TimR

That would never happen nowadays with the advent of satnav.... Would it....? 😆

Played a village fair once. The first set was great. Then it got dark and we switched the lights on and the electronics went crazy. I switched a few lights off and it calmed down a bit and we finished playing on a somewhat gloomy stage. I followed the extension lead back across the field to a shed where I assume the lead had been plugged in, but it went round the shed and plugged into another lead that snaked off towards the village hall. Must have been well over 150m from where we set up. Assuming it was plugged in at the hall.

I used to play a few jazz gigs with my dad on piano and brother on drums. My dad would rustle up some local talent on brass and woodwind and put on a jazz afternoon or evening for his local village to raise some money. My brother and I were co-opted in, he would busk the drums and I'd do my best to play walking bass over some awkward chord changes written in indecipherable hyroglyphics. It was mainly just a case of keep going at the back, listen and watch for changes while the woodwind/brass/piano played huge great solos and took the heat. My brother and I, at the back would be pulling faces at each other and playing random humorous fills in relevant places and generally using it as an excuse to have fun. At one of these gigs we stopped for a break, sandwiches and wine and while I was talking to my brother about how busy it was and how well we were playing and going down, a lady approached us. "You must be H's sons." "Yes" "Well I've been watching you both. Stop messing around at the back!" Always very humbling to be told off when you're in your mid forties. 😆

Normally at the 12th fret. But if you're doing your own set up you don't need to measure it.

I think the point is, if you have instruments missing or don't play parts, the listener fills in the gaps subconsciously. They're hearing what they expect to hear, not always what you're playing. It's the same as sight. A large proportion of what you are seeing is being made up by your brain and what you're expecting to see.

Back in the 80s. We played a hall with a 4ft high stage. Loads of people in the audience. Guy climbs up onto the stage and dives backwards headlong into the audience. Which parts like the red sea and he hits the deck flat on his back. We continued playing, trying to peer into the gloom to find out what was going on, while he remained completely immobile for about a minute before slowly getting to his feet and wandering off to the back of the hall. Fairly worrying as the guitarist and myself had hired the hall and were probably responsible for the health and safety of everyone there.

This is something I've only just become aware of. And will explain how we all hear music slightly differently and why 'playing it exactly as per the original' can never happen. I've long wondered why musicians will say we play this exactly as per the original and then post a YouTube clip, which to me, is a pretty rough approximation. And why some bands I go to see got a massive reaction from some pretty appalling musicianship. Most of the audience are listening to music that's already built into their memory and the notes we play are just firing off those neurons. I once played Baggy Trousers in a band and something wasn't right with the keyboard part, I eventually tracked it down to the keys playing Fmaj chord instead of Fmaj/C. Not a biggie but wasn't right to my ears. No one else in the band could hear any difference. All due to Top Down Processing. What you are listening to isn't what you are hearing. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28683-how-trippy-version-of-mariah-carey-christmas-hit-fools-the-brain/

It's not for everyone, but the more you do it the more you get used to it. It's like anything where you push yourself out of your comfort zone. And very rewarding. The key is to remember that no one is expecting you to be note perfect, it's live music and unless you're absolutely useless, most people won't remember any duff moments.

These are the people who like the idea of being in a band, more than being in a band. The playing and the music is secondary to how they think the audience perceives them. Which isn't usually quite how the audience actually perceive them. Big giveaways are the amount of gear they own, the songs on the setlist, and how long they spend discussing stagewear.

Legally, all mechanically propelled vehicles (including mobility scootters) should be on the road unless they're doing less than 4mph.

The point is people are unpredictable. If you slow down and warn them of your presence well in advance, they won't suddenly decide to veer off in an unexpected direction when they suddenly become aware of something behind them. It happens to me a lot when out running and I run slowly. People still jump out of their skins unless I call out well in advance.

