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Pub punters don't notice anything. They're dimly aware that a band is playing and depending on how drunk they are, they'll either talk loudly to each other or dance about wildly, spilling beer and bumping into things. As far as bass goes, what you do is largely irrelevant. Punters don't notice what gear you're using, or even care. A few might be aware of your guitar being somehow bigger than usual, but in general they can't tell the difference between a bass and a banjo at three paces. And they certainly don't understand which register you're playing in or where that powerful low sound is coming from. They don't differentiate between instruments - to them it's all one sound and that's how it should be.

Fixed it!

It’s interesting and got me smiling. If I do a show on bass then the whole audience will be watching me and would certainly notice if I wasn’t there, as I tend to play solo shows now 😁. To be totally honest I don’t think the average person really takes any notice of anyone in a band except for the singer or the drummer. I did the most bizarre gig about 7 years ago. I was booked to play a New Year’s Eve gig at a club in Leicester. I asked if it was a reading gig or did he want me to learn a set; his reply was a bit odd “neither just turn up”. Anyway I kept in touch with him, a week or so beforehand I asked if he wanted a rehearsal, to which he said no, don’t worry, this is the easiest gig you’ll ever have to do. Come the night I arrive and introduce myself, the drummer is setting up an electric kit, I unload my gear and set up. As we’re about to soundcheck he comes up and turns my volume right down, and signals me and the drummer to follow him backstage. There he let’s us into the secret. He usually plays as a duo with his wife using prerecorded tracks, the venue didn’t want that they wanted a band, we were just there to make up the numbers, essentially miming to the tracks. Nobody at all noticed.

General public don't notice nuance. They often are unaware of what it is makes them enjoy one band and not another. All the stuff we obsess over is a matter of extreme indifference to your average punter. I ran a live music venue for years and the bands which didn't quite work were invariably those with a substandard drummer. The crowd knew they didn't like what they heard but couldn't tell you why. The bands where drummer and bassist were super tight went down a storm. Don't expect Joe P to give a hoot about your rig (unless it's enormous and has flashing lights) but get into the groove with the monkey behind the kit and he or she will like your band.

I've been gigging pubs and such like for more than 30 years now and in my opinion the average pub band audience just want to dance and sing along. That's it. You'll get the odd muso and other bassists paying more attention than Sharon and Dave as they drunkenly sing and dance along, but other than that the punters see the band as a live disco and couldn't care less about your gear, your sound or anything else that we obsess about on Basschat. They just want to hear something that they know and enjoy themselves in their own way - which usually means tripping over the monitors while emptying half a pint of beer over themselves or whichever member of the band they are trying to request a song from.

IMO audiences want the bassist (or any other member of the band) to look as though they belong in the band. That means being dressed appropriately, having the correct instrument for the band image, and presenting themselves on stage in a way that fits in with the overall band performance. Other than that unless you are horrendously out of tune or out of time they really don't care.

Well, this is all very well, but where's the rest of his kit ?

Hello again... how are you doing ? Just being nosey really. I joined BC back in 2012, but it's been a while - back end of 2017 I believe? post upgrade. Catching up on one or two favorite threads - effects and gear p*rn - and reading some new ones, which made my laugh ! and some old - really old threads, from 2008 ! Old but Gold. The age of ideological austerity caught up with me a few years' ago, so not much new Bass-related gear (and I really do mean that); just a few essentials. Anyway, I'm feeling my age (I'm 46) so don't expect me to play any games with you over the park, because it will take me at least three days' to recover...... Mines a pint of Landlord please - jeez the service in 'ere is shocking! Cheers,

