TimR

One analogy that does work is the Sky one. Pubs seem to be happy to pay up to £13k a year for footie!

I agree with Bluejay. And would go further and say that as musicians we ourselves have forgotten how much work goes into just getting to a level where we're trotting out 'easy' numbers. They're only easy because we've practiced and worked at making them look and feel easy. To most of the audience what we do is magical and practically everyone I ever talk to about being in a band says "I wish I could play a musical instrument."

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1329399878' post='1541850'] If you had to replace yourself by auditioning new bass players for your band, do you think that would be an easy thing to do? [/quote] I don't think it's my job to audition or find a new bass player. I just turn up and play bass, loads of bass players do that.

I used to play The Trooper with 4 fingers. I don't remember anyone saying that my playing was uneven. I went to see Nicko McBrain the other month doing his "audience with". He doesn't use a double bass drum pedal! Ever! when the guys are playing that music every night for two years you would expect them to be able to play that fast. I'm not touring with Maiden, or anyone else, I just hit the string with whichever finger is ready.

The point I was making is that you have to do something different from the big online shops. They can buy bulk etc but don't have that casual walk in and browse thing. If you have a PC in the shop that you can let customers see what you can get in and they know it will be there next day you may not lose their custom. I get told "We can try and get some in for you", rather than "I don't have any in stock but can get some here for tomorrow." Mainly it's a lack of dynamic customer service but I do realise that it must be the hardest thing in the world continually being nice to tyre kickers. There may also be tie ins that I'm not aware of maybe to be a string/bass/amp stockist you have to order a minimum quantity?

Sorry guys you've lost me. Why does being a high street retailer prevent you from being an online retailer as well? Surely this is a case of evolve or die out. There are a couple of shops near me with a great set up. In the back room they have a mini photo booth set up. Secondhand gear gets photographed and straight onto their websites. It can't be hard for them to sell you a set of flats, take payment and you pick them up next day. Saving all that hassle of collecting stuff from the post office or missing the courier because you're at work.

I wonder how many people play in a band and think that it would be easy to rent some space that they can use for rehearsals and hire out when they're not using it. Musicians don't usually make good businessmen, that's why there are so many agents around. Running a studio is going to be like any other business and there will be a ton of overheads. A friend of mine tried it and fell at the first hurdle when the council came round and pointed out that his lease wouldn't allow him to do what he wanted to do. He was stuck with a unit that he couldn't use and couldn't sub let. An expensive mistake. Get a solicitor to look over anything like that. I'm not sure that being in a band, having a full time day job and running a studio in the evening is something that is easy to pull off.

[quote name='funkyspuke' timestamp='1328086884' post='1521438'] Is there anything that you would wish your studio offered or did? [/quote] If you're looking to set up a studio my thoughts are: Be on site all the time or get someone you trust, who knows about gear and pay them well to be there. I think many owners just think they'll hire a unit, sound proof it, fill it with gear and pay someone a few quid to take bookings. An online diary system so you can see what rooms are free before you phone up to book. It's a nightmare trying to book when the girl at the desk is trying to be helpful but you can't see what she can see. Check out [url="http://www.graphicnature.co.uk/"]http://www.graphicnature.co.uk/[/url] Chris is an all round nice guy and has really put some time and energy into getting it right. I think if you price rooms appropriately you will weed out the Chav element. Have a couple of bare basic rooms with el cheapo gear and price it a lot differently to rooms with high end gear in it. Don't allow eating or drinking in the rooms, other than water. Basic consumables available for sale, strings, sticks, leads, snare heads. Have a few spare leads and mark them up for people to borrow. Be available on the mobile phone at all times and get back as soon as you hear a message. If you are planning to run the studio and do recording sessions and not available to take calls you need to have someone who has access to the diary and can take the calls for you.

One studio I used had a 4x10". Every week I reported a different blown cone in it. I've also seen mods done to volume controls on amps to stop them being driven to max. There is always the DI option if there is a decent PA. I suppose the answer is for the rehearsal studio to check before and after a band use the room that it's all working correctly, but I guess arguing over who pays for a bust amp when one of you is trying to run a budget studio and the other is a peniless musician who can just about scrape together the rehearsal fee plus a few tins of lager is a frustrating task. A few studios do have storage options. I'm fairly sure Farm Factory mentioned by Lozz do. They've been around for years and are well organised. You could even hire a basic PA for gigs from them. However, you never know when a studio is going to go bust and your gear gets held byh the recievers while you try to prove it's yours.

Because anyone can get together a few quid and strap on a bass and plug into an amp. Find a couple of mates and all of a sudden you're in a band. Copy a few tunes and you're good to go. Fast forward a few years, you've been in a few bands done a few gigs infront of some mates or a few drunk people in a pub and then you can call yourself a musician. It's a bit like putting together an ikea wardrobe and calling yourself a carpenter. The difference is 'feel'. There are people who can pull of tasteful slap and widdly stuff and people who can play root notes. Everyone can do this with enough practice but unless they know what they are listening for when they play it will always sound like a mechanical bag of bolts. If one person likes what you have done then you have done it well. My wife likes her ikea wardrobe.

