Monkey Steve

[quote name='r0ger9' timestamp='1509023888' post='3396108'] Life sometimes conspires against you...A dad at 18, bills, life, children, mortgage, more children, business, grandchildren... suddenly I'm 57 (this year)!! A poor poor bass player, painfully trying to copy riffs, stunted tab following ability and deep guilt for not understanding scales, triads, or even keys etc. etc.. However, I get pleasure from playing bass because I can shut myself away & stop thinking about all the other crap, and because whenever I listen to music, bass is what I hear. Sure it'd be nice to play with other people, but I'm not good enough to be in a band, and it's difficult to find somebody local to try and jam with unfortunately. Meantime, I carry on as I am, and lets face it, a bass is a work of art in itself (so I admit that sometimes I just roll a fag and sit back looking lovingly at my collection hanging on the wall in my mancave). Man, he plans... God, he laughs! [/quote] I feel that a few words of encouragement are required... My favourite band of all time (from the perspective of being in the band, not necessarily the music we made) was me and a (drummer) mate who have been in bands and playing live since we were teenagers and two blokes who are a decade or more older than us (so would have been mid-late 40's when the band started) who had never been in a band before on vocals and bass (I played guitar). the bass player was, let's say, more enthusiastic than talented, but fortunately we were playing old school punk and enthusiasm counts for a lot. they both worked with the drummer, and it all came about from a chat at work along the lines of "well, I've always fancied doing it but I've never been in a band before" and originally included a guitarist who'd never played in a band before either - I replaced him when his job took him away. We were together for seven or eight years before life got in the way and the band drifted apart, but we played a load of very well received gigs, I made a couple of excellent mates who I still see, and the bass player is now in at least two other bands. Even if you never get that far, I'd suggest getting together with other musicians if you can - you don't have to call it a band, maybe just a bit of a jam with a guitarist if you know one, just for fun. You may be amazed at how your playing improves (mine certainly owes as much to playing with other people as it does practicing technique at home alone). You never know, you might like it...

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1509023429' post='3396105'] I just went through the motions of sending a bass to myself. It's odd. You fill the form, then you get a page that tells me that you'll be contacted with a quote. And now I'm waiting.... I'd rather do the Interparcel, Parcel2Go thing and see the prices and choose the service that I like the look of. Add to this that it seems if I want to send it, I've got to take it to Chelmsford, which is 20 miles from me. Give me Interparcel any day. [/quote] yeah, the website is rubbish for that. Why can't they understand that if we wanted a personal quote from our local shop we'd ring them, we just want a basic idea of the price. In my experience they are actually much better in person. Admittedly that's from only ever using one shop, but they were very helpful, explain exactly what the pros and cons of each service are, whether insurance is appropriate, etc.

[quote name='Jecklin' timestamp='1508876972' post='3395124'] Chaos theory in london would be worth a look, avoid at all costs dead or alive promotions. Big red X 's advice is spot on. Trawl the internet and find bands around the uk you feel are doing compatible music and see where they are playing. Good luck [/quote] This (especially the tip about Dead Or Alive). But there are many, many more in London, chancers who find that they can get the Water Rats or the Dublin Castle on a Tuesday night for next to nothing and pretend to be promoters when doing no actual promotion (seriously, my last lot tried this circuit and played more midweek toilet gigs than we should have where there wasn't even a poster outside the venue telling people there was a gig on). As a rule of thumb, if they put you on with like minded bands then they're probably actual promoters and you may get a crowd; if you're sharing the bill with a jazz trio, a death metal band and an acoustic folk duo then that's a pretty good indication that there won't be a crowd and you're not getting paid. Like the others have said, I'd focus on finding venues and clubs for your genre and getting in touch with them. Some venues book bands directly and they're usually a lot better at making sure that the acts have at least something in common - the Boston Music Rooms is one I can thoroughly recommend, and the Horn in St Albans. But even with them pay tends to depend on the crowd, and again you're probably getting offered a Wednesday night (though if you play well they will remember you and ask you back for a better slot). As a rule of thumb you need to be bringing about 50 people to a gig to get an offer to get paid up front. One plus in London is that most of the venues will have a shell kit and backline, and other bands on the bill will usually be happy to share gear so you probably don't need to bring all your stuff, just instruments and breakables.

