mrtcat

I feel your pain. Drummers make a band in my eyes. Ours is a great drummer but a total plonker. He endlessly harps on about doubling our fee as he thinks £250 for 2 hrs in a pub is us being ripped off even if we only bring 5 people in. I'd like a happy medium between yours and mine.

We're struggling to get venues to commit..............maybe cos our drummer now says we don't play anywhere for less than £250

Amps and cabs live in the van which lives in the garage and only comes out on gig nights (1-2 times weekly). Basses come in the house for the benefit of stable temperature and humidity. Practice is done with headphones. When I was a student amps would have been a feature but I kind of grew out of needing to show them off when I left uni. Amps are now a tool and if I weren't gigging I'd store them. Never understood people who use massive amps at home. Totally understand tho that I'm lucky to have somewhere secure to keep them when I'm not using them.

Companies are not obliged to allow people the time off but I find it sad that so many have policies and clauses to prevent people having a hobby / second income. I would hope that common sense was enough. If an employee does something in their spare time that, on occasion, requires a few hours off (in the OP's case this is something relevant to the day job too) then it's a really good management tool. By being flexible you can expect the same in return from the employee. If an employee doesn't play the game and only takes all the time then of course all flexibility with that person stops. As long as it's not constant issue and it doesn't impact on the overall running of business then as a staff respect / morale booster I would call it essential. Our singer has just received a memo form his company to say they are now formalising their "On Call" system and he now will be on call 1 weekend in four. This means he has to be at home and sober all weekend in case they need him to attend a customer. Remarkably they say he will only get overtime for any actual call outs he attends. I told him to explore the legalities of this as it seems dodgy to me.

I can't offer advice as a pro musician as I'm a mile away from that standard. I can however offer advice as someone who employs people. I don't quite understand why so many people believe that if you have a music degree and then can't make it as a pro you're gonna end up flipping burgers. I employ 27 people in my business. I do my own recruitment and much as I use CV's as to help in the selection process they are by no means the sole tool for deciding whether someone would make a good employee. Some of my guys earn up to £40K and many of them have just a light sprinkling of GCSE's. To blame the wrong degree for failure to get a job is ludicrous. I would look much deeper into an application if the covering letter intrigues me. In the case of the OP i would instantly see that he has worked hard to pursue something he really believes in. Judging by his grade 8 already I'd wager he's going to work hard to get his degree. The guys I employ who have virtually no qualifications have other things going for them that convinced me they would work well. These things can be seen by a potential employer as long as you present them well. The problem comes when you encounter someone who spent 6 yrs to complete a 3 yr course. I believe that unless you wish to be a specialist (doctor, architect, structural engineer etc) then do a degree that you will enjoy and have the best chance at completing with a solid grade. Even if you can't ultimately make it in your chosen field you'll have already demonstrated a great range of transferable skills. My advice would be to not go to uni purely to live a life of student excess. Blowing thousands on beer will not only add to your debt (which I believe to be manageable due to the student loan scheme) but also distract you from being the best you can be. Finally, to answer the OP's initial question - No I don't believe the real musicians era is going to end. People have been fascinated and inspired by watching first class musicians play live for 1000's of years and I can't see that changing soon. It's kind of like valve amps. We all know they're heavy, can be costly to repair and there are more practical alternatives out there but we all know they rock. In the same way we know computerised music is cheaper / easier to produce but we'd much rather see someone play it live.

Our drummer is a PITA his classic lines are: "We were brilliant tonight so we need to double our fee when they rebook us" "I'm not doing an encore unless the pub pay extra for it" "if we're playing more than three gigs a month next year then I'm gonna want march and October off"

I met him at the O2 in Oxford a few years back. His Loaded band were supporting Black Stone Cherry. He was just the most genuine "somebody" I've ever met and he was really happy to chat. He spent a good 15mins with me and my drummer just chatting about random music stuff. I was a massive gnr fan when I was a teenager and he will always be one of my favourite bass players. More so now cos I can respect him as a nice guy.

