Beedster

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1507801446' post='3388008'] I think there's a difference, 'rehearsing' means doing something in order to prepare it for performance, playing with mates for the pleasure of it is an end in itself. Both equally valid, but to my mind, a rehearsal is playing with gigging as the goal. [/quote] Which was exactly my point Dave, although perhaps not as clearly made

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1507796936' post='3387960'] Rehearsing is fun partly because it is intended to lead to a performance; rehearsing for its own sake would get very stale very quickly. [/quote] One man's 'rehearsing' is another man's 'playing music with mates for the pleasure of it'

[quote name='Lysdexia' timestamp='1507760590' post='3387858'] It's a load of fun. Which is a tremendous value - playing for the joy of it. [/quote] +1

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1507751280' post='3387790'] Again, personally I don't see that and I don't get the sense anyone here is suggesting anyone is any less of a musician if their not gigging. We all gig and don't gig for different reasons. One of the primary reason I gig is to bring a little happiness to people when the work week is done and they merely want to relax, have fun and a good time. We had a marginal crowd at best Saturday night. But there was this one older women who looked like she hadn't been out for a while. She was smiling, totally focused on the band rocking in her seat. Just watching her puts why I gig into perspective. Blue [/quote] Nicely put Blue. Wish that was my experience

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1507734440' post='3387598'] Why does everyone posting here seem to be insisting theirs is the only right way? Some like to play for its own sake with a few pals, some like to play for a living, some like to do the occasional gig, etc, etc. So what? Different strokes for different folks. I've played as a hobby and for a part and full living. I'm currently back to being a hobbyist. I enjoy it. End of. [/quote] It's a forum. End of

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1507708028' post='3387307'] Is this yet another re-hash of the "you're not a proper musician unless you get paid" thread? My mother is a pianist and LRAM, and she spent about 20 years duetting with a friend on the flute - mainly Bach. They never played a concert (even though they were a covers band ), and had absolutely no interest in doing so. It was purely for their own entertainment. Does that mean they weren't proper musicians? [/quote] I guess this is how I feel about playing music. Humans have been making music collectively for tens of thousands of years, it's in our DNA. Only relatively recently in evolutionary has the dichotomy of performer and audience crept in and become formalised (and it could be argued largely for business reasons). Personally I find the experience of playing music for the sheer pleasure of doing so extremely rewarding. I find the process of doing it in front of an audience marginally more so on some occasions, but [i]considerably[/i] less so on others. OK, this could be a function of the kind of audiences I've played to, but I imagine that unless you're in the top 5% of bands by status, these are pretty representative of audiences full stop. There is a sense here and on other music forums that unless you're out there gigging, you're less of a musician. I go to see bands occasionally, watch the bass player holding down roots/fifths or whatever 'the song requires', and at times I think it might be the other way around

I often found that gigging was the necessary evil of being in a band. I aways enjoyed rehearsing with good mates, loved the no pressure vibe and all the banter/good naturedness. Gigging was sometimes as much fun, but most of the time not so. There's a sense in which rehearsing is equivalent to jogging, and gigging equivalent to entering a 5k race. I'm more than happy to jog

Folks Thanks so much for the great advice above, I completely forgot that I posted this and for whatever reason is doesn't show up when I search my threads. I need DI because the room I have will take a whole of of work to get to anything like the acoustic quality I would like, this made a whole lot worse by unpredictable noise from outside the building that wasn't a problem when it was installed but has become one. In short, using DI I can get away with stuff that I might not using a mic. I also have some very very nice preamps that will help enormously This is the guitar that is currently making me feel a little hot under the collar http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PREMIUM-GIBSON-USA-Electro-Acoustic-Songwriter-Studio-Deluxe-Natural-2016/112586308701?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 and I'm very tempted to take a drive up to play it. As pointed out above, I have something of an affinity with Gibsons I have an Ovation USA Melissa Etheridge 12-string (which I can play as a 6 of course) and Gibson MK-81, both of which are lovely, but neither of which on their own are sufficient for my recording needs. Lots of ideas above, I might have to do some leg work

Perhaps everything should be priced the same to keep things simple

Would love to play in a BBD act but can't imagine it would pull in many punters? Having said that, a mate of mine a few years back suggested a DEVO tribute act

Crikey, that really does spell it out doesn't it

I'm in need of an acoustic guitar, ideally with a cutaway for easy access to the dusty end, that records beautifully when DI'd. I have a lovely old 1970's Gibson that fits the bill in most ways, and which if it had a cutaway I'd have modified with PUP/internal mic. But it doesn't! I also used to have a J-200 that was glorious DI'd, but both too big to play sitting down and again lacking the cutaway. So, any thoughts welcome. Budget is not really an issue as it's likely that I'll be selling my current two acoustics to pay for whatever I decide to buy (combined value is about £3k). What I do want however is a guitar that comes with a good onboard set up, I don't want to have to either modify or experiment with different systems etc (which is something - following 5 years of experimentation with double bass PUPs and amplification - is something for which I simply have no appetite or time). I'm aware that there's a whole host of information online, but an awful lot of it is either fanboy rhetoric or advertorial marketing bull, so I'm asking here simply to get some perspectives from bassists and/or engineers, both of whom are of course entirely above such things Thanks in advance C

[quote name='Salt on your Bass?' timestamp='1506761804' post='3380911'] Hi guys Thinking about a rick but I play in dropped tuning - B standad. I can't see any 5ers a available on their site and having emailed a couple of weeks ago had no response. I wondered if anyone had dropped the standard tuning on theirs to a b standard set up and how that was panning out, or whether there were any ideas.... Appreciate the input. Cheers [/quote] I love Rics but a 5 is a step too far given rarity, meaning you'd be unlikely to play before you buy, and QC issues, meaning if you get a bad one it will be BAD (something that is of course multiplied significantly with a 5). This is all in the context of my having heard generally negative things about the few 5s Ric did produce, especially the B. Have you tried a 4 strung B-D yet, that would have to be the logical start point?

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1506189043' post='3376989'] Ha ha. That did make me laugh. The mysteries of the Wal pre-amp. Someone should write a book on it. Or a thesis perhaps? [/quote] Dr Synchro

[quote name='jay-syncro' timestamp='1506187490' post='3376981'] Brilliant, looks like it's going to be a long road to becoming a fully competent Wal operator. It's funny you should say it can't do a P tone as I thought I nailed the fat 70's funk vibe last night, using the 'bass' pickup only with the associated mystery knob set to 5.. [/quote] Mystery knob never does the same tone twice though Jay, will sound like a flute next time you use it

[quote name='jay-syncro' timestamp='1506179600' post='3376928'] Between you and our mutual Wal-loving friend, I think I'll have to. I just need to enroll on the Wal preamp course and I'll be sorted. �� [/quote] Courses, you'll need the undergrad to get a usable tone, the MSc to get those tones consistently, and the PhD to enable you to get every tone possible out of it. The problem I had with Wals live was that the tones I loved solo'd didn't work, so I resorted to finding Jazz- and Stingray-like tones (even Wal can't do a decent Precision), which begged the question of whether it was really worth taking £3k's worth of early 80's vintage bass to the Dog and Duck. The flip side is that once you take the time to find the unique Wal tones that do work, nothing else comes close.

Mate, live it's the truth, I've see you playing a few different basses and whilst the basses are really different sounding solo'd, in the mix there's not much in it. But keep the Wal