Dr.Dave

I'm not frustrated as a bassist. I have no doubt in my ability as one either. Put me on a stage with what some would consider the finest guitarists and drummers on the planet and I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Playing bass ans singing on a stage is as natural as breathing to me. What anyone else thinks about me as a performer doesn't interest me. I'm right. They're wrong. I have enough experience and confidence to be able to say and feel that. I was , however , very frustrated as a songwriter who spent much time and money trying to get a publishing deal. In a nutshell I was told to be original to get through the first door - at which point the second door was slammed in my face because , as I was told by the exact same people who encouraged me to be original , I should have been seeking to emulate what everyone else was doing. That happened frequently and consistantly. I would have loved to have made an honest livng as a songwriter. One likely explanation as to why I haven't is because I'm not good enough. That I can deal with that fine. Another likely explanation is I had no power base - no foot in the door - no chaperone - no mentor - no break. There was just me writing songs with no clue as to what to do next. I can understand that too. But why worry. Nobody died. Music's good. I love making it , though I don't care to listen to it much and when I stop doing it I won't miss it. I'm not someone who 'needs' a particular thing - or a particular person - in my life to feel complete.

It's good to study and discuss the technical side of playing. It shows us what can be done. Then the clever ones decide what should be done. There will always be those who choose not to play very technical stuff because they shouldn't - and those who can't make that choice because they simply can't do it. I suppose we should all strive to be the former.

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1364298792' post='2024459'] I usually get child labour in to do it! [/quote] You just went up in my estimation 1000%. As for taking them on holiday........ I recommend an off-season week in a caravan in Withernsea when they're less than 5 , then when you're old and want them to do your shopping and stuff you can say 'you ungrateful little bastard - don't you remember how I took you to Disneyland'.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1364297464' post='2024433'] That's nothing, I once did a gig when I was dead! [/quote] Funnily enough - I've died on my arse at several !

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1364297292' post='2024426'] It should calm down if you put ice on it. You could also try ibuprofen gel which has anti-inflammation benefits [/quote] I was thinking 'air pistol' myself , but there you go

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1364289786' post='2024267'] I've only gone and damaged my little finger again! It's an old injury and occasionally I do something stupid and it flares up again! This time it was twisting it back whilst cleaning out the chickens. It's swollen and bruised today, but thankfully on the bass playing spectrum it is surplus to requiremennts! So good dose of pain killers and I'm practicing. I'm soooooo glad it wasn't any other finger or I'd be screwed with me learning and rehearsing my new set list for my new band! [/quote] Pah !! That's nothing - I've done gigs with stitched and broken left hand fingers (cue late night cabin scene from Jaws) Could you not persuade the chickens to clean up their own hutch - bone idle feathery bastards - maybe taunt them with pictures of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall holding a bunch of sage until they start pushing the hoover about.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1364214808' post='2023212'] Hang on.......... [/quote] Nowhere near - more chance of platting fog !!

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1364214370' post='2023198'] "Rag Doll" was one I could do no problem, now it becomes a rusty croak before I get half way. [/quote] Hang on..........

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1364211319' post='2023139'] Now you've made me feel even older! In my old band I was always elected to sing the Frankie Valli numbers - & play bass at the same time [/quote] I used to do 'walk like a man' , though more of a 'Divine' version wtih gruff , rather than falsetto vocals. Reading this I just went and had a crack at a F V vocal and I couldn't get anywhere near ! I think I might resurrect 'Walk like a Man'. Current band ought to be able to churn out a sort of ZZ Toppish version.

Argos........ what a wonderful place. 16 day free loan of power tools when you've a job to do !!!!!

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1363532870' post='2013706'] £3.10 seems quite reasonable to me. I must have been in that London too long. [/quote] Wrong on the first count - correct on the second ! My gig last night......... cancelled due to bad weather. So I sat supifyingly bored in the house watching Saturday night TV. What a load of bollocks. Pub gigs should be rammed if that's what folk do as an alternative.

