StringNavigator

McCartney's great. Something, Penny Lane... I've never had the need to go to these forums, though. Mostly a "by-ear" player, I'm afraid. Or sheet music. Have they helped you much?

I accept the blocks and censoring with honour, Truth is never well received. Au revoir!

THAT Reggae did not come from English boys... LOL! Location is not culture... Cultural theft to claim that as yours. But Culture can be brought to wherever people of that culture go to work. Transplanted.... by them. But it's not yours. Don't ever think that Reggae is British just because Caribbean people transplant their culture into new Caribbean communities. Britain did not invent everything. Perhaps it stole everything from others. Don't claim another people's cultural music as yours, just because they play it in your country. Your post is the epitome of Cultural Appropriation...

LOL! Sounds like the poster boy for cultural appropriation... You and your fellow islanders have been in the EU for too long. English playing Reggae is like Germans playing Funk... Please don't do it...! Please... From Wikipedia: Cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture. Because of the presence of power imbalances that are a by-product of colonialism and oppression, cultural appropriation is distinct from equal cultural exchange. Particularly in the 21st century, cultural appropriation is often considered harmful, and to be a violation of the collective intellectual property rights of the originating, minority cultures, notably indigenous cultures and those living under colonial rule. Often unavoidable when multiple cultures come together, cultural appropriation can include using other cultures' cultural and religious traditions, fashion, symbols, language, and songs. Suck it up, son...

But this is a Reggae Band... They're not a bunch of Euro boys mimicking Reggae... You're argument has no basis. Reggae comes from Jamaica... No matter what English boys want to believe... The world no loner belongs to you... Stop being so insular. The whole world is not here just for you.

That does not make it yours...

I don't see any cultural appropriation in what you're describing... Do you know the difference between culture and location? Do you often switch the meaning of words to suit your argument? God Save The Queen and Cultural Appropriation...? Really...? Your ancestors have been in the business of cultural appropriation and assimilation for centuries until they nearly wiped out hundreds of cultures and hundreds of peoples. The latest generation of corporate cultural pirates no matter how loud they sing.

Reggae does not come from the streets where you were raised... Pointing out Cultural Appropriation is not racism. Cultural Appropriation is racism. Look in the mirror... It's like informing an addict that he's stealing a man's ideas to gain fame or fortune for himself. All he can reply is "Deny, Deny, Deny!" (Or retaliate by name-calling.) Always remember that name-calling is the last refuge of an empty mind. As I said before, I love and understand Reggae music and play it well. But I would never take to the stage as Euros do and "pretend" like a poseur that it's MY music... That's the very definition of cultural appropriation under the guise of multiculturalism.

LOL! Seven boys in shorts and sandals think they smug 'cuz they pose with two sisters... Damn... This is a good example of Cultural Appropriation Plus +++...And this photo is in defense of what, exactly...? What does this mean...? ""Speaking of playing behind the beat..... 🤨"" ??? An' they look like they never seen the sun in their lives... (And what's that bandana for...? To prevent sweat pouring down his face as he cuts cane in the field...? Does the word "poseurs" come to mind...?