If you have a passive bass, there's not a lot of complex electronics to be afraid of inside. The pots are very cheap and if you destroy one, you can just buy another. They key things are getting someone to explain how the wiring diagram relates to the real world elements and practicing how to solder. Active are more complex but the advice would usually be just to swap out the board. It's worth opening up just to see what plugs in where.

Yes. The guitarist in the band told me I should get it done where he gets his done. As it would be much better. He then spent 3 practices complaining about how badly his guitar had been set up. I pulled all the frets from a bass in the 80s and filled the slots with polyfilla. I guess some people are just more able to handle handy tasks. I have friends unable to put up shelves or curtain poles and I have other friends who can change gearboxes and cylinder head gaskets, and piston rings on cars.

Actually, even that gig has a story attached... 😆

I played a gig where 'the bass player from the Kinks' was also playing in his band. So I had a bit of a chat with him. Then a few weeks later played at a party where the 'bass player from the Kinks' was in attendance. He'd changed quite a bit in such a short time.

And everyone has played that wedding where no matter what tunes you play, no one dances and they just all stare at the band and clap after each song... Haven't they? With the only 3 people on the dancfloor two toddlers and a teenage boy racing up and down and skidding on his knees.

Ha yes. Played one wedding where we were packing down and then the screaming and shouting started. One of the female guests accused another of 'nicking the cancer tin' which all the guests had been making donations instead of buying gifts. Apparently the guest was always nothing but trouble and out thieving. Hair being pulled, names being called. We tried to load out while the men tried to calm it all down. Then someone appears from out back and asks what's going on. "Oh, I've got the tin, I took it for safe keeping"

Far too many. The one that sticks in my mind was a function band doing a 50 birthday party/wedding anniversary. Big posh meal, black tie and the band had been given a table with wine and food. The first dance was Moon River, which had been the couples first dance. A waltz in 3/4. Drummer had really struggled to learn with 3/4 as he was from a rock background (don't ask). After he and the guitarist had drunk plenty of wine. We took to the stage and he counted in 1,2,3,4 and launched into a straight 4, which somehow the guitarist managed to stay in time with. The singer struggled to get any lyrics to fit in any bar. How the couple managed to dance I'll never know. Later on we played a song that had a bass intro, there had been various emails rattling around in the week where the singer had asked if we could play it in a different key as she was really struggling. No firm consensus was made. Needless to say I came in in the key that we'd been playing it in for about 3 years, slowly joined by the keys player, prodding around looking for the right notes and then the guitarist (still under the effects of wine came crashing in on some random key. Note to others, play as rehearsed and don't make untested changes via a long email trail, that not everyone may have read... We finished the night on New York New York. At about 180bpm... 😆

Tell that to Townsend. 😆

"John's bass sound was like a Messiaen organ. Every note, every harmonic in the sky. When he passed away and I did the first few shows without him, with Pino [Palladino] on bass, he was playing without all that stuff... I said, ‘Wow, I have a job.' "With Keith, my job was keeping time, because he didn't do that. So when he passed away, it was like, ‘Oh, I don't have to keep time anymore.'" https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/pete_townshend_says_thank_god_entwistle__moon_are_gone_talks_what_was_wrong_with_their_playing.html

Wasn't this a deliberate act from Townsend who had been trying for years to get Entwistle to calm down so he could play lead guitar?

I'm now wondering how many bassists would turn down playing with The Who because they considered it boring.

The other consideration is if you're doing a long multi venue demanding tour, you're going to need a load of pretty much identical instruments. Sometimes they'll have 2 sets of stage rigging and leap frog through countries using different gear each night. Steve Harris has dozens of Fender P Basses.

It's usually because sound engineers have lots of experience of recording industry standard basses and know what works. They probably don't want to be messing around trying to get a sound that sits in the mix. I'm sure I've heard stories where, after much struggling to get a decent sound, producers have gone off and come back with a Fender Precision and asked the artist to play that instead.

I suspect this is because Mamma Mia the West End show was part written by Benny and Bjorn, and ABBA Mania seem to be promoting themselves as the original and premier West End ABBA production.