Franticsmurf

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.

I've been campaigning for Sledgehammer to go into our set. I learnt it for a previous band that never took off. Great to play. Good luck.

With the band I'm currently in, it's about 8-10 gigs a year on average. They're good gigs (in terms of venues and attendance) but it doesn't quite satisfy the itch to play live. Add in deps and side projects and by the end of this year I'll have probably played 15. In the past, I've been in bands and duos that have played close on 100 gigs a year but as someone above said, quantity isn't everything and some of those nights were ones to forget 😀. I think for me, now, twice a month would be a good number.

Yeah - I was trapped on stage once with not so great music playing from the backing tracks 😀. It was a dep role for a mate, who had been going out as a 'guitar/guitar/vocal' trio. One of the guitars didn't turn up and at short notice, with no real prep, I said I'd cover for a couple of gigs. The female singer was good but doing modern dance pop mixed with show tunes, and my mate on the guitar was doing the same old stuff we used to do when were in a band together. The set lurched from 'Treasure' to 'Johnny B Good' to 'Penny Arcade' to 'Sweet Caroline' via 'Eye of the Tiger' and 'Abracadabra'. The audience (social club/bingo crowd) didn't know what to make of it. Nothing I could do except stand at the back and endure. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. 🤣

In the Hulla Band, I love playing the more funky songs although I'm not really a fan of funk music on record. Currently we're playing through 'Land of a Thousand Dances', 'Take Me to the River', 'Stayin' Alive' and 'Your Love'. But then we're also working on more rocky stuff and my particular favourites in that genre at the moment are 'I Fought the Law', Town Like Malice' and 'Get Your Rocks Off'. Last night we were working on 'Suffragette City' and I really enjoyed the bass part. I think that will become a new favourite. The song that I look forward the most, though, is the Sheryl Crow version of 'Sweet Child of Mine' in which I am given free reign to play more melodic bass lines (if you know the song, I'm doing a lot of the little guitar fills).

I've answered 'Anything Else' because in my current band, we tend to be given a certain amount of freedom to play as much as we want - mainly because our gigs are almost all private functions obtained through word of mouth or contacts at previous gigs. We rarely play for less than 2 hours, sometimes around 3 hours and very occasionally 4. There's usually one break which is about 15-20 minutes. In my previous band (where I still occasionally dep so it's current information) we were almost always asked to play 2x45m and unless we were given a strict finish time (working men's clubs usually) we would do 50m and 60m+.

Just had a look. Hmmm. I may be down that way in the next couple of weeks. Thanks. 😀

...and make him stand in front of the riot shield the rest of you will need. 🤣

I was looking at those online and the fact it was fretless put me off. I missed the one on here.

Thanks. Nice set up and as you say, small and light. I've been playing around with the power amp stage of a Peavey Minimax into a pair of TE 2x 10 cabs. In a previous rig incarnation I was using a Laney RB7 so when I got the Digbeth Pre part of the attraction for me was the Tilt function (called 'Enhance' on the RB7) that is great for tuning in to a room.

What an excellent idea - I don't recall reading your plans; are you using a power amp or a bass amp head that you know you can dial a neutral tone into?

+1 for the Ibanez EHB - I have the short scale 4 string and it's comfortable, easy to play and sounds good. I also have a Spirit XZ2 (the headless with a body) and that's very light weight (7.5 lb).

Following on from my previous 'final version' of a pedal board for a rock trio, here's the new 'final version' although there are no guarantees as this has yet to be tested in a live environment. The main change is the removal of the Plethora in favour of individual pedals - no reflection on the Plethora but I find the individual pedals easier to tweak on the go, which is what I will be doing over the next few rehearsals. In comes the compressor, the Mooer Pure Octave, the Nux Univibe and the Joyo Vintage Phase. The centre row provides the core bass tone. The 12 Step is triggering a Korg 05/RW half rack synth module and I have simple string and organ patches set up on that. Signal path is tuner >Octave and across the top, with the Vintage Phase going in to the Bass Clone and across. The H24 feeds into a passive DI box which can connect to an amp or DI to FOH. The electro-acoustic guitar is sounding good with all the pedals off bar the Univibe, which means no need for the guitar pre-amp.

A few years ago the BL suggested 'Christmas Wrapping' as part of our festive set list. I was familiar with the song but had never listened to it with a bassist's ear. I was immediately smitten with the bass part and settled down to learn it. It takes me a while to nail a part as it's played but eventually I got it only to have the song dropped from the list before we'd even rehearsed it. I was gutted, but glad I made the effort. A couple of weeks ago a couple of mates and I had a jam and one of the songs offered up on the night was 'Runaway Baby' (Bruno Marrs). Not a song I was familiar with but what a catchy bassline. Nothing difficult, just great to play.

@andruca @neepheid Thanks both for the suggestions. I had thought of some kind of padding similar to the wrist band. Part of the problem is that I have short arms (I'm only 5'7") and the body is quite big, so getting a comfortable playing position is difficult. Even with the rubber cornering, I could see it being uncomfortable and I know that 6 months down the line I'd be wishing I'd returned it. The more I played it the more I realised it wasn't for me - sound wise (it's not as hollow body/acoustic as I wanted) as well as playing position. It is going back and I'll have a rethink about what I actually want. EDIT: For anyone reading this and considering the GB5, it's a lovely bass but I'd certainly recommend trying one as it's different to anything I've played before.

I should add that while the sharp edge is the main reason it's going back, I'm not so enamoured with the piezo sound as I was when I first played it either. I think the body is chambered rather than fully hollow (judging by the weight and lack of unplugged volume). Having played a Hofner violin bass a while back, its definitely not the same kind of sound, and I was looking for something closer to the fully hollow body tone. I have no complaints about the quality of the bass but over the last 24hrs I've realised its not for me.

Yes, I can see how it would be difficult to contour, but it's actually quite sharp with no attempt at rounding the edge. I think the size of the body makes it more noticeable than the semi-acoustic 6 strings I have. In any case, I've struggled with it and I'm currently arranging with Bax to return it.

New Hollow Body Bass Day. I've been after a hollow body bass for the tone and this showed up in the research. A Sire Marcus Miller GB5 - the fretted version. I was impressed in the demo videos I saw/heard - it had the sound I was looking for and it's not bad looking. There was one for sale in Bax at £397 so I jumped in. Ordered on Tuesday, it arrived this afternoon. Shiny black (that won't last after my grubby fingerprints get on it 😀) , great playability straight from the box and almost the sound I was expecting without any dialing in of the amp. My only criticism is that the point on the body where my arm rests is quite sharp - no contour. It means a slight adjustment of the position of my hand to be most comfortable. Not so much of a problem if I'm playing with a pick (which won't be that often on this).

I know it wasn't aimed at me, but I've added relevant photos to my first post. 😀