SimonK

If just playing the notes then, yes, many people could replace me in any band I've been in. But a band has a community element to it as well, and of course people (and thus band dynamics) are different when personnel change. Being helpful and committed is often more important than being a whizzy player (so I tell myself!). More generally, singers probably have a greater variability than other roles so I think are harder to replace. Also original bands tend to revolve around one or two individuals who would be irreplacable if they took their songs - certainly in one band from a few years back we lost a few songs when various people left, but otherwise tended to be led by the chap who had written the majority of the repertoire, and indeed promptly folded when he didn't want to do it anymore.

I'm defintely going more is more... in actual fact I like lots of speakers at low volume as I feel I get better coverage without having to turn up too high. Bass is a bit more omnidirectional but certainly for guitar I have a Marshall 1960A 4x12 to practice quietly at home, but the last few times I've played with a band I've opted for a 1x10 (albeit the awesome Barefaced Upsetter).

...thought I remember this thread existing... last day of work yesterday so my plan for the next week or two off is to rewire my home rack to create what may feel like an over-the-top practice set up but hey, it's a hobby... So my plan is to take the above and add in both a Trio+ digitech looper (that also adds drums & bass to loops) and also a bass amp and cab. I've made a little cross-over box and have a EHX Tri Parallel mixer pedal coming for Christmas, so the plan is create something that allows either a bass or guitar to be plugged in (wireless), then choose the routing through a choice of three guitar preamps, and a bass preamp, while also having compressor, reverb/delay, graphic EQ and tuner in there somewhere, and then out to either a guitar cab or a bass cab, or maybe both at the same time with the cross-over controlling which frequencies go to which cab... might take a bit of experimenting over the next few days... would also be nice to add a pedal board in somewhere as well...

I feel like I've played with my fair share of difficult non-compromisers - mainly singers and guitarists. The way I look at it is that I'd rather be playing than not playing, and so even (often!) when we are not doing things the way I would want to I try to put on what I imagine is (as I've never actually been there!) a professional/session type attitude and just do what I'm told as effectively and accurately as I can. I'm also careful what I say afterwards when packing down and loading - twice I've been in bands that have lost members following an argument in the car park!

I was following the pipe organ bass line in "Joy to the World" at a carol service last night. Screwed up part of it in the first verse, played it fine in the second, then got to wondering how I could have screwed it up first time round and messed it up again in the third verse! Of course being the bass player no one else in the band said they noticed.

The thing that slows me down (alongside cash) is having enough time to play each instrument. I have extensively gigged all my basses and think that is key for getting to know them. Indeed as gigs vary I would suggest that you need to play something at least ten times live before you get a real impression of what it can do. I've got two guitars (total nine at the moment - so a bit more of a collector of six strings!) that I have had for years but as I've never gigged them remain suspicious of whether I like them. Likewise when you see people on this forum flipping something after a number of weeks (or less) one can't help think that they haven't given the poor instrument a fair chance to shine (or not). There's also the issue of collectors getting in the way of players - if I had a 70s bass I would be playing it live a good few times each year!

This was free but only stayed on Facebook a number of hours. I wasn't quick enough!

...I find threads like these helpful to justify future purchases - although do admit to a certain level of worry for those who seem to have had more than twenty or so - I do like basses/music kit but also need to balance it with spending money on alcohol and women!

1994 - 1997 Borrowed various basses all pretty cheap 1997 - 1998 Hohner (not sure model - owned by a function band) 1997 - 1998 Hohner Steinberger copy headless (again owned by function band although I didn't like the balance/look of this one) 1999 – 2004 Aria Pro II Bass IGB68 (also during this period borrowed some rather lovely basses on occasion from @mowf ) 2003 – present Musicman Stingray Fretless Bass DOB: 20th April 1998 2012 – present Musicman Stingray Bass. DOB: 22nd May 2001 I keep thinking about getting a Jazz, a p-bass, and a five string of some variety just out of principle, but the two Stingrays have become members of the family for me - playing them both at a Christmas gig this evening so had them out just now:

I just tried to find it - and couldn't - but somewhere there is a video of Guthrie Govan being given an out of tune guitar, and then playing something beautifully in tune (at least relative to himself) by bending each note back into tune - the sort of musical performance that makes me want to give up!