I've used MBE to ship stuff (and for those that don't know, they're just a high street shop who do postal stuff, like offer a mailbox address for businesses, pack your stuff up, book couriers, sell stationary and stamps, etc). But my experience is that they are just booking agents - they don't actually ship it themselves, they just look up the shipping rates on their computer and ask which company you'd like to use. Works best if you need someone to pack it all for you, or if you can't be bothered to spend a morning on Google looking at different rates and Ts & Cs. they then sent it via UPS/Royal Mail/whoever. So it seems odd to me that someone would specify using them for just the courier bit rather than saying to just use UPS/whoever. Do they want them to do the packing (perhaps because they know they understand how to do it securely) or perhaps because they know which carriers have the right level of cover and can avoid the pesky "no cover for musical instruments" clauses. Or do they have a business account with them, so they pay the shipping costs directly? So I wouldn't have any concerns over MBE, if you have doubts that there may be some sort of con then it's more likely to be around the bank transfer.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1509020368' post='3396066'] wow... Next time I'm looking for a drummer, if I don;'t know them personally I may send you a PM to check. I mean, drummers are crazy enough when they're SANE! [/quote] The only drummer I've had that needed medical supervision fortunately wasn't violent. He was a mate of the singer who apparently knew about the mental health issues (and didn't feel the need to mention them to the rest of us) but the worst we ever suffered was him forgetting that we'd already booked a rehearsal studio, so he booked a completely different one in a different town and went there instead. More than once. In fact it became a bit of a long running joke - if the drummer was late we'd ring the other studio to see if he was there. In the end he just went missing for a bit so we didn't even need to sack him, we just started looking for a new drummer as nobody had heard from the old one for a few weeks. Turned out he'd stopped taking his meds. Shame, as he was a really nice guy when he was making sense and pretty good drummer...but oddly had a terrible memory for how the songs went. We did then sack the singer, but not for anything to do with the drummer

While I don't rate much that Metallica have released after the first three albums (but I still religiously buy them in the hope that one day they'll improve) I've never seen them do a bad show. Tends to be festivals these days (mostly Download of late...no doubt they'll be back there next year, or if not, the year after) rather than tours, and my favourite gig since the Burton days was when they did Reading in 2008. Just before Death Magnetic came out but rather than treat it like an album promo slot, they completely got that it was a festival crowd who might only have a passing knowledge of their stuff and played an extended best of set and only one new song. As i recall there were only four or five tracks that weren't off the first four albums (and gave me a new appreciation of how good And Justice is...admittedly in comparison with what came later) - like they knew i was coming and put the set together with me in mind. First saw Trujillo with Infections Grooves back in the '90's and while Suicidal Tendencies were pretty thrashy in their day, I never quite got why he joined Metallica. Then the penny dropped, or rather, the massive pile of dollars dropped...all makes perfect sense. And it's always been the case that the best musician in Metallica is the bass player.

Never had that level of delusional snowflakery but did once audition a singer who had a great, obviously trained voice, for, say opera, maybe folk or jazz at a push, not such a great fit for the indy/punk/metal band that we were. So we e-mailed her to say that while we didn't think how she sang on the day was a good fit for how we sounded but she can obviously sing, would she like to try again if she thought she could tailor her voice more to our sound, put a bit more dirt under the fingernails sort of thing. Her reply was a very succinct "why would i waste my time?" Fair enough Sent my fair number of "sorry, we didn't think you were the right fit" even if what we mean is "but you can't even sing!!! what were you doing there in the first place? of course we're not taking you on" But never "sorry we've found someone else" if we haven't as I never fancied having that awkward conversation about why our ad is still up. Though there have been a few awkward ones where people have responded to ads with links to them singing and they just aren't right - it's one thing telling somebody who's auditioned that they haven't got in, but telling somebody that you've heard their tape and don't even want to audition them is a bit of a slap in the face no matter how you dress it up. the best response I ever got was from a guy who was an excellent singer, but who made a real mess of his audition (decided to bin the lyrics and melodies from the demo we sent him to show us his writing skills...only he hadn't actually finished any of the songs so none of it quite worked and certainly wasn't better than what was on the demo; came with a new vocal effects pedal that he wanted to try out so spent half his audition playing about with odd sounds on that rather than showing us that he had a good voice) and rubbed a lot of the band up the wrong way. i was all for giving him another try but was outvoted. he came back to ask for more detail on what we didn't like - not to argue the toss, but he knew he'd messed up and just wanted to know how he could avoid doing it again