I'm not at all surprised by the smell of smug superiority and self-entitled retaliation. After all, has not the entire world from America to India to Africa suffered under barbaric Colonialism at the point of a gun? "Collecting" artifacts from other nations under the guise of Archeology to make money and stealing music and culture from other nations to make money is an old family tradition, innit...? Being insular can often make one myopic and preclude understanding, as they stumble blindly along the same sin trodden path of their ancestors. Anyone in the world can play European music. That is not Cultural Appropriation in spite of fools who try to turn the argument. Because they never invaded, enslaved or appropriated Euro culture. But to witness a young well-fed Euro musician cavorting around a stage in dreadlocks with jerk chicken in one hand and a guitar in the other shouting Jamaican patois and trying hard to copy Caribbean music like Calypso, Ska, Reggae and Rock Steady is the very definition of Cultural Appropriation. It's truly an embarrassment, innit...? It's "in the blood" of some and the DNA of others to regard the culture, aspirations, freedom and even lives of people of the Caribbean to be somehow "owned" by them; the Smell of Smug... If Reggae was fair game for Britz, they would not have to seek instruction in how it should be done. Do you need to ask how to play a Beatles tune or one by the Bay City Rollers? No. Because in those two cases you are not stealing someone else's culture. We had a case in Canada recently, of an European artist who made a career out of copying Innuit Art. Once the Innuit brought it to light, patrons ceased to buy it. Thousands of people realised the extent of Cultural Appropriation. It was high theft. Mass production of Innuit Art by Europeans with the profits going elsewhere. I guess millions still cannot understand. It's like trying to tell a European lad in 1776 that slavery is a high crime... Bands I've been in, when considering repertoire, have taken a pass on I Shot The Sheriff knowing how foolish it would look on stage. "Whee! Look at me! I'm a Reggay Man!"... European tourists in the Caribbean DO NOT want to see Europeans playing steel pan or Calypso or Reggae. That is fact, not opinion. However, they can buy a steel pan and take it home for personal enjoyment. But don't try and perform in public and turn a buck out of Caribbean music. Or any other people's music. Speaking out on Cultural Appropriation is not racism. Hiring Euro lads to play Reggae is. Why can't you hire people who are of the culture you are trying so hard to assimilate? Multiculturalism never ever meant that you could turn a profit by selling other people's culture. Go and play a Jig or copy The Beatles in a look-alike band. Reggay is the culture and religious belief of millions of people living in the Caribbean. It's not just a Pub song for someone's drunken enjoyment.

That's because they have a culture of their own. And they like it! (Big fan of the pied-pipers, I am...!)

No, but it helps... However, Bach is an exponent of European music from its classical era. Even English people can play it. Going back to the OP's initial query; sometimes a small example is worth a thousand words in how not to play the Reggay. (Don't watch the entire tediously cringe-worthy clip.Italian spaghetti and Reggie band. How good can it get in the UK, eh...? ) OK, Me Lads...! Show 'em how much rhythm we can muster! Let's all go do a really cool Reggie number, now...!!

You need to go to Reggae School! Search "Devon Bradshaw" on YouTube. I would make a playlist of Reggae songs to listen to. It's really about listening first. And there's lot's to be learned, so don't beat yourself up about it. And there's a philosophy behind it that needs to be absorbed. In Classic Rock, the bass line is most often the harmonic skeleton of the entire song from start to finish. In Reggae, the bass player and drummer each have a "part" or function. The parts must lock-in. It's mostly an improv style, but records lead one to believe that there's a static bass line, when it's really the best parts of an improvisation The bass player is playing "congas" more that a melodic ostinato bass line. You have to "bubble" and leave space; you're no longer the ostinato glue for the harmonic changes. The guitar "stabs" take care of the changes, but the vocals do the most of the harmony.. Personally, if I only had to play only one reggae song, and have to do all the work to incorporate that style into my playing I'd change out the band for another that wants to play music closer to my natural cultural inclinations or music that I was raised with. Who in the band is pushing this one song? But that's just me. I play Reggae on my own with records because I had lots of R&B in my childhood years, and I like the feel. I'm not forced into it by a band dictator. Playing Reggae with other English lads in public just reeks of CA (Cultural Appropriation). Next they'll all be sporting dreadlocks along with their Doc Martins. Unless the audience is clamouring for more Reggae, what is their point? "Wheee, look at me!" "I'm English and I can play Reggae!" There's so many great local Reggae bands, who live and breathe Caribbean Culture, that it just looks like your band is trying to edge them out. I'd feel ridiculous doing it in public. I was once slammed with CA for playing upright in a Dixieland band. But I AM Dixieland in my heart, and it's origins are mixed. So I just laughed at him for being so jealous that he couldn't play his own musical heritage as well. I have lots of time for Bob Marley, but I have no time for Eric Clapton. One sounds warm; the other sounds cold. I wouldn't play Reggae as a band unless I was actually born in the Caribbean. Anyone not actually born there is going out of their way, and is a fake, a foolish wannabee. But, you won't go wrong listening to the "Devon Bradshaw" videos. I'd just play Reggae at home.

