Apex

Thanks for the comments. Which track did you listen to Mog?

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' post='683245' date='Dec 13 2009, 07:06 PM']was gonna listen to it. Don't want to download it tho'. Is it windows only? I have mac[/quote] Good point - the files are .wma. On a PC they will 'download' straight into media player and play. Not on a Mac I suspect. I'll replace them with .mp3 shortly! Thanks for looking.

Our covers band has just done a 3-track demo disc at a studio in Bristol. For many of us this was our first experience of professional recording so knowing what to expect and how to judge value and quality of the output was a bit of a stab in the dark. I think being a 6-piece was a bit of a challenge for the sound engineer! The session took 5 hours and cost us £175 to get a mixed / produced CD at the end of the day. Would appreciate your views on this and the quality of the output! [url="http://www.mediafire.com/?dndd1j1ziyo"]Hornets - Jumping Jack Flash[/url] [url="http://www.mediafire.com/?jvk32yglnwn"]Hornets - Make Me Smile[/url] Now edited from .wma to .mp3 - sorry Macophiles!

[quote name='drewie' post='670113' date='Nov 30 2009, 04:14 PM']Apex brought an Ashdown Mag too.[/quote] Yeah, but I'd already learned by that stage that OG has 'badge blindness' when it comes to Ashdown...! That said I was most impressed by both the Shuttle and LM II going through the Compact.

[quote name='OldGit' post='669459' date='Nov 29 2009, 08:57 PM']How light? Stunning "you sure the speaker's in in here? Is it made of Balsa??" light [attachment=37357:Upsie.jpg] Apex catches his Barefaced cab during one of it's many attempts to float away.[/quote] Ah, that explains why I got back to Bristol in and hour and a half whilst Rev Dave took three hours!! Must have floated over the traffic without noticing.

Too many years and too many 'first gigs' to remember! Teenage 'band' was a folk trio - 2 guys on guitars and a girl singer. We did a couple of songs here then a few songs there, then a short set - kinda drifted into it. However, because of that I got asked to dep rhythm guitar in the school 'rock' band. First outing (of two!), in some mining village NE of Sheffield, and the evening gets broken up by a gang of skinheads, bent on mayhem. The police are probably still looking for me for using my axe as a cricket bat to defend the stage. Or at least, they would be if I did that today!! Defence lasted all of 15 seconds before we legged it out the back... Never had [i]that[/i] in a folk club!

[quote name='mglamorgan' post='669360' date='Nov 29 2009, 07:18 PM']It was a nice afternoon. Thanks to the organizers. It was nice meeting other bass players. Hope we do it again.[/quote] +50 on that!! My first 'bash' and most enjoyable and educational. And infectious. GAS has already bitten... My thanks to OG and Drewie for putting it all together.

Assuming it's OK with our earstwhile organisers, to add to the fundraising capacity, and generally add to the hilarity of the day, I will also bringing along a photo as the basis for a caption competition. Nothing grander than a bottle of beer for the winner other than having their contribution published on here! OG - what size do the avatar prints need to be?

[quote name='Lostheplot' post='664647' date='Nov 25 2009, 02:57 AM']Thanks Starless great advice! I'll do my best to remember that on the night! I really want to do this and i am enjoying it but i'm terrified at the same time i guess nearly everybody felt the same when it was their first gig. On the plus side i have learnt more in the last few days than i have in months so it's at least been good for my playing i just need to work on my confidence! Well done for getting up there and doing it i hope my first gig works as well as yours.[/quote] +1 on the advice of looking like you're enjoying it! Don't forget to come back and tell us how it went!!

[quote name='Lostheplot' post='661910' date='Nov 22 2009, 04:41 PM']Thanks Apex that helped a lot! Nah that wasn't sucking eggs stuff at all i am really new to this band stuff before i joined my current band i was pretty guilty of just noodling around playing bits and pieces rather than working through entire songs.Even since i joined my band i have had plenty of time to learn the songs as we've been taking it slowly and working through a few songs at a time so the idea of learning an entire set in just over a month for this party is pretty daunting for a newbie!! We're keeping the songs in the original key so we can all practice our parts with the original tracks on our own then hopefully when we play them as a band it should all come together ha ha well it should whether it does or not is a different matter! I've been looking at tabs and chords to get an outline of the song then trying to play along with them on WE7 LOL i am getting better but slowly. Cheers Linus27 much appreciated! I already know All along the watchtower so thats one less to try and learn [/quote] Just go for it! You never know how it will end up. Our band started in 2006 in a very similar way (thrown together three weeks before a work 'do'.) We're still at it, not in a major way, but with enough of a repertoire and playing experience to be able to say Yes to most things that come up.