Not had to contact them over this sort of thing, but I've never had an issue with Ampeg's Customer Service Dept. Though the only stuff I've contacted them over were more technical "can you explain this to me" type queries. However, of the one's I have contacted over spare parts recently, Marshall won hands down. I needed an unusual-ish replacement switch for an amp they don't make any more, and no amount of Googling could track one down. One e-mail to their CS got me an immediate reply with the part number, price and number that I had to ring in their stores dept to order it - £2.95 + (cost) p&p

my cat, Slaine, loves it when I play acoustic guitar. i have a photo somewhere of him as a kitten standing on the guitar picking at the strings. Does like the bass, if not as much as the acoustic, but loves it when i change the strings as that gives him something metal, shiny and dangling in front of him that clearly must be played with. Like much of his existence, both cute and annoying at the same time.

my last couple of bands did this, for a mixture of reasons. Typically not every session, depending on the band and the reasons we wanted it taped First, for songwriting - we'd hammer out the bones of a song in the rehearsal studio, and would then get a recording of it to work on our parts at home. especially good for lyric writing, and then arrangements once the lyrics were in place. Next for practicing at home. I never really used it for that, but others liked to have a backing track, and each to their own. Finally, for picking out bad playing, poor arrangements, etc. This worked excellently in one band, where we had a very healthy "what's said in the studio stays in the studio" attitude and could just tell each other that we didn't like what they were playing, and we were largely self critical enough to spot what we'd done wrong or could do better before having it pointed out. It's good to get that differentiation between poor playing and poor arrangements, so you can focus on arguing over the arrangements and not the playing. Less well in another where the fragile egos were more on display, so you'd play the recording hoping that the offending musician could hear the issues and fix it themselves, but they rarely did - the very average rhythm guitarist just couldn't hear what he was playing wrong, and the not-bad-but-nowhere-near-as-good-as-he-thought-he-was lead guitarist would just come out with a list of excuses - we taped the one time he fluffed it, the rest of us were too loud so he couldn't hear himself properly, his amp was playing up and he was concentrating on that, the kick drum cue was in the wrong place and that put him off, etc. So, horses for course and if you get something out of it for whatever reason then great, if you don't, it doesn't really matter if somebody else in the band finds it useful.

I had a look here: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/cancel-transaction-process.html somewhat confusingly it says both that you can cancel a sale and also that you entered into a legal agreement to sell the item when you put up the listing. This all seems to be about having to cancel the sale, for instance when the item turns out to be damaged. Nothing explicitly telling people that you can't just change your mind if you don't fancy selling any more. I had a look at the link about eBay's Ts & Cs and that's similarly vague, as are any other on line guides. It seems that everybody agrees that the seller cannot do this...but there's not much you can do to enforce it. The main/only sanction seems to be that the buyer can still leave negative feedback. So I suggest that you do,

