Odd tips...

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='bobbassguy' post='250572' date='Jul 29 2008, 04:50 PM']Avoid the 'monitor pose'. [url="http://www.musicplayers.com/images/john_petrucci.jpg"]http://www.musicplayers.com/images/john_petrucci.jpg[/url] It ain't smart, it ain't cool, and imitating this pose gives John Petrucci the legal right to sue your bollocks off.[/quote]Meh!
I play better on one leg.


Write your band's name (or put colour coded paint dots) on gear that might grow legs. Makes it that bit easier to retrieve.

Be discerning when accepting drinks from dodgy looking strangers. You don't want to spent the rest of the night wondering why Groucho Marx's face is coming out of your monitor on octopus like tendrils.

[squire5]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' date='Aug 1 2008, 10:09 AM' post='252534']

Don't buy Planet Waves cables. Those expanding bits on the jack break your input sockets eventually!!


Too true.Our guitarist uses one and one night,when he was tuning up,his tuner captured the jack plug and point blank refused to let it go.We actually ended up smashing the tuner to bits,and even then,had to use a screwdriver to prise the jack plug from the tuners jack socket.Bloody Planet Waves!

[OldGit]

[quote name='chris_b' post='251081' date='Jul 30 2008, 10:23 AM']Marry a woman with small hands.[/quote]

I never did understand that.
Her hand size will be the same and her perception of your [i]bass[/i] size will be informed by her experience with oither people's [i]basses[/i] and how huge they look compared to yours, relative to her hands.
The only one fooled will be you (and anyone you show the pictures to ...)

Or do women's hands relate to the size of their [i]basses[/i], the same way men's feet and hands do?
I guess that would make sence, well, for a while anyway.

[Breakfast]

If you tend to dance energetically while playing, make sure the stage is solid enough for the job. Drummers can find it disconcerting to have their cymbal stands waving around like brances in a gale.

Get a small kickback type amp- most of your sound will be from the PA anyways and the ability to carry all your kit from the car to the venue in one go is priceless...

[warwickhunt]

Never think that you are too good to associate with other local musos and diss them as you rise through the ranks... they'll be the same ones that you'll be associating with on your way back down the ladder if you don't 'quite' make it big.

This translates to urinating on people on the way up as it is your p*ss that will shower down on you as you come down

Edited August 1, 2008 by warwickhunt

[mewsie]

[quote name='OldGit' post='253046' date='Aug 1 2008, 11:23 PM']Her hand size will be the same and her perception of your [i]bass[/i] size will be informed by her experience with oither people's [i]basses[/i] and how huge they look compared to yours, relative to her hands.
The only one fooled will be you (and anyone you show the pictures to ...)

Or do women's hands relate to the size of their [i]basses[/i], the same way men's feet and hands do?
I guess that would make sence, well, for a while anyway.



[/quote]



x

[thumperbob 2002]

Always have a bottle of water on stage- dont piss around with glasses ( other than free beer )

[waynepunkdude]

I have mentioned this in another thread but it's important.


Don't defecate in your hand and throw it at the audience, it never goes down well.

[Dread Bass]

f***in punks

[SteveK]

[quote]I would say that if your guitarist is prone to that mistake, learn to transpose your lines! You make the whole band look sh*t by stopping a song once it's started. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, you all look as stupid as each other.[/quote]
Disagree on that one.

If the song is started in the wrong key, or if the tempo is way adrift, then why not stop and start again. Providing you can do it with a smile on your face, and you explain to your audience that you screwed it up and are gonna try it again...the audience will love you (even more) for it.
In fact, only last week, we played in Hanau with The Hooters and Steve Lukather. During the soundcheck we decided to change the ending of a song (it needed a more elaborate ending to do the song justice).
We played it a couple of times...no problem!

During the gig we came to the end of that song... total disaster!!! There's Steve Lukather and his band; The Hooters, all at the side of the stage looking on...not to mention several thousand punters.
After much hilarity on stage and the singer explaining to the audience that we need the practice, we played the ending again... the audience thought it was a riot


FWIW It was the last gig on Lukes European tour, the hotel bar was certainly an experience...but that's a whole different story

Steve

Edited August 3, 2008 by SteveK

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='bobbassguy' post='250572' date='Jul 29 2008, 04:50 PM']I've read that if your fingers get cut during live playing, throw in some salt. It'll probably hurt like a bastard for a few minutes but it helps to cauterize the cuts enough for your digits to survive the show.[/quote]

Slices of lemon will probably be easier to find at most gigs.

