Playing in Church.

[Richard R]

2 hours ago, SimonK said:

I sometimes dig out the old organ music as they have some awesomely crunchy bass lines that would never normally occur to me, them being classical musicians an' all.

 

Some are indeed awesomely crunchy, but also hard work. And the organists play them with their feet while also playing three keyboards with only two hands!

 

[SimonK]

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

 

Some are indeed awesomely crunchy, but also hard work. And the organists play them with their feet while also playing three keyboards with only two hands!

 

Show offs!

[dmc79]

Well after my second set of Shure SE215 IEMs crapped out (last set didn’t last long at all), after putting a request in for a set of KZ ZS10 Pro, it didn’t take much persuading for me to be bought a set of them & the fact they are half the price of the Shures may have helped. 
 

Looking forward to trying these out, I’ve heard lots of good stuff about them, multi driver IEMs that punch above their price point and are great for bass? Yes please. Will do some digging as I’m sure people have upgraded the cables & tips on these. 

 

 

[Nice Guy Rich]

@dmc79 I use them as they came, I love them as they are 😁👍🏻

[bass_dinger]

I shared the following update with my piano teacher - he has had me reading music (both bass and treble clef) on the piano. Nothing at all complex, but the discipline of reading the music has done me well.  And, perhaps inevitably, working on one aspect of my musicianship has allowed me to do better elsewhere.  

 

That update:

 

"Well, here's a surprise, for my bass playing. 

This morning's church service had us playing a hymn in F, with a key change in the last verse, to G.

I was used to playing it in G, but not F.

So this morning I printed it off in F, read and played along with a recording in F [perhaps 6 or 7 times, while eating breakfast].

 

When I got to church, I sight-read the whole song, 3 verses in F.

Then did it once more, in G.
I was amazed at myself, and I put it down to two things:

the discipline of the piano lessons; And the fear of failure in front of the congregation!!!"

 

My teacher replied, thusly: "No reason to be surprised. You are quite capable at doing this. Maybe you need to find some confidence in your ability. I am sure in my mind you will succeed and not too far in the future."

 

So, what surprised me, did not surprise my piano teacher! 

 

I must say, it was very gratifying to be able to play from the music, more easily than from a chord chart. 

 

PS, the hymn was And Can It Be, one of those tunes that have a proper written bassline, including a ladies-and-men call and response.  

Edited September 15 by bass_dinger

[bass_dinger]

Duplicate post.

 

Edited September 15 by bass_dinger

[SimonK]

Oops - less experienced worship leader yesterday who closed the service with "Lord I lift your name on high". I commented that the song was on the "banned" list which was meant as tongue in cheek but seems to have been taken more seriously based on an email from last night....

 

Mind you took the opportunity to suggest the following should also be banned for having been played far too much over the last thirty years or so:

 

Shine Jesus Shine
Shout to the Lord
Father God I wonder

[bass_dinger]

On 10/09/2024 at 15:04, Nice Guy Rich said:

I use them as they came, I love them as they are

@Nice Guy Rich that sounds like the advertising slogan for something tough and rugged.  Maybe a set of all-terrain tyres for a pickup truck, or a pair of hiking boots!

 

 

[bass_dinger]

2 hours ago, SimonK said:

I commented that the song was on the "banned" list which

Let me fix that for you..

" I commented that the song was on the band's list...."

 

Do you think that they would believe that they misheard you!?

 

[SimonK]

It's funny - I normally don't mind too much which songs we play, and generally find the lyrics of most Christian songs a bit cringy, however so long as there is a groove I'm happy to play along and enjoy the music. But these four feel to have crossed a line with me...

[bass_dinger]

It is rare to find a classic song - one that is loved by congregation and musicians alike. 

 

Shine Jesus Shine - do your lot do that handclap thing after "Shine on me, clapclap clapclap ..."?

 

Gratifyingly, my current pastor appears to dislike Shine Jesus Shine - but the last time it was listed for a service, the congregation were all loving it like "Agadoo"  at a Saga Holidays disco...