In my first post someone mentioned you all like to see pics of gear...so here is my very first bass and amp (at age 51). Yamaha RBX170Y and Ampeg BA108V2...both new for a total of $220! If you didn't read my first post, here's a quick summary: I've tried the six string electric three times throughout my life with the longest stint being about two months. It just never felt right....everything felt so mechanical. I bought another six string (4th time is the charm right) last Thursday...haven't taken it out of the box. While at the grand opening of the store I was listening to about ten people playing six strings all at the same time and it was so painful to my ears. But off to the side there were two gentlemen playing the bass by feel (it seemed to me anyway) and just feeding off each other. At that moment I realized that was what was missing every time I tried the six string....it felt so mechanical....I've been wanting an instrument that was more about feel! Two days later I picked up the RBX170Y for $130 and the day after that the BA108V2 for $90!! The question I have before I move on to my second day of playing is: where is the best place to have my right thumb while I'm plucking the strings? I see some rest it on the upper edge of a pickup, others on the E string, and others allow it to move up and down along the strings depending on which string they're plucking. I want to start out doing it the "best" way so I don't learn a bad habit that will eventually have to break. So, which of those places is best for my right thumb placement? Today I watched a beginner video that showed resting it on the E string. This felt pretty natural for me (with 2 finger plucking) but I did feel like I was pushing down on the E string slightly. I did a quick try resting my thumb on the top edge of the split pick up and also on the bridge pickup...it seemed to work fine but didn't feel as natural as resting on the E string and plucking the area right between the neck and bridge pickup. One last newbie question: is it tough to tune the E string? Both of my tuner amps had a hard time picking it up. I'm try my Korg TM-60 tuner tomorrow to see if it will pick it up easier. Although I would like to know about right thumb placement, the main reason for the post is that I wanted to make sure I said thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to my first post! Your help was instrumental (bad pun intended) in making sure I got the best newbie bass and amp I could afford!!! You can't believe how excited I am to start this bass learning journey! TripleB67

Just my take on it - I think there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with streaming music replacing previous formats, but the money aspect has to change. The current model that’s in place has worked well as an alternative to torrenting, but it has completely fkd up how much financial value the world places on music. If the current system continues, music culture will completely disappear, and we will be left with a nice library of 20th century music and very little else of any genuine cultural value. Musicians, like anyone else, have to be able to make a living from what they do in order to dedicate time to creating meaningful things. Without that, it’s always going to be a part-time occupation for those who don’t want to follow the clickbait model. Currently we have nothing but clickbait garbage driving the ‘industry’ forward, and that’s not good. So for me streaming is good, but the Spotify model is shïte. And btw I have a paid subscription to Spotify because it has most of the great jazz records within easy reach, but I would never use it to find new music, soundcloud and bandcamp are better platforms for that.

You'd better believe it. That's why "taking the knee" is so important and why the Right are so keen to misrepresent it's purpose. The Centre for Civil and Human Rights Museum in Atlanta, documenting the Civil Rights struggle, will bring tears to your eyes but when you meet this attitude face to face it is truly shocking. On the same tour, in the early 70's, in our German hotels we met several ex-Nazis. One in particular still sends shivers down my spine. Civilisation is a very thin veneer. No matter what happens in your life, always, always, always be grateful you live in the UK. . . . and now back to our regular programming.

Hi All I thought I'd do a thread about an (almost) completely Tru-oil finished guitar. I've gone through lots of different finishing options that aren't nitro - waterbased, oils, wax varnishes etc, with varying degrees of success. This one though, is definitely a success, and it;s also one you can do with absolutely no equipment, other than a bottle of tru oil, some sandpaper and opposing thumbs....I know there are lots of builders who can't spray for whatever reason (neighbours, the spouse, exploding extraction etc) so I think in the right circumstances Tru oil is a good option. I should point out that much of my success with using Tru oil comes from our very own @Andyjr1515 who was kind enough to share his knowledge and techniques with me. Mine are largely based on his. I thought I'd show you all a guitar I've just finished for a friend. He wanted a Springsteen inspired tele. Not a copy, just something in that ball park. So I made this.... The pictures in all honesty don't really do it justice. It's still at the workshop at the moment, but if I have time over the weekend I'll bring it home to take some shots in natural light, that's when the oil finish really comes alive. I'll go through the process in some detail, so bear with me......

As I say each time the subject of streaming comes up I'm amazed at how many people have apparently ditched their vinyl and CD collections in favour of something that mostly requires and internet connection and could quite easily be gone tomorrow. The important thing to remember is that NONE of the streaming services actually make any money. They are either loss leaders for the parent company's profitable divisions or being propped up by fickle investor confidence (and what will happen if that confidence should evaporate?) For me they are fine for checking out music provided that it was released in the last 10 years and is broadly US/UK centric. However none of the current services will ever replace my CDs and vinyl because there is far too many artists and albums that I consider essential listening, missing.

