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The one who helps pack the gear up is the one you want.

Expect the unexpected, and try and remain professional and courteous at all times, even if what you're witnessing is bordering on the painful...! A wee story from a previous band I was in from 4 or 5 years ago when we advertised for a singer and got some very, very bizarre auditionees...the most memorable being one woman in particular who, via email communication, appeared exactly what we were looking for, but turned out to be as mad as a box of frogs...! We agreed a date to get her in the studio so sent her a few song titles to get started...the alarm bells should have sounded when she specifically asked if we could do Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"...on her turning up, there was an immediate and obvious influence there...the flouncy black clothes for one and the overall general hippy exterior she exhibited...which certainly isn't a negative one if you can actually pull it off... The audition started...and so did Stevie...the singing was, well, incredibly "pitchy" I think the "talent" shows today kindly put it...it was actually God awful...but it was the stage histrionics which really done it for us...the down on her knees...the praying hands...the flouncing of her cape (!)...and I'm ashamed to admit, that me and the guitarist standing opposite each other locked eyes and basically lost it...we were uncontrollable...it was just all too much and too surreal, someone who so obviously couldn't sing, but had so obviously put so much into her acting out of the role of Stevie Nicks... Admittedly, this was all very unprofessional behaviour on our part, but we literally couldn't continue, we just got so out of control... So, moral of the story, don't do as we did...remain cool, calm and collected at all times...even if the audition is an immediate and obvious no-go from the off.

I'd invite them both back for another run through of the songs but let them know that they have been "whittled" done to, the last 2 singers. They don't have to know that there weren't other applicants and maybe, knowing that they are "THE" two choices, it may give them added incentive to pick up their games either 1) vocally and 2) communication and enthusiasm wise. I think nerves may also have a part to play, too. It manifests itself in funny ways sometimes. Meeting new people especially in a group situation can be quite unnerving, as we are all aware. Maybe a 2nd audition will improve their confidence. Good luck either way ⭐

Audition them again, maybe with more time the first guy will sound miles better and it will also give a chance to the second guy to show if he's going to communicate and not be a total PITA. We auditioned new singers a few years ago, first audition was very close between two of the girls so so we asked them both back and the second time it was an easy choice. Also don't deal with all the communication this time, leave it to one of the other members who were enamoured with the PITA guy. You might find they change their mind when they're the ones trying to organise someone who is so blasé with other people's time and schedules. Recruiting a band member who CBA to reply to messages is setting yourself up for a headache.

I think we're both experiencing what is known as " Pre- Death".😁 Blue

At a local-ish festival last summer. I haven't changed much!

Having auditioned various band members over the years, singers have been the most...polarising, I'd say. The bad ones can be really, really, clenchy; the good news is you'll know pretty much straight away*. A relaxed atmosphere is always the best, just another rehearsal kinda vibe. If you're looking for a frontman, though, I'd be looking to see that from the word go: if the prospective singer can't do it in front of you, he's (or she's) gonna struggle in front of a room full of strangers at a gig. Conversely, if it's range and quality of voice you're after, then a little shoegazing can be overlooked. * A pal of mine still drags out an audition tape from years ago for laughs, whereon a chap had turned up with a strong Irish accent, a rather high-pitched register bordering on Squeaky, and a constant sliding vibrato like someone playing a musical saw...his rendition of 'Triller' by Michael Jackson has quite literally to be heard to be believed.

I flipping love this hobby. even if I do end up drinking too much free booze!

Awesome night

Yesterday picked up an absolute bargain of a bass and my first spector 😎 this beauty rebop! Some fresh slinkies, a new battery and a quick clean, she sounds awesome!

I bought this one at a car boot sale a year or two ago; I'm trying to strip off the paint ad get it back to original... (The touch where the kid who owned it wrote "Fender" in gold Sharpie is especially inspirational...)

Holy 5 year old thread resurrection Batman!

I've auditioned loads of singers over the years, and here is what I know to be true: They won't have learned most of the songs you've sent them, no matter how long they've had to learn them. Some will only have learned one song. And they will sing over the guitar solo A good amount of them will simply not be able to sing A good amount of them will never have sung with a band before and regardless of the quality of their voice they will not be able to cope and make themselves heard. X factor et al have a lot to answer for Assuming you can get past that and find people who can sing in tune, the best attitude I've found is to remember that they are auditioning you as much as you are auditioning them. Let them know exactly what it is you're looking for - do they need to bring a lot of showmanship or are you just happy to get a great singer? And don't be d#cks One tip I would add is to try and tape the audition - doesn't need to be very professional, even just setting a phone down and recording from that might do. That way you can concentrate on playing when they audition, not on trying to listen to them. I've certainly had people try out who seemed much better or worse in the studio than they were when we listened back to the tape

The very fact you've posted this question shows what a thoughtful and considerate bunch of guys you must be. You obviously deserve a decent singer, and I hope you're not disappointed. You'll usually have some idea if someone's going to be the right fit within a few minutes of their arrival - before they've even started singing.

