chris_b

All common sense points. . . as is the Why Play 5 String Bass video.

IMO Radio 4 or Radio 5 Live Sport sounds best in the car.

I've only left one band acrimoniously. I told the band leader to screw himself after he started mucking me about with the gigs. Taking gigs back that he'd given me and giving them to a mate of his. Then he "forget" to tell me he'd cancelled a couple of gigs. The car was loaded and the motor running when I found out! Other than that one, I always try to leave bands on good terms, usually to join another, hopefully better, band. I have been fired. There isn't much you can do if you're good one day and the next they decide your face doesn't fit. Always try to be in 2 bands so the diary doesn't take a hit. Bad experiences can be minimized if you are with better players. Always aim for the bands with a more professional attitude. Playing with guys who are doing it "just for fun" opens you up to all sorts of bad and flaky experiences.

If something works then incorporate into a practice regime. If you try to run a marathon you won't get far unless you've already trained to run a marathon. Hydration is important but it's only a small part of the picture. If your muscles, tendons and ligaments aren't up to it you're not going to succeed and you'll be running the risk of straining or hurting yourself in some way. As I said, practice, practice and practice some more. Use your hands in such a way as to train them up for speed and dexterity. Play lines faster than you need and then the slower speed of the song will make it easier to play. Most of the time "Digging in" is wasted energy. Control your playing and increase your accuracy. Then. . . . always warm up, relax, play softer, let the amp take the strain.

I know someone using an East Uni-Pre with Barts hum-cancelling Jazz pickups and his sound is amazing at all frequencies. Fat, full, warm, punchy, clean. . . think of a positive word to describe sound and it's there.

Not for me.

Our drummer wants us to do Footloose. . . I'm up for it but I'm not sure how a guitar let trio is going to do it justice.

With a click there is no need to "pull" tempos anywhere. Surely, being locked in with the drummer "at all times" is the objective of any band?

Any musician who can't keep time should be practicing like mad until they can. Either that or hang up their instruments. Click tracks are a way of ensuring that songs are always played at the same tempo. As I say, using a click to keep wayward playing in check is only a sticking plaster.

Drummer can't keep time? Time for another drummer.

I love these guys. So many great players around.

That's probably not true. That clarity will enable people to hear your bass lines through the racket made by those loud guitars and shed-building drummers. Of course you'll need the right amount of volume, but you will require less volume to cut through if your sound is clear and well defined.

I haven't used a 412 since 1973! But I did use my 212 and 2x112's on a gig a couple of years ago. I used both TH500's to drive them. I was so loud that I had to turn the whole lot down to normal volume levels so that I could hear the guitarist! I could have been that loud with just the 212.

We cramp up when we are trying to play faster than our muscles can manage. Practice until you can play without cramping.

I just think of all the brilliant players who somehow got by without ramps and stuff!

I know. I don't like out of focus basses either!

This is why you always give every gig 101%. No matter how bad a gig is there is always the possibility that someone, who can help the band (or you), is listening. I was asked to join a good band once because the band leader, who had dropped in for a beer, was impressed that I was giving it my all to a couple of disinterested punters.

For a couple of years I've been using an Aguilar AG700 through Barefaced cabs. Before that it was a TH500, now my backup. IMO these amps punch way above their weight. My bass is a Sadowsky Metro RV5.

Told to me by a guitarist who played with a singer from the 60's, who had number 1 hits. This guy was an alcoholic and always got whizzed before the gig. One night he excelled himself and drank his supply and the green room dry. The band used to play the first number without him and then played him on. To get to the stage he had to walk down a flight of stairs. He got about half way before he started to fall. He was hanging on to the bannisters and doing a partially controlled tumble down the final flight. As he staggered down stage to the mic stand the band noticed (in horror) that during this entrance he'd plopped himself and a massive brown stain was spreading all over the back of his white trousers.

It happens. Just do your best to catch up, look confident and the rest of the band should never draw attention to the guy who's messed up.

There is always a compelling reason to have one, or the other, or both.

About 10 years ago, my heart sank when the band leader announced he was thinking about all of us dressing up like cartoon characters!! It was a close run thing, but thankfully he changed his mind!

An amp rated at 900 watts at 4 ohms will put a maximum 450 watts into an 8 ohm cab. 2 x 8 ohm cabs look like 4 ohms to the amp. 2 x 200 watt cabs will be fine with your amp, but the amp has the potential to put 900 watts into 400 watts of cabs. You should be fine if you keep the volume down to a level the cabs can handle. The system you mention seems unbalanced to me. I see a 900 watt amp as a gigging-in-a-loud-band amp. 2x8" cabs are not loud-band cabs IMO.

Agreed. There are many myths about early Fenders. Most of us should just find the best sounding bass we can afford and get lessons with any cash left over.