dontregartha

Played in the Wig and Pen Northampton town centre last night (Friday). It was 'payday so the pub was rammed. Its not a big place so we set up across the back of the bar. Bear in mind we are a seven piece (Guitar, Bass Drums, Keys, Percussion and two girl singers). The show went down really well, though I had a couple of real tarts off their heads dancing in the 4 foot gap between me and the bar and crashing into me constantly. The poor pot wash lad was struggling to get past them. At one point to move them on I turned my back and pushed and pushed back against them to flatten them against the bar, which worked for a while. I'm not sure, but I think one of them hit his head on my headstock and might be feeling a bit of 'P Bass rash' this morning, but I couldn't possibly comment on that. Three sets, three o'clock bed time and a parking ticket when unloading.... The rock and roll life - huh? Here's a clip of the night about halfway through - Lovely day (we play it in A for the singer) - Oh and the two guys dancing are not the above mentioned 'Tarts' but two members of our 'Family' - Margaret (our biggest fan) and Wes - who will be joining the vocal line up soon. - but you can see the size of the gap!!

No that's off the phone audio - this is the Zoom https://soundcloud.com/fun-k-222447292/goodtimesmf There's a bit of lipping as the levels hadn't been set correctly but you get the idea.

My current band I had two auditions playing about half the set. Then a drummer audition with two drummers each doing the same 8 numbers. Then straight into the first gig at the beginning of November. Since then I've played about a dozen shows and about six rehearsals and i reckon we're pretty tight now. But I learn the material before walking in the practice room and I practice an hour a day most days. Its similar to my experience with amateur theatre - I used to join shows where they would rehearse for about 6 months and put on a really wobbly show at the end of it, no-one learned their lines until the bitter end. Then I joined an arts club group with a pro director and several ex pro actors and a couple of serious amateurs. We would use scripts for the read through then be off the book by the first rehearsal then after about 10-12 rehearsals (Shakespeare as well...) in four weeks we were on stage. As a student, the theatre group did shows in half that time. Its about commitment and application. i've also done shows with bands where none of us have played together and some of us have never met before walking on stage!

I thought for a moment I knew you there - It must be another drummer like that!

One thing that I will add is that reading also goes with writing. I've played with a horn section and they need dost to follow otherwise its a mess. The lead horn, a sax player, would improve the parts and then scribble them down and arrange the trumpet part at the same time - very impressive and helped the overall sound immensely. It also helped them to remember what they did the next time. I have to rely on the recordings I make at rehearsal to capture the 'off piste' ideas,

That could work Marc - send the low bass DI int the PA, especially if you've got decent subs.

Great stuff!... we had a real struggle getting the dep drummer... everyone we knew was busy (or having a lie down in a dark room!) Next gig on the 26th at the Wig and Pen in Northampton

Here's a taste... I don't normally stand in the middle - its just that we had Julie who is joining the vocal team along and she used my mike.

Welcome Spikey - I bi-amp my Ricky when recording at home. I don't gig with the Ric often - I play in a soul/motown/funk band so i use a mexican P bass which I'm not so paranoid about damaging! The sound from the bi=amp setup - I do it Chris Squire style with an over driven toppy amp on the top pickup and a real round bottom sound on the bottom pick up. Awesome. I have tried it live, but neither of my bass amps is massive on the bottom end and its a bit of a faff dragging two amps around. Interestingly I too have an Hartke 112c which has some good tone shaping that suits the Rick - I do find that the tone does drift away as the levels creep up during an evening and it starts to 'hollow out' - the best way I can describe it. The other consideration is I'm a finger player - never really got on with picks so that may have a bearing. But my Ric (midnight blue) is my baby and I love it to bits.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes! First gig since NYE last night - busy pub restaurant - the Whitehills in Northampton. Dep drummer - was spot on. PA nicely set up - playing at a good level, but not to loud - so could hear everything. Packed house - great crowd. Listening back to the recording ( I record everything on my zoom!!) - we were very good value

mmm - fair point

Oh Mike.... what joy.... the Missus shares your bass acquisition habit - "clear the spare room"

My two penn'orth The squeaky tinny, rattly sound is probably the natural sound of the guitar - its more about the output signal - maybe you should practice with headphones so you don't get the ambient guitar sound.

