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Practice for the sake of practicing? I think I stopped once I was able to string a series of chords together on the guitar without having to stop strumming - about 50 years ago. Since then I only practice if I come up with a part that that my fingers can't do reliably and repeatably, or so I can play our songs whilst also moving about on stage.

Ours is very good, my previous was a nightmare which was a key reason for me walking, way too personal about, well, himself. As I tried to point out to him many times, punters in pubs don’t want to know about his childhood or his issues….. 😡 Very fond memories of a longtime ago frontman who’d announce before each song ‘This is a song I wrote after being dumped by a girl….’ to the point that it became an audience participation game 👍

Oddly won’t let me watch it either?

I would say that second line invalidates the opinion on the first line

it won't embed for whatever reason https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEGn-48kbmo

Hi Folks, I've got an audition for another covers band coming up next month and thought it would be a good opportunity to gather and collate advice from the collective on auditioning that could become a resource. I've had a brief search and didn't find a comprehensive thread on auditioning. This particular situation is: 1. Long established (>10 years) reasonably busy (30 gigs a year), 5 piece (vox, 2 gtr, bass, drums) covers band with good rep playing a broad mix of rock/pop/indie covers to decent bar/pub/club/functions. 2. The audition looks like they are doing slots on an evening to try out a few bassists. It's a proper rehearsal studio. 3. I've been given 4 very different songs to learn. E standard, all as per the original recordings. The songs appear to me to have been chosen as they require a certain level of competence. This makes a lot of sense to me. I've never played the songs before although after spending the day yesterday doing charts and getting any tricky bits in my fingers, they should be straightforward and they're all fun to play ( or will be on the night, hopefully). I always regard auditions as a two-way street inasmuch as it's as much about the the auditionee picking the band as it is about the band picking the auditionee. What advice would we give on auditioning? My tick list for a starter would be: The Material: 1. Learn the material to the standard required for the audition. Don't skimp. If they're expecting replica/tribute bass lines, learn it inside out, if they're expecting your interpretation, learn that, know the structure, leave nothing to chance. 2. Don't be afraid of going back to clarify or check if they have endings/deviations that are specific to their band. 3. Don't showboat. Unless they've requested it. 4. If possible, send them recordings of your playing when applying. This got me a very rapid and positive initial response. 5. Find out what the expectation is for you doing backing vocals. Logistics and Gear: 1. Take your own gear to the audition as much as possible and make sure it all works before you go. 2. Turn up early. It's better to get there 30 minutes early and sit in the car browsing Basschat than it is to be stressed out about running late. 3. Don't play a bass that you aren't familiar with at an audition. Play the one you learned the material on. 4. If it's a band with "a look" or "an image", try to fit in. If it's a tribute band that wears costumes or specific gear, then obviously you're not going to go in your full demon make-up or wearing just a sock to cover your bits. 5. When you get in the room (or before preferably) establish how long you've got and what the format of the interview is. 6. Who owns the PA? Is it co-owned? How does that work? Other Stuff: 1. Understand the nature of the gigs they play. If it's a band that does quite a few "freebies" for charity, decide if that's OK with you. I've done a few over the years to keep the peace that cost me a day, 50-100 miles of fuel and on one occasion a lot of grief that was unnecessary. If you're not into "freebies" it's best to find out up front. 2. Have a look at the band's social media. What do they wear? What kind of gear do they use? Is the band all IEM? 3. If, like the one I've got, check why the previous bassist left. Try and understand the space that you could be filling. I've replaced previous incumbents that were a. Not up to the job, b. Recently deceased, c. Moved abroad, d. Set up their own band, e. Taken a 6 month cruise contract. This could give you insight. 4. Check how the band communicates. WhatsApp group, shared calendars, who does socials? How are bookings arranged? Do they use agents? I've been in a band that had a WhatsApp group for band business and they also had a WhatsApp group for the band with one member not included (me!). 5. Understand the dynamic of the band. Leader? Who calls the shots? What advice would you give me and others? What's gone wrong for you in the past and what did you learn from it? What audition-related stories have you got?

Why one earth would they want a used component back when you buy a new one? I know they're pretty sharp on protecting their copyrights, but that's going a bit far isn't it? Have a look at a cerakote finish. Apparently this will go straight onto chrome and it's tough as balls. Not sure how much it'd cost though, you'll need to find someone to send it to.