Grief! Makes one wonder why they even hired a band. Who could foresee that? Must have been a long night...

Rule 3: Put the plug in the hole. Rule 4. Turn on your amp! Rule 5. Wake up the drummer. Rule 6. Tell the guitard you're seeing his old girlfiend. Rule 7. Wake up the drummer.

Be very, very careful! I would never pass my coax through a strap. It unplugs for a reason. What if you fall down... and your amp gets pulled off the top of the speaker stack and falls down on your drummer's head...?! And then the weight of the amp falling yanks you across the stage and your bass gets embedded in your lead guitard...? Oh, it's all fun and games until someone pokes an eye out! Just look at this scene, where buddy tripped and fell after catching on fire at 4:19 and pulled down the whole stage! I'd bet he just let's it dangle naturally, now. If you have an extra long cable, simply coil it on the floor.

Nobody better ask how that got there! (Everyone has to analyse everything...)

In Toronto, they want you to bring enough people in BEFORE you even get the gig (your parents, their friends, your family and you have to make the bar happy. So mommy and daddy "help" make little Bobby's dream come true...). Some guarantee "exposure"... Some you have to man the door and collect a cover, which you then have to split with the club... There's so many musicians playing for free, hoping to be "discovered", that even festivals and the like will give you only $50 and that's that. And there's all these "charity" gigs for this and that, where you "volunteer". God knows where that money goes. I suspect it's merely a gimmick to attract patrons, avoid taxes and lower expenses. It's pitiful. I've lived in Canada coast to coast and there's no worse place for musical income than Toronto. There's a few Community Orchestras, but you have to pay in and become a dues paying member (the conductor gets paid). You're really lucky to make $35 each on a paying gig. And there's no emphasis on lighting. It doesn't matter how good you are. There are some Greek restaurants who pay accordionists with some accompaniment, but only big names from the US make any money at the larger venues. If a large venue hires Toronto bands, the American agents will "black-ball" your establishment, and you'll lose patrons. There's not very many musicians in southern Ontario. It's not in their culture. We're getting American musicians now, running from Trump. Aussies have a club, but it's really for Aussies. Multicultural here means stay with your own culture. LOL! Chinese, Italian, European and Caribbean cultures all have their own music scene here, weddings and bistros, but you have to be ethnically related to be a part of it. Or else you'll be accused of "cultural appropriation". I, myself, was accused of this for playing upright in a New Orleans style Dixieland band. Go figure. I'd live somewhere else, but at my age I'm tied into the health care system, and they'd halve my pensions. I get really jealous when I see other musicians around the world mixing it up. But I think in the UK and Ireland you have a large tourism industry that keeps establishments in business. As real estate values rose in a crowded Toronto, rent became a nightmare and many venues closed. Same for gas stations. The Silver Dollar Room was popular, but they closed down last month. (Not big on décor.) The Cadillac Lounge closed. Small stage, but they've had Wanda Jackson sing there. The El Mocambo is closed. (Mick and the boys at the El Mocambo getting in shape for their tour. No need for local bands...) The Roxy's gone. It was a dump anyway. The Reverb... gone. And to think that KD Lang & The Reclines started out here... Most Torontonians go to New York or Chicago so they don't consider music as a local thing, unless it's Paul McCartney at the Air Canada Centre.

Ain't retirement grand? I have no controls at all on my hours. Sometimes I sleep for two days, LOL! Then I can't get to sleep at all.

