Franticsmurf

If I make mistakes during a gig, it's usually a concentration thing and for me that means it's normally during a relatively simple piece. My bass 'upbringing' was in a trio where I had to be busy when the guitarist/singer went into solo mode. As a result, I tend to struggle more on the simpler lines as my mind tells me I can do this with my eyes closed while the rest of me does it's upmost to prove my mind wrong. 😀 I've missed the classic runs in Crazy Little Thing Called Love, played half a verse out of sync with the guitarist when I was singing 'How Long' (although the jury is still out on who actually instigated the half verse error), and dropped enough notes to fill an experimental jazz set. But as has also been pointed out, usually no one in the audience knows and most wouldn't care as long as the song carries on. I agree with those who have said it's better to play nothing than to play the wrong notes - I've done this and will continue to do it if I have to. Also I have done the 'repeat the mistake' trick and as long as the original error isn't too horrendous, it does work quite well. I now play with a band of mixed live gigging experience and skills and one of the things I tell them (mainly as humour to diffuse last minute nerves) is that if they make a mistake, to immediately stare at someone else to make it look as if that person is at fault. In the world of bands that I play in, perfection is an admirable goal but not an absolute requirement.

Last night was the annual Crown Court Xmas party gig for the Hulla band (our singist is a barrister therein). Always a good gig and not just because the buffet is superb. It's a nice hotel venue and a decent crowd who were all up for a dance and sing along. The setlist was long and varied (there were 40 songs listed) so I had two basses to cover the rocky stuff (Squier PJ) and more mellow songs (Ibanez AGBV200A hollow body) with a planned change over just after half time. However, the buffet arrived early and we stopped about a third of the way in to the set. Our singist occasionally gets a little carried away and can forget some of the arrangements - he has a tendency to start songs himself that have been rehearsed with different intros etc, so I was trying to anticipate an appropriate intro that would give me time to swap guitars. In the end I settled on 'I Love To Boogie' which I guessed (correctly) he would start with a complete verse of just him and guitar. There were the inevitable free jazz improvisations - for some reason I chose to modify the key change in 'Love Story' (yes, Taylor Swift forms a part of our repertoire) and the requested 'I Want It That Way' at the end was not working with the bassline I'd learnt from the original (in the end I just stopped playing as I couldn't find an easy re-entry point) but overall it was one of the best performances of the band as a whole and I was happy with my part in that. I always enjoy Hulla gigs as we have a lot of fun on and off stage and the atmosphere i unlike any other band I've played in. Kit list: A Squier PJ in Lake Placid Blue - a very recent addition to the fold - and my pre-aged Ibanez AGBV200A hollow body both plugged into a Zoom B6 (I love that I can swap between two inputs). I use the B6 in rehearsals to narrow down a set of sounds for a specific set and by the time of last night's gig I had the PJ going into a patch based around and SVT emulation with very slight grit and the option of adding flanger (Dakota) or chorus. I had a second patch which was basically the same SVT sound with a slight gain increase and reduction in bass EQ/boost in mid EQ so I could cut through the mix during a bass break in 'Seven Nights'. The Ibanez had a patch based on the AC370 acoustic amp and for a couple of songs I had a patch based on a TE400 amp for a more bassy feel. The B6 was DI'd into the X32 desk (we have a dedicated sound man) and I monitored through a Behringer P16 linked by Ultranet to the desk. I get a pre-fade mix that I have mixed to give me what I need. That was feeding a wireless IEM. Footwear: A matched pair of Skechers SN52635s modified to improve bass response and using a custom loaded impulse response model - or so the shoe salesman told me. 😀

That was on the provisional setlist of our first gig but didn't make the final cut. We did 'Assault and Battery/Golden Void' and 'Utopia' though.

15th June 1989, first band, first gig, I was playing guitar and the first song of the set was an original called 'I Don't Fear The Night'. We then careered through an 80 minute set of originals and covers before finishing triumphantly only for the sound guy to tell me we needed to play for another 10-15 minutes. So we started again from the top! 🤣

I played a short solo spot in a relaxed multi-act gig to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the RNLI. I've never performed on my own before and to say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was joined for one number by the guitarist from the band I'm in - fair play to him he was there just to watch and I asked him to join me on the spot. Most of the rest of the band were there, either as punters or doing short spots of their own. I find it much harder to play in front of people I know so that didn't help the nerves. My guitar performance was not as good as I would have liked but I was happy with my vocals and even happier when people joined in, laughed at my attempts at humour and gave me a rousing cheer at the end! I was told it was strictly acoustic and yet everyone else there had little amps. I managed to borrow one from one of the other acts as the on-stage microphones ("they'll pick up everything on stage so you won't need an amp") weren't working and, in any case, I wasn't on the stage as it was being prepared for the choir coming on after me. No photos, probably for the good. I was using my Crafter semi-acoustic 6 string plugged into a small Fender acoustic amp. Edit: Photos have emerged!

Several of the folk in my main band, the Hulla, are volunteers at the local lifeboat station. Somehow, I've managed to get myself on the line up for a charity night celebrating the 200th anniversary of the RNLI on Saturday. No biggy, you say. Well, after 35 +years of gigging, Saturday will be my first solo spot. I've sung lead and backing vocals, played guitar , bass and even a bit of keyboards in duos through to 13 piece line-ups. But I've never stood on the stage on my own with just a guitar to hide behind. 🤐

We did that once, many years ago. We were the last act of a charity night and it had been a bit slow and down tempo so we figured we had nothing to lose. It was completely unplanned (basically we did all the up tempo songs from our set), but we were in the midst of a run of years when the gigs were plentiful and the band was very tight and we played non-stop for about an hour. There were some dodgy transitions, some stutters when we were trying to understand the singer/guitarist's gestures and mimes, definitely too many extended choruses and probably a few too many drum solos and bass solos but we did it. The dancers were up and down in relays but the dance floor was never empty. I was knackered coming off but I still remember it as one of the highlights of my live career.

