TimR

I also have a big suspicion that people don't understand statistics. Take this example: Two towns of the same size. Town A has 60% people who are in group A and 40% who are in group B. For 10 people in a job you expect to see 6 from group A and 4 from group B Town B has 10% people who are in group A and 90% in group B. For 10 people in a job you expect to see 1 from group A and 9 from group B. All good so far. Everything works fine and everyone is happy. Looking at the two towns combined 35% are in group A and 65% are in group B. But if you now look at the towns individually but incorrectly apply the result from the combined statistics. Group B are under represented in Town A and Group A are under represented in Town B. So statistics don't tell you the whole story, they're not nonsense but you need to understand how they work and what exactly they're telling you.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1487320966' post='3238852'] ... as though they fail to understand the disadvantages that come with being from an ethnic minority in our society, even today. *I hope I've not stepped on your toes there TimR [/quote] Quite.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487281294' post='3238684'] You have a very strange view of the world if you think everything is governed by statistics. I know it would be all neat and tidy that every business and every occupation had 3% ethnic minorities involved, because that is the population percentage,but people dont operate like that, humans do what they want or like to do not what statistics say they should. [/quote] Again everyone is missing the point. People only want to do things that fit into society's view of 'normal'. There are people who don't fit into society's box but we call them eccentrics. Choice is an illusion and is heavily influenced by what other people (and yourself) expect you to choose. Why don't any of you guys want to wear skirts? It's a simple question. Think about it. Then look around at jobs that are traditionally done by men and women and ask why men and women have 'chosen' to do those jobs. Why don't women choose to be in cover bands then? Statistics tell you everything about how things are distributed, they don't tell you why they're distributed or how to distribute them. .

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487276211' post='3238623'] But everything isnt equal, or average. Firstly people have to want to do something, they have to aspire to it. Secondly you have people who do an activity but have no desire to take it to a competitive level or to even do it in public. Lies, damn lies and statistics. [/quote] But there should be an equal number of both sexes shouldn't there? If 3% of the population are black then that 3% should be represented in every activity. So yes. There is the proof. We don't live in an equal society. .

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487255890' post='3238417'] Why? There are lots of ethnic minorities in Britain, does every activity have to look at all the percentages and make sure every one is represented in everything, regardless of weather they want to be? Positive discrimination is still discrimination. It has nothing to do with my "Ingrained attitude" All popular music is MOBO, I have already pointed that out. Claiming the British have the same racial leanings as the most Redneck section of the US Southern States is also very wide of the mark. We are talking music here and from what I can see no one has any problem with black or ethnic musicians. I lived in rural France for two years and did not expect the populace to bend over backwards and modify there customs and lifestyle to accommodate me, I stood out because I was English, even amongst the black and ethnic minority French. Its peoples differences that make them interesting, imagine how boring the world would be if we all looked and spoke the same. If someone wants to make music, or run a marathon or swim the Atlantic, its there choice and there desire that will get them there, regardless of ethnicity or gender. Take Stevie Wonder. Not just black, but blind from birth. Did he become one of the most influential and best selling musicians of the late 20th century because of positive discrimination? No, he did it because he was highly talented and he had the desire and drive to get to the very top. Was he a great blind,black musician/ songwriter? No, he was a great musician/songwriter, period. [/quote] Nobody said anything about 'making sure'. I said expect. That's from the law of averages. You would probably (if everything was equal) expect to see 50% of musicians to be women. Are they? There are certain activities that a large proportion of people don't do, not because they don't want to, or because they can't, but because no one expects them to. Including themselves. That's ingrained. If a man wants to wear a skirt, there's nothing in law that says he can't. The expectation is that he won't and if he does, people will question it, some people will even say it's wrong. Would I wear a skirt? No. Why? Because I think it is a piece of woman's clothing and I have no desire to wear one. But why do I think it's a piece of woman's clothing? Scotsmen wear kilts, and Hari Krishna monks wear dresses. It's been ingrained by society that men do not wear skirts. All MOBO does is give certain people some encouragement.

