TimR

My Zoom came with a copy of Cubase LE.

Root - Fifth. With gusto.

You'll get an extra 3db for using two cabs. And an extra 6db in the bass frequencies where they couple. Assuming you're no where near the limit of your current amp, there will be no benefit of running them in parallel vs running them in series. i.e. If you're not getting amp distortion when running in series, running in parallel won't at any more power.

It'll be Peroni etc in the UK. As I said up thread Landlords are going to opt for quieter nights where people drink more expensive drinks than loud nights where people drink 3 pints of whatever the brewery default lager/bitter is. It's less work for them.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1492283017' post='3279244'] Well of course there is no point - a song will always need a certain amount of adaptation but I don't see the value of trying to establish a scientific definition of what constitutes "learning the song" - its just common sense, we all know the difference between doing enough to do the song justice vs not bothering. [/quote] Quite. And some songs take a lot more work than others. Some will work first play through. Others are like pulling teeth.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1492076764' post='3277674'] [font=Helvetica]As the title says, am I wrong in wanting to learn the set/songs properly?[/font] [font=Helvetica]Nearly every band that I’ve been in, we decide on a setlist, or we agree to learn three or four new songs for the following week and I go away and learn them properly, but everyone else just brushes over the surface of the songs, and I end up having to tell them they are playing them wrong, which I hate doing because it obviously annoys them.[/font] ... [/quote] There is also often some passive aggressive stuff that goes on in bands. Viz a viz not learning tunes that they don't want to play. How are you going to make sure the next band isn't like all the other bands you have been in?

Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on "Full Version". Navigate to the page you want (use pinch and zoom if needed). Scroll to the bottom and select "Mobile Version"

But theatre pit work, ensembles and orchestras are completely different. You get given a part that has been specifically written to fit in a specific arrangement. I was classically trained in this way and it will give you an ulcer if you try to replicate this in an informal band situation because modern production methods mean you just can't play a part as it is on the record and expect the band to work. Sure it worked in the 60s when all guitar bands had the same line up but it doesn't now. Everyone has to be flexible. This means learn the chords and the form and your line. But you'd better be prepared to move about a bit and in some cases a lot.

If you're playing as a dep there's a lot more eye contact, head nods and other communication going on. I don't know about session playing but I'd guess there would be an MD and a specific arrangement for the whole band to learn.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1492168672' post='3278420'] Sorry, but I completely disagree. This may be the case in a first band where the individuals have never played live against each other, but this is a band that gigs and must have some degree of experience. I really don't know what is difficult about learning the usual pub fare at home verbatim and turning up at rehearsal and playing them through 2/3 times to polish them. I do not rehearse to learn. I learn at home. That's where the hard work is done. [/quote] The more experience you have of playing together the less you need to rehearse to learn those micro bits. 2/3 times for some bands. For other bands/songs you may not need any rehearsals and you can gig having learned the parts at home. For other bands and songs that are going to need different arrangements to cover missing instruments or sections of songs that are not straightforward need several rehearsals to get right. It's not a black and white situation. If people who normally play well together are getting some parts of some songs wrong it won't usually be because they haven't learned their parts properly.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1492164512' post='3278368'] ... [/quote] As I said earlier, most musicians will be communicating and listening on a micro level and not nessacarily committing everything to memory. So what's happening when you're performing is everyone is picking up on small queues. Sounds to me that the band are actually underrehearsed on the parts of tunes where problems are occurring. No amount of practicing at home will fix this. I've learned tunes note for note and when it comes to a band situation; maybe the bass line has to fit into a drum fill with a certain vocal pattern and if that fill or pattern isn't as per the original record, it throws everyone, or if the drummer plays the verse end fill in the middle of the chorus because he thinks it fits that can throw the vocals. These are all micro differences in the tune that queue everyone. This is why you rehearse. To learn these little bits, to add them in or decide you don't need them. It's not a case of everyone justbleadn the tune at home and it'll slot together. I still think you need to make a careful note of which bits go wrong and practice those songs together. That's what we do.

So how do you play a Beatles track if you don't have a piano or a second guitarist or a brass and string section?

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1492159321' post='3278314'] depends how you want the songs to come across to your audience perfect note for note facsimile copies with all the correct tonal characteristics and effects all the way down to 'loose' covers while the former is often seen by some as a bit OCD and OTT (usually out of some primary concern of putting effort into it but not wasting too much time because its 'our interpretation innit') , the latter frequently comes across as lazy and unmotivated (unless of course they are very radical reworkings that have clearly had some thought and effort put into them) hope this helps [/quote] It's the internet isn't it. Can only be one or the other. You need to re-arrange all songs to fit the instrumentation of the band. Unless you have a singer doing impressions. Which seems an odd thing to do. Where does it end. Different wigs and glasses for each song?

When the email you receive confirming the gig includes the line: "The vicar would like to invite you to join him for a cup of tea during the interval." I had to read it several times. .

That's a bit deep. I just turn up and play music.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1492089490' post='3277860'] Good ideas, but you seem to take it as read that TheBrig is the band's MD and call the shots at rehearsals. Just saying ... [/quote] We have a band leader who makes major descisions but surely it's up to individuals to flag anything they're not comfortable with and want to work on in practices? Otherwise how does the MD know what the band needs to work on?

I'd rehearse the set list over a couple of practices and record them. Then go home and identify any dodgy ones and create a songs to revisit list. (Or just put a cross on a list when you play a song that needs work as you play them) Then spend a few weeks just going over those ones. Might give everyone a bit of focus and renew the direction.

