TimR

This is where someone with a 'proper' instrument finds out how inexpensive bass guitars really are.

Currently the estimate to fix my million dollar smile is £5k. Having spent nearly £5k already over the last 15 years I'm considering letting everything fall out and starting again from scratch with a holiday to Turkey... Just concerned over the unnatural shade of white I've seen.

Some people are very sensitive about baldness. Someone was throwing around a hair piece at work last week. It was incredibly realistic and was comfortable to wear. Yes, I had to put ot on fir a laugh. The 'rugs' of the 70s and 80s have gone. I just wouldn't want to wear one for a gig or work. Maybe a play, or if the band were part of a stage show where it wasn't an issue or a surprise if there was a malfunction.

It explains most things. The difference now is the whole world is your potential audience instead of your school/village/town. And you're competing against the rest of the world to cut through the noise. It's not great...

It's always been the case. Men used to wear dresses pantaloons and pink. The current fads are a result of people not getting attention from their parents, this is technically classed as neglect, and is going to have far reaching consequences. The iPad generation, where whole families sit on devices. Gen-X got loads of attention but it was a different kind. A healthy mix of letting kids play outside until dark and severe punishment if they weren't back in time for tea. So now we have a "look at me" generation doing more outlandish things to gain attention.

Stage makeup and wigs are completely different to trying to pass yourself off as someone younger. I saw a band many years ago at Butlins playing hair metal in the night club after 11pm. They were very good, but something wasn't right - the music was too clinical and they had no tattoos. Then I realised it was the same band that had just been playing agadoo to the kids 2 hours before just with wigs and different clothing. I suspect I was the only person who noticed. All my friends thought they we awesome. I was asked to wear a wig to play in a thrash metal band about 15 years ago. I declined. The only comment I got was in the toilets from some idiot who called me "baldy". I have no idea why, or what effect he thought it would have on me. So changing your off stage look and persona to fit in? I don't think it's necessary. I think one of the aspects to getting more mature is that these things shouldn't bother you, you should be comfortable with how you look by then.

The fillers don't dissolve, they just spread out and migrate round the face. It's a no for me. Especailly if it's going to be required on a regular basis. I like the idea of coloured contact lenses, but my eyes are a fairly unique colour anyway. Good luck with the gig, epically after going the extra mile.

That's a lot of words to say they released an album 11 years ago and did some tours and festivals. 😂

What bits do you need to learn? I'd say a bare minimum to aim for is E to B on the E string. A to E on the A string. D to G on the D string. G Bb C on the G string. Then go from there. Fill in the gaps by playing to chord charts in different keys. C, Db major and Bb minor will help a lot.

Not much has happened in the last 11 years. One Level 42 Album in 2013. A couple of awards. One Album in 2017 with supergroup Gizmodrome. Level 42 are playing in London in November and last week at Bestival.

You need an audience even if you're not getting paid or not interested in the money. They may just be paying in applause or showing some appreciation by not leaving. But if you play a venue and empty it, even if you play for free, you won't be asked back. If you have no shortage of audiences or gigs then you are not solely playing songs for your own enjoyment, you are choosing good popular music to play that other people enjoy. If I primarily played the music I listen to at home, I'd not find a band and not play any gigs.

Quite. Guns and Roses and Bon Jovi are more than enough.

Probably said it upthread. You're being paid to entertain. If you're not playing music and entertaining people they leave before the second set starts, or they don't book you again. If you're not enjoying the music, it will show, and you'll probably not be very entertaining. So play music that entertains everyone including yourself. There's enough music out there. The sticking point is always finding music that all the band will be happy playing. Personally I'll play anything (except Beatles and Stones) if the audience enjoy it. Reverting to tired standards is low risk and musically boring if you're playing the same songs week in week out, but the same happens to all tunes eventually. So you need to rotate tunes, especially if you're playing the same venues each time.

Photos of the gig on Sunday have been posted. I don't think I've posted any photos of me playing here in the 20 odd years I've been a member. However, this deserves a special mention. So there I was, busy playing a G. When two dogs started fighting outside. One got off his lead and the lady had to run after it down the middle of the road. And the other one was getting a roasting from its owner. Never a dull gig.

Maybe should have called it the Pheonix.

Dispersion frequency is inversely proportional to speaker size. 172000/diameter(mm) So any higher frequencies coming from the ports. Will be constructive/destructive to what's coming out of the speakers. However, in practical very unlikely to hear any difference unless the ports are at ear level.

The real answer to this is found in the answer to the following questions: Can your drummer play at the appropriate volume? Can your guitarist play his amp with the "Stun" setting disengaged? Do you have effective monitoring for the singer? If the monitoring for the singer is bad and they can't hear themselves and/or have to turn the monitor up to feedback levels due to the aforementioned drummer and guitarist, then it doesn't matter how much power you have - you won't have anything coherent anywhere in the room.

Isn't that "A problem I never had"? Other than "I got paid for the gig and want to spend my cash." My laptop died yesterday. Sunday's gig money has just been spent on a non musical item. Well actually it was spent on a family meal on Saturday night. I always like to spend money 3 times. I need to do 2 more gigs last week. 😂

@dmccombe7 Are you measuring them under load or disconnected? There is a lot of voltage sag on a 9v battery depending on the load. So an effects pedal will be drawing more current and the voltage will sag a lot lower, compared to an active bass. The open circuit measurement won't tell you a lot. Best way is to use an actual battery tester rather than a multimeter.

This afternoon's gig. Pedalboard consits of Korg PB-1 tuner, Keeley Bassist compressor, Boss Chorus and Joyo Double Thruster. Tuner - used twice. Compressor - always on. Chorus - always off. Double thruster - always off. Pedal board bag, useful for carrying pedals, power supply and leads.

9v batteries are good down to 7v.

Just back from this afternoon's gig. Busy pub, loads of people in the garden. 2h30m including a 15 min break. Polite clapping after a few songs, more enthusiastic clapping and cheering after others. Some singing. Mostly lots of blank faces while we played though. Calls for an encore. We played 2 more tunes. I'll never understand audiences. Too hot to jump around. We got paid and will go back at some point.

You're You're definitely changing your Volvos too frequently. One 740 and one 940 should have been ample.

There was an old thread about music stands. My view has always been that any physical barrier between the musician and the audience detracts from the preformance and the show. I am particular in making sure that any aids don't distract from the performance and the audience are not aware of it. Autocue is widely used by professionals. Even click tacks and cue tracks in ears is widespread. A bad performance is where people are focused on the sheets, the fretboard or their shoes. Glancing at something by your knees for cues shouldn't be perceptible to the audience or distract from the performance.

I have bought a new bass head and am worrying about how I'm going to get rid of the old one.