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1504188512' post='3363269'] We (singer, bass and drums) were looking for a new guitarist last year (we had gigs booked). We had a reply from a guy who has enough experience and knows whats what. We send him a set list and he says give me a week and we can get together. the day comes and we meet up at our rehearsal studio. He walks in and sets up. Singer. "Did you go over our set, everything ok?" Him: "Sorry, i haven't had time to go over any of them, but i have my set list here, we can do those" Me: "Sorry, i havent had time to go over your list, lets do ours LOL". We look on his ipad and its pretty much songs we know so its all good, but i wonder why he didnt even know we were doing a lot of those. Him: Can i use that mic? (points to singers mic/stand)". What do you play (to singer)?" Singer: "im the singer" Him: "oh, i thought you needed a singer as well" We actual gigged with him for about 6 months, but we had to drop quite a few songs with guitar solos in them, as he was embarrassing. We did learn a few new songs so he could sing them, but his guitar style was just not up to scratch. dry distortion on everything, with a bit more distortion on the louder songs. I appreciate the story isnt as funny as some, but it was one of those 'WTF' moments that beggars belief. The guy he was replacing was good but travelled around the world for work so wasnt reliable, and started to question why were were playing hour and a half sets at social clubs, because thats too long to play without a break and we should insist on no more than 2 x45 mins. He didnt have a bloody clue about the social club gigging circuit. [/quote] I feel your pain. Mostly (as above) from singers, who audition for originals bands saying that they haven't had time to learn any of the songs we sent them a couple of weeks earlier and do we know *some random cover*? Er, no, we don't play covers, let's try one of the ones you're supposed to have been learning (very poor audition follows, always) Or they'll say that they have learned the songs and then demonstrate that they very clearly haven't, singing in the wrong places with no idea of the song's structure or vocal melody. Had one once who did listen to the demo and decided that he would re-write all of the lyrics and vocal melodies - he thought to show off his skills, but as he conceded when i told him that he hadn't got the job, perhaps it was a mistake to not be singing the lines that we would be judging him on, and treating it like a song writing session, to see what worked and what didn't. Although... the best singer I've ever had at an audition was for a covers band. He walks in, says that he's learned a couple from the list we sent him but doesn't know them that well, can he start with Whole Lotta Rosie (one of the first songs we agreed we wouldn't do because it's too hackneyed) just to get warmed up? We all look at each other, everybody except me knows it backwards and I figure that I can busk it well enough, so OK, let's give that a quick run through. He knocks it out of the park. Turns out he was also in an AC/DC tribute band, and now sings the AC/DC parts in Chris Slade's band. He goes outside for a fag and we all look at each other, grin, and agree to ask him to join. I asked him about it afterwards. Told me he knew it was his best audition piece and would get him hired, whereas doing the stuff we'd suggested would be less polished.

nothing like a bit of confidence, but mainly it's good that they were honest, and you should be glad that he told you before you'd hired a studio...the amount of singers I've auditioned that have no experience, don't think they need to bother learning the songs and can't actually hold a tune...

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1504104502' post='3362714'] I could and would if it ever comes to that. The problem is finding bands that like to work as much as possible. Most bands I know of have a lot of restrictions they put on gigging. They don't have the spirit drive or desire to gig a lot like me. Blue [/quote] But that's the bit of networking you're missing - the "band" may not want to work as much as you, but the lead guitarist might, and the drummer from another band might want to do more, etc. Have a chat and ask the players you like some leading questions about whether they see it as a Friday night hobby or whether they'd prefer to be earning money most nights of the week. then when you need to start a band to play every night, you know exactly who to ask. And if you can't find them, it may simply be a readjustment so rather than looking for the one replacement band, perhaps you can find two or three bands that would keep you ticking over.

I'd want the band to fix the stuff that's easy to fix - FB/social media/websites, etc can easily be redone, even if it's just a note to confirm that you've left and there's now someone new in the band. Actually I'd be less bothered about that, unless there was a huge bust up, but I'd expect them to do it for the sake of my replacement. But not hugely bothered either way (unless the band had subsequently done something I strongly disapprove of, like a Combat 88 fundraiser, or a country & western album). the merch isn't an issue for me particularly at my level as it rarely pays for more than costs and a couple of pints, and CDs tend to be used for promotional purposes and given away freely rather than sold. Possibly it helps that I've largely been in bands with mates and things like writing credits have never been disputed as everybody knows who wrote what. Though it's never actually ever been tested, as nothing I've done has subsequently been used for any profit...in fact I've left most of my bands at the point that they break up. I'd like to think that my old band mates wouldn't try to screw me over if that happens, but I'd probably not worry too much, especially if it's just the odd CD sale that I'm missing out on.