After every gig I crowd-surf off the stage over the adoring bass-loving fans, then get cornered for half an hour to sign autographs and do selfies, then I'm invariably dragged off by a bunch of bass-loving groupies for a champagne fueled after show party - what's the problem here!

Addicted...

Some interesting insights here. My thoughts are that any bass player who is concerned about being unappreciated, misunderstood or overlooked has possibly chosen the wrong instrument 😊

Well, he just didn’t know what he was talking about. Loser

How about a BC discount code

Well, with a passing nod to the Carl Thompson headstock style, this is broadly how it's going to look: I think that looks pretty The neck - at the moment, there is a fender-style brick wall at the heel - and multiple holes from two neck plates: So what I'm going to do is a bit radical. I will cut out the front 4 holes completely (shown hatched here): Then route the existing pocket further back to expose the end two holes and a bit more too (marked in pencil on the left here): Then carve a transition in the neck heel to the full depth at the join, with an extending 30mm 'tongue' containing set screw inserts: Leastways - that's the plan! The topwood that @eude arranged for Alan at ACG to send me is lovely: When I get a moment, I'll have a play around with a paper template. As is often the case, the interesting swirly bits would actually not end up on the build because that is where the waist of the body sits. I might turn out to be more pleasing using the back: Probably gives more figuring on the bits you will actually see. Anyway, we'll see. In the meantime, let's make some sawdust!

This thread is hilarious. We seem to have quite a high opinion of ourselves! I like to think I'm a good bass player, but as far as pub gigs go (I don't do many) I'm not expecting adulation from teeming hordes of admirers! You can even be in a successful band in which other band members don't understand what a good rhythm section is, or how it works! Truth be told, they do what they do well enough, but for whatever reason, they are just not that focussed!

You're missing the point - this isn't about name bands or famous bass players - the thread is about what punters want from a bass player at a typical pub gig. My view is they don't want anything, because they're not concerned about individual players, they see the band as a unit. If they see anything at all, that is. Edit: You'd have to be pretty good at yodelling if you wanted to sing along to a Mark King bassline...

Well, I sold the original floor Helix I owned because it was simply too large, and too expensive for my needs. I wasn't going to use a lot of it. Then I considered the HX effects. But, I held back. I have a boatload of effects pedals for guitar and bass, and I'm constantly changing what fuzz I use....and I also have a Boss ES-8 so I can use the midi side. For me, this is the perfect little box for guitar and bass. I don't have hugely complex signal chains....I just like having choice as to different sounds.... So, after sending back an expensive Gibson guitar, this is a relatively cheap addition to my gear. I've pre-ordered one....it ticks all the boxes! Basically, a high end version of the Zoom B3/G3 all in one box, with extra features and constant updates.

Still buzzing from Vulfpeck live last night - and yes, Joe was playing the new EBMM to within an inch of its life! Amazing band!

Depends if they invited him or not, really. Probably quite creepy if they didn't.

Comes with some autographed bass picks too, just like Geddy doesn’t use...

Mismatched and disastrous gigs? I've done a few. We were a Chicago blues band and the brides father booked us for his daughters wedding. Apparently he thought we were great! We spent the night playing in an empty room and they all stood chatting in the car park. We played in the Ladbroke, a pub now long gone, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and brawls just like in a John Wayne western would regularly break out! We were so surprised and shocked at the first punch up we stopped playing. The landlord rushed up shouting, "Keep playing or they'll turn on you!" We played right through without stopping after that. We were playing in the Officers club on a US Air Base in Germany in 1971 and a Captain got up to sing with the band. He was great. The best voice I've heard but we were fired on the spot. The other officers wouldn't accept him singing with our white girl singer. . . because he was black!! They complained to the club management and threatened us and our gear, ffs! We were playing the Windsor Castle, Harrow Road and the singer didn't show so the 3 of us decided to carry on. We played a few instrumentals, all sang (badly) and asked if anyone in the audience could sing. A guy in a suit got up and sang a version of Little Richard's Long Tall Sally in the style of Stanley Unwin (Google him). Then a girl got up and offered to do a strip to Green Onions. Well we thought she was a she! He was actually going through gender reassignment and while he had real boobs added still had the meat and 2 veg. That was a very enlightening 10 mins and the moment when he/she whipped off her knickers has stayed with me for the last 40 years.