Hard to believe that music was once a profession. It really depends on where you live, often. In Ontario, Canada, gigs are rare and you're lucky to get some money for gas. Usually you'll play for free. But when I lived on the West Coast on Vancouver Island, the place was hopping mad with live music on Thurs-Sat. All types, but mostly danceable music from Rock to Country. Lots of jazz, too. But those people back there and then in the 70's were very sociable and went out a lot. So much has changed. Anyway, hope you're still playing with a band. That's always good. Even if you play somewhere for free, it's ok. Like a hobby. That's the way I'm trying to go. Good luck to you!

Forgive me for prying, but is there probably more going on here than meets the eye. Trade Show? Bachelorette Auction for Charity? Cruise Ship?

Isn't ignorance grand? Then when we're 66, we get to relive everything in 20-20 memory and regret everything we did or didn't do.

I don't mention it on my resume. We were young. We never told our parents. We still got spankings in those days. It was an incentive to leave home. The funny thing is, the girls were respected. In spite of cavorting on tables, knocking over your beer while doing the hoochie-koochie, but nothing untoward went on. Just stay out of the way of the big dogs and you'd get home in one piece.

If you don't feel like reading, just pass this one by. Nothing is simple anymore. Montreal, 1971, Shed 25. Owned by a football player (Montreal Alouettes) down by the docks (where the large storage sheds were numbered). At night, the area was so dark you had to be careful carrying gear. There was nothing else around but a small restaurant 5 or 6 blocks away where you had to swim through the snow drift as you went down several steps with red and green neon lights flashing in the snow. I remember fueling up on cheap scotch, fried eggs and two cups of coffee. The waitress was Muriel with the nice smile. An establishment feeding beer daily to longshoremen and motorcycle gangs. Long torn down. We were 15/16 and it was our blues band with blues harp: Messin' With The Kid, Jumpin' Jack Flash/Johnny Winter and Johnny B Goode. Don't even tell your parents about it. By day it was the hangout of the notorious Dubois Freres Gang. Lucky for us they never were around at night. The women wore nothing and were very young. It was all new to me then. They used to rush us when we came in saying, "Ooh! Les Musiciens! Gadze! Gadze!" There were actually very sweet. The older ones were much more street savy. The customers were all old enough to be daddies, but their tips probably fed them. This was when Montreal had been long established as an open city and just before the modesty laws were instituted. First time we saw bouncers in action. Some drunk decided to argue football with the owner. They took him outside. They came back in without him. We got nosey between sets and witnessed more blood on cement than we imagined possible from one guy. We were going to ask for more money. Another night I sensed something while playing, only to see this hand twice the size of mine playing along the neck with me. Everyone was laughing. I felt like Pee-Wee Herman in the bikers bar. I was glad when he finally sat down. It was the Outlaws having a beer stop. The old guys driving the little sidewalk sized snow plows would drive like speed demons down their routes and then stop in for a couple of hours to have a few beer and sell pot. Then we had to play for women who were auditioning their dance routine. We'd play Help Me Baby and Green Onions. They liked it. It was mind boggling for a teenager. I can still smell the tobacco and beer stained carpet if I think on this too long. I don't think this routine exists anywhere today, except maybe Calcutta or the Barbary Coast. We split $40 for each night, six nights a week and stopped after three weeks as we all had day jobs. That's my lurid little tale of musical debauchery. Now tell us what the cute lady is doing with the price tag around her neck...?.

You are so right, Josie. We can't be our best forever. And it's best we should realise that early, to motivate the fire within while we can. Every protagonist unwittingly treads the parabolic path... Introduction-Struggle & Grief-Peaking-Decline-Cessation. Even Our Lord did so. He never stopped until they stopped Him. But I pray that we all get the chance to dance the pizzicato until the day we feel that tap on the shoulder... And you, sir, are 70! I hope you bop till you drop! Congratulations. I'm just behind you and I've just joined a bar band. How can you possibly get it out of your system? I think my last day will be when I pluck the E string and it doesn't make a sound...