[quote name='acidbass' post='250997' date='Jul 30 2008, 04:25 AM']Always get your drummer to count into a song, be it on sticks or just in the air with mimed numbers.[/quote]

It's rare we play any mimed numbers.

[quote name='SteveK' post='253674' date='Aug 3 2008, 11:30 AM']... During the soundcheck we decided to change the ending of a song (it needed a more elaborate ending to do the song justice).
We played it a couple of times...no problem!

During the gig we came to the end of that song... total disaster!!! There's Steve Lukather and his band; The Hooters, all at the side of the stage looking on...not to mention several thousand punters.
After much hilarity on stage and the singer explaining to the audience that we need the practice, we played the ending again... the audience thought it was a riot [/quote]

In one of my old bands we had a little gimmick where we would offer the audience either the "normal ending" or the "Stars In Their Ending" for our songs. We had a good laugh with that.

[OldGit]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='253692' date='Aug 3 2008, 12:37 PM']It's rare we play any mimed numbers.[/quote]


Ha ha yeah I think he means the drummer mouthing the count ....

[D-L-B]

When the band on before you finish don't go rushing straight onto the stage with all your gear and get in the way of them packing up. It'll really piss them off and they'll just take even longer.

Allways try and be nice to the in-house sound man. Once you start playing you're entirely at his mercy!

It's good to have a friend at gigs who knows your set and can communicate to the sound man about the mix while you're playing.

[phil_the_bassist]

[quote name='OldGit' post='253718' date='Aug 3 2008, 01:39 PM']Ha ha yeah I think he means the drummer mouthing the count ....[/quote]


Does The Count mind..? Bwahahah!




[size=1]I'll get me coat[/size]

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='253911' date='Aug 3 2008, 08:36 PM']Does The Count mind..? Bwahahah![/quote]



I read it as "The drummer, the mouthy ****".

[OldGit]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='253940' date='Aug 3 2008, 09:29 PM']

I read it as "The drummer, the mouthy ****".[/quote]


exactly

[BassMunkee]

Always make sure that you wear clean underwear, and that you bring a towel or a suitable cloth to mop up after the drummer when he starts to dribble.

[D-L-B]

Allways wipe front to back...

[Tait]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='250694' date='Jul 29 2008, 06:39 PM']Write the keys next to the song names on everyone's copy of the set list.[/quote]

this wouldn't work for me... my guitarist said to me the other day, after we had changed the key of one of our songs from B to A "so are we playing it at 5 now?" i was like "at 5?" "yeah... you know... 5" "oh... you mean the 5th fret?". worryingly he's just finished GCSE music.

[quote name='acidbass' post='250997' date='Jul 30 2008, 04:25 AM']When other band members ask you to turn down on stage, a slight attenuation of the bass knob frequencies will often fool him into thinking you have [/quote]

or... turn down when they ask you to, it's only in order to get the levels right. you're a bassist, you're not suuposed to be the centre of attention.

good idea for rehersals though

Edited August 6, 2008 by lwtait

[johnnylager]

[quote name='lwtait' post='256109' date='Aug 6 2008, 11:38 AM']or... turn down when they ask you to, it's only in order to get the levels right. you're a bassist, you're not suuposed to be the centre of attention.[/quote]
Heresy!

[EssentialTension]

Always unzip a gigbag from the neck down not the bottom up. That way you are already holding the bass when it falls out of the bag.

[ped]

Annoying earthing click on your passive fender bass when you touch the strings? Got a chrome pickup cover?

Simply run a piece of tin foil under the scratchplate from the volume knob to the screw holding on the chrome cover - voila, you are fre from hum when your left hand leaves the bass. Also can be done to the pickup mounting screw for those of you without a chrome cover.



Another - don't want to screw holes into your bass when mounting a cover/bassmute etc? Use double sided 'Numberplate mounting tape' - extremely strong and leaves no residue when removed.