Anyone hear me playing my first notes about an hour ago??? 🤣 I watched a few videos and haven't played anything except what was in this video, which was basically just learning how to pluck the strings, but I'm already having a blast!!!! I see some people resting their thumb on the top of the pick up, but for me it feels most comfortable resting it on the E string (which is a beast to tune, at least with my two tuner apps - I'll try my Korg 60 tuner in a little) right in between the split pickups and the bridge pickups...hopefully this isn't starting me with a bad habit? Ain't she a beaut? Well, probably not to you all veterans...but for a beginner who ended up putting about $220 into guitar and amp, she is gorgeous!!!! TripleB67

I was playing keyboard in a pop-reggae band a few years back (well, we thought we were reggae but really we were a rock band with a passing offbeat acquaintance) and one of the doormen round town booked us to play at his nephew's christening. He wasn't offering much but he was a nice lad and we already owed him a few favours for 'well-timed assistance' around town, so we hop in the van and troll down to Brum for a play. We rock up outside this old community hall about 6PM to meet Mustafa, and after a minute he comes out dressed in this incredible full-length black and red leather robe, which makes him look like something out of Star Wars. That was Red Flag No 1. Red Flag No 2 was the polyrhythmic music playing at punishing volume inside the hall. We go inside only to find ourselves walking into the middle of a traditional Ghanian christening ceremony (or whatever the equivalent is) and that was the point where we instantly realise we are not going to go down well. We're sat down over at the back of the room with the other men and given a plate of rice that nearly takes my head off (our singer causes a minor scandal by sitting with us instead of the women, but I think we got tagged with the 'musician' exemption) and Staf introduces us to approximately 350 members of his extended family, who are all absolutely lovely and just as totally baffled as to why we're there. The ladies are all sat in circle of chairs in the middle of the room with the kid in the middle, the men are sat around the edges, and the actual ceremony is being conducted by two MCs, one man and one woman, who will quickly become MC Tall and MC Short respectively. They're taking it in turns to shout through a PA turned up so loud it's become a fuzzbox; there is a second PA playing music at a volume where my eyeballs are vibrating; I do not recognise a single tune all evening. Every few minutes MC Tall or Short will double up on the shouting tempo and the women all get up and pull huge wads of dollars out of their pocket, which they then throw at the kid. The ladies are all stunning with incredibly elaborate hairstyles and the men are wearing the same leather robes as Staf - this is clearly a big occasion and everyone is putting on their best 'look how much money we have' display, which explains the throwing of the dollars. We are under-dressed, hungover, and trying to make awkward chit-chat at the top of our voices. Eventually the ceremony is over and we set up on the community hall stage, planning to make this the shortest set of our lives. We have a quick argument about what to play, which ends with us scrapping everything from our set that isn't the reggae material. Our singer is already nervous after the men's section faux pas and we've not been able to understand a single word of the ceremony so far so we have NO IDEA what is happening. We're gamely vamping away at our best imitation of an authentic roots band but are keenly aware that our material is aimed at a spot several thousand miles and a different hemisphere away from what the crowd is expecting, and it's just dropping into the abyss of stares. The crowd is polite but clearly expecting something which is not happening. Second song in and we're contemplating dropping the rest of the set and legging it. Singer is visibly wilting under the stares of an entire flock of matriachs perched to stage right; I'm getting extremely interested in the top of the keyboard, which I have never examined so closely before. My nose is scraping the flat keys at points. Suddenly MC Short is on stage with us and grabbing the mic off the singer. What fresh hell is this??? We're expecting to be cut off unceremoniously, but instead she starts shouting at the crowd with a variation on her earlier theme. This lady is about 60 and barely four feet tall, but she can shout for God and with the backup of the PA she is reaching pitches that are melting my fillings. Every dog in a twenty mile radius is starting to howl. At her instigation, the entire front row of (stunning) women gets up as a unit to start throwing dollars at us - I'm beginning to have some very complicated feelings indeed. After she feels the crowd are sufficiently harangued we get the mic back and play another few songs which are met with respectful applause if not much actual interest, so we take the hint and finish up. We've picked up about 600 dollars in ones and have to carry them in a basket along with our gear. As soon as we finish the party is back on and everyone is off their chairs and dancing; hundreds of kids have appeared out of nowhere to do the old church hall skidding dance which apparently transcends culture! Huge baskets of homemade fried fish and curried rices have started appearing round the edges of the hall and we eat as much as we can physically carry back to the table. It's all delicious but so hot my hair starts curling and I spontaneously develop sunburn, which the kids all find hilarious. Staf is crazily happy that we played as he seems to think we are megastars rather than the chancers we are, and we're just happy to have been asked to do it so we decline our fee and take petrol money instead, reasoning that the story will likely pay for itself in beer over the years. We donate the dollars to the kiddo as a gift because we're all fairly drunk on Star Beer at this point and getting them changed seems like hassle. Some of the stunning girls from earlier are starting to give us the eye but my daddy taught me never to hit on a girl when A) you're at someone else's family occasion and B) her daddy is roughly the size of a car, in the room, and giving you the death glare, so prudence becomes the better part of valour and we make a swift exit. In reality it wasn't actually that desperate considering we were playing to an audience who had absolutely no interest in what we were doing, but it was hell of a night at the time. Don't think I've ever felt so out of place before or since. The food sure beat the hell out of my family dos though! I'd do it all again just for another crack at that buffet, even if my fragile little English stomach meant I spent three hours glued to the toilet next morning...

