discreet

What's the problem? It's obvious that people with premium-brand basses are going to be better players, aren't they?

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1453398473' post='2959192'] So, I always start from the premise that I will be paid... [/quote] So do I. But my point is that I don't do it entirely for the money. There are other factors.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1453382373' post='2958944'] Its a fair challenge and one I sidestep by making a point not to play in bands with people who "need the money", not out of any sense of superiority but purely because it just isn't worth the tension that the differing motivations can cause. [/quote] Also, when you chase Mr Dollar he tends to run away. Best to do as you see fit and then if [i]he [/i]finds [i]you,[/i] it's a bonus...

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1453295747' post='2958167'] You can either have a massive argument and raise the temperature of your urine, or you can use it as an opportunity to play a better bass line. [/quote] Not sure if it's possible to play a 'better' bass line than the original - which after all, is what punters are largely expecting to hear - but I would agree that we must avoid raising the temperature of our urine at all costs. In fact I'm going to start a petition on 38 Degrees, sign up now. STOP HOT URINE FROM EXACERBATING GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE!

[quote name='Dropzone' timestamp='1453295006' post='2958147'] Say the guitarist meant 200 each. [/quote] That'll do it.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1453291047' post='2958081'] An audition is slightly different to a rehearsal. [/quote] Yes, I thought you meant 'audition'. I can't read. But that's another thing... when people expect to learn songs at rehearsal without any preparation. Rehearsal should be for... rehearsing, not listening to a song in the car on the way in then winging it. I suppose what I'm saying is, there are too many things about playing in covers bands that raise the temperature of my urine to 100 degrees Celcius (or above), so I don't do covers bands. Having said that, I've just joined a covers band - but the material is very niche and quite obscure. Plus, the other members of the band are real anoraks, so I think I may have found my spiritual home...

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1453287722' post='2958046'] ...the most identifiable parts of the songs should be intact. The covers bands I have seen who get the finer points are the ones who I enjoy the most, the ones who have members who are playing from hearing it once or twice on the radio and then blagging it are the ones who are destined to forever play in the venues most good bands are trying to avoid... [/quote] This guy gets it!! [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1453284407' post='2958009'] Relax a bit over this. Learn something that approximates and turn up to the rehearsal with an open mind. Quite often you'll never replicate the original due to loads of limitations (mainly most pop is heavily over-produced). It's a cover not a facsimile. [/quote] I'm not going to turn up to an audition with 'something that approximates'. I will have learned the material to the best of my ability and take it from there. If the band's versions turn out to be 'looser', then I'm immediately in the best position to cope with that. And I know you can't replicate the production values of a song live, that's obvious and I don't attempt it. But I do like to properly learn the notes that the bass player is playing, the correct arrangement, the feel, the groove and any other bits and pieces that make the song what it is. Missing chunks out because they're 'too hard' or doing it half-assed because 'the punters will be pissed anyway' is not an option as far as I'm concerned.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1453281399' post='2957981'] Nothing wrong with that, I'm just too lazy though - if I can hear that someone is obviously free styling it in a particular bit of a song I just do likewise within the same parameters (rhythmic phrasing, scales etc)... [/quote] The problem is finding other players who like to do the same. If you learn a song note-for-note and the rest of the band doesn't, your carefully-learnt bass line won't fit properly into the song. So inevitably you have to play it 'wrong' to make it work, which boils my piss and is the reason I generally don't like playing in covers bands.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1453278949' post='2957965'] I have an increasing list of band that if I hear unexpectedly on the radio, have to turn off immediately to prevent brain damage: The Buzzcocks, Oasis, Sting, The Smiths....Sellotape is one of those borderline bands. [/quote] Oasis, Sting, etc I totally understand, but what happened in your life for Sellotape to be a problem? It's not a sticking point for me.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1453245186' post='2957887'] I'll happily die in my late 60s if it means I don't end up like my parents were in their 80s. [/quote] I used to say that when my late 60s were a lot further away. [quote name='ians' timestamp='1453197940' post='2957226'] Another of those musicians that I grew up with as a young teenager no longer with us. [/quote] RIP. Very much a fan. I'd only just finished reading Ian Hunter's diary about their tour of the States in 1972. Different world.