They were already a band and were booked to do a US tour with Mick Fleetwood. FM had broken up and contracts had been signed so they were going to be Fleetwood Mac! The band had flown to NY and were waiting for Mick to turn up for rehearsals, when he backed out. The management still put them out on tour with another drummer. It didn't go well with the audiences!! I occasionally play with Stretch's drummer at the time. The guy who was left at home, then sensibly refused to do the tour when MF left them in the lurch. Back to banned songs. . . . . . .

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Edit: looks like this discussion is gearing towards 'all Ken Smith', so I modified the title accordingly! Good morning! I'm late with this, as I bought the bass now few weeks ago already - however! It would be a crime not to share it with you all I have a strict rule of 1 in, 1 out, and I generally only own 2 basses at a time (if not just one sometimes), AND I only have GAS attacks once every 6 to 8 years, so when that time comes, I GAS hard I present to you my latest purchase, this time justified as a birthday present to myself: a beautiful 2004 Ken Smith Black Tiger BSR6TN! Specs: Neck: 5-piece Laminated Aged Hardrock Maple & Bubinga with Graphite-Inlaid Bars Fingerboard: Macassar Ebony with MOP Top & Side Dots & matching Macassar Ebony Headstock Overlay Body Wings: 3-piece, Bookmatched Rare Figured Black Walnut Top, Walnut Back & Tiger Maple Core Hardware: Gold with Dunlop "Flush Mount" Straploks Pickups: Smith Custom Bass Humbucking Pickups Electronics: Smith B.M.T. 3-band 18-volt EQ Circuit with adjustable DIP Frequency switches for Bass, Mid & Treble with Pickup Blend and Master Volume Control (push/pull Active/Passive) + Series/Parallel Switches String spacing: 18mm Scale: 34 Finish: Classic Hand Rubbed Dutch Varnish over Stradivari Gold Oil Pretty much the most comfortable and fastest neck I've put my hands on, and it has an awesome character. Will enjoy spending the next few hundreds of hours getting to know her better! Happy times!

Just seen another topic re how to audition a singer. Well here is the "after the audition" topic.

Beast of an entry to 5 string! You’re right the biggest hurdle is muting, esp at volume / speed. Takes a lot of perseverance to attain the same fluency you’ve currently got on 4. For exercises, I found working through the modes across 5 strings was a huge help, getting muscle memory going with 5 fret / 2 octave runs. Looks elementary but some sound advice here ..

Joe Bonamassa?

And home back to normality Roll on the next bout of escapism whenever that might be.

I rather foolishly thought that acoustic bass guitar had a future as a solo instrument in the world of folk music. I gave up! However, at the weekend, following a recommendation from a friend who saw thus guy at Wimborne folk festival, I might need a rethink. Stunning song this, with superb vocals. But it’s the bass I’m mesmerised by- simple but highly effective in my view

Thanks for all the helpful replies. Getting the 2 of them back down is a fine idea.

Try not to laugh out loud. I speak from experience. Which is ironic as most of my own auditions for bands have been pretty dreadful.

My band experiences have been largely the same - mates, or mates of mates, getting together to form a band. I've never auditioned, I've always either put the band together or have been asked to join by people who have played with me in a previous band The one downside is that you can sometimes get stuck with a band member who really isn't pulling their weight but nobody wants to sack them because they're a mate

my current band we met in Costa coffee at motorway services for a chat first. We hadn't met as a band before. We had an informal chat and we all just clicked. Enjoyed same kinds of music and had the same ideas on what we wanted from the band and what direction we wanted to go. We discussed some of the songs we thought would work for us even down to discussing how many gigs a month we wanted to do. Altho we had never met as a band we were all aware of each other in other bands so it came from word of mouth. I found that a good experience and made the first rehearsal a bit more relaxed

I've popped out the samples again, upped the gain a bit on the quieter ones and got rid of that dastardly hiss. For those who might have missed it, here they are again >> Eude

First rule of interviewing, eliminate candidates who aren't appointable. So rather than compare A with B, ask the question of each 'is s/he good enough to join the band?' This will then leave you with two, one or no candidates, so you can move on to the next stage of the process.

are you willing / able to change key to get the best out of their range?

Apart from the obvious musical things its worth having a chat about the band away from playing songs .Stuff what maybe became and issue with the old singer .Gig amount,song input,whats expected of them work wise .etc Ive done bass auditions where they liked me but had no real plan going forward,then other very formal ones with stage presence,backing vocals,type of gear etc discussed

#blatantselfplug And they won't play this on the radio either: Help help i'm being censored!!

Closed Wave Gotik Treffen 2019 at Haus Leipzig. By the end I think we had the crowd on side.....here they are after the first encore. 49F34054-3A8A-4323-9827-42CB9D52CCC4.MP4

Don't use rechargeable ones. They lose their charge much quicker than standard Alkaline or Lithium ones. The pre-amp takes very little current anyway so as long as you buy decent batteries, they will last ages.