 

I think that, for every time the congregation sing it once, the band will have played and heard it 4 or 5 times in practice and rehearsal. So, we are fed up with it, but they are not. 

Edited September 16 by bass_dinger

[Nice Guy Rich]

1 hour ago, bass_dinger said:

….that sounds like the advertising slogan for something tough and rugged.  Maybe a set of all-terrain tyres for a pickup truck, or a pair of hiking boots!

 

 

😂 A career in advertising slogans was born.

[Nice Guy Rich]

With reference to the ‘banned’ songs, there are always going to be songs that at least one member of the band doesn’t like but as I see it, it might be the favourite song of someone in the congregation and, it might’ve made their day to sing it.  Having said that, I’d be happy to give ‘My Lighthouse’ a miss for a while 😂 

[Risk101]

Reading this thread I’m starting to feel rather grateful that we mostly do more recent stuff, y’know like “make room”, “holy forever”, “he lives” etc… 😇 (although I luckily get to do the old hymns when I playing the organ for the local Anglican once a month) - the best of both worlds !!

[Richard R]

 

I don't think we've played Shine Jesus Shine in the last decade.

Which is kind of a shame - I'm running through it in my head and you could do it with a real rock drummer, a muscle-bound bass line and a couple of horns -  it could be a cracker. Better than most CCW.

 

 

[Rosie C]

On 16/09/2024 at 07:47, SimonK said:

Oops - less experienced worship leader yesterday who closed the service with "Lord I lift your name on high". I commented that the song was on the "banned" list which was meant as tongue in cheek but seems to have been taken more seriously based on an email from last night....

 

Mind you took the opportunity to suggest the following should also be banned for having been played far too much over the last thirty years or so:

 

Shine Jesus Shine
Shout to the Lord
Father God I wonder

 

You've jinxed me! I've not played "Shout to the Lord" before, but it's on the list for this Sunday. I'm unsure whether in A or A♭  ... that can be a surprise for Sunday morning!

 

[SimonK]

9 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

You've jinxed me! I've not played "Shout to the Lord" before, but it's on the list for this Sunday. I'm unsure whether in A or A♭  ... that can be a surprise for Sunday morning!

 

 

...I've always played it in A, but then again as a non classical musician Ab has never been within my skillset without tuning down a semitone!

[Nice Guy Rich]

27 minutes ago, SimonK said:

 

...I've always played it in A…

Me too, I sing it in A.  
 

@Rosie C  It’s a great song 😁👍🏻

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, SimonK said:

 

...I've always played it in A, but then again as a non classical musician Ab has never been within my skillset without tuning down a semitone!

Eb I could understand, but Ab you can get the root on a 4 string bass no problems!

[SimonK]

22 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Eb I could understand, but Ab you can get the root on a 4 string bass no problems!

 

Indeed you can - but if you tune down a semitone you can still play it in A 🙂 !!!

[Rosie C]

2 hours ago, SimonK said:

 

...I've always played it in A, but then again as a non classical musician Ab has never been within my skillset without tuning down a semitone!

 

I took a pragmatic approach - transposed it to G, and I'll play it on octave mandolin with a capo on 1 or 2 to suit. 🫣

 

[dmc79]

After one service using the KZ ZS10 Pro IEMs, I must say I'm rather impressed with them. Half the price of the Shure SE215 that everyone else in the band uses, including myself until I had 2 pairs of them bust. Stupidly I made the mistake of only being handed them as were about to start practicing that Sunday morning for the upcoming service. I should know better by now and should have picked them up a couple of days before to get familiar with them, but I spent most of the practice time fiddling about with them, they were falling straight out of my ears and wouldn't stay put, I couldn't see a L or R on the earpieces or the cable, and was getting rather flustered - couldn't work out which earpiece was which or if I had the cable on properly, and to make it worse there were no instructions in the box. Meanwhile the practice continued as we had limited time. I had it partially sorted with the help of the WL & PA guy during the short break before service, enough that I could hear what I needed, but I still felt a bit confused with it all and wasn't sure everything was right. I liked what I heard though. 