[quote name='Daz39' timestamp='1487251015' post='3238367'] The media are everyone's worst enemy, to be fair. [/quote] Agreed.

[quote name='Daz39' timestamp='1487250473' post='3238359'] It's not that most white people ought to apologise, but rather be more aware of their privilege and be less entitled about it. As an example: complaining about MOBO awards needing to exist. [/quote] The only thing I have against it is it does seem to have gone the other way and risks being sycophantic. "Oh, I feel really bad about the way black people are treated. You all have such a hard time and are all so repressed." Certain elements of black community (and extreme feminist women) play on this and turn it around for a completely different agenda. Yes, it's what the MOBOs are for and why it exsists and shouldn't be an opportunity to grind an axe, just a celebration of culture. Unfortunately the media have yet another agenda.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487188828' post='3237951'] I have no time for bigots, but looking at your first comments.... If the awards are in Britain its hardly surprising as the country is mainly white, middle class, so the fact most of the judges and winners are the same is not a shock. [/quote] You would expect that 3% would be represented though. Positive discrimination is only there to try and redress the balance. Look at the London Marathon. Their stated aim is to have a 50:50 split of men and women. In order to do this they lower the time requirements for women disportianately. Look at any other marathon and it's full of men in their mid 40s women are very under represented. Why is this a problem? Why are women under represented? Is it because they're not interested in running? No. It's because they're interested in running but when they turn up to marathons it's an elitist activity and society says women are not as good as men. There was no women running London until 1981 and no women's marathon in the olympics until 1984! Women running marathons? How ridiculous. Compare this to how blacks were treated in the US, and are even now. It's part of society's institutionally ingrained attitudes. It's so deep that we all don't see it and posts like yours just illustrate that.

It's all about how receptive the audience is. Sometimes you have to work hard to get them on your side, sometimes they're up for it from the off, sometime they don't get going to the second set, sometimes whatever you do won't get them to budge. I find you get to feel how gigs are going to go, but I'm continually surprised. It's a funny game.

I agree. Too many bands trying to recreate the original exactly and failing, or not trying tunes because they can't exactly recreate the original.

I have a DI out of the back of my amp for big gigs. Never had a problem. The other factor is my guitarist has a certain tone and I need to dial my on stage sound to fit with his tone or neither he nor me can hear ourselves or each other. It's not just a case of having 'my sound'. We both understand frequency mixing and know that volume wars just result in louder mush so both work together. I have no idea what the audience hear, just have to trust the sound guy.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1486732320' post='3234181'] I know all of that, but bassists spend lots of time and money to get just the sound they want. Just the right bass, strings, amp, cabs, speakers and pedals to produce there unique sound............and then leave what the audience hear up to the sound guy????? Why not save a fortune and buy a P Bass, a pre amp and in ears, cos thats what the FOH will make your top range kit sound like anyway? [/quote] Because you'd need that gear in the studio and don't want to have two setups for studio/live and you want to at least approximate the sound. I think you do have a point though. Lots of people with completely unrealistic expectations from live sound.

I'd say if there is a sound guy you wouldn't be having this problem in the first place. Isn't this issue only present when you are trying to use your backline to provide FOH sound?

Ok. I looked at the website and went straight for the photos. Being brutally honest with you and I think you have to be ready to take some heavy criticism here if you want to move on. The photos are completely underwhelming. The band are all fretboard gazing. The drummer is looking at the floor. He doesn't need to stare into the lens but he at least needs to get some eye contact with the audience, even if there was no one in the pub, he should have been pretending. Get some lighting. Every pub band has lights. They're cheap, even really cheap look better than nothing. End of. It doesn't matter what the band sounds like, the overwhelming majority of the audience and landlords will be consuming with their eyes. I wouldn't book your band on the strength of the photos and didn't look any further into your website. Sorry but if that is an indication of what you look like when you're playing, you're just not selling the music. Stand up straight, pose, smile, greet the audience. I would hire a rehearsal room, borrow some lights and play to an invisible audience while miming to a backing track and get someone who knows how to take photos to takes some good ones. Sorry if that's a bit harsh and negative. We don't have a website, there's only a few photos on our Facebook. There are some other links in the visitors posts to two photographers. https://m.facebook.com/archerts/ .