I think Darren nailed it, Squanchy* would definitely make a better president and be ironically less of a cartoon character. *See “Rick and Morty” for details.

Had a gig at the No.1 in Cleethorpes on Saturday night, great crowd & great night. My band play a mix of covers with some original material thrown in, it's nice to see the crown dancing to the originals. Was playing the Squier VM that I bought of Pentode on here for the whole gig, what a great bass that is, I need to find out what make/gauge strings are on it, I think I'm a convert to flatwounds on a fretted bass. It was also the first outing at a gig for the Line 6 wireless set up, so I had to play in the crowd for a couple of songs (see the picture!!!)

Because his head would fall off. Oh, you mean on the bass...

Almost anything I've sold or traded is bound to increase in value

This thing of beauty entered my life on Friday afternoon. I've never owned a 5-string before and had thought to buy either something sensible, like a decent Stingray, or a bargain, like another Warwick Dolphin (half the price, most of the quality) ... but in the end I knew my eventual aim was to trade up to a Wal and with the cash sitting in an ISA earning almost zero interest, this MIGHT even be a sort of investment (I told my missus). Following dismantling and reassembly of the stiff tuners, tweaking of the truss rod and bridge heights, adjusting of the internal pots, new NYXL strings and replacement of the battery (dated 2001) ... it's sounding pretty good and unlike any other 5-strings I've tried, the B string is "just another string", there is no "flobbiness" or change in tone as you play below the E-string (the exception being a Sandberg VM - but that was a 35"). Admitted, there are sounds I can make on the dolphin that this can't do, and even my project Jazz bass has a few advantages (clear harmonics from single coil pickups) and whilst a fretless Wal (I have a 4-string) is probably the best fretless bass in the world ... a fretted one is perhaps a bit more ordinary, but once I find the right settings I'm sure it will be very great indeed.. Now I need to learn how to play it!! Having played 4-stringed instruments for the last 48 years, a 5th string provokes some unexpected difficulties. Not the string spacing, which is quite wide for a 5er, and not the new notes (I've worked those out and often play my double bass tuned "scordatura" to C, G, D, G etc anyway) .. the thing is, I'd never considered the difficulty of plucking the same string as I am fretting - having learned it on 4-strings from age 8 it became natural ... UNTIL suddenly the A-string is smack in the MIDDLE of the fingerboard instead of being a "low" string - sometimes find myself fretting string 2 (now an E) whilst plucking string 3 (now an A) or fretting mid way between E/A or A/G. String damping is a thing too - those extra strings can ring on, so having only used left hand damping for years, I probably need to master "the floating thumb" .. yes? The other issue is new positions for the same notes - part of my reason for a 5-string was to be able to play more sequences of notes without position changes; and as pointed out to me whilst trying out 5-stringers - there is a lot to be said for NOT sitting in 1st position when you can get all the way from E-flat to D in one position by basing your left hand with finger 2 on the B-string E = more notes less stretch. Anyway - what advice do you 5-string players have? Any exercises or studies to try (right now I'm hacking away at Bach flute and cello suites for some dots to follow that go down to C and D). All advice welcomed. Cheers.

Just keep playing and you'll get used to it quickly enough. It's all about muscle memory. That shouldn't be a chore in this case. That thing is a beast. Congratulations.

Lucky I'm a control freak then. So far it's invite only, if someone comes up from the floor it's one or two songs and if they are no good that's the last time. I read all the horror stories at the beginning of this thread. We've got a number of proper open mic's near us where anything goes. There are some great people but also those who can only play one song and who started playing two months ago. I don't mind going to those and the mix means you always get a couple of people who are worth listening to but I don't want any of them here. That's why I've stuck to a band format, at least I know most of the people on stage will know what they are doing.

Make it as relaxed as possible, give them the music well in advance (or even let them choose a song).... You want to be able to bring the best out in them rather than piling on unnecessary stress.

Hiya Bassfingerererer EDIT: The profanity filter won't let you write things like pink torpedo, stinky poo, flip, fosters, Richard etc

One of my bands was playing at the Home Farm Festival on Saturday and I went back on the Sunday to see the Truthseekers (Norm's band) and Reef. Truthseekers were ace, lovely songs and playing from all including Norm and I hung around to see Reef who were headlining. Imagine my surprise when Jack Bessant stepped on stage and attached this to the longest strap I've ever seen. I've not seen a 72 Telecaster played live since Kenny Gradney with Little Feat back in the 70's. (Historical note, I have a 72 Tele too).

Fair enough. When I originally read your comment it came across as spiteful and pointless. The guy makes no pretence in the video to be a rock god and thank goodness he’s not trying to play yet another slap bass solo like Flea or sub-Jaco noodle. Seems the channel is for a guitar shop. This fella seems to have been given the task of showing off a metal bass and is doing a passable job. Just seems the forum is getting more and more clogged up with finger pointing and negativity. Perhaps I’ve just for a thin skin these days, but he’s playing bass so well done to him!