Dropzone

Yep, I am hoping they were just going through cars looking for hidden xmas presents in cars. Two cars in the road behind and four vans were done on the same night.

Thanks for the kind messages guys.

Well, the update is that they ditched the bass locally and I got it back. I guess they must have thought walking down the road at 5am taking a bass (not in a bag / case) for a walk must have looked a bit incriminating like they stole it or something. I am now paranoid they could come back and raid my studio. I have moved most of the guitars into the house but there is still so much gear I am frightened will go walkabout. I need to invest in an alarm.

Well, my car sits at the end of a very long drive in the middle of the countryside, so quite lazily I leave it unlocked. I had left a bass in the boot and this morning went to it to find the door open and someone had gone through it. These people were quite brave as the security lights would have gone off. So, if anyone sees a white squire 5 string for sale on the south coast let me know. Not looking for sympathy, as I should have locked it, just reminding everyone to be cautious in these times. Cheers Mike

I suspect this is a bit of a knee jerk and some of the early songs will creep back into the set over time, as it is what the fans wanted to hear. When Fish left Marillion they didn't play any of his tracks for years and now some have crept in, so fingers crossed.

Sad times. Download was UKs largest festival last year so not demise, just an unsustainable business model.

Gonna play these as mid set break music at our next gig. Awesomely awesome

https://www.karaoke-version.co.uk/ We use this site and is £2 per track and you can amend the mix as many times as you like. Great quality for covers and we do some Dub step stuff that we couldn't reproduce. We don't do it for the full set, but when we smash out a Rammstein track people take notice.

I frequently get platitudes greater than my ability, which is good but not exceptional, in a covers band. I put this down to playing for the way the rest of the band members play the song, being the glue between the guitarist and drummer. Understanding the accents in a song (when to play quietly and loudly and filling the percussion lost when not having a second guitar). A little bit of pantomime by throwing a shape at any big drops and rocking out when I am enjoying it. I am painfully aware I am still like a statue when we play any deftones numbers as I just don't like them but the rest of the band do, so I tolerate it. I saw Wayward Sons earlier this year and the bass player didn't stop moving and it inspired me to generally be doing something interesting rather than just looking bored focused .

F sharp with three open strings for the intro on guitar, The F sharp, A, E B bend A, F sharp a little later on ;-)

I was using this rig the other day. Still had to ask the guitarist with a Marshall stack to turn down

Between pick and fingers, try both and see which suits your style of playing. You get a different sound from both and if you play a lot you will develop both styles. Treat yourself to playing some simple riffs before diving in at the deep end of Rush and Mr Big. Think more root notes rather than tricky runs. Do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do ;-) Good luck Mike

Weddings you lose the whole day, often the day after and are also treated like dirt. The answer is "as much as you want to do the gig". Have a mate who is a solo tribute turn up to an F1 party, played one song and got a figure with a comma in it, so no hard and fast rules, just make it worth your while.

I thought it was going to say Guitarist apologises - said he was sorry you ever joined the band

You guys have been getting it all wrong: Punter - Can you play some Abba? Band member - If I give you a guitar will you play some Punter - I don't know it Band member - Snap There is a risk he may take your guitar though ;-)

Well, at least there is a silver lining. Let me know when who ever is selling is ready to sell as I may be interested in a deal. Good luck with the crowd funding.

To be honest it is quite easy for anyone with a bit of guitar experience to play bass enough to get through most gigs averagely, it is different to locking in and nailing it though. Again the keys can probably cope with the 80% on his keyboard and just let the other (important but not essential) 20% slip. Where do you ultimately see this going and what do you ultimately want to happen, that should drive your decision making. Sometimes you just have to take one, sometimes you have to make a stand. The choice is yours. Good luck either way.

The Pre / Post allows the sound engineer the choice. If he can't get anything usable with just a post signal you could be stuffed without a pre signal.

Surely the answer is to have a pre and post and fade as appropriate to the venue.