TimR

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1452683592' post='2952300'] There's an interesting philosophical argument buried in the question that, if you are aware of it, is it a blind spot? That said, musical blind spots for me (in the sense that my eyelids close either in boredom or irritation: Dylan Jazz Prog rock with tracks over 7-8 minutes long (Early Queen is okay, Yes is not) Reggae [/quote] Yes. It's a blind spot. It means you have to consciously move away from what you're normally looking at to see it. I'm aware that Dolly Parton has a massive following but I'm too busy looking at the numbers I have to learn to delve into her back catalogue and immerse myself in Country and Western. It's just something I'm not interested in.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1452676416' post='2952207'] I was never really interested in all that prog stuff, King Crimson, Yes etc. I only really listened to Genesis after Phil Collins took over. I know, I,m shallow. [/quote] That's a pretty good example. To me Phil Collins took them in a direction I didn't really like. I like their material up to about Then There Were Three/Abacab. It's not that I don't like the Beatles or Elvis, or even the Stones (another band I'm only familiar with hits from) it's just that I've never been grabbed by a single and thought that I should go and buy an album.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1452652145' post='2952099'] I'm learning more and that many bass chatters have no respect for the pioneers that set the ground work for them. For the most It's pure ignorance. Blue [/quote] It's not ignorance on by behalf. As the OP asks, What artists do you not have a great knowledge of. I used the Beatles and Elvis as two examples of artists that everyone else seems to know lots of material. Between them they produced 50 studio albums. That's 50 albums I'd have to actively source and listen to each several times to familiarise myself with. There are thousands of artists out there but very few have released more than 5 albums. Off the top of my head a few that spring to mind; Cliff Richard, Iron Maiden, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Marillion, Micheal Jackson, Simple Minds, Genesis Springsteen ... It's not possible to be familiar with all the greats. Edit: YouTube isn't particularly friendly towards the Beatles, learning their times isn't a simple exercise.

The Beatles and Elvis Presley. I only really know the tunes that I've had to play. Maybe 20 or so. No idea what albums are which etc.

Ah ok. Autism explains it perfectly. You'll only need to hear it once, or possibly only the first part and you'll know where it's going. My son is dyslexic. Some things (academic) he just will never get. Some things (physical, dramatic arts) he just gets straight away. Quicker than anyone else ever could. Just wired differently. But that's all the more reason not to dismiss theory for other people.

The trace Elliot GP7 15". I only sold it because I thought it was becoming unreliable and I couldn't carry it upstairs without smashing lumps out of the walls.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452021595' post='2945661'] Sorry but this is cobblers - I've been playing for 36 years & I still could not play you a single scale, and I have no idea what a chord pattern or a tension is. This hasn't stopped me being in lots of bands & even doing paid session work because some people just like the way I play. [/quote] This is interesting. You must at least know the names of the notes of a scale and where they are on the fretboard. Do you just have perfect pitch and play completely by ear? You wouldn't last one minute in any of the bands I've played in. How can you dep if the band leader says 'blues in E'?

It's not you. It's the cheap rubbish cables they come with. Even the expensive ones. They're assembled by machine. When my headphone plugs go, I pop down to maplins and renew the cable as well.

Lemmy would be chuffed. Listen to the interview. He didn't like rock stars who weren't in touch with their fans. He didn't like people who were stuck in a time period and refused to move with the times and evolve. If the fans want an element named and the stuffy scientists don't, that's proper Rock'n'roll (or heavy metal)

Although, in this clip he says they're the same thing. http://youtu.be/Vnzr2tPCxMQ Maybe the person Lemmy wasn't mythical, but there's a lot of myths surrounding the things he's supposed to have done.

Yes. We played a pub (twice) with an odd local. All the regulars thought he was hilarious. We didn't. Drummer told us 'we' wouldn't be playing there again.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1452256298' post='2948104'] Dunno, I teach a bit and students are still asking for Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Hendrix stuff. I guess if a student is really excited by music, then they are prepared to dig a little to find what they like. [/quote] Quite. LED Zepplin, Hendrix and Sabbath were finished at least 10 years before I picked up a bass. I'm now playing Zepplin numbers and Hendrix numbers to people who are about twenty years younger than me. Sure my kids think it's 'dad music', but that's how I view the 60s pop, awful as I think it is, I've learned it at played it at weddings and 60th birthday parties. It's music and doesn't belong to any particular period in time or demographic. My kids have seen School of Rock, they like the music of Zepplin, ACDC etc. They watch Pitch Perfect, there are some pretty 'old' tunes revamped in that film as well. .

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1452252529' post='2948028'] Not sure that "intense" is actually the right word there ... [/quote] neither was I, but it did describe him quite well.

I also auditioned for a show. Only two of us auditioned and were both at the audition. That's nerve wracking enough. The other bass player's face dropped when he found out that we had to sight read the tunes from sheet music. To be fair he had quite a good stab at it by just playing root notes for each bar. I got that one.