Back in my yoof to have a great record collection was blo*ody expensive. Music is one of the greatest treasures that humankind has. Now a VAST amount of music is available to anyone who can access wifi. How amazing is that?

I never use it, and will never use it. If I want to listen to a particular artist then I’ll buy their music, preferably from them direct or via Bandcamp.

And there we are - 10mm off the body. And it's flat! I've also cut a paper template to look at the options for the top. I'll play around with the various combinations, but this isn't bad for starters!

A good show. If you can entertain an audience, you're a good bass player - regardless of skill.

You started it!! Now look what you've made me buy....

Actually, @Woodinblack, ignore my nonsense re: split points using up a block. I think you’re right in that you’ll be able to use 6 Effects blocks regardless of splits! Check out this screenshot of the Andertons demo vid: Clearly using 6 effect blocks in addition to the split/merge points. Also, bear in mind that there is an “invisible” adjustable noise gate at the start of the chain and a global EQ at the end of the chain, neither of which take up a block.

So the first cut is the deepest, they say. Off comes the front part of the neck pocket: Nice join, @eude ! Next is to take 10mm off the top. Now as it happens, about a month ago, I finally got round to making a routing sledge to cope with pieces of wood that wouldn't fit in my thicknesser. Well - talk about fortuitous! Here's the rig: It's a heavy router and yet there appears to be very little deflection. The frame runs on two sets of bearings between a couple of dimensioned bearers: And 20 minutes later, the first 2mm is successfully off:

I think it's precisely the point - whether it can be done on bass or guitar, most punters won't notice any difference and fewer still will care. Isn't that what you were trying to ascertain in your opening post on this thread i.e. what do we bass players bring to the gig??? I think that that part could be done on guitar with barely a raised eyebrow in the house. We as bass players may not like that but I don't think it's too far from the truth. You are right, we would notice and we would feel that the song suffers as a result if the bass was to not play on most of our sets. But I doubt that many in the audience would - and that's the point I'm trying to make. They might be vaguely aware that something doesn't sound quite right but they probably won't know what's amiss, nor really care. How many times have you seen people dancing to disco's where it's all sub bass obliterating the rest of the frequencies? There used to be a DJ in these parts who had an atrocious PA, not much going on below about 2 KHz, he was known locally as Trevor Treble, but he always had a full dance floor. Sound quality is not the punters priority, having a good time is. My opinion is nothing to do with having a low opinion of myself or other bass players, or to belittle what we as bass players do. It's an opinion built up from more than 30 years, and god knows how many gigs. We care, they don't. If other people have had more positive experiences than mine, then I genuinely envy them. Don't get me wrong, I still gig regularly and love every minute of it. But to Sharon and Dave (my deepest apologies @dmccombe7 ) it's not all about the bass...