You only need to isolate the cab if you are playing on a hollow platform. The cab couples with the airspace underneath which causes the boom. If you can't hear 'your tone' from your back line it may be because you are using a 1x15" or a 4x10" which will be pushing the sound out from below your waistline and the mids and highs will not be going to your ears. I use 2x 2x10" stacked vertically, not because it is louder (most gigs the amp is below 4 on the dial), but because the top speaker is level with your ears. There's a reason 8x10s sound so good. Angling the cab up towards you may make it slightly clearer but could mess with what the audience hear. Lifting the whole cab onto a stand could decouple the bass from the floor and you then lose the bass in the audience.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1486468750' post='3232016'] I agree with this - in my band I compose the music, apart from the vocals - I absolutely don't want a guitarist & drummer deciding to discard my work & rewrite the parts just because it's "their" instrument. They get a degree of free rein to interpret parts - and I'm always open to input & trying different ideas & approaches - but the bottom line is the song's the song and once it becomes a performance or full band recording, [i]everyone[/i] serves the song. [/quote] It's YOUR band though which is quite a bit different to a lot of bands.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1486397297' post='3231432'] Have I got this right, the current bass player can't play the bass parts on the new album? Which begs the question who wrote them - it's normally the bass player in my experience? In which case the problem doesn't arise.... [/quote] Sounds like they've told him he's not going to be playing them and the guitarist will be playing them. I would have left by now.

Just seems really weird to me. They've told him he won't be on the new album but he thinks he is still in the band, and they're keeping him on the current tour. Just doesn't make sense. Why is he even hanging around?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1486392169' post='3231354'] You sitting down with the bass player and "discussing the situation" is the worst advice ever! It's not your place to discuss band personnel or politics. Keep well away from that. It's down to the band what they want to do and they won't thank you for poking your nose in!! And as I say, the guy is gone anyway, so why should you want to give the gig away to someone else when you could be doing it? [/quote] Ah right. I thought they were all mates and knew each other well.

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1486392121' post='3231353'] the OP says the current guitarists will do it.. [/quote] That alone speaks volumes. Walk away while you have your sanity intact.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1486391697' post='3231347'] too many bands put up with average players, and I think bassist is the usual place for it. I was at a gig last night, one band who are doing pretty well at the moment (headline tours etc) are sh*t hot, the singer, guitarist and drummer are all tight as hell and really playing. The bassist couldn't nod his head in time with the weird time signatures. Luckily he had a massively scooped sound and generally played in time, so he wasn't exactly taking away from the performance, but he didn't seem to be adding anything. I guess they'll put up with him forever, but if I was in their locality I'd have told them how sh*t he was and offered my services with no shame. [/quote] Maybe he owns the pa, the van, does the website, organises the setlist, and books the practices and gigs.

I'd go for a beer with the bass player and talk to him. If the band won't do it, at least you're being honest. Other than that tell them you'll do it but only after they have been honest with him. We've all been sacked from bands. There's a right way and a wrong way.

The other thing we often get wrong when learning a complete tune is practising bits we already know. Nail the verse then move on to the chorus, then the mid section. Then put them all together. Repeatedly running through a tune from top to bottom is counterproductive.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1486363978' post='3231048'] You'd be better doing fifteen minutes every day rather than 4 hours once a week. Humans don't learn like that. [/quote] Yes. Practice is basically repeating things you find hard over and over again until they're easy. What are you practising?

This kind of thing? Remove the adding and you're good to go. http://www.gear4music.com/Keyboards-and-Pianos/Adjustable-Keyboard---Piano-Bench-by-Gear4music/8XQ