempt to do something like a supermarket's price guarantee, to try and match, or at least get close to the cheapest online price so that they don't lose customers to the fairly widespread practice of trying something out in store and then buying it on line if it's significantly cheaper. Maybe they have a figure in mind but they'll sell it for less if they need to and don't want to put off buyers who will see the price and then go to the internet. But as we can see from the thread, it's not a great strategy, and instead of putting off the people who won't buy because they know it's cheaper online elsewhere, they're putting off the people who won't even pick up a guitar unless they know that they can afford it. While I have some sympathy if that's what they're trying to do, I can't see it working unless they can properly explain their pricing strategy, and I'm not sure that there's a neat, clean way to explain it that doesn't sound very like "we'll charge you as much as we can get away with". IMHO they'd be better off changing the tags each morning to show what today's price is...possibly an overnight shelf stacker type job for the new kid

my reading of the Underworld's responses for this is that they've charged the promoter enough to cover their costs, not the band's: https://www.facebook.com/events/238690053688857/?active_tab=discussion Although they also refer to not paying the band if they don't show up...that could be a clause that they don't have to hand over any of the ticket money, or perhaps they do have something to do with promoting the gig Either way, they do seem to see the irony/humour of booking the band again and are quite happy if nobody turns up this time, or if the crowd are only there to see how bad the show is.

I played the Underworld a couple of weeks ago - glass bottles can be purchased at the bar so it's not a few plastic cups if people really object (although the stage/venue security is pretty good and I doubt anyone launching anything at the stage would get away with it for long). They won't want any negative publicity about bands getting bottles thrown at them at a gig in their venue, especially not in these strict venue licencing times. Not sure I see anybody buying a ticket for the privilege of throwing drinks at a band they don't like - to use the Daphne & Celeste example, nobody bought tickets to see them and throw stuff, they bought tickets to see rock bands and didn't think that the pop act should be on stage (not that I am defending what happened). I simply don't agree that putting on a band that everybody thinks is a joke is done to try and spark violence - it's a big leap. Whether it's a cynical ploy for ticket sales, and whether the Underworld are to blame rather depends on who is promoting the gig. If it's Threatin' doing it again then he needs to take responsibility, and even if it isn't he needs to take responsibility for accepting the gig. And if that is the case then the Underworld don't directly care about ticket sales as that money is going to the promoter, not to them (although, as previously, they do care about selling beer and paying people to sell that beer so it's always in their interests to get as many people in as possible). If the Underworld are promoting the gig themselves they they will very much care about ticket sales as they will be paying the band a fixed fee, but I'd be amazed if that was anything like enough money to fly the band over for one show. My guess is that somebody else is promoting a tour

are people getting annoyed about other people posting on a topic that doesn't interest them?

My last band was playing hard rock, and we had a singer with a great voice, but he his stage presence was somewhat lacking if he was sober. The standing instruction was "just be like Phil Lynott" - that summed up everything we wanted him to be Sadly the thing he most shares with Lynott is an appetite for banned substances, so it didn't end well for the band...

Yeah, while I can understand the "let's see if we can make a quick buck while it's in the news" attitude, I'll be amazed if many people actually buy tickets. It is a Sunday night, so possibly Vyner is happy to book a gig on the off chance that a few dozen people actually show up on what wouldn't usually be a big night out...possibly he won't be putting on a lot of bar staff that night or is charging a larger venue hire fee.