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Do you have a Theremin by chance?

Allow plenty of time to set up so you can chill for a bit before you start, or help out a bandmate who's having issues. Nothing worse than rushing to set up and then having to launch straight into your set without being happy. Nerves are good but don't let them get the better of you, it's supposed to be fun. If you find it particularly difficult then take on the role of a character, then it's your character up there doing it, not you. Play the rock star (to a degree), look confident, have a bit of swagger. Move more than you think you should, movement needs to be exaggerated to be noticed on stage, (a video of you will prove this). If you mess up, keep going. People really don't notice as long as things keep flowing. Try to relax and make a conscious effort to keep to rehearsed tempos. Once the adrenaline kicks in your 45-50 minutes of material will end up as 30-35 minutes. Keep any messing about between songs to a minimum. If the singer is good working a crowd then fair play but band members looking at each other, constantly asking "are you ready?" looks bad. Agree that you will launch into the next song unless someone says they have a problem. Above all, enjoy it. Energy flows both ways. If you (the band) look like you're having fun then so will the audience. If the audience look like they're having fun then that will feed your confidence and make you perform better. The energy continues its circular flow.

Good that you put this, often over looked. My poor memory needs jogging, so I have it 'reverse alphabetically' Mixer > amp Amp > mixer

Have a checklist pinned to the door of your gear cupboard. Use it!

This is the truth 👍

Maybe lock this thread as the other has superceded it?

Ye gods the boost available on the preamp is mad!

Yes of course, now you mention it I’m sure I’ve read this somewhere - quite possibly on “that site across the water”.

The Magic Roundabout - Alain Legrand

Before you leave home check all of your gear to make sure it works. Pack all of your gear up so you know exactly where everything is - a bag with separate compartments is a good purchase for this. However long the journey time is to the venue allow half again (it’s no problem being early and having a coffee whilst waiting for setup time). Make sure that whoever does the set lists takes into account the person in the band with the worst eyesight - they need to be seen when in the floor in semi darkness. And probably no need to mention this, be nice, to staff/sound-person/audience.

I've owned 5 Japanese Fenders and all of them have been excellent. (including a Japanese Squier from 1992). They have a reputation as having excellent quality control. Whichever one you choose I'm pretty sure it will be excellent. I never needed to change the pickups, as the ones installed were pretty good.

I love that this thread is 3 years old and the vote is basically 50/50, which as it happens I think is the correct answer . I switched to a 5 string headless Ibanez EH1505 which has multiscale neck bought about a year ago, really like the bass. I think one tries to weigh up the pro and cons of any innovation to conclude whether they are a net improvement. My conclusion / opinion : Headless is the way to go, better balance, lighter bass, same playable string length with shorter neck, good tuning, no obvious downside I have found yet Multiscale is of marginal benefit (if any) and for me has downsides, I'll probably prioritise other things in future purchases. I do like the way it looks though. For me, its a wash - I am 50/50 on it To elaborate - the downside of multiscale for me is subtle : the fan frets mean I feel like I am having to stretch / adjust my hand more at the extremities of the fret board particularly at the low end of the neck where I am already least comfortable and perhaps making it a bit more difficult to accurately position fingers at the fret. If you have huge hands, I guess this might not be an issue ! Worth bearing in mind I am an intermediate level player only, not super experienced. As other mentioned I would like to try the new Sire M6 as in my experience the necks on Sires are nice... my Ibanez will be hard to beat mind you

Two gigs for Hurtsfall this week. First on Thursday at Rough Trade in Nottingham Supporting the brilliant Miranda Sex Garden. Lovely air-conditioned venue which was a relief from the heat and also meant I could wear my normal stage gear rather than something that wasn't going to make me pass out due to heat stroke. Played to an audience who were largely unfamiliar with our music but it looks like we won them over, and consequently sold loads of CDs afterwards. As always here's some photos from the gig: Then on Saturday we were near Ellesmere on the Welsh border for Goths On A Field. The bands play inside a barn which could have meant it was like an oven, but luckily it turned out to be marginally cooler in barn than outside in the field. My sister (who last saw me play live in 1985) and her husband who live nearby came along and seemed to enjoy it almost as much as our usual Goth audience. Plenty of people up and dancing from the first song, and the new song we were playing for the very first time got a great response. Despite the fact that most of the audience must have seen us play before we still sold a decent amount of merch and we had a number of people saying that we were their favourite band of the weekend which given who else was playing was high praise indeed! No photos as yet, but I'm sure there will be some posted when everyone is back home later today or tomorrow. For both gigs I was using my Eastwood Hooky 6-strong bass going direct into the PA via a Line6 Helix. Footwear was a pair of black and silver Converse-style boots bought years ago from TK Maxx Next gig is back at Rough Trade on 26th July as part of the Nottingham Pride festival.

Tonex.

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