[quote name='Lostheplot' post='661438' date='Nov 21 2009, 11:39 PM']Cheers for all the suggestions much appreciated! Any ideas on how to learn a load of stuff quickly?[/quote] We all have our own ways of learning, so whatever you find comfortable to learn stuff slowly is probably the best place to start. That said there are a few things to smooth the path, if you want to get things down quickly! A few suggestions - others will add more and probably contradict. I can only say what works for our band when in a hurry! Stick to the original key for a start, as much music is created on the target instruments and is often easier to play as it was written. In your situation, if the singer needs a different key I'd ditch the song and move on to another - there's plenty out there! If you're not going to have the 'prop' of a music stand for the performance don't bother with one in practice! I know that sounds daft, but learning a song the way you intend to do it is the quickest route to the end performance! Use tabs or notation to understand the shape of the line then just get on with it playing against the original track (another good reason for keeping the original key!). And remember that most internet tabs have at least one deliberate mistake in them (supposedly to avoid copyright issues) and many are downright wrong. Let your ear be the guide. Don't use band rehearsals to learn your individual bits - do that at home and then use rehearsals to make sure you all have the timng, structure and balance, plus intros and outros, the same. Hope that's not sucking eggs stuff, but in the end good preparation before playing through the song together will make it work.

Rebel Rebel Johnny B Goode Gimme Some Lovin' (got to be the easiest one out there!!)

Don't use them myself but I notice that they are still available on the StringsDirect website [url="http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/"]http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/[/url]

[quote name='Lostheplot' post='654577' date='Nov 14 2009, 03:45 PM']Cheers Apex the band is 5 of us although the singer is just doing vocals the rest is 2 guitars me on bass and a drummer who only knows one level LOUD lol. We're mainly doing rock covers for the moment. The bass bash would probably be a good idea if there's one close enough to me! Is there any coming up in Scotland? Cheers Mr Foxen i wish i was closer to it unfortunately i'm stuck in Scotland so collection would be a nightmare.[/quote] Scotland's quite a big place I know but there's one in Gateshead 29th Nov - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63245"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63245[/url] Buy your drummer some plastic sticks for Christmas!!

What sort of music are you playing? With a 5-piece there can be a lot of competition for (musical) space and you may need something to cut through the mix. In your position a while ago I opted for a 300w Ashdown amp and 115 bass cab (which in the shop handled the 5-string so much better than the 210). Nice tone, very pleased with my choice, until I started listening to recordings of practices and a couple of gigs. Competing with 2 guitars, keyboard and drums doing pop/rock covers my nice tone just wasn't coming through. I've ended up changing the cab and making a big difference. If you can get to one of the Bass bashes happening over the next few weeks you may get the chance to try some kit and talk to a few owners before having to shell out the cash. If pennies will stretch, having separate bass and cab gives you flexibility for upgrades as well as splitting the weight!

+1 for the peavey - I tried various beasts when looking for my first 5-string, some far higher value instruments, but ended up with a Peavey Millennium because it just felt right for my short fingers! Slim neck, 34" scale. Incidentally, short fingers is partly why I went to 5-string, to give me more opportunity to play across the neck rather than up or down. Don't know whether that's good technique or not, and there are certainly other issues involved such as tone, but it seems to work for me! I'd be reluctant to go back to 4.

If they said play 'til 9 and it was nine when they pulled you I'm not sure you have a gripe. On the other hand, if they pulled you early you have to face the double question - did the singer pull you 'cos he thought you were crap, or did he pull you 'cos he thought you were brilliant and would show him up? (Dangerous territory - coat already on and running for the door...!)

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='642496' date='Nov 1 2009, 01:49 PM']I have tended to avoid open strings simply on the basis that if you need to change the key then the fingering pattern can often be unchanged. This is particularly true as I seem to be migrating towards 5 strings, playing bottom E on the B string rather than on the open E string. Having said that, there are times when open strings are great, especially if it happens to be the key note, so no hard and fast rules for me - do whatever works.[/quote] +1 Finished my migration a little while ago! Only use open strings if a good fingering pattern dictates that I should, but I'm poor at muting them (my bad technique probably!).

Started a similar thread a while back, as I play in a covers band that tries to get close to the original sound for each song. Someone suggested getting a Zoom B2 to play with and learn what sounds I liked / needed. I took the advice and it had been very helpful - mostly in convincing me that I didn't like most of the things on it!! In the end I've got a bank of about 4 sounds which I use on gigs: Chorus (1 song - could manage without it), Octaver (2 songs but again totally unnecessary), heavy distortion (2 songs which really need it for anything approaching the original) and a couple of valve amp emulators which I use for most of the rock-ier numbers and which the rest of the band really likes. When cash allows, a 2-channel valve head and an octaver would probably cover it!

Thanks for that, OG. Got the idea now! I'll probably bring my Mag head if only to get some idea of how it compares to the other things that people try. Tag Team bass playing. The mind boggles Could be really handy late in a gig when nature calls...

In another thread OldGit asked if one of the Compact cabs that are currently in circulation would be available for the bash. I think they will have gone east by then, but I should have one available to bring if it would be useful (along with any of the pretty standard kit below!). Thing is, I've never been to one of these bass-fests. Could someone kindly spell out to me what I do with anything I bring please? Do I end up having to stand by it all day to look after it? And is there any point bringing a cab without an amp? Sorry, these are probably really thick questions for everyone who's been to one of these events!

Southern Compact now with GunsFreddy, who is down in a rehearsal room setting it up as I type... .....the Sax player observed that "Bass players must be a real nice lot"