There's plenty of pub work for bands like mine in this area - maybe we do better than many because we're no trouble , ultra reliable and know what we're doing. The Hop in Wakefield is my fave at the mo. and I think would please almost everyone who's chipped in on this thread. It's a real ale pub - good stuff too - with plenty of bottled beers none overpriced. Downstairs - along with a 'snug' and a whacky bar - is the main bar with a covers band playing. Upstairs is for originals bands. House PA and lights for both. Folk wander up and down as they wish. The covers bands go watch the original bands when they're on half time and vice versa. It's what a music pub should be.... rather CAN be. And I commend it to the house.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1363892532' post='2019093'] Aye, oop in yerkshire thee boils thar strings, doesn't thow? [/quote] You joined the Quakers ??? I stopped boiling strings - boiling the water costs money !! There was a bloke on the telly from Rotherham who takes a flask to work - boils the kettle there and takes the boiling water home - my all time hero !!

I enjoyed Noddy Holders self penned job - lightweight though it is -and Fleetwood Mac's 'Behind the Mask' because it's such a 'human' story though it's telling ( by original bass player Bob Brunning) is a bit gushing. I've read a few and I always said when I write the story of my own life I'd title it ' Chapter 4 ? '. Rock biogs start just the same as my own life and early gigging experiences etc etc then they get famous at the end of chapter 3. I didn't - hence the question mark for chapter4.

Long time ago but I had a sooty glove puppet - I made holes through the back of his neck and if I wore him on my left hand backwards I could play reasonably well - so I did for a song at the start of the second set.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1363823964' post='2018365'] Imagine the cost of changing strings..... [/quote] ...changing strings. 'changing' strings....?? 'changing'.... Sorry mate - you got me on that one.

Well .... if you hired Stanley Clarke I bet he'd ask for more than $30 a note ! Mind you.... he wouldn't be sh*te , would he.

I did a gig a few months back in fingerless gloves because I simply forgot to take them off. I liked the idea and it didn't affect my playing so now I do it every gig just for the pose. I've taken to doing one song with a pick and I can;t damp properly with the mitts on so I take them off for that one song - or rather I wait til the guitar intro starts and rip them off for extra dramatic effect !

Plasterer's Radio

[quote name='bassintheface' timestamp='1363792338' post='2017715'] There just seemed to me to be more than a hint of an undertone from some posters that 'playing in an originals band only' and people saying they couldn't 'do' a covers band is giving them some sort of 'moral' musical superiority than those that do. Maybe, (as with many threads on here and forums in general) that it's the typing thing and that if we were to be sat chatting in a pub about the same subject, then I wouldn't have felt the same. [/quote] It reminds me of how cricket used to be. The 'Gentleman Amateurs' looking down on the lowly 'professionals' ! I love originals bands - I go see them regularly. Our covers band occassionaly gets to give a young originals band exposure because they find it hard to get work. We help them out with gear , make sure they're paid fairly too and we try and get them headline work at the venue. I don't feel an 'us' and 'them' thing so I'm at a loss to think why some folk do. It's just folk playing music. Folk doing what they want - and in many cases reading through this thread - folk doing both original and covers projects. It used to be quite common to see bands doing a covers set to fund recording of their original songs. Sounds a bloody good idea to me. Professional musicians aren't being mentioned much - what about them ? Most , I imagine , play whatever pays the bills - using their particular skills to enhance a project whether they love the music or not. Maybe they get asked to do an album of covers - what are they supposed to say 'I don't do covers , it's beneath me' ? Folk play and do what they want - whatever makes them happy at the time - they can feel free to change that at any time. Where's the problem?

