TimR

Yep. RnB. As soon as it starts I'll change over or leave the room. All those wobbly Mariah Carey wannabes. Just awful cat screeches. Should all be put out of their misery. No exceptions. .

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1414351765' post='2588575'] It had one fairly recently, six months ago ish. Normally lasts much longer, but do you think that could be it? [/quote] No harm in trying a new one. Are you doing anything differently? More gigs? Do you leave it plugged in even though it's switched to bypass? Could still use power. Different type of battery? If the battery is running down quick could be a bad connection somewhere.

I use the korg GA-1. Plugs into the tuner out on my amp and I just press the amp's mute button to tune. http://www.korg.com/us/products/tuners/ga_1/ £10 from Amazon. .

New battery

Played in a church hall once for a dinner and dance. All the playgroup toys were stored in the wings. A few songs into the first set I caught sight of a large teddy bear. It was staring straight at me. From that point in I completely lost concentration. Everytime I looked across at the guitarist or keyboard player all I could see in the background was that teddy bear staring at me. In the interval I went straight over and turned it round to face the wall. .

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1414312715' post='2587998'] ... Yet no one off the stage seemed to notice. [/quote] They never do! Sometimes I wonder why we bother practicing

We were asked in advance to play When I'm 64 at a 65th birthday for the hostesses friend "Dave" who was going to be 64 on the same night. It was to be a surprise and to be kept secret. So we turned up and set up to an empty hall and quickly ran through the tune. Halfway through the tune the hostess and her husband came in. All was good. Or so it seemed. Later in the evening the cake was bought out and we played happy birthday. Then the hostess called "Dave" up on the stage. Turns out the man she turned up with wasn't her husband but her friend "Dave". Ever wish the floor would open up? .

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1414270832' post='2587832'] It gets a bit weird when your older if you join a band thats been going for years. All the other members have known each other since they were young.and you c[size=4]ant help but feel sort of on the outside of everything.[/size] [size=4]Its happened to me a few times now.[/size] [/quote] It's always interesting trying to work out the personality dynamics in a band you join. Who started the band? Who's played together before? Who joined before you and is still finding their feet? What bass players have they had in the past? Which member joined after being auditioned but is on borrowed time? Therefore some members might be lifelong friends while others have only been playing together after replying to an advert. The older you get the more complex the band history becomes.

[quote name='basexperience' timestamp='1414189160' post='2587044'] A fascinating topic... If your band are your friends, and you write original music, it'll benefit. If it's a covers band and you're all a bit more workmanlike about it, it'll benefit. I suspect the spectrum in between is a myriad of compromises. Any thoughts on that one? [/quote] Some people are just very hard to be friendly with, especially if the only thing you have in common is the music. Finding common ground is always good. Might be why one of our guys is difficult to get on with. He's single. The rest of us are married with kids. We see the world quite a bit differently to the way he does. We have different priorities. I suppose you could construct a band from only certain types. That may work, it may be counterproductive. Look at Queen. All the guys were different. I suspect they partied together on tour but I wonder if they went round each other's houses for tea.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1414237540' post='2587352'] ... deep pocket ... [/quote] That's the word I was thinking of. Describes it perfectly. Think of the beat like the pockets on a snooker table and the notes like snooker balls. You still have to be accurate and get the balls in the pocket but there's quite a lot of slop. You can hit the pocket at the front or the back, as long as the ball goes in. You don't want your balls bouncing round the table uncontrollably.

Mixture really. You don't have to be friends with everyone but you do need to get along together. One guy turns up does his thing and disappears after. He's difficult to chat to. The other two are easy to get along with and genuinely really nice guys. It's easy to be friends.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1413623971' post='2580212'] That's the sort of thing I'm on about, saying it's in C would have been better! [/quote] You still have to be careful Cmajor is not Aminor. There are very subtle differences.

I agree. But isn't someone leading that change of tempo? I have been in situations where I've tried to play ahead of the beat and the drummer has just tried to keep 'in time' with me and the whole piece has just got faster and faster. It's certainly complicated. When are you playing ahead, when are you rushing and when are you trying to push the tempo?

That's quite an interesting video from John Paul Jones. The beat can be 'implied' with no actual musician actually playing on the beat but all understanding exactly where it is. Describes Led Zepplin and The Who perfectly.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1411999301' post='2564690'] A nice illustration; I'm not sure I'd totally agree with your concluding line, however. It's not the whole rhythm ahead or behind, it's the accents and syncopation that 'push' or 'pull'. If the whole lot is early or late, it's simply out of time, that's all, but if (as in the ride rhythm in the video...) there is a slight holding-back or anticipation of the 'middle' stroke, that's enough to 'pull' or 'push'. Applied to the bass, it would be the 'grace' notes that give this effect, not the principle root/5th fundamental notes. Just my tuppence-worth. [/quote] I think someone summed it up well upthread. One member of the band is tasked with keeping time. Usually the drummer thinks it's him, often it's the bass player. In reality there's lots of interplay thy happens. Somewere within the bar, there has to be a beat. Could be the hihat, bass drum, ride or maybe the bass player whacking out 8ths. So long as the song doesn't unintentionally speed up or slow down then it remains in time.

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1411982297' post='2564449'] I would love to see that video mate. [/quote] I have a YouTube link that I saved in 2008 which seems to be broken. I think it was Dave Weckl - "Developing your feel" "Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI4QZr8q1IE"

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1411900687' post='2563614'] i never noticed that "scrappy" aspect but yes they were all over the place in a way with the drumming and the bass playing. adds a definite edge to the music. scrappy in a great package. [/quote] It was more that the roles of the instruments were not as you would expect. Bass - melody and counter melody. Dums - solid but lots of fills where you wouldn't expect them but not trampling over the vocals as would normally happen. Almost melodic in places. Guitar - rhythm. A very interesting band to study.

I'll find a video in a minute that explains it really well. Often the hi hat will mark the beat but the bass drum can play before or after and you get the feel of the song being pushed along or held back while the actual tempo doesn't change at all. If you play with a drummer who plays everything bang on the beat it will sound like a drum machine. No drummer actually plays like this, apart from a few drummers I know who trained in marching bands. The bass can also push or pull the song as long as the drummer is solid. Listen to Crazy Little Thing Called Love. It's a swing BUT John pushes ahead all the way through where in a usual swing the bass would lag behind the beat. Compare this with the Robbie Williams version which feels lazy.

He was originally a French horn player. That's reputedly the hardest brass instrument. He probably thought a lot differently to most bass players. I play tuba. That's hard enough!

Don't ask me to play it now, that's was in 1987!

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1411830408' post='2563142'] Yes a great song. WASPs cover version isn't bad too [/quote] It's quite funny that I'd seen Qadrophenia several times before I bought Headless Children and that track stood out to me. Well before the days of the internet and TAB. I learned it and I only realised it was a who song a lot later.

Simply the best Who song. It was released in the states as a single but not the UK so doesn't appear on the Greatest Hits album. It should though.

I've got a 1985 Sidewinder. It was £120 in 1985. Absolutely impossible to play, the neck needs adjusting if you put it down and pick it up. A good tone can be had if the moon is in alignment with Jupiter and there are no taxi cabs within 150mile radius.

Sounds like Pete doesn't want the old bass back. http://thewho.com/blog/2012/06/22/john-entwistle/

Zak is almost there but I think neither he nor Pino are wild enough, just a little bit too precise and a little bit too cautious with their playing. There are plenty of places where the OX would have been throwing in tasteful and tuneful licks that just sound empty to me. The interplay is missing. However it's a catchy little pop tune.