[quote name='leroydiamond' timestamp='1323810670' post='1467468'] Yea 180 euro is a significant outlay for sure. However would you give 180 euro for a a top class bass amp or your dream bass guitar? without a doubt you would. Now ask yourself this question. If you suffered significant hearing loss and/or tinnitus would you pay 180 euro to make a full recovery?. Well hears the deal, once your hearing is damaged its damaged forever. No amount of money will undo the damage. i would give every last penny i have to rid myself of hearing loss and tinnitus that has been self induced as a result of playing bass without the proper hearing protection. i used standard plugs thinking i was protecting my hearing. I was fooling myself. Now i use ACS moulded plugs and these have allowed me to retain the hearing I have left and continue to gig. Proper moulded plugs are the best equipment any musician can buy and should be an essential tool for all musicians exposed to loud music. The thing is you really need to get them before you damage your hearing. [/quote] This +1000 I wouldn't buy an amp until I had some moulded plugs. I love my music and intend it to be part of my life til i'm too old to pick up a bass. Having a proper set of plugs that gives a very even reduction across all frequencies means you can wear them at concerts and other bands gigs too without compromising the quality of the sound so you'll wear them there too. Don't mean to preach but using off the shelf plugs is like riding a motorbike with a bicycle helmet. Yeah it'll give a little protection but if your life depended on it you'd be a worried man.

Following REDLAWMAN's post about progressing, I'm really keen to find myself a good bass teacher for 2012. Anyone know of anyone in my area? I'm based in Bicester nr Oxford.

McFly are my guilty pleasure. I love the fact that they actually play well live and seem to really enjoy themselves. Pls keep this revelation secret for me tho as my mates would tear me to shreds.

Played a wedding nr High Wycombe last night. Both bride and groom are hardened bikers so wanted a rock covers act - we don't get booked for too many weddings as we're defo more rock than pop. The bride was like Nessa from Gavin and Stacey in a black leather dress and knee high boots and was 7 months pregnant. Thankfully everyone showed a great sense of humour when we opened with Billy Idol's "White Wedding". In talks with a promoter who was there who wants us to do a run of biker events next summer which is a good result.

I've had multiple warwicks including a really nice stage 1 streamer. The finish is incredible but a £300 rockbass that I had at the same time sounded pretty much identical so I think they need to find a better reason for the silly price tags they now put on their high end gear. I also have also struggled to find a nice warm sound from a warwick that can hold up against a fender or anything that sits as well as a stingray in the mix.

Bit late I know but we just got booked for NYE at a very busy pub / club in a market town for £500 for a 4 piece covers band. We had to turn down umpteen offers of £200 which we saw as a p### take as we usually go for £300 and have been getting really good reviews. We've seen other bands around us getting their prices squeezed lower and lower recently as the financial climate gets worse.

It would gall me a little for a keys player to tell me what to do but if the pick sounds better just be magnanimous. That way when there's somwthing about the keys/structure/drums/vox/etc you don't like you have every right to offer an opinion and have it taken seriously. If they ignore you then at least you know how it works and can work out your options from there. Give n take and all that....

[quote name='algmusic' timestamp='1321620971' post='1441273'] Would love to convince the mrs to do this [/quote] My wife's a legend so we have basses and snowboards on the walls and she let me redesign our garden so it'd be easy for me to wash down and dry my kitesurfing kit. All she asks is that I don't leave crap lying around where she can trip over it. She's defo a keeper.

Yeah I was referring to bars mainly as everything happens in sets and I used to find it was easy to lose track of where I was if not careful and everyone changed around me. You'll really enjoy it tho. I would defo do it again.

If anyone is building one don't use MDF or chipboard cos it's really brittle and if you're sandwich-ing it between a heavy cab and a soft foam it's only a matter of time before it breaks. Do what Flat Eric did and use ply (any 12mm will do) cos it's miles stronger and generally cheaper (avoid Homebase/Wickes/B&Q - Jewson is half the price and they have a selection). The gramma pads really work but it's not rocket science so a home made version will work well. Try to fill the void where the triangular stuff is on a gramma pad tho cos that gap can cause problems. I believe they only used triangles as its cheaper (less foam) than a solid peice all the way across the board.

I was in a Ceilidh band once doing weddings and corporate stuff. My only advice is never stop counting and know your tunes inside out cos you'll need to be able to adjust quickly when the punters are dancing and miss their cues - which is understandable really as most are more than a little tipsy by the time you play lol.