How was your gig last night?

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Arguably!

One man's Good Stuff is another's screaming nightmare from hell...

If a gig contains Rule Britannia, That Hornpipe and/or Jerusalem, then that, for me, is a bit like that bit in The Exorcist where her head starts spinning and she's bouncing off the ceiling.

 

I was only meaning the modernity of the compositions, being popular (by those in the hall...) despite being of a very different era. Good Stuff (as perceived by the audience...) is Good Stuff, whenever. 

[Japhet]

Played a pub gig Thursday night. Was warned that it's a very tight fit. Since it wasn't expected to be loud I took my Fender Rumble 100. It fitted perfectly into an alcove next to the drummer and about 18 inches up off the floor. Took my Ibanez Talman shorty which always sounds great and went through my pedalboard which is MicroThumpinator, Spectracomp and Sansamp Bassdriver. None of my sound went through the desk, but any concerns about lack of power were gone in seconds and ended up at about 30% volume. The band isn't what I'd call quiet so very happy with the outcome. Playing outside tonight though so will have to take some bigger stuff.

[jimmyb625]

A fun day yesterday at CarFest North, after 2 years of cancellations.

We played on the Wigwam stage, which was fortunate, as that one was built, unlike the main stage, where they had a few issues, meaning they ran very late and Richard Ashcroft ended up not playing. 

 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, jimmyb625 said:

A fun day yesterday at CarFest North, after 2 years of cancellations.

We played on the Wigwam stage, which was fortunate, as that one was built, unlike the main stage, where they had a few issues, meaning they ran very late and Richard Ashcroft ended up not playing. 

 

Curious what bass you are using there @jimmyb625. ?

Dave

[Bunion]

5 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Curious what bass you are using there @jimmyb625. ?

Dave

Looks like a Warwick star bass or a master built sklar

Edited July 23, 2022 by Bunion

[jimmyb625]

13 minutes ago, Bunion said:

Looks like a Warwick star bass or a master built sklar

 

17 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Curious what bass you are using there @jimmyb625. ?

Dave

It's actually the Warwick Rockbass version of the Sklar model:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/warwick_artist_line_sklarbass_i_vsth.htm

 

I really like it, it's been my main bass for the 2 years I've had it and I've not even been tempted to use anything else. I'd really like the team or masterbuilt version, but they are spendy, especially the masterbuilt one. I keep trying to tell Warwick that they need to lend me one, for when we tour with Kiefer Sutherland later in the year, but they seem to have my emails marked as "spam"... 🤣

[BigRedX]

1 minute ago, jimmyb625 said:

 

It's actually the Warwick Rockbass version of the Sklar model:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/warwick_artist_line_sklarbass_i_vsth.htm

 

I really like it, it's been my main bass for the 2 years I've had it and I've not even been tempted to use anything else. I'd really like the team or masterbuilt version, but they are spendy, especially the masterbuilt one. I keep trying to tell Warwick that they need to lend me one, for when we tour with Kiefer Sutherland later in the year, but they seem to have my emails marked as "spam"... 🤣

 

I'd look for a second hand MiK Starbass. I used to have the 5-string version and IMO it was vastly superior to all the MiG versions that I had tried in both looks and playability.

[Franticsmurf]

First gig of the year for the festival band I play in. We were at a local food festival. The drizzle put some of the audience off but we must have played to about 50-60 hardy souls and once the sun had made an appearance we had them dancing. It makes so much difference when the crowd are responsive. I went through my Laney Digbeth preamp into FOH with a tiny practice amp for monitoring. 

 

 

[moley6knipe]

Just sat down after my third gig with the challengingly named 4-Play. Yer bog standard pub covers at The Crown Hotel in Holbeach. Went down well: 20:30 to 23:40 with a couple of breaks.

 

A little rusty and some canny blisters, not been playing enough at home. Few dodgy moments but I played some nice stuff until the end when it was plectrum out and hang on for dear life!

 

Guitarist does that pub covers thing of just playing open 1/4 note down/up/down/up chords over everything towards the end of the gig - all dynamics gone. But overall, good!

 

Fender Dimension USA Deluxe V, heavy D’Addario Nickels, GK 700 and Barefaced Big Baby 2 3rd Gen. I love my rig so much. Special mention for the thick plectrum with tube drive sound courtesy of SA Aftershock.

Edited July 24, 2022 by moley6knipe

[moley6knipe]

See! THAT’S bad right hand technique… ice bath required! 😝

[dmccombe7]

I like the aggression from playing hard fingerstyle and almost every gig my index and mid finger and occassionally ring fingers are tender. Not getting blisters now that i'm gigging more again.

No easy fix as far as i know. The more you play the tougher the fingertips get.