You'e just the bloke with the big guitar to a lot of punters.

I spent most of yesterday evening with @eude 's body on my lap (eat your heart out, russian hackers) - that carve is SO tactile! And I came to a conclusion, that I have since slept on - and which this morning I am still pretty sure is right: I'm not going to mess at all with the external shape. Not even the thickness (which is an impressive 40mm). Because to slim it down would make the curves change which then changes the look and feel. So it's basically rout 10mm off the top, heavily chamber inside to relieve the weight, fit new top and carve as original. But I think I may have had a flash of inspiration ref the multi-hole neck heel issue. Going to draw it out and, if it works on paper, I shall reveal all later (russian hackers, please note)

Simple answer, wherever it feels the most comfortable. There is no right or wrong. I tend to alternate depending on what bass I'm playing and even song to song.

So you got me thinking: as far as the punters at the dog n duck are concerned, IMO they're only going to notice the following about the bass player: i) is he or she at the right volume and balanced with the rest of the band? [Sound check, making sure the bass cuts through in the mids] ii) is the bass tone harsh / crap / boomy? [EQ settings right] iii) does he or she play tight with the drums, with groove & 'feel'? [Just get a Squier bass and crack on!] iv) does he or she play interesting bass lines? [IMO there are two parts to this. The first is the actual notes and style you play; the second part is where tonal variety of effects can play their part (from tremolo, octave, through dirt to filter and synth)] v) is there a lot of dead air time between numbers or does the set flow? [Actually a decent multi where each song can be set up as a patch and you can just sequentially scroll through your 30-song, 2 hour set can make a difference here. Massive difference between our main guitarist who only uses dedicated pedals ('cos they're 'better') but can easily spend a full minute between songs dancing over his pedal board, and our dep who has a full-fat Helix and just "flows". Perhaps less of an issue at the dog n duck but certainly a BIG point if you're playing a party or function where folk are up and dancing] vi) what colour bass are they playing? [White if you want to get noticed, right? 😂] They're not going to notice: what kind of bass I'm playing (other than it's NOT a Fender) whether my modulation e.g. tremolo or flange is from a MS-60B / L6H-Stomp / Eventide H9 they probably won't even notice whether I'm playing 4 or 5 strings (!) and they certainly won't notice if I kick off my compression part way through the set! But they will very likely notice that I'm using a Future Impact for Synth sounds rather than a MS-60B. And there will be some (but not many) of the trickier effects where the processing power of the better multis can make a difference, compared to their more budget brethren, even at the dog n duck: I loved the way that our dep guitarist built up a layered effect sound to emulate the horn section on his full-fat Helix, so that we're not quite sounding as crap as we might have expected to do on something like Beyoncé's Crazy in love. And despite everything you still went and got a Helix LT?

WHY AM I STILL HERE? Very rough size comparison between HX Effects and HX Stomp. His hand is obviously obscuring one of the footwitches on the Stomp but it gives a good idea of the sheer difference in overall dimensions.

Short notice jam night, house band. Drummer I'd never played with who organised it to fill for the regular house band, guitarist out of my band and a singer I'd played with before but only when he was on drums. Cracking night. Landlady.... I'll ring you tomorrow and book you for a Sunday night Drummer..... errr ok Landlady..... how long have you been a band ? Drummer..... about twenty five minutes. 😂

That's a substantially nicer combination of bass and practice amp than most of us started with, back in the day Good choice, Sir.

Got booked for a private gig - 40th birthday party - but the chap said all his biker mates from his club would be there and we could expect 200+ people to be there. Arrived at the address he gave us for the venue and were a bit confused at first as we couldn't see and pubs, halls, hotels or anything that looked like a venue for a party - just a big council housing estate. He then comes out of his garden gate and calls us into his small back garden where he's just about managed to fit an old army mess tent for us to play in. We got to play for him and his immediate family (literally him, his wife, 2 kids and his elderly parents). Turns out he didn't even own a motorcycle let alone be in a biker club - or apparently have any friends. The low point of the evening (although only one of many) was when he got into a fist fight with one of his neighbours over the noise. The high point was watching his elderly parents slow dancing romantically and not letting the fact that we were playing Paranoid at the time put them off.