I would just have reiterated what you had originally said and toldl him to call you back when the choir were ready. Chances are they'll never be ready. Lots of the choir will turn up weekly because they enjoy each others company and get to sing a bit. A few of them will drift off when they realise they're never going to sing to an audience. A few others will leave because of his attitude.

That's one reason not to do banter between tracks, or at least add new banter every few gigs. I've seen bands where even the players have given up pretending to laugh at the singers 4 jokes.

There's a reason they call it reality and not documentary. But then even David Attenbourough fakes it sometimes

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1327579585' post='1513574'] Sure, but when the tracks have gelled, Duck plays the basslines pretty much the same every time. Look at the footage of BookerT on tour and tell me they're not well rehearsed! [/quote] That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying some bands do and some don't. Singer/songwriters with hired bass players will do it differently to established bands. But rehearsal is key.

I played in a big band on Blue Peter a few years ago. it was very well rehearsed even the questions they asked had rehearsed answers. The band leader wanted to make a political point about youth band funding from the government and after the rehearsal told one of the kids to change his answer. They must have the green room bugged because within 5 mins the floor manager was on the pair of them telling them that they mustn't deviate. My brother did change his line to a slightly more riske adult type answer and John Leslie did well not to corpse. If you watch live TV carefully you'll see a lot must be scripted and rehearsed and you get to tell when someone says something they wern't supposed to. Jonathon Ross is the best to watch for this. Don't believe anything you see on TV.

The only person who has told me that the bass line I was playing was wrong was another bass player. It's up to the person playing the line whether they play the original line. The o my part of a song ghat can be copyrighted is the melody and lyrics. Some songs the drums and bass can be so key that they're considered to be playing the melody. Take a band like BookerT and the MGs. They jammed all their music then when they hit on a riff or motif they liked they stripped the jam right back down. Other musicians work the other way - melody on a piano and lyrics then hire a bass player to play along. Read a few interviews and talk to a few session bass players and you soon come to the conclusion that many of them turn up, play a line and take the money. Sometimes they're happy with the outcome sometimes they wish they'd played it differently.

Exactly my thoughts. There are a lot of bands who seem to have to fill every space with a fill. Less is more.

I've had two of the Kink's bass players at separate gigs. Chatted to both during breaks. Nobby stood in for a couple of numbers.

Gift aid works the other way. If you give £5 then the government give an additional £1.20 or whatever. This only works if you are a tax payer so not everyone can gift aid. The idea is that charitable donations are tax free so that £1.20 is the tax you paid to the government when you initially earned that £5 (£6.20)

I understand this fully now. It's basically AmDram but with a choir instead of actors. The producer or in this case the "MD" is usally a complete PITA. Usually what happens is the actors and the rehearsal pianist rehearse until ready then the musicians turn up at the technical rehearsal, are given the dots/charts and sight read it with the rehearsal pianist as the MD. You just do what he says when and how he wants it. Take the money or the beer and wait to get called again. I've done hundreds. They're all pretty much the same format. Tell him to call you when the choir is ready and he has a date for the performance.

Depends on the individual gig. If it's at a hotel where they've obviously hired a function room etc then it's normal fee. We learned the hard way when we charged pub rates and found out that not only were tickets £50 each but they made over £7k at the auction of promises during the interval. If it's a scout marquee or chuch fair type gig where everyone else is providing their services free then we'll do it for £50 a head and the person whose charity it is will waive their fee. We only do a few a year and only for members of the band's charities.

Frustrating. You're caught between a rock and a hard place. Has he played many gigs in the past. Sound like he is not confident in his own abilities or is stage shy and just trying to avoid playing live. I'd just get your strongest 4 songs and try to play each one during the church service one a week for a month. Get some feedback from the congregation and see how it goes. Sounds like 20-30 songs is a bit of a tall order.

The whole world needs a new direction. We're all obsessed with getting as much stuff as we can. Put a limit on the amount of stuff people can have then once they've got that much stuff they'll have to find something else to do.

No one said drumming was easy. Some drummers make it hard though. My last drummer was exhausted after every set but overplayed massively adding unnecessary fills whenever he could, waving his arms around and generally dropping beats. Never had a lesson because he didn't need one. The guy I play with now has never broken a sweat, never dropped a beat and puts in sparse and tasteful fills exactly where needed. He has had lessons. I've watched my brother play three sets in a three piece suit and not even broken a sweat. He also has had lessons Technique is everything in every instrument.

That's not a fair comparison. More like if the original song is just roots you wouln't fill it full of runs you couldn't manage. But then there are a fair few who do that too....