musicbassman

Oh, that's excellent - haven't seen that one before 😁 Here it is :

All epiiptment

I would definitely avoid a start-up band if I was you, @fiatcoupe432, because unless the others were already top notch players with plenty of experience and contacts the band won't be up to speed very quickly. If you're going for a job with an already well established band who have plenty of well paid work then there's going to be some pretty fierce competition for the job. Having excellent chops and loads of experience is a given, so maybe you can offer backing vocals as well? - always handy. If a functions band is a completely new scene for you, bear in mind that this sort of band is just part of the scenery at most functions and there's often a lot of hanging about well out of sight for many hours after setting up. Sometimes you're treated extremely well by the hosts, other times you're just regarded as 'staff' and have to remember your place. And, as @JoeEvans says, if you're able to play several hundred standards straight off in any given key that can also help..........

Hmmm - this could be a tricky one, Mick. Sounds like a great idea but some drummers don't take too kindly to other musicians suggesting ideas they might like to try, so lots of diplomatic skills required..... Also, some drummers (and other musicians also) really haven't listened to any new music since about 1995. I worked with a decent enough drummer a few weeks ago but I made the mistake of mentioning the Amen break - and he'd never heard of it. Maybe you could try listening to a new song the band are thinking of trying and work on it together, rather than picking holes in material you already play ?

That's excellent, @Mickeyboro, you look like you're one step closer to heaven ! 🙂 Hope to get to see your band sometime 👍

A very well written and thoughtful piece, even if a little depressing. I've been in bands at various levels since the early 70's, it was always a hard career path to choose but seems pretty well impossible now. I'm glad I stepped off the treadmill of trying to 'make it' after I'd been playing for about ten years and settled for being a reasonably successful weekend warrior ever since. It's had it's highs and lows, but I still get a huge buzz out of doing a successful gig and getting opportunities to work with really great musicians. 🙂👍

Spotted on Facebook.

I had to read that sentence several times before I was sure of what I was reading ! Is this a wind up ? 😲

I mean this very politely and respectfully, but isn't it interesting how one bass players idea of an 'awesome' sound is another bass players 'nightmare 'sound ? I would hate to have my bass sound like that on stage ! Obviously, many other opinions are available........... (ducks and runs for cover...........)

Yes, always, always, follow the singer when it comes to arrangements getting messed up. But if they start off in the wrong key, then a car crash is pretty inevitable, as there's no undo button. Best to bring things to a halt, make a joke about it, and start again, and thoughts and prayers they'll get it right second time round. 😬

Errrr - no. It's Paddy McAloon, his brother, the frontman and songwriter, who has the hearing issues, poor guy.

Oooh, I hope there's going to be a bass solo ! 😁👍

Always been a huge admirer of this band. I always felt they did themselves no favours by deciding on such a silly name - I mean, most band names are pretty silly, but Prefab Sprout is on another level ! Anyway, never mind 'out popped cookie' - what I want to know is - who was Paddy's 'Tuppentup friend' ???

Interesting topic. Did a dep gig last weekend and it was my first experience working with a band just as described by @stewblack - a click and full backing tracks, verbal cues, the works. I'm sure the end result was OK out front (they had a regular sound engineer who came to their gigs) but a most peculiar slightly other worldly experience on stage as relying entirely on IEM's and not a lot of eye contact for cues. This was a pro standard wedding/functions band and this set up was an absolute standard for them - they made it perfectly clear what I could expect when they offered me the gig, and I only got the gig because I took a deep breath and said I'd be happy to work like this 😬 Much to my relief, they seemed pleased enough with the end result

Any excuse for showing a bit of Rob Mullarkey. Here, he's playing his interpretation of Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' with the wonderful Natalie Williams on vocals.

Rob Mullarkey, my No 1 favourite player! 🙂 What an excellent, informative (and lengthy) video, well worth an hour of any BCers time.

Just take a listen to the first couple of minutes of this. Pure punk !

I'm 'blessed' with having a resting face that always looks slightly grumpy or annoyed, but this has absolutely nothing to do with my actual mood. Not a lot I can do about this, and I don't think it's done me any favours over the years......... This pic was taken at a gig a few weeks ago and is about as close as I can manage to get to a smile! 😬 👍

For anyone needing a quick breakdown of exactly what an IR is, here's a useful video from Adam Steel:

😊😊😊😊 👍👍

Mastery, and also a little sorcery at work here, surely. 😊 👍 And then there's a few comments below from people who simply don't understand ebb and flow, and nuanced syncopation....... ..."minor timing errors in the bass"........... ......"completely lacking in any pocket".............. 😳 and look out for a lovely bit of bass nonsense at 3.05, even Fagen must have cracked a little smile at that.

.....until you have to 'cos you've got severe cramp 🥺........but it's certainly a great riff. I can manage about 4 minutes of it before my fingers admit defeat ! 😳

Oh, what a great song! - and Anthony Jackson on bass. Always happy to play this, it never gets stale.

1970, and this is embarrassing. I’ve possibly done a couple of thousand gigs by now, and pretty well all are forgotten, but you always remember the first, don’t you ? This was in Exeter, and my first proper gig at 18. I was playing a Danelectro Longhorn bass through a Linear Concord amp and an old Selmer 2x15 cabinet. The band had rehearsed in the local church hall since forever, but I don’t think the songs were getting any better. I can remember playing Taste’s ‘What’s Going On’, Hendrix’s ‘Cross Town Traffic’ and Cream’s ‘White Room’ amongst others. We got a gig in a local youth club about a mile from the church hall where we’d been rehearsing and also kept our gear, but as we had no means of transport we were seriously planning on CARRYING the gear the mile long walk to the club. Then realised at the last minute this was a completely daft idea, so managed to persuade a reluctant builder neighbour to take us there in his van. The club was full of bovver boys/skinheads and their girls, who were all wearing identical short coats which I seem to think were called Crombies or something like that. They scowled at us as we set up and things didn’t get any better. We’d only played four or five numbers (which had been completely ignored by the audience) when the doors burst open and a rival gang of skinheads from another club turned up and a full scale brawl quickly ensued, chairs and tables flying everywhere. To try and continue playing would have been pointless. After a short while the local police turned up and cleared the place. We were paid £8. £5 went to the builder for the van, and as this was pre-decimal times we were left with 15 shillings each.