I was actually talking about this with a mate at the weekend. We were in an originals band a couple of years ago that got nowhere despite being (though I say it myself) really good musicians, great songs, and with some very experienced players. Since then he's gone back to an old band that has reformed ans has just released an album, done a couple of tours, played a load of festivals and are selling lots of merch. We concluded that you need two key things: 1. A good product; 2. A band leader who has the right contacts and knows exactly how to sell it. back to Blue - you comment that you don't have the network to be able to pick it up again if your current band fell apart, but is this not something you can learn? Shadow the band leader, build up your own book of contacts at the bars you're playing, get together with other bands you bump into, etc

In chronological order: 1. I was at school with Craig Logan of Bros (or as Viz styled him, Ken). A genuinely lovely bloke, and clearly much brighter than the twins. 2. Bought my last Wal from Dean Garcia of Curve, five or six years ago now I think. Again, a really nice guy. 3. Loaned my custom Warwick to a mate who is the lead guitarist in a well known black metal band (well, well known if you know black metal bands) to play on their new album because the bass player was not good enough to be allowed to record (and is now their ex bass player). I was due to get a "thanks for the bass" credit but the band don't want to let the cat out of the bag that the bass player isn't actually on the album, and he is contractually obliged to only play ESPs both live and on all recordings and thanking me for the lend of a bass might give the game away, So I'm just listed in my mate's general "thanks" list. It's now starting to grate a bit with him that the album is getting good reviews and credit is being given to the non-bass player for all of my mate's good work, so when he handed over a nice promo vinyl copy to me at the weekend he scrawled out all of the bass players credits and wrote a "thanks for lending me the Warwick that I played on this album" note

I have loads of pedals on my board, but other than the tuner they're all "just in case I need them" rather than core to my sound. The most commonly used ones are those that make any amp sound (pretty much) like an SVT, for the days when I'm not using my SVT (most days then)

[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1503320305' post='3357157'] I'm not sure context will help! I think the main point is you can do the whole Americana thing without anything that could be interpreted the wrong way, so just drop the confederate flags, nooses and the pillow cases and you'll be fine. [/quote] This. Nobody is going to stay away because you have swapped the confederate flags for something less controversial. Seems like a very easy decision to remove all risk to the band of being labelled as something you didn't intend

[quote name='Damonjames' timestamp='1502185615' post='3349788'] If you are not at the same skill level (and I have had this situation) you need to have musicians that can compliment the shortfall. In my case it helped make the sound! [/quote] It depends, doesn't it? I've certainly developed a lot when playing in bands with people who are better musicians than me, sort of on the job learning. But I've also been in bands with people who are stuck at their level. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the bands dis somewhat level down rather than up. No matter how good the lead guitarist is, if the rhythm guitarist can't get the backing chords right behind the solo then (without wanting to get into another debate about what the audience notices) that's the level you're stuck at. I'm pretty much with Happy Jack here. the best bands I've been in from a personal and professional point of view, are the ones where we were the closest mates, and all played to the relevant musical standard required (and for one in particular it wasn't the highest musical standard, but it was appropriate for the gigs and the audience we were getting)

had the odd occasion when the pub management has changed but at worst it's been finding out a couple of days beforehand when we've rung or e-mailed to check the arrangements that we find that it's under new management who have no idea that you're booked in (or, as is far more common, you ringing reminds the not at all new management that they had booked you to play as well as another band and somebody's got to drop out). The fact that they would let you set up and play before raising the issue is beyond belief. Like any landlord would just let a band play without any clue what they were doing there... chancers. Glad it got resolved