I like the ice bath idea when i get home tonight i might try that. 

To be fair my fingers are back to normal following day now.

Dave

[gafbass02]

Just me, my acoustic and one speaker tucked away in a nice bar corner at my end of term do. Did an hour, dropped the gear home, legged it back and had a few. Nice enough. Off to Gloucester docks shortly with the band for a festival of some kind. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by gafbass02

[Obrienp]

5 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I like the aggression from playing hard fingerstyle and almost every gig my index and mid finger and occassionally ring fingers are tender. Not getting blisters now that i'm gigging more again.

No easy fix as far as i know. The more you play the tougher the fingertips get.

I like the ice bath idea when i get home tonight i might try that. 

To be fair my fingers are back to normal following day now.

Dave

I am afraid you are right. The more you play the tougher they get. An extended gap between gigs and they go soft. Practice sessions don’t seem to count. I keep trying to turn the volume up and play gentler but as the rest of the band get louder (and quicker) I find myself hitting the strings really hard. It will have been 3 weeks off by the time I do my next gig, today week and the blood blister from the last one has peeled off leaving new skin. Guess I’ll be starting the toughening cycle all over again. I find a glass of ice between sets seems to calm the blisters down a bit but that is not always available. 
 

I watched a YouTube clip of Leo Lyon’s doing an extended solo and it looked as though he was periodically licking his finger tips. I am guessing it was to reduce friction. I might give it a try.

[Mickeyboro]

9 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

Just sat down after my third gig with the challengingly named 4-Play. Yer bog standard pub covers at The Crown Hotel in Holbeach. Went down well: 20:30 to 23:40 with a couple of breaks.

 

A little rusty and some canny blisters, not been playing enough at home. Few dodgy moments but I played some nice stuff until the end when it was plectrum out and hang on for dear life!

 

Guitarist does that pub covers thing of just playing open 1/4 note down/up/down/up chords over everything towards the end of the gig - all dynamics gone. But overall, good!

 

Fender Dimension USA Deluxe V, heavy D’Addario Nickels, GK 700 and Barefaced Big Baby 2 3rd Gen. I love my rig so much. Special mention for the thick plectrum with tube drive sound courtesy of SA Aftershock.

My son lives in Holbeach… will have to coincide our next visit with a gig!

PS Unfortunately he listens to gangsta rap😠

[Japhet]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

I like the aggression from playing hard fingerstyle and almost every gig my index and mid finger and occassionally ring fingers are tender. Not getting blisters now that i'm gigging more again.

No easy fix as far as i know. The more you play the tougher the fingertips get.

I like the ice bath idea when i get home tonight i might try that. 

To be fair my fingers are back to normal following day now.

Dave

 

Surgical spirit works for me. Soak your finger tips in it regularly and they get a lot harder and able to cope with the rigours of playing.

[Woodinblack]

Well, that was interesting, in that my judgement was way off. So this is a local pub to me, I mean, it takes 10 minutes to walk to it, its not a pub I have ever been in, but it is the local of our drummer (who lives just under a minute from it) who even knowing the bar staff never managed to get us a gig in there, despite trying. To be fair, we got offered a gig and then we had the lockdown. 

 

So we get a gig in a very random way. Somehow it seems more of a pain loading up the car and driving such a short distance the track playing when the car starts hasn't finished yet. Unload, actually loads of space which is nice.

Setting up, I find that I have failed to pack my IEM, but that is probably ok as I have also failed to pack my headphones. Take my iPad out which I had charged to 100% the day before, and I guess fiddling around with the synths on it, it is now on 28%. OK, I have a charging power block - ok that is dead too. I do have  a lead and a usb charger, so that saves the day. 

Testing it all out with my newly rebuilt pedalboard, everything good. Try the synth patch that I made to replace the one I had that sounded terrible when testing it, it sounds awful - go back to the original, ok, that sounds fine. Sound check, everything good.

Time to start the gig, plug in, massive buzzing - try everything, it is the wireless so quickly throw my spare lead in there.

The omens are really pointing to a terrible gig, but there is quite a crowd. Then we are off - first two songs worrying as I can't hear my bass, it sounds wierd out of IEMs, can't hear the guitar. On the third song switch the connect the back beat up, ok, now can hear/feel the bass.

So hot.

Did the first half, the crowd are many, varied and dancing and singing along, all seem to be enjoying it. Half time told the vocals were quiet so turned them up.

Second half, same thing, everyone happy. After that was told the vocals were much better, the sound was good. The drummers mum, who is at pretty well all our gigs and always says how the bass is too loud or the sound is wrong, or something else is wrong tells me that it was the best sound ever. We get loads of people telling us they loved it, one guy saying we are one of the best ever to be in there, and it turned out he was friends with the owner, and a good night was had by all. Packed up, home in 3 minutes (although no cash as it is one of those online payments, which is rare for us).