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1363786258' post='2017563'] Why a covers band? Well for me, I just want to play bass and to play to people who are geniunely interested in listening to and enjoying what you are playing...and if that means I'm playing to boozed up punters rocking away to Led Zep covers or to those throwing wildly drunken shapes on the dancefloor to Stevie Wonder tunes, then so be it. I can only speak of my own experiences, but with my last two bands being guys mid-to-late 30's, getting an original material band on the road in Central Scotland was proving more frustrating and morale-busting than it was a rewarding experience. So much so, that I now personally no longer have the commitment, drive or enthusiasm to come up with original music. A number of things done it for me... When the punters blatantly aren't remotely interested in the band playing on the stage... When punters would rather come in for the advertised "after the bands" DJ, rather than actually come and listen to a night of good, original bands and material... When you're trying to start up and venues are expecting you to sell at least 25-30 tickets before they'll even consider putting you on, so you're chasing the same people to come to practically ever other gig... When "promoters" don't bother their ass doing what their role name kinda suggests they should do and you get looked upon in disgust when you turn up with a crowd that would struggle to fill a decent to mid-sized people carrier... When the fans of the other bands on the bill f*ck off after their set (or even your own fans) and don't have the common courtesy to stick around...or even worse...routinely, members of your own band... When you're asked to turn up at 6pm or earlier to soundcheck, with the promise of a 45 minute set at 9pm, only to find out you've only got a 25 minute set at 11.00pm once the aforementioned pounters have all f*cked off... Promises of "free beer" mysteriously fail to be kept... Likewise, payment from the door, even if it is only a few bucks... I could go on... That said, probably most telling of all these days for me, at 39 years old, with a 9-5 decent job and a family to support...whilst by no manner of means over the hill, I have absolutely no interest in even having an attempt at "making it" so to speak, and when the other guys in the band have completely polar opposite aspirations, it's only fair to move on and let them have their shot at glory... Don't get me wrong, although it comes across in this post, I'm not at all bitter (well, not now I'm out of it) and I do genuinely prefer the reaction and response you get from playing covers, particulary when you put your own spin and rework something your own unique way as a band. Anyway, just my tuppence worth... [/quote] I think your reasoning is sound. Given your experiences , and your er... chronology based life committments (!) you could easily have thought ' f*** this' and packed in - instead you got off your arse and found a different way to enjoy playing. Good on you . chief.

When you gig your own material you're essentially a covers band. The writing and arranging is the creative process - playing that live is reproducing or re-creating that. That's a fair definition of a cover. Me - I've always written and recorded songs and continue to do so when the spirit moves me. I've sold a few locally - mostly to raise money for various things like research into strokes that killed my Mum. I've also tried to get published as a songwriter but it never happened - or rather hasn't happened yet. I've never really wanted to gig my own songs because I would be uncomfortable being the sort of total dictator I know I would be - though I have - and still do - include one or two in our current 'cover band' set. We certainly do flex our creative muscles in Doc B because there isn't a single 'cover' that is anything like the original recorded versions of the songs we do - though that is obviously not the same as playing 100% original music. As I said - I've come to realise that I am more of a craftsman than an artist. i feel less that I'm putting limitations on myself than I feel I'm playing to my strengths. I've always wondered , too , why some folk who are getting on with doing what they want to do - and good luck to them - feel the need to look down their noses at other folk who are getting on what they want to do to - like playing covers or playing in trib bands or doing the backing tape thing ... whatever they want in this free (ish) world. I suppose there's a certain amount of snobbery in many hobbies and interests. I suppose too I could put my mind to it and come up with possible reasons for it , such as things starting with 'j' and ending in 'ealousy'..... but I can't be arsed. I do know that the few folk I've met who've been successful as original artists have not been snobbish about what I do at all. Maybe that says something but I'm not really interested in working it out. I'll leave that to the talkers while I crack on with the walking.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1363775037' post='2017258'] That's just it, isn't it? Sorry to say, most people can't tell the difference between their arses and a hole in the ground. And what's worse is they don't want to know, either. [/cynic] [/quote] Thing is , Mr Creet , I've come to think you're not a cynic re. this - I think you're just observant.

Because a singer / guitarist I have a lot of time for asked me to be and I enjoyed it - still do. And because by the time I joned - 12 years ago - I'd pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm a craftsman moe than an artist.