Franticsmurf

Sometimes. I try to play for at least 30 minutes per day but I struggle to play bass or guitar for its own sake. I usually play because I'm learning a new song, practising for a rehearsal of gig or writing new songs. I was recently offered a rhythm guitar slot with a mate's band which has resulted in me practising the guitar and re-learning some technique as well as learning the chords to songs I've been playing for years on bass (so many notes 😂). If I'm away from my gear, it's rare that I'm thinking about playing or gigs unless they are imminent. But I do enjoy that moment after a break in playing when I pick up the bass and start again.

Unless the postage is £1500 (or whatever the gear is worth). 🤣

I was prepared to watch YouTube tutorials and plug in to my PC to edit, but by the time I'd finished the initial 'new toy' tinkering to see what it could do, I'd created a bank of four patches that, with minimal tweaking, were the patches I used on Sunday. As mentioned above, I treat each patch as a mini board, a bit like the Plethora, with individual pedals I can switch on or off as required. That worked well on Sunday too.

I've never done a tuner shoot-out (😀) but I have to agree that for clarity and speed, it is the best I've used.

Two weeks in and I haven't even been tempted by anything, despite a healthy daily visit to this site and it's wicked marketplace, and a bookmark to Thomann prominent on the toolbar. 😀 This year's strategy is to bag up and store out of sight a coupe of basses with the intention of 'unboxing' later in the year and swapping over. I have found that part of the lure of gear acquisition for me is the idea of having something new (or new to me) and I have found that I can go some way to satisfying that by this method. I'll do the same with some effects pedals as I've just started using my Zoom B6.

I unleashed mine on the unsuspecting band for the first time at last night's rehearsal. A universal thumbs up, with some nice compliments from the guy who does our sound. He was a fan of my old pedal set up (Digbeth pre-amp, EHX Bass Clone chorus, Zoom MS60B for various spot effects (swapped out for a Plethora X3 for some gigs) and TC Hyper Gravity compressor). From my perspective it was nice to hear it through the PA (I DI for this band) and it sounded pretty much as I had hoped it would, having only really used headphones and amp/cab at low volumes.

This is the way I worked with a band I put together to play a one off gig last year. We were all capable musicians and we needed to get 15-20 songs together over about 6 weeks. We agreed to work on 6-8 new songs per week in rehearsals that lasted about 2 hours. The format was that everyone worked out their parts in advance and the rehearsals were for taking the rough edges off, sorting the arrangements and working on vocals. We kept it loose and usually managed to do what we needed to do on as many of the songs each week. Sometimes we got 8, other times we only managed 3 or 4. Weeks 2, 3 & 4 started with playing through the previous week's songs and by week 5 we had the makings of a set. A couple of songs were dropped and new songs added along the way. We had an extra 'dress rehearsal' in week 6, by which time we'd sorted the set order. The gig went well. My only regret was that we didn't have more time to get to know each other so that we could include some improvisation along the way.

Great thread. The trio that springs to mind is from the 'Yesshows' live album. Technically the three tracks are Parallels into Time and Word into Going for the One. But Yes frequently came on stage to the final part of Stravinski's 'Firebird Suite' and I love the way on the album, the band start to play over the final few bars of Firebird, and Rick Wakeman takes the key change from the last chord up to the start of Parallels. As a kid, this album influenced me in so many ways and it's still one of my all time favourites. So my three are: Opening (Firebird Suite) Parallels Time and a Word.

It was the first rehearsal of 2024 for the Hulla band last night and the first time we'd played since 10 December. A medium sized pile of rust accumulated at my feet as we dusted off a few oldies, of few regulars and some I'd never played before. The first hour was largely catching up (they all live in a village the the drummer and I are 'outsiders'), so between songs there were great gaps as we settled in. But overall it was a good night with few glaring errors and nothing that won't be put right by the next rehearsal. I was using a new pair of earphones for my IEM; when I first started using it I tried the 'phones that came with the kit (a cheap Gear4Music set) and they didn't work for me - too tinny and low volume. I took to using a pair of Sony noise cancelling earpieces, which were fine. But over the break I tried the originals again and found that I hadn't been fitting them correctly and once I'd made the effort (in other words, pushed them in properly), they were much better. Last night was the first time I'd tried them with the full band and what a difference! Clarity, volume, more isolation and more comfortable to wear. In fact, so much more isolation that I'm going to have to set up a mic to pick up the drums to feed into them.

