Nail Soup

Good voice and good image? Great... but not all you need to be a singer. Go ahead with the gig for the sake of the other guys ..... might be people you want to work with in future. Singer is there for the ride. If you think the singer is up for some feedback then tell him about learning when to come in, rehearsing and all that stuff

I don't think I've been to a jam night as such... the nearest is a) the occasional open mic where a couple of open micer's get up do do an impromptu song together b) folk sessions where peopel join in with each others songs. But a formal Jjm (especially blues) fills me with dread for the following reasons (some of which may be mis-perceptions) Clique-y-ness fear of people not getting a fair 'turn' I don't read music I don't have a good ear for working out chords (but I can improvise to a chord chart) fear of too much 'widdling' fear of failure song selection be too cliched

Whoops... just noticed a typo in my original post... I advised to sell up....... I actually meant to not sell up (as shown in the now-corrected post.

One thing that does my head in about reading is the key signatures. Once I worked out that all the sharps and flats are there only once at the beginning it was a 'this is not for me' moment.

Yes, I was hoping against a GG Allin routine too!

Here's mine: Tube Overdrive Blurb: I've been reading about how Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica LP was made, and listening to a lot of Beefheart. The picture inspired a Beefheart-style wordplay... the musician term Tube Overdrive Vs how someone taking the Tube prefers it Over Driving (a car). Musically I tried to use the same compositional techniques as were used on TMR. Also used some tube overdrive and tunnel reverb on the vox! Technical Notes: DAW Studio One, Drums- Piano roll in Studio One's drum program, Bass: Vantage Avenger, Guitars - Squier Tele, Vox, SM58.

I would not advice selling up. Try a few more routes in music... and worse case keep enough gear to be bedroom player. But keep some kind of gear for the bedroom and if you get an invite to jam or whatever.

I say play. Especially as a widdling is probably the easiest bit to loose. Maybe tweak the two bass sounds a little... bit of extra mids and distortion on the rhythm bass and a bit more top on the lead bass. If the singer or guest guitarist friend can throw in the occasional power chord then add that to. Remember to tell the guitarist that it wasn't as good without him of course!

Can't read music, never been tempted to invest any time in it. I'm not great by ear either, but get by with TAB, tutorial vids, bandmates tips, chord charts and so on for the half of my musical life playing already-written music. The other half of my music life I compose myself. If I was going to learn something technical I'd prioritise a bit of music theory over reading.

For me it's important when I'm playing. It's something I get complimented on (more than my playing 🙂 ) I don't expect every band I see to do it though. Some do, some don't - Vive le difference on that one.

Just discovered Deadletter. They playing live near me in a couple of weeks, so ticket purchase looming.

I didn't think I'd be able to get anything done this month either. Buuuuuuuut.......... I've finally had some inspiration and I reckon I'll be able to get it ready before deadline. 👍👍👍

Yes, I'm pretty sure that Basschat is one of the places they visit to scour for talent 😀!

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica Bit of a different listening experience this time... I'm at the last section drummer John "Drumbo" French's book "Though the Eyes Of Magic" which is an account of Beefheart and John's time in the band. The last chapter are track note on all the albums... So I've been reading the track note for each song before listening to it. Here are the track notes (page 802 - it's a long book with small typeface!) and YT link for track #7 - Pachuco Cadaver

Ruts DC in Bedford, Saturday week. I saw them 3 or 4 years ago and was blown away... great sound and great catalogue of songs.

True - he didn't play. He also had the disadvantage of observing my pretty basic (at the time, I like to think it's improved!) right hand technique.

Make it Google-able… for example if you call the band , say, Chicken Soup people may find recipes when googling for it and not your band. Gorkys Zygotic Myncy would not have that issue.

That's what I figured anyway. The teenage me didn't say that to my dad though!

Slightly off topic, but all this left/right talk got me thinking...... When I first stared to learn bass my dad questioned why the hands are that way round for a right handed person - as in his view the dominant right hand was doing the simple stuff (picking or strumming) and the left hand the complex stuff (fretting). I guess it's because the plucking hand is responsible for tone and timing etc... especially if you consider the whole string family. Any thoughts?

I also a) used to get them mixed up and b) hated both. But I’ve gone the other way…. Still hate Dan, love a bit of Span.

That is as basic as four track cassette based recording got! Be interesting to hear the recording (if you have any way to make an audio file 😉)!

I'm more likely to tolerate other features to get a nice colour!

Not sure if this is what the OP was looking for, but I tend to tolerate minor defects far to long..... loose jack socket, pick-up selector which has to be wiggled to get a good contact and so on. I get them fixed eventually... usually at the same cost (of money and/ effort) I could have fixed them for on day one 😞 .

The recorder is a terrible instrument for young school kids IMO. It is difficult to get a good tone, and it teaches only melody, not rhythm or harmony. I understand that many schools are now using the ukulele... great news - it's got short learning curve and covers melody, harmony and rhythm.

Option 2. I don't want to do too many gigs anyway. In fact the only thing to persuade me to do a lot of gigs is if they were particularly prestigious.