Played a wedding with the soul band on NYE. Arrived early, as get in was supposed to be at 5.15 - The guests were seated in the room for the wedding breakfast and didn't clear the room until 6.30 - just about got all the kit rigged (backdrop, lights, PA etc...) at 7.15 without warning, - the guests flood back in and the DJ starts ' the first dance' - we hadn't even powered up - so no sound check in a room that has the accoustics of a toilet and a nasty set of feedback notes. We did the first couple of numbers without monitors on the vocals as the sends hadn't been switched through, we gave up on the kit mikes as there was no way we could set them up - eventually it settled down and we got through 3 x 40 minutes - crowd and father of bride happy - and we got paid!

Out with the 6 piece soul band last night. Did a pub/restaurant gig last night which meant no soundcheck, though we pretty much keep the desk as is most gigs. except the bloody drummer starts whinging about the kick drum not being loud enough in the subs ( a regular whinge - we once spent two hours at a venue fannying around with that - the issue is isolating the kick mike from the on stage bass sound so we start getting feedback). Anyhow he'd turned up late an was whinging about the space for the kit and how we'd agreed to slice a bit off the money to add an extra girl singer - which made a great deal of difference. Drummer played half the first set like a tw*t with no effort at all - then when the percussionist had a word started playing like a madman so I ended up putting the ear protection in. I'm fed up with having my eardrums shredded by maniac cymbal playing. Punters had a great night and they were dancing from the start to the finish, but today I feel knackered after 30 mile 1.30 am drive home. Rant over

because they're piano players, not keyboard players - drives me mad too, we auditioned one guy recently for 1st keyboard dep, who was playing bum notes all over on the bass - and i was getting the crap from the rest of the band for not learning my parts!! Will be playing with him next friday, will need to have another word.

Hi Keefaz - you'll get lots of recommendations on gear etc, but your Squier should be OK, until you're up to speed on your playing. My two pence worth is start practicing to a beat of some sort - a recording, a youtube clip, a click, a drum track, sequencer, whatever. Whilst the guitarist can wander off the beat, it really does sound shite if the bass player does. So when you get into the habit of 'locking' with the drummer/beat you'll start to sound like a pro. Oh and get a tuner - bass can be difficult to accurately tune by ear.

I watched for 20 minutes, but drifted away - sure, it's awesome looping work and he has it off to a T, but a band would have engaged me much more. This is ja bit too much like busking.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1498509116' post='3325164'] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_VIub6YZ-0[/media] [/quote] 'nuff said

[quote name='Agwin' timestamp='1498419007' post='3324473'] Disco couldn’t be further removed from my usual cup of tea if it tried but, my God, this is sheer class! [/quote] Oh my god, try it - its a revelation - Chic/Rogers numbers are fundamentally guitar grooves - we've ended up having about 5 in our set!! BTW - Jerry Barnes - has carved his place in Chic - Bernard Edwards was THE man, but JB is seriously capable of keeping Nile in the groove.

They shouldn't fear the oldies - we can rock the bollocks off the best!

yeah.... like it

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1468063109' post='3088366'] I have found Brass players are Lazy musicians ...period, and if you let them get away with it they will opt for dots because they dont have to learn the songs, this looks pants, no one wants to look at players staring at notes it dissociates them from the audience and the band, as they are not interacting with the band or the audience, they are slaves chained to whats infront of them. ...shoe gazers look crap no matter how good they are, so do people staring at stands. [/quote] With you all the way there. As the bass player in a seven piece Funk Band - apart from our keys player who must be some kind of octopus...! the bass player has a sh*t load of stuff to learn for a set. But you have to learn it so you can then start to FEEL it and lock with the drummer. You can't do that if you're reading the dots or tabs. Yeah a good horn player makes it come alive and I know they need the dots to work well together, but learning it is the only way.

I shall certainly look for the mic next time!

Had my first experience of this last night. Did a return booking with my Funk/Disco band. It was a noisy town centre pub - listening back to the recording (I record everything all the time on my Zoom) - we are just holding our own over the crowd noise and chatter. But we play stuff like 'we are family, boogie nights, run free, good times, celebration' - how the hell are you going to get the audience to sit down and listen... they want to get up and 'get down on it' Boom off goes the limiter.... 4 times. As john Cooper Clarke once put it... "Like a death at a Birthday party, you spoil all the fun"