That's walking distance from me. 😀 I'll try and get to them - if you're at the Vivian Arms at all, that's crawling distance! 🤣

Where were you? If I'd known I'd have come along. 😀

I've just had the Hulla's gig list for this year - there are four in the calendar so far. We usually aim to play 6-8 per year (it's a community based band that just plays for charity), with a self organised festival in the village in the summer so 4 between now and June is pretty good. We usually pick up a wedding or two, the local food festival and spots at various other events. So far we have a wedding, a fundraiser for a local rugby club, a 'Full Moon party' ('Don't go on to the moors' 🤣) and the summer festival. I love playing with the Hulla - the rehearsals are very much social occasions (the band started as a bit of fun for the village) and the gigs are great but there aren't enough of them to satisfy that gigging itch. Before Christmas I was 'between bands' following the demise of the trio I'd attempted to bring to life. There were a couple of possibles hovering around but with no firm offers I was wondering what to do. This week I've been invited for an informal audition (it's only me and I've been recommended by a friend in the band) to play with a folky/bluesy outfit (I don't even know their name) who have been gigging without a bassist. My friend, their violinist, is arguing that they need a bass player and the audition is to see how it fits with the current arrangements. And I have two gigs, with the possibility of more, as a rhythm guitarist in a mate's rock band. The way he runs his band, it's very likely that I'll be playing bass for a few gigs over the next year as he takes gigs without checking to see who is available, creating the line up on the night.

They stopped after about 2 weeks.

Just before Christmas I had four or five of text messages (roughly one every other day), each with a Facebook recovery code. I guess someone was trying to hack my account as I hadn't triggered them directly, nor had I experienced any of the things in the posts above that might have triggered them.

I was 57 when I joined the Hulla band (covers), the 2nd youngest in the band. I'm in my mid 30's now. 🤣. I've just had this conversation with the drummer of the Hullas - 75 and working as the 1st call drummer for two big bands/dance bands and one jazz band as well as the Hullas. He's gigging or rehearsing at least three nights a week, regularly deps for bands around the area and was the drummer in my trio project playing rock covers until it folded last year. I hope I'm as active (and wanted) as he is when I get to that age.

Jazz improv, maaan. 😄

I had one of these when I was a geetard back in one of the days. As i recall it was 65w but very, very loud. NIce. 😃

That happened to me once. The band was playing downstairs (the dedicated venue for bands) in a pub and for the first half, there was no one. During the second half a young couple appeared and politely clapped after every song. When we finished, the landlord appeared and advised us to stay where we were as there was a massive fight going on upstairs and the police were trying to stop it. The couple had retreated to the cellar to avoid the action.

Count me in - my second attempt after a fail several months in to last year.

I'm not a psychologist: I don't mean to make light of the situation and having never been in that place I can't claim to understand what you're going through. But if there's a 'thing' that causes anxiety then there must be a way of overcoming that 'thing' (I mean with professional help as has been suggested above). And the first step is to identify the thing in question. Personally, I love playing live but I hate the bits around it - I feel stressed thinking about the parking and the logistics. Not enough to stop me playing but enough that I am thinking about it in the run up to the gig and I will look to share a car/van if at all possible. Don't sell everything. Keep enough to practice and gig. You never know what will happen in the next 12 months and from experience (I 'gave up' bands for a couple of years) you'll only have to buy new stuff when the urge returns. And, of course, stay on BC so we can hear about any updates.

I guess it would depend on the subtle nuances you bring to the arrangement. 😄

The band I'm with does 'Sound of Silence'. And, of course, if there was ever a problem on stage that resulted in a delay starting a song one of the band would always announce that we'd just played Sound of Silence'. 😀

Would that be a c/d box, perhaps? 😀 ...I'll get my coat...

This, and be early - don't let it drag on. You might want to phrase it along the lines of 'do you think your voice is suited to our music?' In other words, try and get her to self assess and realise. Try recording a rehearsal (a band I was in did this and it highlighted the singer's weaknesses nicely). Also (depending on the exact circumstances) is there any way that practice or lessons would improve things?

I've just been offered a rhythm guitar role in a mate's band so rather than shell out for a guitar amp for what may only be a few gigs, I've been trying out various combinations using my existing bass gear. Still early days and I haven't been up to war volume yet, but so far I've been using my Warwick 1x10" (with an adjustable horn) and: Zoom B6 with an Ampeg amp simulation to get a valve emulation - it would do at a pinch, the clean sound being better than the driven sound. I'd consider this if I was playing bass for most of the gig with one or two guitar parts just to keep kit to a minimum. Boss ME80 through my TCE BAM 200 with the bass rolled off, mids cut a bit and treble boosted. The ME80 is made for guitar and the sound through Warwick is quite nice although it doesn't have the clarity and bite I was looking for. I suspect this is due to the BAM200's pre-amp. Marshall JMP1 rack valve pre-amp into my Peavey Minimax effects return. This is the combination I'll be using. The JMP1 is an ancient relic of my guitarist days and the Minimax amp section doesn't colour the sound. As an added bonus the Minimax master volume still works despite bypassing the pre-amp. I think the variable volume horn on the cab is great for fine tuning and all I've had to do on the JMP1 is reduce the bass a little. To be fair, as rhythm guitarist, I'd probably be doing that anyway to thin the overall sound out a bit.