TimR

Is this a permanent gig? Have they got gigs lined up? Do they freshen up the setlist often? Is there a theme or direction in the songs? Are there modern songs? Will you get any say in suggesting new songs? How far away are the gigs? Questions I'd ask. Thing about covers is most songs can be learned in one listen through. So you're not investing hours of your time learning them. Lots of cover bands play standards and they can crossover to other dep gigs etc.

Our guitarist owns the PA. Once he has set up all his guitars and pedals etc, he then moves to setting up the PA. It's frustrating because by the time he gets to that point I'll have set up my bass gear and lights before he arrives, then carried in and positioned all the speakers and stand around waiting until he instructs me which cable to plug in where. Issuing speaker cables first and only moving to mic cables after the speaker cables are in and finally to power leads. Just give me the bag and I'll do the power leads when I put the speakers out.

That reminds me of the other essential for the gig bag. Torch with fully charged batteries. You don't want to be scrabbling around in the dark looking for cables.

Ha. It seems from theatre. If its not an actor, prop or scenery, it shouldn't be seen by the audience (or at least distract from the performance). While the audience are thinking why the hell has the guitarist got so many guitars they're not focusing on the act. Same with white extension leads. Just looks amateurish, like someone just grabbed a lead from their home office or off a shelf at B&Q.

I'm not in favour of any hardware that stands out on stage. Just looks cluttered amd distracting on photographs. Even all my multiway extension leads are in Black. You can get cable-tie labels that you write on for the ends of leads and numbers to identify them. I once played with a guitarist who wanted 8 guitars on stage with him and the PA mixer, because people would want to see his gear. This left nowhere for him to stand. This was on a stage with wings.

I'd say, for completeness, really you need light orange for the 5m and dark orange for the 15m.

Panic buying sack trucks. Don't forget to get an extra one to carry the ones you buy, home.

Nice thread. Ressurected. Have just downloaded the free Mobile Sheets app and had a play. Going to try it out with a handful of songs at practice and see how I go. Great that I can write out a chart in my pad and then just take a photo of my chart. Got to be easier than flipping backwards and forwards in my pad and trying to read it in the dark. Works fine on my phone and it's only needed for a few simple 4 chord songs. 😆

I've had the E machinehead break twice on my bass. Once 10 years ago and once a year ago. I've swapped them all out with better quality ones now, seems it was fairly common issue with the Ibanez. After the first time when I had to restring my bass to be EAD on the fly, and play an entire gig on 3 strings I now take a spare bass to gigs.

It depends on the reliability of your gear. Even a small 100w amp in the boot might get you out of a hole. I have a DI box, worst case you plug into the PA and limit the volume if the speakers aren't man enough. Leads looked after well should last forever.

Turned up to one gig and the keys kept cutting out. It's not usually a problem, says the keys player, I just keep my foot on it. I opened up the plug top to find the end of the live wire floating around inside it. Take a soldering iron and screwdrivers to gigs plus a selection of fuses.

Was it wet?

That's all very well but where do you buy calibrated Zebras?

Think about the routing of the cables and the positioning of the mixer vs the speakers. If the mixer is self operated at the back corner of the stage, the cable has to go from the mixer to the floor, along the back of the stage, up the side then up to the speaker. The other one doesn't need to do the back run. If its self operated from the front you can run the cables straight across the front of the stage and doesn't need to do the sides. If you bought 3 10m cables you've probably got it covered. And you should always have a spare XLR or two hanging around in case of failures and/or extra mics.

Same song, covered by Suggs. Although I think the backwards bass you're thinking about is Paul Simon. Unless your post is tongue in cheek.

I read the thread from the beginning having noticed the date and assumed this would be an update. Use your ears and all will be fine on Sunday, those gigs can be the most fun. Good luck. Hope all is well otherwise.

It's funny. A pro brass player I used to know calls it the armature disease, and says its a well known phrase amongst pros. If you can't make a song sound exciting just play it faster. Usually aimed at people with lack of technique and feel.

I'm wondering whether 'tinkering' with the format of a song fulfills some people's need to express creativity without the risk of originals. Our singer doesn't understand how we can 'just play anything', and is now getting surprised when she comes up with a suggestion that we can't do anything with. Usually some obscure drum and bass number with no melody and no chord structure...

Yes. But a Status Quo number should be a case of adding a verse and a chorus on the end on the fly if everyone is leaping around and singing? You don't need to work on adding anything. Or am I expecting too much from musicians?

Why does anyone do this? After you've played it a few times at gigs and got blank looks from the audience you'll wish it was shorter and then you'll bin it entirely in 3 months time...

I joined a band where the singer 'could play bass', he even said he'd bring his as a spare to a gig. So when he questioned a line I was playing and said he could play it to show me, I handed him my bass with no problem. That was when I learned why he was the singer and not the bass player... I take my own spare bass to gigs.

I don't really have a problem with anyone who can't understand music in an amateur setting. Most people have no formal training or taken part in formal ensembles or even jammed in blues or jazz bands. It's becoming more and more common to meet musicians who need to rehearse bands over and over again before they'll play live and can only play tunes that they've learned. I have no problem with any of that, so long as they realise what their limitations are and don't argue minutiae over things they don't know about or really understand. One of the basic requirements I have for any musician or vocalist is; if we say, take it from the second verse, bridge, chorus or whatever, they can pick it up. I've wasted too much rehearsal time playing a song again from the top, only for it to fall apart in exactly the same time, everytime. If you're practicing an end, just practice the end. One problem with singers and guitarists is its often impossible to transpose some tunes without them sounding 'not right', or impossible to play on bass or guitar. I don't care if it's your favourite song and everyone would go crazy if we play it, if we can't find a key that works inside 3 minutes - it's a no goer. Don't suggest it again 3 weeks later.

This is getting all a bit Demolition Man. I'm guessing the Shake n Vac chords are a fairly simple 3 chord type blues progression.

Millions of Beatles fans would disagree. 😆

It does make you wonder why you spend hours learning a complex tune when 30 seconds spent picking up 3 chords for a song with catchy lyrics goes down a storm.