Jacqueslemac

Played to an almost empty hall first set and then to a packed place for the second set. Lots of people dancing and singing along and then not, and then dancing and singing again and then not. One of our new songs was met with dead silence (45 by the Gaslight Anthem), while hackneyed old stuff like Livin' on a Prayer had everyone on the floor. I think we've realised we have two types of tunes in our set. the "party" stuff that gets everyone on the floor and the "rock" set that gets the blokes nodding their heads and sends the girls off to the toilets. We need to learn another dozen or so songs so we have enough for an evening of one kind or the other, not the mish mash we've ended up with. To save floor space we had our amps on tables. The guitar cabs were mic'd up, but mine isn't. I could hear myself plenty loud enough, but not the guitars. Afterwards 2nd guitar complimented me on my playing on a couple of songs, which was nice. And very unusual coming from him. Not sure whether I was playing any better than usual, or just he could hear me better (I was stage left, he was stage right).

One of these?

Very true. Trouble is, a lot of people judge others by their age. A lot of bands advertising round here are teenagers who think they're going to be stars and assume a 50-year old won't blend into their line up. They may be right! My main band don't seem to bother about the age gap, other than to make fun of me as a result of it. The only time it ever causes a problem is when we're choosing songs to cover. I've never heard of many of their choices and they don't think my choices would go down well in the pubs we play in. Even though the people in the pubs vary from being in their 20s to their 70s. My gap between their ages and my daughters is about the same as between them and me, yet my daughters recognised every sone we play (and some date from the 1950s), so I think it's unfair to pre-judge which age group would like which songs. In my other band, the guitarist actually lied to a potential new member of the band by saying that we are all in our 40s. (I'm in my 40s if you take VAT off.)

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1359028709' post='1948616'] I'd certainly pay to see that. [/quote] I have to ham it up by shaking my head ruefully. The singer actually changes quite a lot of words in the songs to make them more personal to the band. Some work better than others, to be fair.

[quote name='morsefull' timestamp='1358975636' post='1948086'] I'm bald, fat , 52, currently in a good covers band[/quote] I'm almost 52, almost bald and 20lb overweight (does that count as fat?) and I, too, play in a covers band with four lads in their late 20s/early 30s. (we used to have a 20-year old female drummer before the current one). I don't try to be cool. If I wore what they wear, I'd look daft. They wear what we used to call baseball boots, so I wear what we used to call Chelsea boots. they were short sleeve shirts over long sleeve T-shirts, where I tend to wear both short sleeves, or a long-sleeve shirt over a T-shirt. I also don't think most of their humour is funny and put up with being the butt of more than a fair share of their jokes (sometimes on stage - in Buck Rogers, the singer has changed the lyrics to "I got a haircut etc... it's not his problem" while pointing to me). However, because the singer is a good front man (which includes plenty of over-the-top stage antics), I've started to move around a bit. Not dancing exactly, but swinging my arm when holding a note, bending over when doing a fast run in time with the guitarist's palm-muted chords and what not. Must be working, because I have been asked (by the singer and lead guitarist) on more than one occasion to bring my wireless kit to a gig so I can move around the stage more to give the band more visual impact. Both my daughters have seen me gig and have brought their friends. i don't think either would have done that (a second time, anyway) if they thought their dad was embarrassingly uncool! Moral: Don't try to be what you're not. If you're having fun, show it, but don't try to put on an act which isn't sincere. Do it for yourself, not for what anyone else thinks you should be doing it for.

I used to carry out media training. I never met single person who didn't listen to the playback of an interview without complaining that they hated the sound of their voice, as it didn't sound anything like they heard in their own head. Off topic slightly, but most people don't like photos of themselves either. For an experiment my dad once developed some photos by turning the negative over. The print was effectively a mirror image and, without exception the subjects remarked that it was one of the best portraits they'd had taken. We all have our perceptions of what we look and sound like and when the truth turns out to be different, we find it a difficult concept to come to terms with.

I started doing backing vocals recently. I think I contribute more to volume than quality. I can rarely hear myself through the PA when we practice, but I hate the sound of my voice when I listen to playbacks later. I've been practicing by singing along to as much as I can, but only venturing near the mic when I feel confident that I can sing without stopping playing. The singer has been very kind, giving me the thumbs up when I come in, so he must be able to hear me. I'm starting small. One guitar sings too, while the other just does a few backing vocals like me. I'd hate it if I was the only one doing backing vocals.

Yep: Plenty of sound options with the active/passive switches and different pickup options. It's Japanese-made, so the neck is slim and smooth with rolled edges. And it looks the part for my surf band. On the other hand, I hardly ever play it as I prefer the overall feel of my USA Jazz Deluxe and the sounds I need I can get with the Jazz. Depends what you're looking for from it, really.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1358612837' post='1942214'] I was awarded one of these at work: [/quote] I was awarded a green pen.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1358612468' post='1942204']It'd be interesting to know what rates they have for one-off articles. I'd have, as an example, no qualms for taking my bass to a nearby-ish shop (Dawson's in Manchester since they post on here - or did, as an example) for them to write a review of it. Not for readers to think about buying one but as a Reader's [s]Wives[/s] Bass section. Any other willing BCers would keep such a column going for quite a while. [/quote] That's a good idea! It would give reviewers the chance to have a look at basses that have been modified by their owner and report on the pros and cons of them. As well as reviewing how older basses compare with their modern counterparts.