 

I did some digging online when I got home, and found this piece of advice regarding how to spot quickly which is the L and R earpiece:

 

 

 

 

Also, I hadn't spotted it under the platform lights on Sunday, but the cable does have L and R stated on it, over the gold 2 pin connectors, near the angled bend. Still a bit frustrating that there's no L and R on the earpieces themselves, but after seeing that explanation and spotting the L and R markings on the cable, at least I know what I'm doing now. Also, compared to the SE215, they feel more comfy because the connector doesn't rotate, which means the ear loop doesn't turn away from my ear every time I move my head - I always found the ear loop of the Shures intrusive, annoying & stiff, but the KZ one goes back over the ear much more easily than the annoying high & wide loop of the Shure.

 

The KZ cable is quite short compared to the Shure, but I never liked the bulk of the Y splitter pulling on the cable on that one, so it feels more comfy. That said, it almost feels too cheap and light - it looks like a cable you'd expect to see on some pound shop earphones. After seeing plenty of recommendations, I've got a Tripowin Zonie 16 core cable upgrade on the way (recessed 2 pin / QDC, 3.5mm). This is meant to be more sturdy & some say it improves the sound of the IEMs too. The stock silicone tips seem ok - they are a lot better than expected, especially as I moved over to foam from silicone - I think partly they stay in better because of the fact that the ear loop isn't always coming away like it did on the Shures. But I'll probably get some Comply foam tips too as I'm sure getting a good seal will take these to another level. Once I've figured out which size I like best (I got an assorted size Comply pack recently for the Shure SE112s I use to play music through at home), I'll order a set for the ZS10s. 

 

Sound-wise, I've only played a few songs with them on a Sunday (this week will be my first time actually knowing what I'm doing with them without fiddling about like a buffoon) but I thought they sounded pretty good - plenty of detail and clarity and overall better than the SE215. A bit more high end than I'm used to, especially when the drummer went to town on the hi-hat, but I just turned him down a bit on the mixer. I guess I'll get used to it. I would sometimes get the bass distort a little with the SE215 depending on the Gain on my Tone Hammer DI (even though I don't crank it much at all), so hopefully the ZS10 can deal with that better. The casing seems quite rugged against the cheap plastic feel of the Shures, I thought at first they'd feel bulky, but they didn't seem overly big once firmly in place. Hopefully they won't be too fatiguing.

 

Anyway, as many of you no doubt already know, it seems the KZ ZS10 Pro is an excellent budget IEM which punches well above its price (approx £50). I played some music through them at home and was actually blown away by the sound, they blew my Shure SE112, which cost the same price (and don't have a detachable cable) out of the water. Admittedly those are Shure's cheapest earphones anyway, but they themselves are way better than any Sennheiser, Sony, etc, I've tried at that price range, yet the ZS10s are on a different level completely. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20 by dmc79
add photos

[Risk101]

My trick to see left from right is a little blob of tippex (remember that!!!) on the left one!

 

My personal preference are the silicone tips….

[dmc79]

7 minutes ago, Risk101 said:

My trick to see left from right is a little blob of tippex (remember that!!!) on the left one!

 

My personal preference are the silicone tips….

 

It's a minor annoyance not showing L or R on the ZS10 earpieces, but I know which is which now. I got so used to the 'red for right' dot on the Shures. I guess things like this detail, and the lack of an instruction manual or case, are the downsides of having a cheap set of IEMs. The upside is that they sound really great which is the main thing. 

 

Edited September 20 by dmc79

[bass_dinger]

After playing for perhaps 10 consecutive weeks with just one break, I am suddenly feeling burnt out.

 

The singing in the Sunday service was huge and powerful, and the rehearsal and service itself felt very much seat-of-pants (but in a good way!).  So, we rehearsed an intro for one song - come in hard from verse one - only to find that we were actually starting softly in the chorus. Not a problem...

 

But I suddenly find myself worn out, and wanting time off from music in general.