I think we will probably go back there.

Downside of no IEM though is fingers hurt like mad, throat hurts - not hearing yourself is a bit damaging!

Today, I think it is a quiet day, feel like I have been in a boxing match!

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

I watched a YouTube clip of Leo Lyon’s doing an extended solo and it looked as though he was periodically licking his finger tips. I am guessing it was to reduce friction. I might give it a try.

I have done that on occassion. Think it made a slight difference. I'll try it tonight at my punk gig. I occasionally use Voltarol on y fingertips when not gigging much. I started using it because my fretting hand index finger had a sensitive nerve end and it helped reduce the stabbing pain. I noticed it also helped reducce the pain on my plucking fingers too. Not used it for a while as my fingers are starting to harden up again now that gigs are more frequent plus we have a new guitarist and i'm playing just as hard at rehearsals to try and help.

Its trying to get the right balance between volume and aggressive tone. Sometimes it just all works, other times not so much. 😂

Dave

[moley6knipe]

I’ve superglued my finger tips before now… that works REALLY well! Wears off (all over the strings / pups!) during the gig but forms a great barrier.

[Dad3353]

57 minutes ago, Japhet said:

 

Surgical spirit works for me. Soak your finger tips in it regularly and they get a lot harder and able to cope with the rigours of playing.

 

I learned that this works well when marching in army boots (school CCF 'boot-camps'...); surgical spirit (meths...) hardened up the feet nicely, preventing blisters. It works well for guitar/bass (I've never worked out how to use a plectrum, so it's always finger-style...). Best done before gigging, as one gets funny looks if smelling like a Primus stove. 

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I have done that on occassion. Think it made a slight difference. I'll try it tonight at my punk gig. I occasionally use Voltarol on y fingertips when not gigging much. I started using it because my fretting hand index finger had a sensitive nerve end and it helped reduce the stabbing pain. I noticed it also helped reducce the pain on my plucking fingers too. Not used it for a while as my fingers are starting to harden up again now that gigs are more frequent plus we have a new guitarist and i'm playing just as hard at rehearsals to try and help.

Its trying to get the right balance between volume and aggressive tone. Sometimes it just all works, other times not so much. 😂

Dave

 

KY bass jelly?

[Old Horse Murphy]

2 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

I’ve superglued my finger tips before now… that works REALLY well! Wears off (all over the strings / pups!) during the gig but forms a great barrier.

I made the mistake of grating off one of my fingertips on my fretting hand before a gig once. I used a load of superglue too and it worked. I probably went a bit overboard as I looked like I had one of ET's hands. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Old Horse Murphy

[Rich]

4 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

I’ve superglued my finger tips before now… that works REALLY well! Wears off (all over the strings / pups!) during the gig but forms a great barrier.

Yes! That's my go-to when my fingers aren't sufficiently work-hardened. Absolutely work a treat.

 

[Merton]

Two gigs this weekend.

Gig 1 - Lingfield Park for a school for epileptic kids. I was depping in the band and always enjoy their gigs because the singer messes around with the songs and structures so it keeps us on our toes 🤓

 

Gig 2 - tiny function room in a pub for a mate’s wife’s 60th. Completely makeshift band who’d never actually played together as a 5 piece before that evening. Drummer didn’t seem to have done a huge amount of homework (“What’s that song?”) but we had a giggle and on the whole scraped through without anything horrendous happening.

 

 

Nice to be back to a level of normality with these things. A quiet august will be followed by a pretty busy September I think so that’s nice.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Merton

[Rich]

Gigs are like buses... Nothing for a while and then 3 in 4 days, including 2 yesterday. In the afternoon it was an hour at the Cider, Rum and Reggae festival in Trowbridge. Utterly brilliant, such a happy vibe and some great ciders flowing and some amazing food -- curry goat, jackfruit & ackee and a roti, oh god just thinking about it is making me drool. Superb PA sound with a maHOOsive wall of bass, we played really well and the crowd seemed to love us, some of them were up and dancing from the B of "Buster..." and by the end they all were.

The evening was 2 hours at a private party thrown by a bandmate's friend, they also fed & watered us and everyone danced the night away. Probably helped by the copious amount of Red Stripe being consumed a brilliant day, but oh holy mother I am so broken today.

[gafbass02]

I had a lovely set at the Gloucester food festival this afternoon. Started off slow and overcast and ended up busy and sunny  The load in is a nightmare, so I just chucked my Headrush 108 in a rucksack. It was fine