We used to play a medley of rock cliches as although none of us really wanted to play them, we recognised that many of the audiences we played to wanted to hear them. It consisted of the 'recognisable' bits of Alright Now, Wishing Well, Sweet Home Alabama and Sweet Child of Mine. We were a busy and tight 3 piece and the medley evolved over a few gigs as the singer called the changes. Nothing was ever formalised and the transitions were quite good most of the time (when the singer was on top form). The tempo remained the same (or within a few bpm). Often the bit in Wishing Well after the descending riff, which we would play four times through at the start, would briefly veer into '500 Miles' and/or 'Psychokiller' before coming back out into Wishing Well again. Or, if the audience was bouncing to 500 Miles (which they often did) we'd just stick with it and drop the rest of the medley. It worked because we could react to each other after hundreds of gigs together. I did consider formalising the arrangement but to be honest in this scenario it worked well and I didn't want to mess with something that wasn't broken. From my experience if I was going to work out a medley from scratch, I'd be concentrating on getting the tempo right first. As we used the example above to keep people on the dance floor, we kept the tempo danceable. Had we inserted an abrupt tempo change it wouldn't have worked.

In my current band we have a fair turnover of songs, perhaps 50% of the set over a year. Of the 'new' ones, the majority come from the existing reservoir of tunes the band has played in some form over the years (there's a list dating back to before I was with them that runs to more than 100 songs). Because we tend to play functions, there are quite a few additions to the set from requests by the people booking us and the remainder come from within the band. There tends to be a reshuffle following the Hullabaloo festival we organise in the summer. This year, we have added 22 new songs to the set (of about 35-40 depending on the gig). Bucking the trend, only 5 were from the existing list this time. 6 were requests and new to the band and 11 were new and suggested from within the band. In addition, we rotate Christmas songs for any festive gigs we have. In my previous band, one of the reasons I left was because the set remained static and stale. It's very hard to be enthusiastic about a song with three chords that you've played for several years without any significant changes to the arrangement. 😀

Would it be an option to get one of the other band members to do the sound? Once the others start to appreciate the problems as well peer pressure may improve the situation.

Rock 'n' roll, baby! 😀

I recently sold three guitars as they were not being used and at the same time decided that my Sterling 34HH would finally head off to bass hospital to have its crackly selector switch replaced and a decent set-up job done. With a pretty important gig coming up I wanted a back up for my P Bass and settled on this Squier Affinity PJ. It has a chunk of the finish missing at the back which is hidden from view when I play it, and doesn't affect the sound, so I got the bass at a big discount from the local music shop. It helped that I know the owner (we've been in bands together on and off for nearly 30 years). I swapped the pick guard for the one that I had on the P Bass and while it's probably not to everyone's taste, I like it. In the meantime, I've been looking for a semi acoustic bass to complete the line-up and spotted this Ibanez AGBV200A on the PMT website. Second hand, it arrived this afternoon in perfect condition (if you take into account that the 'V' in the catchy model name stands for vintage which means the guitar has been 'relic-ed' to appear old. Edit: The photo doesn't do the finish justice). The action is low as I like it and the strings are relatively new. It has a lovely tone with and without amplification. It's a short scale but feels longer than 30", probably due to the larger body and playing position on a strap. I love the finish and I think it will have a place in the Hulla band set when we do the more mellow numbers in the set.

I was in the same boat - I spent 30 years in a job that wore me down little by little; slowly enough that I didn't really notice the effects. I stayed because for me that's what you did, and it was relatively well paid and easier than looking for something else. When the effects of the stress and pressure of petty politics and personality clashes finally started manifesting themselves to an extent that I noticed, I knew it was time to go. I went, and it was the best thing I ever did.

I had two back to back rehearsals, same venue, some of the same people, as we've been asked to put together a small acoustic group to play a gig celebrating the 200th anniversary of the RNLI. We spent an hour trying out a few songs to see which would work with three acoustic guitars, a sax and a pared down drumkit. It went quite smoothly as we've been playing together for a while. I had attempted to score the sax part for one song but being music notation illiterate, my efforts were only partly successful and one of the other in the band has offered to take on the scoring role. The main Hulla band rehearsal is leading up to the local Crown Court Christmas party which we play every year - the BL has connections. The set is currently fluid; we have around 45 songs on the 'short' list which will most likely drop to around 35-40 by the time we play at the end of November. And as a favour to an ex-bandmate, I'm playing in a trio on Sunday. It's very much a one-off, and we've only had a couple of hours of rehearsal time. As the guitarist and I have played together before, the drummer and I play together now and the set is only 20 minutes or so, I'm not so worried. We're practicing individually to a recording from one of the 'proper rehearsals.

My tuner of choice is Behringer, I use a UMC1820 to record with and since the band I'm in is using an X32 mixer, I now have the P16m as my IEM controller. A P2 acts as my IEM link for use with other bands and, of course, a BD121 is a cheap and compact back-up should the need arise. I started out using Behringer pedals to try out effects I wasn't sure about (usually guitars effects for bass) so I now have a collection of them. I did put together a Behringer pedalboard for fun and a couple made it to the main board for a gig in which I swapped between bass and guitar.