TimR

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='1354750' date='Aug 28 2011, 09:12 PM']Majority opinion seems to be swinging towards cabs in this topic. Reflected on this a for a bit. Anyone else noticed there seem to be more threads discussing the pros and cons of amps than threads discussing cabs ? Just a thought......[/quote] I think people understand cabs less. They just go for a 4x10" or a 1x15" that will go with their choice of amp power. After all 10s are more punchy and 15s have more bottom don't they

Eric Clapton was interviewed on the Formula 1 build up this afternoon. "It might not rain today and that will make it a great day. I can't stand all that indescision. You know, the tyres and all that. It's a nightmare. (The DRS rear wing, the CURS and all that?) No, It's all in here init really? <makes steering motions> It's just like this <makes guitar playing motions> All the boxes on the floor with the guitar, with the amp. Don't matter. It's in 'ere! <Shows hands>. Isn't it? You know that. Well actually it's all in here <points to head>" And that's from a legend who's been though some gear.

I bought my cab before I bought my amp. While both [i]can[/i] colour the sound a lot the cab cannot be adjusted (unless it has a tweeter level) so you are pretty much stuck with that colouration. Amps [i]can[/i] be set fairly flat and while it's unusual to find one that is totally transparent you should be able to adjsut the EQ on [i]most[/i] of them to produce some sort of usable sound.

[quote name='silddx' post='1349742' date='Aug 24 2011, 12:07 AM']... One massive lesson was a couple of weeks ago camping with a bunch of musicians including Sheema, the fabulous sitarist I'm working with. She taught me a sitar melody which has most of the notes on the off beat, the fifth is not played in the melody until it hits the on beat. It is without doubt the most beautiful fifth I've ever heard, it thrills me to the core when she plays it! The trick is to understand why, but a lot of it is in the very subtle articulation of each note, the dynamics. Your heart rate quickens when you get it. It's these questions that have always interested me, the theory is purely support for enabling expression. Theory is a language, but I'm fairly happy that my own language, despite its huge limitations, may be the key to my musical happiness. If we approached being a human in the same way as many of us approach music, a bland exercise in technicality, we would not get much attention at the party.[/quote] Tension and release. There are far too many bland exercisers of technicality who understand what they're playing but not why.

It's definitely an experience/practice thing. The more you do it the better you get. You'll also get an element of "just wanting to be out of the house" from some members. In my last band the drummer was having issues with his wife. Whenever he organised a gig we had to be at the venue ridiculously early. This in turn led to problems with the sax player and vocalist who couldn't understand why they had to be at a venue 2 hours before soundcheck. Fair enough drummer and PA should be early but everyone else should take about 15mins max.

How many gigs have you done and how often do you gig? There's always a learning curve. Moving PA speakers shouldn't happen, you should put them up and they should stay where you put them. Drummer in first at the back with bass amp and guitar amp either side and position PA speakers and monitors. Drummer, bass player and guitarist set up gear (silently) then [b]one[/b] person does mics, mic stands, and PA wire up. Start at speakers and work back to mics. If two people do this something simple will get overlooked and you'll take ages debuging the install, or someone will twiddle the wrong fader and deafen the band with feedback when someone plugs in a mic. Quick sound check to make sure all PA works and set rough levels. Then everyone puts cases out in cars and lights are put up. Should take about 45mins if the cars are close to venue and access is easy. IEMs are probably overkill unless you have a dedicated sub mixer that you can operate yourself but that introduces a lot more wiring problems and time. I've played at small gigs where the amount of gear has frightened me. At the first gig I played with my latest band I arrived a bit late. The guys had already set up all the gear on stage; mixer and 2 PA amps, 7 guitar rack, plus some other stuff. Leaving us with so much unneccasary gear on stage that there was no room for us. I got them to move it all into he wings and said "People have come to see us play, not to see how much gear we have." - you can guess the guitarist's reply to that!

[quote name='Acebassmusic' post='1341933' date='Aug 16 2011, 02:21 PM'].... Another bass playing mate was watching me and quickly identified that I was tensing up and told me to “breathe”….eh? Yes , he was right, with tensing up I’d stopped breathing and made myself tense with concentration. He advised to concentrate more on my breathing than the playing. It may sound strange but it actually worked! Once I started to think about getting a steady flow of air, not just play the notes, the rest of me relaxed more and I found the piece “easier” to play. I’ve tried this when I’m doing new tracks and it works….for me at least [/quote] This. If it just the one song, it's more likely to be psychological.