Are the songs tight at gigs? If there's no reason to practice then practicing for the sake of practicing will lead to this kind of thing. No one really concentrates as they know the songs. If the songs aren't right at gigs then you only need to call a practice to work on the songs that are crashing and dissect them and fix where they are failing. I'm a bit confused, is the band a start up or has it been gigging for years? .

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1492081406' post='3277748'] There is huge value in learning songs note for note for any musician. Even if the band decides that a particular song won't work after you've all learnt it, you will still have gained something as a musician by going through that learning process and even by recognising that it won't work for your band. Imagine if every band member put the work in and learnt and practised songs until they knew them inside out. Then they came together and played them. Why does that seem like a fantasy?! [/quote] Because it's a waste of time as unless your instrumentation is exactly as per the original line up and you have some way of adding all those overdubs and bits added in production the song just won't work. If you want to learn a bass line as an exercise or so that you can play along to a track at home then I agree. If you're trying to get 30 songs together to start a band, then it's going to be a very tortuous experience. Anyway, it seems the OP isn't learning songs note for note, it's the errors where people don't appear to have fully nailed the form, that are frustrating him.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1492079147' post='3277715'] We've all agreed to use the originals as a guide to the structures of the song, each individual part doesn't necessarily have to be note for note, but sometimes someone goes into the chorus where they shouldn't, or the singer comes in over the second part of the solo, or the drummer finishes the song far too early and makes you look daft because you've just gone into the next note. Surely you have to have some sort of structured way of workig if you are going to put on a tight and professional show. [/quote] That's slightly different to the impression you have in your OP. People make mistakes, when you learn a song to a recording you have a lot of imperceptible guides to pick up on that are always there. The singer on the recording may have some inflection in the vocal or the drummer might play a certain fill in a slightly different way. When you practice as a band, those indications are not here. It always takes a few run throughs to learn what bits are missing or added in. That's the nature of the beast. Relax a bit more. Mistakes are normal. If they're blaming you for derailing a song, or you're blaming someone else for derailing a song; that s a really bad place to be in a band situation. Laugh it off. Pick it up from where you went wrong. If the same mistakes happen time after time, then listen to the original and see why you're messing up. It's unusual to be just because someone has made a mistake.

I suspect it may be you then if it 'happens in nearly every band' you're in. The problem with learning songs 'exactly as per the original' is that music just doesn't work that way. Many original artists don't even play the songs as per the original recording when they play live. I suspect what most of your fellow musicians (and certainly what we do) are learning the form and key riffs and parts on their own and then seeing what has to be adjusted within the arrangement to make the song work as close to the original as you find acceptable. If you start being over critical on individual parts, even if you slavishly learn your part note for note from the record, it just won't work. The other problem with learning songs note for note is the amount of time and dedication needed to do that when you turn up to the next rehearsal and find the song doesn't fit the band, you've wasted a lot of time and the band members will then get bogged down, and waste even more time, forcing it to work because they don't want to see all that wasted time lost. Learn the structure and key parts, relax and have fun. Just don't cut out mid sections because 'they're too hard'

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1492016099' post='3277245'] Scott Devine got me playing bass again after losing my enthusiasm for a good number of years. I preferred the old videos where he got straight to the point. I've no interest in seeing him in an apartment in New York or walking around. [/quote] The videos are a lot more polished now and I find them easy to watch. In one of his videos he talks about talent and shows some of his original video clips. Which are basically a web cam in his bedroom. Really, there are thousands of bedroom cam players and if you're going to get your video noticed above them you have to step out of the bedroom and engage your audience. We consume with our eyes and the presentation of the video is key. There's a balancw to be struck somewhere between a dodgy web cam bedroom player uming and ahing through a video, and someone talking a full camera unit to their Yoga session.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1491979594' post='3276835'] I sometimes wonder at how our language and the way we use it has been modified by I.T. [/quote] You wouldn't believe how shocked you will be when you find out the secret.

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1491919895' post='3276480'] ... Steve - it'll be great fun", the band tells me. Depends on your idea of fun, I suppose. All I can do is tell them what I'm practising and then turn up at the recording studio and and play that. I'm not going to stress any more about this. [/quote] Yes. They're your new mates. They're trying to be supportive. Doesn't sound to me like they want to put you under unnecessary pressure. Relax, it will be fun. They will like whatever you do. I'm constantly amazed at the total rubbish I play that the rest of my band think is totally awesome. Enjoy the process.

[quote name='TKenrick' timestamp='1491933651' post='3276630'] It seems that I have a different view of what constitutes clickbait in this context - as I see it, videos with titles like 'The ONE scale that you need to know' or '5 EPIC practice hacks' are all about enticing as many views as possible by using a carefully selected style of language to appeal to the broadest audience possible. To me, at least, that seems like clickbait. Please note that none of my comments are intended to pass judgement on the [b]content [/b]of that video or any other - Scott has done an [i]incredible[/i] amount for the bass community both in terms of the academy and all the free content that he produces. Ditto for Janek. [/quote] Maybe. It depends what the content of "The ONE scale that you need to know." is. If it's just a C major scale, then there's hundreds of videos on C major scales, everyone knows what a major scale is, it doesn't add anything to your knowledge and is simply recycling well known information in a different package designed to draw people into whatever you are selling. Usually within 10 seconds you realise it's a waste of time watching any further and start looking at something else that grabs your attention. Scott's videos are really good. I subscribe to his channel and they're always interesting and hold my attention. I think they're fully aware that if you start producing full fledged clickbait you'll lose subscribers very quickly. There's a fine balance.