TimR

I think you may be taking what I wrote a little bit too literally and specifically. Most cover songs can be learned in one listen through. We aren't talking about film scores, neither are we talking about 20minute prog rock songs. We are taking about songs with 3 or 4 very predictable chords in them. I'd listen to the verse and chorus and then pick up my bass and put the notes in. By the end of the second chorus for 'most songs' I'd have the chords sorted. Not all songs, but that's exactly how I learned the majority of our current set list. I'd then work on any sections that are particularly difficult (if there were any) and look at harder songs on the set list. Remember we were talking about joining a covers band. Most of the hard work would have been already done by the guitars, drums and vocals. Once in the rehearsal, you can guarantee they will have already made changes to their arrangement to suit band instrumentation and ability.

You only have to learn the song. You don't have to perform it or write a critique essay on its form and place in modern music. The idea is you learn it, come to rehearsal and everyone else has learned something approachably passable, and you can get a good idea whether to spend any more time on it. Try playing some dep gigs, or jam nights, where you get told the key of a song you've never heard before and have to pick the song up on the fly.

That's probably part of the problem. If you're the kind of bass player looking for interesting complicated bass lines, you'll be limited to the number of tunes you want to play and even more limited to the tunes people want to listen to. I didn't say all tunes, just the vast majority of them. If you are ruling songs out because you're only playing one note at a time, you're not going to last long in a covers band. Learn the chords and structure. The song is learned. If you want to add runs and fills later at your leisure you can, but that's runs and fills and aren't essential parts of the song.

verse vi-IV-ii-IV Chorus I IV

You should be able to get your fingers under the notes by the end of the first verse and chorus. Chord progressions on popular covers are all pretty much the same. It's that familiarity that gets people listening to them over and over. Blues numbers are all I-IV-V. Either 8, 12 or 16 bar versions. The chart numbers at the moment predominantly feature I-IV-V-vi in various rotations. Then it's just a case of getting how many verses and choruses and whatever mid section there is. There's a tendency for people not to use their ears but to rely on tab and charts. As I say 'most' pop covers are ridiculously simple to pick up.

Our setlist seems to consist mainly of simple 3 and 4 chord songs. I wouldn't want to go through and check which ones I like playing and which ones I don't. But I wouldn't listen to a single on of them given the choice. I tend to change radio stations if any of them come on.

Good luck with even talking to the landlord. Facebook messenger.

Bass Centre Elites Stadium seem to last forever.

I think the problem in every band is that whatever your reason for playing you have to take into account the reasons your band mates have for playing. Which is all perfectly reasonable. Until they don't reciprocate. I've seen many originals bands who are rubbish and only play for their own enjoyment. But this is because they just don't understand that you can't just string a melody and words along to make a song. Neither can you spend hours refining a rubbish song that no one enjoys listening to and magic some engagement from it (I've been in that band, and it gets confusing trying to remember all the minute changes that have been made). I even know artists who've taken their work to producers ro get feedback and complained the producer wanted to change it too much and it ended up being too commercial. You can't have it both ways, you can't have a noncommercial song being popular. Music should be easy and fun to play. Otherwise it's work. You can enjoy your work and have fun, it's not mutually exclusive, but there comes a point when hard work is simply just hard work.

Could be worse, could be in an originals band where even the audience don't like the songs. 😁 I've seen that a few times. Also have played in an originals band where the audience keep asking for the band to play something they can dance to, or when a crowded pub has emptied when the band started*. That's a very long night. *although to be fair it was after a big football match with a charity raffle draw at the end. But very demoralising when you think you have a big ready made crowd.

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.