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1501799007' post='3347501'] Extraordinary that an insurance company should be able to diagnose the cause of mental illness so readily when the medical profession itself is often unable to over someone's lifetime!! Even more tenuous the link between marijuana (as opposed to other class B substances) and mental illness. This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact it'd cost them a lot of money to pay out so they owe it to their shareholders to contest the claim as a matter of course? Whatever next? Insurance companies refusing to pay out on motor insurance claims because someone may have used intoxicating substances in the past (even alcohol)! Some of us may have had quite 'interesting' experiences with insurance companies in the past so this will come as no shock!! [/quote] To use this analogy, it's not that they won't pay out if you've taken some substances that are incompatible with driving at some point in the past, it's more likely that being aware of this behaviour, the policy will specify that doing those things while driving will void the cover. Lloyds can't just say "nah, we don't fancy paying out, he was on drugs", they will have specifically stated in the policy that they're not paying out if Kanye ends up cancelling because of drugs. Pretty standard I'd have thought (and as I understand it very standard in the insurance cover for films, with the leading actors having to stay clean, or not getting hired at all - http://www.netquote.com/health-insurance/news/uninsurable-hollywood-stars )

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1501706283' post='3346835'] Something similar. Been getting fed up with the band Im in, so speaking to a drummer mate and suggest we get something together with a singer from his old band. Great idea says he, we can start up the old band. That was 9 weeks ago and after meeting up, phone calls and texts, what has happened? Nowt. These are experienced players who I have know for years not some bedroom players. No wonder people give up on the playing live thing. [/quote] You do always need that one person who's going to grab the reins, book the rehearsal studio and tell everybody "right, we're doing this". In my experience musicians are very good at sitting around complaining that nobody else has organised anything, while doing absolutely nothing to organise anything themselves (and my personal bugbear, the ones who never reply to e-mails or phone calls asking what dates they are free for rehearsals but then loudly complain that the band hasn't practised for ages, like it's all somebody else's fault). If nobody else is going to do then perhaps you need to be that person, tell them all it's happening and get dates when they're free so you can book a studio. Mind you, it is a thankless task.

[quote name='musicbassman' timestamp='1501657157' post='3346195'] Ah - bassists - in my experience:- Turn up on time Play in time Find the time to mend broken leads, stands etc.for everyone else in the band. Find the time to counsel the guitarist whose girlfriend has just left him. Somehow manage to find the time to get the girl singer pregnant (happened to two other bassists I knew) And finally...........find the time to help audition a replacement bassist when he's had enough....................... [/quote] This sort of came up on a PM with another Basschatter a few days ago (in passing) about whether we tend to be more thoughtful and dare i say cerebral than other band members, and while there's possibly an element of "well, we would think that bass players are the most reliable, sensible members of any band wouldn't we" I do wonder if there is something that attracts that type of personality to playing the bass. That while there are plenty of examples of monstrous egos and bad behaviour amongst bass players, in general we understand the importance of servicing the song, not wanting to show off our individual skills with no regard for what anybody else is doing, and by extension we understand the idea of being part of the band, and being more than the sum of its parts better than others.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1501602851' post='3345847'] Yeah, i think my problem stems from "ok to book the room?" And getting the reply "yeah great stuff" fully knowing letting us down on the day meant we'd have to fork out for it. Not "sorry lads, been called in, do you want me to pay my bit?" Not how I'd act. But even though I've stepped in for him and helped out at short notice previously for gigs...he's flaked on me before. And although it's been rare for me, others have said the same. I like the guy, but I won't be musically associated with him again. The keys guy can polish his Nord... [/quote] This. It's one thing to say "sorry, I can't make that night" or "well, I have a lot on so finding the time is going to be difficult/I can only do Sunday afternoons/whatever" but it's something else to announce on the day that you're not showing up when it's too late to cancel the booking. OK, sometimes life gets in the way and there's no way that they can actually make it, but unless it really is a complete emergency I would not be at all forgiving, especially if I'm left picking up their share of the bill. Had one former band mate who was always late to practices, and quite often would ring up when the rest of us were there claiming that he'd been held up and couldn't make it, but sadly didn't have the brains to remember all the lies he'd told (so would tell us that he was two hours late because he'd had to work late, then a couple of weeks later would forget and would let slip that on the night his girlfriend had made him go food shopping and then he'd waited for her to cook him something to eat before setting off for the practice he'd have been on time for had he done the shopping on a different day). It wasn't the reason for sacking him, but it made it very much easier to make up our minds when we sacked him for another reason.