I auditioned for a band to stand in as a dep for a few gigs. I learned about 20 tunes (actually just ran over them to familiarise myself as they were tunes I knew fairly well). The only problem was the audition was with the guitarist only. No drums, no singer. The guitarist couldn't sing/didn't know the words. I was totally an absolutely lost. Tried song after song and we just couldn't make them work. After one song he asked me "Is that how you think it goes?" I said "Yes, we play that in my current band.", he just gave me an odd look. We called a halt early as it obviously wasn't happening and he said "Don't worry, I auditioned someone yesterday who knows the material and I'm going with him." Later I spoke to the bass player I was standing in for and he said "Oh, yes, sorry about that, he can be a bit intense." Sometimes it just isn't going to work.

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1452029724' post='2945770'] Bloody hell there are some old people on this site. [/quote] Most of them old before their time. I played on Boxing night at a 'jam' session. I played a few numbers with some guys my age (mid 40s), then they went home and I stayed playing to midnight with about 12 guys and girls all under 25. The only problem I had was they didn't really know many 'standards', so it was a bit of a struggle. BUT then when I was 21 and playing with guys in their mid 40s, I didn't know many standards either. Unless we turn up to these events rather than sitting at home and complaining that music is dying; we won't pass on the 'old' music and more importantly, we'll become cynical and jaded and believe something is dying, when it just isn't.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452113611' post='2946686'] Nobody said they did. [/quote] Ah. Ok. I thought people were disagreeing with me. No worries.

It's unusual to only get 3days. Didn't Gary Moore learn the Thin Lizzy set on the plane on the way to the concert?

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452112924' post='2946661'] Indeed. The fact that in the late 70s there was "The New Wave of British Heavy Metal" would tend to indicate that there was older British Heavy Metal before it. [/quote] I refer you to my earlier comment and Greame's Wikipedia link. Black Sabbath didn't turn up one day and say "Hey, everyone, this is something we've created at home and we're calling it Heavy Metal." It evolved slowly over a decade and artists argued over whether they were Heavy Metal or Hard Rock or whatever. Mainly because "Heavy Metal" was seen as a put down for a while. Doesn't mean that Jimmi Hendrix wasn't "Heavy Metal", or "Blues Rock" or whatever.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1452112369' post='2946644'] I'm really talking about rock guys playing 1.5 fest and fairs and 4 hour bar shows. Not lessons or orchestrations. Blue [/quote] I'm talking about all pro musicians. How much rehearsal would you want to do for a start up band before the first gig? I think anymore than 8 hours and I'd be climbing the walls. .

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1452112030' post='2946633'] You're confusing me with someone else. I was with Bruce Forsyth [/quote] Ah yes. HappyJack then. Difficult to quote one person while remembering what someone else wrote.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1452111660' post='2946626'] I think the term pro means different things to different people. I play for a living primarily at the bar band level ( I think we have established that bar business in the States is different than your pub business.) I am not sure where this notion comes from that if you do thus for a living and it's a business it's no longer enjoyable? I think that's rubbish. When I started playing for a living , I became a better bass player and entertainer. It also became a lot more fun. Blue [/quote] It's not rubbish, it's just a sweeping generalisation. I know plenty of pro-musicians who teach for free and write scores for amateur orchestras for free. They love the sound and wouldn't get paid for a proffesional orchestra to play their arrangements. However, they have a very low boredom threshold when it comes to practicing. They get it right first time and don't enjoy playing the same tune correctly several times while someone makes mistakes.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1452110980' post='2946609'] The words 'heavy metal' are to be found in the lyrics of Steppenwolf's 'Born To Be Wild' (1968). [/quote] They are indeed. But which band were the first to call themselves a heavy metal band? It was an evolution, you can go back and say Jimi Hendrix and Led Zepplin were heavy metal, but that's retrospective. They just thought they were rock bands. The term hadn't been coined yet. The fact that pfretrock was arguing in his bedsit with Bruce and his mates demonstrates that quite well. .

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1452110112' post='2946586'] Is this another of those "you had to be there" topics? Back in the days when I shared a bedroom with Bruce Dickinson (no, really, I did) and one of my favourite albums was Sad Wings Of Destiny, I don't remember us all sitting around wondering what to call this stuff. This was 1979 into 1980, maybe 1981. I was in my early 20s and I was firmly in the "it's heavy rock, man" camp. Several of my then flatmates would routinely argue "don't you get it, this is heavy metal mate". The idea that no one called this heavy metal until the 80s is ludicrous. Maybe you had to be there after all ... [/quote] Motörhead were formed in 1975. I'm fairly sure 1980 was the 80s? I think you're splitting hairs. My comment was "by the 80s", not "it wasn't until the 80s".

[quote name='basexperience' timestamp='1452107092' post='2946535'] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/growing-old-disgracefully-lemmy-on-heartbreak-ageing-and-his-penchant-for-nazi-memorabilia-2142747.html ""We were not heavy metal," he snaps. "We were a rock'n'roll band. Still are. Everyone always describes us as heavy metal even when I tell them otherwise. Why won't people listen?"" I rest my case. Uninformed? The man himself said it angrily in 2010! [/quote] Just sometimes, when everyone is telling you something, you should just take a moment to wonder if they might just have a point.