Franticsmurf

Just found this website which might help. The body shape resembles my Spirit XQ2.

Sometimes, when it's obviously not going right, the best thing is to make light of it and enjoy what there is. I'm sure we've all had rehearsals like that. Personally I like them, as long as they're not too frequent, as it helps to bring the band together - sharing adversity and the exact opposite of pointing fingers and laying blame. We had a similar session with the Hulla band a couple of weeks ago. Everyone was tired after busy and/or stressful days and while we were ok with the songs, there was no polish, plenty of little mistakes and missed cues. But we had a laugh (I got the keyboards player to play my bass on one song with only two notes to fret - she's never played any kind of guitar before and she did it well enough that the singer didn't know until the end).

It was my third jam/rehearsal with a new line up last night. The Hulla band is still going strong but only do about 6-8 gigs a year and I want to play a bit more frequently. So I answered an ad at the beginning of Feb to join a local band and got the slot. The line up is drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and me on bass. We're all getting on well (a prime requisite for me) and we're all keen to avoid the standard pub set list as much as is possible given that we'll be out to entertain others. All three sing rather well (and I can sing a few simple songs) so the potential for vocal harmony is quite exciting. Last night we picked songs at random from the list we'd compiled in the previous two jams and it was sounding pretty good. We practice in a room at the drummer's house and it's all through headphones (the drummer is using an electric kit), which is a great way to get the work done in a relaxed environment (there are cups of tea on hand 😀) and at an ear-friendly volume. It also means that we can record at the push of a button and get a decent record of the evening's work. As the room is relatively small, I'm using my Ibanez SHB1000s into my Ampeg pre-amp/DI pedal which is sounding great. I can see a new small pedal board being created as the songs develop and I nail down the sounds I want for each song.

A new song for the Hulla band has made me think that the 12 Step will be needed for some synth bass. For one song it may be overkill (not shown is the wiring loom, synth (a half rack Korg01/RW) and associated stand) but I'll take it along for tonight's practice and see if there are other potential uses. I have to be careful as we have a keyboard player and just as I wouldn't want her playing basslines, I have to be careful what I play. The top row is the usual small board line up which I'm hoping to use this year. The MS60b has compressor and noise gate patches plus a few modulation patches and is there so I can try out ideas on the fly. As we narrow down the final choices for the core set for this year, it may be replaced by dedicated pedals although I'm happy with the sounds it produces and the simplicity. The Joyo line selector acts as a summing mixer for keyboard and bass with options for bass only or both. It also acts as a tuner and mute. The Broughton H24 is great but may be redundant as our sound guy is now using a HPF on my channel.

I did try using an amp for drive plus the chorus and delay from my B1-4, but it wasn't working. The guitar gig is a support slot to the main band gig and I'll be playing guitar and bass during that set. The simplest solution was to use an A/B switch (which I have) and the multi FX straight into the DI channel I use for bass.

Tier 2 fail confession. I have just taken delivery of a small guitar multi FX pedal for an upcoming gig where I will be sharing bass and guitar duties. The new pedal is strictly for guitar only and I'll be using existing bass FX pedals for the bass parts.

I played in a trio for years - it was a fluid line-up that could expand to four or five for appropriate gigs or shrink to a duo if necessary but the core of the singer/guitarist, drummer and me played most of the gigs during that time. This was in the mid 90s to mid 2000s in the South Wales valleys. At the start I was vaguely aware of some kind of restriction that meant that many pubs could only have duos and risked some kind of penalty should they have a trio or more but I couldn't tell you if that was a licensing issue or insurance or just them not wanting to pay a band. I found the trio format very satisfying as there was a place for everyone in the arrangement and you couldn't hide. Great for me during my formative years as a bassist (I was transitioning from guitar at the start) as it gave me the self confidence I needed. I also started to sing BVs in this band so it really was a great school for me. As has been said above, it really depends on the abilities of all and out line-up had a drummer who was able to fill the sound, a singer/guitarist who played appropriately for the line-up and me - a fairly busy bassist which helped fill out the gaps during solos. Although we played some memorable gigs as a four piece (with an extra guitar) and a five piece (added keyboards), the trio gig are the ones that stand out and are the ones I measure new bands against.

Make sure you know where the stick is going. 😀

I've enjoyed reading about your gig adventures (often like a travelogue 😀) and I'll miss them. But you have to do what's right for you. As others have said, don't sell up yet. With all the emotions going on, it's the wrong time to make that kind of decision as well. Give ti time and see what happens.