IME it very much depends on the band and how good the person doing the stage patter is. In many ways I'm with @Lozz196 in that most of time I want the talking between the songs to be kept to minimum. Announce who you are before or after the first song, if you have a new single out mention that before you play it (or album before you play the title/lead track from it). Announce who you are again at the end and thank the audience for coming. And that's all most bands need. However the singer from my current band is very good at communicating with the audience between songs we let him even though the default setting for most Goth bands is to say nothing and "let the music do the talking". I think because of this having a talkative front person sets us apart from lots of the bands that we play with and has definitely worked to our advantage. Having said that, IMO if you are going to say something on stage make sure that the audience can understand you. In The Terrortones, Mr Venom who was very good with words used to do quite a lot of talking between songs. Unfortunately most of this sounded like Elvis through a 70s British Rail Tannoy system so almost everything he said was completely incomprehensible to the vast majority of the audience. Also remember that if you are engaging in banter with audience members most of the other people in attendance will only be able to hear half the conversation which doesn't make it very interesting for them. The worst band for this I have seen were Fleet Foxes who engaged in endless banter between themselves and with members of the audience at the front much of which was off mic. I'm sure it would have worked fine for an acoustic set in an intimate venue with an audience of 50-75, but in a big 500+ capacity hall most of us had no idea what was going on. And when some of these inter-song interludes were almost as long as the songs themselves it didn't make for a very entertaining gig.

I’m reserving judgement until someone’s actually played one 👍

I think the 4001/4003 are the best basses ever made; best looking, best playing, best sound. But this short scale is an eyesore. I prefer my Kay (still needs a pickguard) short scale!

Suffice to say, my friend, that I inherited the ‘spokesman’ mantle from a frontman, now departed the band, who was hopeless at communicating. Awkward silences between numbers don’t do anything for me, so I blundered in. I have now been informed by one band member that I should let the music do the talking, and that ‘bigging up’ band members is ‘cringy’. My immediate reaction is to ask the others with mics to take a share of creating the stage act. I am what I am, but if you get a third of me rather than the full Monty then maybe it will be more acceptable.

The "standard" wasn't a standard when Rickenbacker made the 4001 series in the 1950's and they've had no reason to change. I think the 1960's long-scale Gibson EB0 was 34.5" (as was the Ampeg bass). The answer to people complaining that Rics aren't Fenders is to just say stop moaning and go and buy a Fender or one of the multifarious Fender-a-likes on the market. Next people are going to complain that Rics have a 2+2 tuner layout instead of the "standard" 4 in a line.

Nine Inch Bails - renowned maker of novelty oversized cricket equipment.

Are you at the Hope & Anchor tonight, Friday? It's my favorite pub gig in the whole of Cumbria. It's tiny, and I mean small, you couldn't swing a cat in there, but they're lovely. Give Joanne the landlady a squeeze from me.

You have some great kit there. You can get a really great bass sound out of that PA. The best bass sound I've ever has is though my own PA, either through RCF310's or through RCF 745's depending on whether I'm with the band or with the duo. First of all I'd ask whether its the sound you are hearing or the sound the audience hears which you don't like? One of the downsides of a good PA and especially with subs is that all the bass from the PA comes back at you and at stage volumes. I do 'technical set ups' at some rehearsals where I turn the floor monitors off and turn the FOH speakers round so I hear what the audience hears. Half an hour of playing along with the sound the audience hears gives me confidence that what they hear is good irrespective of what I hear on stage. You may have great sound though the PA but just not hearing how great it is. So the subs are louder than your bass amp and your monitors, if you use them. There is nothing (well maybe cardioid subs) that you can do to cut that bass other than in-ears so you are living with bass boost below 120Hz or so. Bill's suggestion of a 50Hz or 80Hz 24db/octave filter is a great one. I use 50Hz and then shelve the bass response of the floor monitors or my bass amp on the rare occasions I use back line. Bass is cut by at least 6db and sometimes more depending apon the room acoustics and how loud the PA is. I still sometimes feel I'm drowning in warm bass but of course I know the audience are hearing something good. There's a couple of other things you probably know already. You need to leave deep bass for the drums and generally sonically inhabit the space between the drums and guitars, basically the second harmonic 80-160 Hz is more important than 40-80Hz. Secondly any cab on the floor has a 6db boost in the lowest frequencies from the floor and more if it against a wall. That affects the PA as the speakers are flown and your bass amp or floor monitors. Good luck

tonight im seeing the beast uk (maiden tribute band) at the catford broadway theatre. really looking forward to it

Another first rate transaction with a first rate Basschatter! 🙏