...I'm suspicious you are hoping I'd leave a bass cab with you as well! I actually did pick up a TE 2103x cab from up Yorkshire way a few years back while up there with work, I forget where that one was eventually deposited!

That is really cool, although my pedalboards seem to change week by week so I would have a 3D printer going full time! Do you find the printed larger buttons make any difference? I've always avoided them as I feel they make it more likely that I hit the wrong pedal.

Crazy EQ on the Boss GEB - what do you use that for?

I just pulled the triger on the EHX mixer pedal as a Christmas present for myself. My aim is to use it for switching in and out different preamp pedals including the preamp on my Agi & TE heads via the inputs & efx sends. I really like mixing and matching preamps, and this pedal seems perfectly suited to it! @rwillett how's your pedal board working?

Rather than buy lighter and more moveable cabs I've just gone for the option of scattering them liberally wherever I play - I now have three TE rigs (all picked up at similarly low prices) and simply leave one at home, one in the practice space and one at church - no one is strong enough to steal them!

...until they can't get a drummer on some weeks and ask if you can play Cajon instead - which has started happening to me at an alarming frequency despite admitting (and demonstrating) knowledge of only one rhythm that goes along the lines of "thump tapety tapety tapety, thump...."

Only 30 years gigging for me but pretty similar. Thus said I've had a pint poured into a mixing desk, speakers knocked over, amps just stopping working, fuses going, a generator running out of petrol (really embarrassing miscommunication), and on one memorable occasion an extension lead melting... for me cost has been the main barrier to bringing/buying spares of things, followed by room in the van/car.

If you are referring to the Adam Neely video posted at the bottom of the last page, the fact that pitch is essentially arbitrary and A=440Hz was just chosen for consistency/pragmatic reasons is actually his conclusion - he calls the whole 8Hz thing bollocks fairly soon into the video - I did watch the whole thing and found it quite educational.

We did "This Little Light of Mine" this morning which is quite fun on the bass - both slap (verse) and walking (chorus) in one song!

Couldn't help think of this thread as we played this tonight! Granted the bass line pretty much is the tune but loads more notes than I'm used to!!

I had a very cheerful pianist/organist friend who used to say she aimed for about a 75% success rate with notes. Thing is she always played with such gusto and confidence no one really ever minded (and alot of Hammond organ is just leaning on half the keyboard as well!). For bass I swear by ghost notes - as long as you get a percussive attack the fact that you didn't actually play a harmonic note can be forgiven every now and again, especially if you stay in the pocket with the kick!

On bass it was in a pit orchestra for my school doing the musical Grease around '95ish. I'd played classical guitar since I was 9 and did all the termly/annual school concerts up until then, but do remember playing Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" in a school assembly accompanying the choir, and also vaguely remember playing the Shadow's "Apache" in a school assembly possibly before that.

I generally note which fret the worship leader puts their capo on and hiss it at them prior to the start of the song...

I love how many people on this thread have said "passive" followed by something like "I don't twiddle/touch the knobs on the bass" - no shit Einsteins 😀(NB said with humour and affection) - demonstrates why active pickups were created in the first place - precisely so that you could control EQ better on the bass itself! Thus said I don't like the faff of remembering to change the battery, albeit at the moment play two Stingrays both with identical active pickups through identical signal chains, but tweak the EQ a bit on the fretless to get the mwah - currently gassing over a passive p-bass though...

Sounds like time for a car/train crash competition - anyone remember Phatfish's "There is a day"? We did this during the signing of the register at someone's wedding. Bloody keyboardist pressed the transpose button and both he and the singer started in the wrong key. I was playing electric so when I came in with the first chord it was the wrong key and the song crashed. Keyboardist smirks, presses the transpose, and starts again saying a bit too loudly - lets change key for Simon grrr.....