[quote name='Bassmachine' timestamp='1453244415' post='2957878'] Warwick Hellborg power amp and preamp. Cabs Schroeder 210 12L and 15 12L. [/quote] Wow, that's some set-up.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1453238453' post='2957800'] String is always rather pretentious. [/quote] Agreed - I prefer Sellotape.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1453229753' post='2957690'] No, he means pyjamas; all the inmates wear 'em (most of the time...) [/quote] I'm not mad, though - I'm totally here by mistake. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! *Stands on one leg and faces east*

[quote name='Iain' timestamp='1453213513' post='2957455'] I actually went and bought a belt that had no sharp edges that my bass could touch for this reason. [/quote] I have no worries on this score - I have a fine selection of tie-up elasticated waistband trousers. They are the height of fashion.

A sparkly-cloth chrome-logo Fender combo, just for the look of the thing!

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1453217695' post='2957511'] hmmm sounds familiar- wouldn't be in Brockley by any chance? The band I was in a few years ago rented a rehearsal space a few times that sounds a lot like this... [/quote] No, north of the river and east. But strangely I do live a stone's throw from Brockley, in Forest Hill...

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1453210977' post='2957415'] They say if you play left handed it will feel like somebody else's bass. [/quote] But you have to sit on it first until it goes numb. Your left hand, that is. Not the bass.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1453210616' post='2957410'] Becoming progressively more amused at the number of people advocating various forms of physical aggression or bodily intrusion, despite having been told that the drummer in question was a PT Instructor in the armed forces. We seem to have some very serious keyboard warriors here. [/quote] Quite. I hate keyboard players. To the OP... if you're going to use a bass it's going to get worn and damaged one way or another. What gets me is that this damage was totally unnecessary. I'd be pretty annoyed too, but I bet the drummer would have annoyed me one way or another anyway, by now. He sounds like an arse.

It's too weird and I don't believe it.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1453202263' post='2957287'] I get nervous at auditions, but that's natural and welcomed, really. I'd hate to be blasé about them. Learn the tunes (note-for-note) go along, be nice, play and then leave. If you get in, fantastic, if not....don't immediately blame your bass playing - the person after you might just be a better fit for the band, might like the same football team as the singer or have gone to the same youth fascist group as the drummer. Focus on doing your best, not about how it'll turn out. [/quote] This is all good - to which I would add; only speak when spoken to, keep your opinions to yourself and say as little as possible! 'Better to remain silent and be thought a fool rather than speak out and remove all doubt...' (Abraham Lincoln). If you don't get it don't blame yourself. I always make damn sure that if I don't get an audition it won't have been because I didn't know the material. You can't prepare for unknown political situations within a band, and if that's how it is you're probably better off out if it anyway.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1453194729' post='2957186'] ...we can play loud in the shed, it's whether I want to risk it p*****g people off. I quite like the idea of external cladding as I really don't want to reduce the room size further, but then again I'd rather everything goes into the desk and we do things at moderate levels (hence my questions re electronic drum kits elsewhere on BC). [/quote] You could always pre-empt the situation by telling the neighbours what you're going to do and ask them to let you know if it's too loud... as regards shed-type rehearsal rooms and electronic drum kits, the man to speak to is Happy Jack, who did something similar a while back I believe... now, where is it..? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/149816-creating-my-own-rehearsal-space/"]http://basschat.co.u...ehearsal-space/[/url]

I always learn covers note-for-note, but that's just me it would seem. I find it easy to learn songs by ear anyway which probably helps. As to the whole business of learning songs for an audition, it's the old question: 'How do you eat an elephant?' To which of course the answer is, 'one bit at a time'...

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1453199189' post='2957240'] Quite. It'll be extremely unlikely that any band will be playing tunes that you've not at least heard before. You should be able to learn a set to a reasonable level within a week. [/quote] I'd agree with that. But I'd heard none of the twelve songs I learned for an audition last week. However I did have two weeks in hand so it wasn't too much of an ordeal. And they weren't fifteen-minute prog-rock epics or anything...

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1453198653' post='2957235'] Yep....[i]hammer on's and pull off's..!!!!!!!!![/i][i] [/i] [/quote] D'oh!! To the OP: I suppose it's the same thing that makes you want to pick your bass up and play it every time you see it...