A couple more: The first one happened to a drummer I was briefly in a band with. His first gig was in his school assembly and he had a very basic kit consisting of a snare, kick, hi-hat and one crash cymbal. He didn't have a stand for the crash, so he tied it to the stage lighting rig with a loooong piece of string. In the first song, he hit the crash with some vigour and watched as it swung away from him. And then watched with horror as it swung back towards him with equal vigour. The pendulum effect, I believe it is called. Second one happened to me in my previous life as a GITarist. The band I was in were asked to play as part of a multi band line up for a charity night at a large club. It had a lovely stage and between songs the curtain would come down so the bands could swap over. We played, it was good. We finished and as I went to get my little effects board, the curtains closed - behind me. Guitar and effects board in hand and in front of several hundred people, I desperately tried to find the split in the curtains. Did I achieve this with style and coolness? No. I flapped and swished the curtain, pulled at the folds, paced up and down the stage. Just me. Finally one of the band members opened the gap in the curtains to let me through.

We supported an ex 'Stars in Their Eyes' Roy Orbison act at a holiday camp. His band were great - we got on really well and they allowed us to use their gear rather than set up two set of kit on the stage. But 'Roy' was a bit of a drama queen. Fortunately we'd met the band before him and they warned us. Basically, his voice was gone and he couldn't hit the highs. The guitarist was covering for him but 'Roy' had run out of bookings. They told us that he was telling everyone he was off to America, but in fact he was off back to his day job. They hated him. Sure enough, when he turned up he explained to us that this was his last gig and he was touring the states. Then he proceeded to slag off his band with them in the dressing room with us. It was rather embarrassing but to their great credit the band put on a good show. They even allowed us to take the headline slot to end the night after persuading 'Roy' that they could make a night of it as they had accommodation booked at the camp.

We ended the first half of a very quiet and sober pub gig (a last minute booking through an agent) with 'Knocking on Heaven's Door', only to be informed by the landlord that we were playing a wake. At the end of a decent gig in West Wales, we were asked to play a further 30 minutes for extra money. At the time I was playing rhythm guitar in that 4 piece line up, but the bassist was using all my gear as I played bass in the trio version. He decided he didn't want to do the extra set and sat in the dressing room while we emerged as a trio with me on bass. As he was having a lift home with me, he didn't get to leave early. We played for more than 30 minutes and, of course, he didn't get any of the extra cash. The journey home was very quiet. The following day he was encouraged to leave. We went on stage at a holiday park immediately after the children's entertainer, and for about 20 minutes played rock classics to an audience of hyperactive 5-8 year olds who were wondering where 'Bradley Bear' was. One of the best audience reactions we've every had from a noise point of view, but the dancing was a bit dodgy. 😀 We opened to a club audience only to see a woman dancing with a short, bald headed guy. No problems, except she was wearing a pink PVC/shiny skin tight outfit (and she was a large lady) and he was barely as tall as her shoulders. I couldn't look as I was in danger of dissolving into laughter so I looked to my band mates for help. Alas, they had already succumbed to the hysterics. There was a long intro to the first song as the singer couldn't sing.

I have the HB version. Great guitar, I've gigged it but in the 13 piece Hulla band there's not a lot of room for the extended range. String spacing is tight (as you'd expect) and I found swapping between four and six in a gig a little challenging. I guess you've read through the dedicated thread - some good string recommendations there. But as this is the Abstinence thread - don't do it. Just say no. Four strings is more than enough. 😀

Meanwhile, in a little rehearsal hall in deepest Gower last night... Soundman: "Thou hast no top end upon thy bass tone, and your sound distorteth." Franticsmurf: "But I'm going through my Ampeg pre-amp pedal with the treble boost engaged, using the bridge pick-up on my Sterling HH and I have a clean tone dialed in." Soundman: "Nevertheless, thy sound is atrocious and offends my ears." Franticsmurf: "Let me apply my 35 years of experience and wiggle this lead." There follows the sound of a thousand Welsh dragons roaring and gnashing their teeth, amplified tenfold for all to hear. Soundman: "Ha! Thy socket hath demons, and they have been purged from thy instrument. Now thy sound is like nectar and ye may be accepted once more into the mix." A minor niggle of a crackly jack socket and pick-up selector has finally manifested itself as an intermittent problem that will need fixing by someone with better electronics skills than me. My Sterling is off to the doctors. The rest of the rehearsal was great - 1st week back after the New Year and we blew the cobwebs away with a random selection from the back catalogue. As usual with the Hulla band, rehearsals are a mix of frustration (there is a tendency to play a song through and move on without addressing any minor issues), tea (tea is served early on) and a lot of fun (as we don't take ourselves too seriously). The offending bass and minimalist pedal board.

Me too, at my first gig as a dedicated bassist (I played guitar for several years before seeing the light). I remember learning Midnight Hour and a bunch of other tunes (Mustang Sally etc) at the singer/guitarist's house. On the night, he announced the song as 'a Wilson Pickett number' (without mentioning the title) and I didn't know it was by Mr Pickett, so I missed the first few notes as I desperately tried to figure out what was being played. 😀