Stub Mandrel

The ability to learn fast is a skill to be learned. Now I have experience of jam nights (playing things blind with modest expectations) and depping (learning or refreshing 25-35 songs, with limited time, maybe no rehearsal with expectation of a quality performance) my attitude to bands learning songs has changed. I left a band after a year of honing things forever... The blues rock band I'm in, we will try and rehearse a song once or twice before playing it, but sometimes we will just jam something. This is largely down to knowing each others' style and habits so we can react on the fly; somee of our well rehearsed stuff is often different every time, although things like Radar Love are pretty much note for note every time. For more standard covers stuff, I think four or five new songs is perfectly reasonable for anyone, assuming a modest period to prepare. Ten is doable, if people are willing and able to put in the time, but some will struggle. Just two or three is barely worth the effort. As for number of rehearsals, just make sure they are for getting polished and used to playing together, not learning (the exception is if you all agree a new song and gave a shot at busking it).

Share youtube video links of the arrangements you will play. Note any variations. This is what I do.

We have lots of ways of describing the sound of different amps and cabs. Dark, bright, responsive, woolly, tight, spacious, aggressive, boomy, light, refined... It's also apparent that many brands have a 'sound'. Possibly Orange is classic UK without being heavily distorted. Trace Elliot is clean and scooped. Markbass is very clean and flat. Or not... It would be interesting to try and get some easily understood interpretations of these terms, that make them easier to apply more objectively. Armed with such terms , then to profile popular amps to help people visualise what they actually sound like. Thoughts? Definitions? Characterisations? Just share ideas for now, organisation might come later!

Hi, it was the Marquis Arms. Looks like I may have 2 or 3 more later in the year over your way. 👍

It is wrong to suggest that looks aren't a factor. An instrument could be the finest, well crafted, hand finished, Smithsonian worthy example of its kind - if that instrument is a Jazz bass, it can get in the bin. Thing is looks are very much personal taste. Show me an Alembic covered in points, twirls, inlays and an overabundance of knobs and I'll reject it out of hand as fugly steampunkery. But I have no doubt it would play and sound great.

Dep over the far side of Swansea, hours drive each way! Most of the setlist was playing on the jukebox, which showed that we were going to go down well. Fourth gig for this band so all went ok, broke my 'number of bvs sung' record! Took my little Hohner B2 as backup, played four or five songs on it for fun. It's LOUD. First time I've gigged it since the 90s!

Presents I've given and received included Blackstar Bass Amplug, Joyo 10w bass amp, custom embroidered strap, Blackstar Fly extension cab, various pedals. Also, don't underestimate how nice it is to have a REALLY good lead or two. Another idea - no musician should be without a decent mic. An SM57 or SM58 will do for miking up and vocals.

I had a Squier bass where thetruss rod would slacken over time. I realised the anchor at the body end was pulling into the wood. There was a small gap at the end of the skunk stripe in the heel (I had expected to need to drill it). I slackened off the truss rod and pumped in a good dose of cyanoacrylate to reinforce the wood and the anchor. Several years on it hasn't had to be adjusted since I sorted it.

The way I play Can't Stop, in the bridge there's an F# on the 14th fret I struggle to reach with my little finger. I could play it on the A string or use my ring finger but habit... Usually in this situation I just swing the neck more vertical and that allows me to reach round.

Get some baggy slacks 😎

I've said this before... the correct strap length ensures the buckle rash is centred on the back of the body.

Well PLA is plant-based so ideal for a veggie like me.

Me too, I am great at engineering designs but the 'organic' shapes you csn do in Blender or similar elude me.

The hex pattern is very popular. Personally I am interested in the potential 3D printing offers to incorporate wild designs and textures ... battling spaceships, dinosaurs, fractals, logos, who knows what....

I would never have had the courage to dep without having done some jams. The two key points are (1) no one dies and (2) usually someone leads the song who wants to do it and unless it's really well known everyone else is flying by the seat of their pants, not just you. I once had the conductor of a symphony orchestra explain the detailed structure of his guitar song to me and a drummer. We just looked at each other and managed to dive in at the right point. The rest was guesswork...🤣

It would be fascinating to know the in-company perspective on these. It's been widely reported that Fender upped production to cope with post-covid demand and did well but over-produced, hence the reductions. It does seem that the quality of these Squiers is broadly comparable to at least MIM and maybe entry level MIA Fenders. It will be interesting to see what prices do in coming years. I see the Jaguar short scales are selling for a premium of about 50% on the pric new 5 or 6 years ago. That is remarkable for any bass, let alone a Squier, even allowing for the low original price.

I’ve got about eight lined up with the blues band and can expect more as the year goes on. The guitarist is young, final year of degree and in an indie band that's taking off so I'm grateful for what we get. I only started looking for deps late last year and have done four across two bands. I really enjoy learning the extra songs without all the commitments. one lined up this month and another cancelled as their bass player became available. Hopefully I will get a few more. The route in is a combination of playing at jam nights and putting it about on Facebook. The new rock covers band has a maiden gig at the start of March and again I'm hoping that goes well and we can start getting at least a gig a month in the diary. A friend is restarting a band he had 10 years ago with the aim of doing a small number of originals gigs (very Krautrock, so new for me!) So that vould be fun. My personal target is to do 2-4 gigs a month but have a decent number of free weekends. Last year was very stop and go with a couple of dry months and a few with lots of gigs. And then I'll do some jam nights as well, which are great fun as zero pressure (except the day they made me drum...)

Not really. You won't change the shape of the neck, you just change the required height of the saddles.

I hear he's wilde about that.

I hope your futt recovers soon.

I know plenty about budget instruments. Rare indeed is the complete dog that can't be made reasonably playable. Less rare is the beginner with a clue that this is even possible. Cheap basses with a good setup are possible. This is where HB stand out... because Thomann see them as a loss leader and want to turn beginners into returning customers. P.S. I like a low action and none of my basses are shimmed.

You have to be 18 to serve in China's armed forces. It's 16 in the UK. Just to make the point we can all be criticised...

Doesn't that suggest setting up Ric truss rods is a bit tricky and needs an expert?

I've had more problems with leads than anything else. In the past year: Rehearsal - cheap lead develops intermittent short at BOTH ends. Binned. Gig - outer body of jack disintegrates into fragments, but keeps working. Replaced with Neutrik. Gig - apparently OK lead has small kink in jackplug that makes contact intermittent. After that, I invested £50 in two Sommer/Neutrik leads. (Edit - this was LAST year)

To be clear there will only be one bucket at a time and they say people will know if it's for the band or venue. It's not something I'd recommend. But they have a larger room for gigs with a cover charge. For free gigs they generally pay bands what they ask, but larger bands (6-7 people) charge more than the venue can support. Their basic motivation is to find extra to support the smallef bands, which is fine, but I'm personally not convinced about collecting for the venue. Bit frustrating for me as my partner has dragged the club into being the leading local venue as a volunteer, but after two years is fed up with the amount of effort with not enough support. They are now struggling a bit to plan 2024. Thing is they can book dates in a diary... but they screw up arranging tables, forget to put on the stage and room lighting, don't do the publicity and social media very well and don't communicate well with the bands - largely due to time, inexperience. So they come up with random ideas like this rather than sorting the basics.