TimR

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1497367625' post='3317595'] Nothing to do with knocking how others rehearse. We rehearse to get the structure and dynamics of the songs correct, or to iron out problems. We feel that playing at a lower volume, so we can hear exactly what is going on, is the most efficient way to do it. We can then play gigs at the appropriate volume knowing all is ok out front. Others may rehearse for different reasons. [/quote] Definitions seem to vary. Personal practice: done at home on your own to learn the parts. Band practice: done at low volumes, working on individual sections and arrangements. Rehearsal: playing through tunes that you've already practiced to ensure you've got them all right. May include fine adjustments and slight refinements. Then if you're in the theatre you have full and dress rehearsals, and technical walk and run throughs.

[quote name='musicbassman' timestamp='1497350911' post='3317429'] I expect many of you already know this, but increases in perceived loudness to the listener (Db) only increase on a logarithmic scale compared to multiples of amplifier wattage. So, a 300 watt amp will not be 10 times louder than a 30 watt amp, only about twice as loud. Plenty of info on the web about this, Google is your friend. [/quote] Yes. But you don't turn a 300W amp up to the max and there's no standard so whether a 300w and is twice as loud as a 30w depends on a number of factors. Speaker cabs etc. It's not absolute volume you need, you might only need 50w but a 30w turned up to full is just going to distort and still not get you anywhere near what you're after.

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1497340217' post='3317341'] Everyone is a sound engineer these days [/quote] I'm not sure you need to be a sound engineer to know whether instruments are in balance. I would have thought It's pretty much an essential skill for any musician who plays with other musicians.

I listened to it on the radio and thought the bass was more than present in the mix. Not overwhelming but it did get annoying after a while.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1497325437' post='3317282'] go DI into the PA. That's what we all do, even the drummer ! yes, electric kit for ease of practice,real drums live. [/quote] Indeed. If you're practicing, DI. If you're rehearsing take the gear you'll be gigging with. Otherwise it's not really a rehearsal.

Once you've learned a tune in one key it can be difficult to un-learn it. A band I was in played a tune for years in one key until the singer decided it wasn't her key. So we tried several different keys during a rehearsal and settled on a new key. Come the gig I launched into the bass solo forgetting we've changed key, obviously all sounds good, keys come in on new key, sounds terrible, he realises what's happened and changes key, then repeat again with guitarist. Drummer is giving everyone the death stare. Singer comes in on key and sings whole song perfectly for the first time ever. .

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1496604167' post='3312646'] We're more than capable of setting our over the mic banter from amusing to public annihilation if need be but I'm really looking for ways to discourage punters coming up to talk rather than dealing with the event. There probably isn't an answer [/quote] You can't stop them coming up and talking to you. Unless you effect a razor wire fence, which isn't always possible in your local. You can get rid of them quickly by saying that you'll have a word with the band and see what you can do. That'll get rid of them for 30mins or so. Hopefully by then they've forgotten.

Depends how good looking they are.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1496250149' post='3309958'] Sloppy Jazz band? How can you tell? Decide after you get an impartial second opinion from someone who knows about these things. [/quote] Exactly this. I played a gig two weeks ago with the guitarist filling in as the singer and a drummer we had never played with before. It was very sloppy. It was as a favour for our friend as a last minute thing for his birthday, only 30minutes and we weren't going to be paid. Apparently of the three bands that played we were the best and as the other semi-pro and pro band were being paid, he also paid us (more than we'd usually get!)

The bass guitar is notated an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines.

[quote name='Bikenbass' timestamp='1496263744' post='3310099'] And just to wind up a few more who don't see the humour, I think you'll find Carol Kaye was the original bassist on MS! [/quote] I'm sure everyone saw the humour. Some just chose to have a serious conversation around the subject. Doesn't mean they didn't find it funny.