[quote name='Joel McIver' timestamp='1358588313' post='1941680'] I'm here guys. Joel [/quote] Well done for putting your head above the parapet, Joel. Take a deep breath and read through the last few pages. Then talk to your finance people about putting a bit more money in the pot for proof-reading and such. There are also some useful comments you could feed back as "market research from your key targets".

Hello, I'm James Duffell, from just outside Norwich, Norfolk and I've been addicted to basses for years. Can someone enlighten me about how this works (have I missed another thread)? Are we supposed to gig the bass before handing it to someone else or something? Do we sign it before passing it on? Will it be posted or delivered? Between April and June I will be travelling all over the country (well from Arbroath to Plymouth, from Deeside to Hastings) so could, potentially courier it around a bit. Come to that, I could take it to my house in Normandy, which isn't so very far from Mayenne!

I thought "blowing out" meant "turning down". At least it used to.

The sad thing for the magazine is that, presumably, contributors to this forum are the exact target market that the magazine is aimed at. It would save quite a bit of expensive market research if the editor and the owners read this thread and picked up on the points raised about what's important to us, including:[list] [*]Better proofreading [*]Better standard of writing [*]Better research/checking facts [*]Less very expensive basses and more reviews of basses within our price range [*]Less focus on exotic players and more focus on bassists most people will have heard of [*]Less concentration on style/instruments that most of us don't identify with (e.g less slap, less five and six strings) [/list] and so on...

I don't call bad grammar and bad spelling pedantry. They set themselves up to be professional writers, yet their standard is strictly amateur. If their standard of journalism is so low, what does that say about the standard of professionalism in their reviews? I don't have a problem when the chap who services my car spells things wrongly on the bill. He doesn't set himself up to be a writer. These guys do - and fail consistently.

I remember emailing an earlier editor who confessed that he could find good journalists and he could find good bass players to review the basses, but couldn't find many who could do both. I still think the money they could spend on a good proof-reader (I even offered to do it for a free subscription!) would be a worthwhile investment. Anyway, I've just subscribed again as their introductory offer is so good. Let's see how it goes.

I dropped off a mate's PRS guitar at the distributor's warehouse last year (for its regular free service, which can't be bad). While I was there I asked if they had any basses in. The friendly chap brought out a private stock one for me to have a look at. All I can say is that if that was a typical example, then they're a bit of an acquired taste to look at. It was a very garish bright green with rather tasteless gold hardware. This one looks a bit easier on the eye (to me, anyway), but I think I'll stick to hankering after a Corvette $$ with fancy grain instead.

The ones that are still not working do seem to be the ones with many, many pages (porn threads for Jazz, Precision, the "how was your gig last night" one and so on). Presumably it's up to the mods to close a thread and start a new one?

Apologies for the delay. Turns out it was my wife's book! Anyway, she no longer wants it, so who would like it? Send me a PM and I'll post it to you.

Okay, I tried, but I haven't found a track yet that I'd listen to again.

That's worth a punt for a year. I've just subscribed too, thanks. (Hope the proof reading is better than it used to be!)

Round here there are so many bands, it's difficult to keep prices up. We set out at £250, but usually negotiate down to £150 for a first gig and £200 if they book us for two or more gigs.

Nothing much to add, except that we used to have a mate who did our sound for us just because the pub is usually a lot more crowded when we start than when we soundcheck and all those extra bags of water play havoc with the mix (we tend to mic the guitars so we have more flexibility to mix the front of house sound). Trouble is, he's now our singer. He does use a radio mic, though, so he can twiddle the sliders a bit during the first couple of songs. Playing in cramped, awkward spaces in the way of the toilets and the fire escape means you really appreciate a proper stage with in-house PA and lighting when you do play the bigger pubs!

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1357567749' post='1924569'] I'd be happy that somebody actually wants to listen to our music, in the past we've even given out free cd's at shows to get more people listening to our stuff. [/quote] If that's your decision, though, that's great. You've decided to give your music away as a loss leader to encourage sales further down the line. That's different from you wanting to charge for it and someone deciding they don't want to pay you for it. I went to a gig recently where the support band did exactly that (they were called All The Young). I've been keeping an eye out for their first "proper" CD and will be buying it when I find it.

I used to borrow my mates' LPs and record them onto cassette. Of course, the quality was rubbish compared with the original, so any band I really liked, I went out and bought a copy of the LP myself. Nowadays I rip copies of my mates' CDs (or rent them from my local library - for which the artist receives royalties). Of course, the quality of MP3s isn't as good compared with the original CD, so any music I really like, I buy a copy of the CD myself (even if I listen to my music via my iPhone for the most part). My understanding was this type of low-level sharing was tolerated by the industry, as one CD is usually only copied half-a-dozen times. Online sharing has the potential of being shared millions of times from only one original purchase. If someone in the band suggests a new song, we share the MP3. If no-one has it (and I'm rubbish at learning from Youtube), then I have no qualms about splashing out 89p or whatever and downloading it, even if I don't particularly like the original and never play it once I've recorded a version of the band playing it (often our arrangements and/or key differs from the original, so it's easier to practice playing along to a recording of our own rehearsal). Sometimes I've discovered a new band that way and have bought the CD. If I had gone to the trouble and expense of writing and recording original material and then found someone passing round copies for free, I'd be a bit miffed, wouldn't you?