Strangely enough last week I went to see a band I have seen a few times. They had a dep on bass. Something didn't gel. he was overplaying and the songs lacked any grove or underpinning. My friend commented on how good he was; playing loads of stuff and not just sticking to the "normal" bass parts. Then he told me he usually plays guitar. Usually the crowd stays late and demands several encores but when they finished playing that night everyone just sat down or left. People may not think anything is wrong or, even if they do, be able to put their finger on what is wrong at a concious level but you need understands what the role of the instrument is to make it work. Something similar happend at a gig a few months back. In the first set the bass player was all over the place. At half time the guitarist and bass player swapped. The "guitarist" who played bass in the second set was a much better bass player and the "bass player" who played guitar in the second set was a much better guitarist.

Segues are different to medleys. I hate medleys with a vengeance. Why learn the verse and a chorus of a song and only play it once. May as well play it 3 times and learn the mid section. My last band tried to do this. It worked fairly well with about 3 tunes from one artist and play at least two verses and two choruses but you could see people's confusion when you're playing well known songs that people sing along to and you change the tune. The guitarist used to write the links and they were murder because they were not intuitive to play. If we had a dep we couldn't do the song due to trying to teach the links on the fly. In the band I play now we had a Stones and a Quo medley. I rewrote the links to the Quo medley so that it keeps going and is natural. We play 2 verses and choruses of each tune. Previously they practically stopped each tune by linking each one with a guitar bridge. The Stones medley they played was awful and they couldn't link them at all. I persuaded them to learn the three tunes properly and we play the full versions individually with segues now. Which they actually prefer.

[quote name='KevB' post='1312672' date='Jul 22 2011, 01:01 PM']... it's not what he likes or wants in some isolated booth that's really the important thing. It's what it sounds like in the mix of drums, guitars, keyboard samples or whatever else is going on with it in a particular song. ...[/quote] Unless Rush are aware that Geddy's vocals are fixed and that the songs are pretty much bass led and so the samples/drums etc should sit around the Bass and Vocals. Just sayin' like....

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1312186' date='Jul 21 2011, 11:20 PM']Maybe looking up the definition of 'instance' would help....[/quote] Thanks. It's obviously a well used word in certain circles but I think it's used a bit gratuitously in that article. It almost felt like he was showing off... and then the definition was no better using another shed load of long words. I'm pretty much against dumbing down but sometimes you have to realise, if you're aiming your article at the non technical reader use some friendlier language. I should probably have used a smiley

OK. Back to the real world. £1200 bonus. That's £480 to the tax man. The wife will have already spent her half of the £1200 (£600). Leaves you with £120. Welcome to the real world.

I had to google instantiation! "In programming, instantiation is the creation of a real instance or particular realization of an abstraction or template such as a class of objects or a computer process. To instantiate is to create such an instance by, for example, defining one particular variation of object within a class, giving it a name, and locating it in some physical place. " I'm still not clear.......

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='1311263' date='Jul 21 2011, 10:27 AM']Is what was hoping for, to expect to "make it" whatever that means, is fairly unrealistic when you get the wrong side of 34...[/quote] In my case "making it" is playing a good set in front of an appreciative audience. BUT I suspect 9/10 times it will end up with you being the producer, manager and bass player, and in a few cases van driver, light and PA owner/operator, and website builder. While being able to just turn up and play bass [i]should[/i] be the case, it rarely is.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1310365' date='Jul 20 2011, 02:50 PM']Serious about being good- Don't need a manager/producer Serious about "making it" (whatever that is)- Yes you do. It is possible to be in a superb originals band and just do it because you enjoy it.[/quote] The manager can be anyone, even the guitarist, but they need to "manage". Anyone with a diary, access to a phone and an ability to organise a few people. The OP eventually had to get the drummer to ring the venue to find out if the gig was on. Who was actually 'managing' the band? Maybe the manager is different for each gig it doesn't matter, someone has to organise the band. Likewise the producer can be anyone. It's all well and good everyone having an input into lines but eventually someone has to have overall say in what makes the final production - whether that be a performance or recording. There are loads of examples of originals bands who produce tunes crammed full of overplaying; unnecessary notes and drum fills.I suspect we've all been in bands where a song never ever gets finished and is continually modified. Ultimately I play in originals bands because I like playing original songs. We can all get a bit precious about playing an original bass line but there's only so many combinations of root, counter point, choice of passing notes, harmony and doubling that will complement a song. Granted if the guitarist just controls it and says play roots or double my part it can get very frustrating but at least I would hope that there is someone with vision who knows what they want.

