musicbassman

I remember asking a drummer at an audition whether he could read. He blushed a bit and said he could, but not very well even now, he'd had to have extra lessons at school.......................................

Yes, and Amen to all of the points above - but one more thing........... at rehearsals.................PLEASE PLEASE don't keep noodling around on your kit whilst we're trying to check out harmonies, or checking chords, riffs etc - JUST SHUT UP FOR FIVE MINUTES.......er......please ??? It drives us crazy!

I remember quite a few local bands/musos coming unstuck at the millenium, including myself - we'd agreed a massive fee provisionally with an upmarket country club but then they hardly sold any tickets - I think they'd assumed that people would pay £200 per head without really thinking it through - so they kept delaying signing a contract (we'd played there before and this was a direct booking, no agent) and then the whole show ended up being cancelled early December. So instead of earning serious money we ended up with nothing................ a bad way to start the new century! This was one situation where an agency gig would have made good sense.

Back in the '70's, one of the bands I worked with had just started a 3 month tour of the USAF bases in Spain. My Wallace amp - which was considered the Rolls Royce of amps back then - blew up spectacularly on the second night and there was no spare amp to use. I won't go into detail of the convolutions we went through to continue with the gigs, but it was not good. Also, around the same decade at a University gig..............the band was just about to go on stage when someone knocked a heavy ride cymbal over and it hit the stage at the exact point where the roadie had carefully gaffered down three mic cables, severing all three..................... I could go on..........e.g.. arriving at a gig 100 miles away and realising my bass was still sitting in my London flat................ ...................................... arriving at a gig and realising the roadie had left all the mic stands behind - we improvised with the club's cleaners mops stood up in their buckets and gaffa tape.............I'm not joking..................

Well, I'm not usually a big fan of rock, but what about this from Cardiacs? If you're not familiar with this, then the legendary 'impossible to play' guitar solo is at 3.24.

You have to distinguish between 'entertainers' and musicians. There's a lot of pretty egoistic stuff on YouTube to wade through, and some of it is bxxxxy annoying, but as a learning resource it's still unequalled. Where else can you compare 8 bass players each doing their own covers of even fairly straightforward songs like Steely Dan's 'Josie' ? The general standard of bass playing is so high now compared to the average player 20 years ago it still amazes me, and I think the internet is the main reason. And some players are so good they don't need to go attention seeking - just check out anything where Rob Mullarkey is on the bass - what a supreme talent!

i did a lot of high-end function work in London back in the '80's. I can think of two occasions where the event overran so much with after dinner speeches etc that the band never played at all. Obviously we still got paid, but it did all seem a bit pointless.

Golden rule for weddings - ALWAYS hide the drumsticks, as there'll always be someone who wants to come on stage and show off while the band's taking a break, especially after a few beers.

Hard? Call that hard? We used to rehearse in t'paper bag in middle of road.....................

......" We recorded our first album last night"............ - didn't take long then! ......" a karate themed memorial service for the Titanic".......... - obvious fake ad, but brilliantly composed, so internet win in any case. The cassette sellotaped onto the ad is just perfect.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1508870877' post='3395048'] I tried that... too many bum notes. [/quote] Yes, the general level of playing is pants ..........

Bandmix ?

I use the Vox and it's very good - but I use some decent Sennheiser headphones with it. Maybe invest in some decent phones first?

Can we just clarify something? Are we talking about taking the measurement with the E string held down at the first fret position when taking the measurement (like you would when checking if the truss rod needs adjusting) - or are we talking about the measurement with the string unrestricted - i.e just an open string?

Knower - Overtime (Live Band sesh) Sam Wilkes - bass on another level, or from another planet. It would take me a week to work out what he's doing here, let alone play it.

Just hope your singer doesn't sing as flat as the original....................

A Musicman 5 string I owned back in the '80's. Good to play physically, and I persevered with it for a good while, but it only ever had one sound, and that was the dead plank sound................. Possibly why they're still not worth a great deal now compared to the old 4 strings.

Yup, it sounds 'wrong' to me also - but hey - is this really important? The overall laid back feel to the line is the important thing!

Well. it's a 'clever' bass line and it agrees musically with notes in the slightly odd chords - but I also agree with OP that it doesn't quite work. Sorry, but i also think it's a pretty naff song compared to 'We don't talk anymore' which Alan Tarney also wrote around the same time.

Back in the day there were what were called 'rehearsal bands'. You met up with a regular group of similar minded players to work on material you liked just to improve your own playing, work together and learn from others. Having just taken up playing again after a 16 year break I've joined a South Coast based 'musicians collective' - which is basically a rehearsal band. It's great, an ideal way of making contacts and improving technique, and no big egos involved. Yet when I've mentioned the term 'rehearsal band' to other people they've no idea what I'm talking about. Maybe some musos think the term 'rehearsal band' is demeaning or sounds amateur. To me, if a band is rehearsing regularly but has no intention of gigging then it's...............a rehearsal band! So why don't people just say that?

What might throw you is the different acoustics - If a band's been rehearsing in the same practice room for ages and then you're suddenly in an echo-ey hall it can be very distracting, and for bass players a hollow stage can give all sorts of false harmonic information making it difficult to monitor your own playing. If you've got a small rig, getting it up off the floor can help with this.

In 1977, I was invited to audition for a new backing band, for a new singer signed to Stiff Records. I'd never heard of him, he was a complete unknown with a weird name............. The audition date clashed with my long awaited driving test date, so I didn't go........... His name was Elvis Costello...................

Yes, just listened through to quite a bit of her material, not a genre I'm familiar with TBH but very impressed. Feels like this is music from a couple of decades into the future. I don't begin to understand it but it's quite captivating.

Yes, back in the day there was a massive stigma against anything 'post CBS' - and whilst I agree that when the accountants moved in to slash costs in the early '70's quality took a dive, to suggest that quality went downhill the very day CBS took over is clearly nonsense. From an investment point of view, I guess the pre CBS would be a better bet. But if it plays like a worn out old dog and you're planning on buying something to actually use rather than hanging on the wall then choose the '72.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1501581548' post='3345610'] Funny you should mention it. I have been in lots of bands, as a drummer, a guitarist and as a bassist, so no agenda. Had lots of problems with vocalists, and other musicians, but never with a bassist. Is it just me? [/quote] 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.......................