Mustang Sally is a cracking song, it's great to play, audiences love it. Even when played badly. The down side is we've probably all been playing and hearing it played for 30+ years and are bored with it. I think that's a more honest point of view.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1496063664' post='3308469'] Before this thread disappears into a whirl of alleged musical snobbery and confirmational bias (whatever TF that is), just thought it'd be worth mentioning that one of the most oft-quoted criteria mentioned in the 'Requirements for Joining a Band' thread so far is "music that I like/will enjoy playing". Is that 'snobbery' or just personal taste? [/quote] Conformational bias is where you fit the evidence to what you're expecting to see and discount evidence that doesn't confirm your beliefs. E.g. If you went to see a band that played two hours of varied music but also played those four tunes mentioned you would come away with the impression that it was yet another covers band with no imagination. There's a difference between; not playing Mustang Sally because you don't like it, and not playing Mustang Sally because you think your band is too good to play it.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1496068058' post='3308495'] I've played I Wish in my last 3 bands. Good number that always seems to go down well. IME Superstition gets chosen in guitar led bands, because they can pay the riff. IMO Superstition always works better when the keys take the lead and the guitar vamps on chords. Not many guitarists want to give up the spotlight though. [/quote] I play the keyboard line and the guitarist vamps. Sounds pretty good in a power trio.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1496052884' post='3308363'] I would sooner play Sally or Superstition than Dakota or Sex On bloody Fire any day of the week. [/quote] They're only tunes and it's only 3 minutes of your life. I just play the music, if people enjoy it, I've done my job. There's a lot of musical snobbery going on. These are great songs to have in the bands armoury in case they're requested. You don't have to play them all every week. The problem is, we are in bands that play these tunes and probably see other bands playing tunes we play. We've surveyed BassChat and found while there's lots of duplication, no bands are playing all the tunes and no band has an identical setlist. There's quite a bit confirmational bias going on.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1496048126' post='3308292'] For me, it does! I love Stevie's as much as the next guy but putting superstition in the set is such a cop out. Stevie's got so many fantastic well-known tunes that punters would love just as much but people would rather stick with the lazy option, thudding away for 90% of a song on a single E (because nobody can be bothered to drop tune and do it in Eb like the original). I'd much rather see a band play 'I wish', 'Sir Duke', 'Master Blaster' etc something that doesn't take all of 5 minutes to 'learn' in a rehearsal one night because everyone knows it already and it's an easy set filler! [/quote] You'd get on with our singer. If we mention a song, he always says; "If we are going to do a song by X, I'd rather do ..." I can't quite understand this approach. We are choosing a song because of what it sounds like and how popular it is, not because of the artist. Although we are at point now where, because his favourite artist is David Bowie, we play 4 songs that David Bowie wrote. So I might be slightly hypocritical as when he asks "What about another Bowie song", I switch off before considering it. I think maybe the audience may also think along the lines of who sang the originals and think we are playing too many Bowie songs. I'm not sure. I suspect there's a balance and the two positions may be related but are not the same.

I bet he didn't even get paid!

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1495368998' post='3303246'] Sorry, but I disagree. What about the original artist that can't sing in the original key? Is it fine for them to do it and not anyone else? [/quote] Yes. Rush are writing new material all the time. It doesn't have the ridiculously high pitch vocals anymore. When you see them live, the number of old tunes they play is limited to the really well known, expected tunes.

Classic flying by the seat of the pants last night. A friend asked us to play at his 40th - mini festival. Unfortunately we had a gig booked and I had to turn him down. However in the mean time our singer is seriously ill and is undergoing chemo so we had to cancel the initial gig. So I told my friend we could probably now play a half hour with the guitarist singing. In the mean time the drummer having cancelled the initial gig booked himself somewhere else. Never mind. I pulled a favour from a drummer friend. We put together a list of 10 tunes we all kind of knew and jumped on stage with no practice. We played for an hour. No major car crashes but a few 'keep playing and smile' moments. Lots of nodding to each other to indicate changes. Seemed to go down well, I've had 4 messages today already from friends about how good we were. Love these random gigs. Can't beat a power trio.

Sounds like an elephant caught in a barbed wire fence.

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1495183660' post='3301878'] This meter reader = idiot. Smart Meters: There was a program on radio 2 Jeremy Vine about these. They all have a compatibility problem from one supplier to the next. They don't work properly and the program highlighted several customers being overcharged by thousands as a result. (although they did get it sorted out). One expert they had on said the tech was already out of date and it would be too expensive to upgrade the whole network so that they would work satisfactory so the whole concept as it stands is flawed. So really its a "Not so smart meter." [/quote] Jeremy Vine makes my teeth itch. His skills as an 'investigative journalist' are extremely lacking and his show is sensationalist. Of course GSM is old technology but it's only sending numbers to a central control. I was of the understanding that Invensys collect all the data independently and the power companies just get the data from them. So the comparability issue is really the power companies complaining they can't collect it directly.

[quote name='dyerseve' timestamp='1495133518' post='3301593'] Are you sure about that? My understanding is they can be read remotely but only by a person coming round to your property. The idea being that the person doesn't need to enter the property. But a bit like blutooth or Wi-Fi you need to within a certain proximity of the device to read the data from the device. I just can't see how else they would work without piggy backing into the homeowners Wi-Fi but that would be a real can of worms. [/quote] Not sure about domestic but the water, gas and electric in the building where I work have GSM modems in them. The get breakdowns of half hourly energy readings.

Anyone who tells you they're a musician and then immediately qualifies it by telling you exactly what make and model instrument they own. Isn't.

[quote name='linear' timestamp='1494943189' post='3299811'] Is there anything that lasts longer than Servisol? I find it works great, but after about 6 months the pot is back to how it was. (I know I should replace it, it's on the todo list, and has been for years now) [/quote] Turn your knobs all the way anti-clockwise when you turn off your amp/bass. The scratches are often from where the contact sits on the track leaving dirt and starting corrosion.

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1494414043' post='3295720'] Before tuners it was tuning fork, pitch pipes, piano, wild guess? [/quote] I try to tune by ear at home as much as possible. It gives you an advance of being able to adjust tuning mid song if it is a problem.