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='1309230' date='Jul 19 2011, 03:00 PM']... I've seen a lot of original acts round here that are equally as bad, and their fans/member don't seem to notice/care which makes me think it could be me. I've been doing this for over 20 years now, don't have the time or the energy to argue anymore, ...[/quote] No, the song remains the same it's just the players that have changed. When I was playing originals in the 80s it was exactly the same. People will talk the talk but not walk the walk. Bands are happy pretending to be rock stars. They get to play in front of their mates and their mates get to say their mate is a really good (guitarist/singer/drummer/bass player/other). The music is secondary, it's all about the hang. If the band is playing gigs and the audience turn up and seem to like it then that is all that counts. I think Nigel is in a different situation as he is backing quality singer/songwriters who are getting quality players to back them, rather than a bunch on no hope wannabes.

For me the issue is not running out of battery life, more one of changing the battery at short notice when it fails. Most basses have three or four fiddly screws on the back which don't make for a friendly on the fly change. You could opt for one of these: [url="http://www.axesrus.com/axeElectronicsEffects.htm"]Battery boxes - 3 different types.[/url] Alternatively there is a mod where an LED lights up when the battery is getting low. The electronics are usually Ok down to about 7.7 volts IIRC, (I don't know why that figure is in my head). So the LED is set to come on below 8volts which will give you a few more days gigging before you're out of power. I'll look up the LED mod. EDIT: here it is [url="http://www.guitarelectronics.com/c=AEWHg29ARm1kVSt5YLpIOJG9g/product/PMTLBAT/9-Volt-Low-Battery-Indicator-for-Active-Pickups-Electronics-For-Guitar-Bass.html"]Low battery indicator.[/url]

[quote name='bartelby' post='1308790' date='Jul 19 2011, 09:00 AM']As much as I'd like to see them again, large venues do my head in these days...[/quote] +1 I saw Metallica at the O2. Front row seats. I passed up Rush because I couldn't get near the front. If I want to watch a band on a video screen, I'll wait for the DVD. I know there's more to it than that but I prefer the intimate venues. The O2 Academy Islington has some good bands and it's a great venue. Anyway.... Back on topic. I may have a listen to the latest Maiden CD.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Every originals band that is serious about it needs a manager and a producer, AND needs to listen to them. There's a lot of misguided talent out there, it's a shame.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1308739' date='Jul 19 2011, 06:57 AM']Hope you enjoy the gig. I'm another who saw them at Donnington back in 1992, that was a good festival. [/quote] I suspect there will be few. 110,000 IIRC I've seen them 4 times (3 times at Hammersmith and at the Donnigton gig) but lost interest after around 92 after Can I Play with Madness was number 1. A friend and I were first row on the balcony at the Hammersmith Odeon (I think it's the Apollo now). Bruce went into a rant about how the crowd used to be full of blokes in Leather Jackets singing to all the songs and head-banging and now the theatre was full of 15 year old kids and their parents and no one knew any of the words - apart from those two blokes in the front row up there..... Looking back on it I suspect he did that every night. My brother worked for a rigging company and had back stage passes for a Wembley show but I had flu. Believe me, it was proper flu, there was no way I would have missed that! Enjoy! It will be an Awesome show.

[quote name='leschirons' post='1298770' date='Jul 10 2011, 09:12 AM']My reply applies to regular venues that we know. I know most here will dissagree but I just hate sound checks. Having the opportunity to soundcheck in a large empty venue is not a luxury I have too often. We don't have an engineer but we know how it needs to sound. These are not pro band venues and so many times I've been asked to soundcheck, in front of half the audience, playing the first number in the set, only to repeat it 20 minutes later. So, now I say no.[/quote] I totally agree. The sound changes completely once you fill the venue (or the man and his dog arrive)

Maybe it's time for a poll.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='1298612' date='Jul 9 2011, 10:26 PM']In a pub that's already full of people? I play a few random notes up and down the instrument - mostly looking for horrible resonances in the room. If all is well, push the mute button and shut up. Call me grumpy (!) but it really annoys me players noodling away "sound checking" - you know who you are [/quote] One of our guitarists said the other day: "I still can't belive that you turn up, plug in, tune up, play a few notes and are ready to play while we haven't even got our guitars plugged in." It's an experience and confidence thing. Keep your powder dry until the first chord. You'll eventually get to the point of knowing where to set your volume based on the size of the venue without playing a note.

Lucky you hadn't written half of some huge great peom and some bloke knocked on the door making you forget the rest of it. I assume you can remember the bass line.....

Mustang Sally.