OldGit

[quote name='sdgrsr400' post='541110' date='Jul 15 2009, 11:11 AM']Footwear is very important and should not be overlooked. Sandals and toenails anyone? [/quote] If in doubt:

[quote name='jmstone' post='541098' date='Jul 15 2009, 10:59 AM']Good points. Thanks The looking at the crowd part is going to be a toughie! Any advice on how to do that? Looking at individual people? Smiling at everyone?? Do you have suggestions on bands I could watch to try to emulate?[/quote] You are welcome. We have covered that many times on the forum so a quick search may help. Search in the advanced search for "exit signs" That's because one of the top tips is to look just above the heads of the crowd if you are too shy to look directly in the eyes or faces of the people. The exit signs on the back wall are a good one as long as they are not high up as then you look like you are off with the faeries.. Looking at the people who have bothered to come and see you is a great way to be more than a backing band for a front person. You have a great confident, good looking front person so you need to make more of your presence, get up the front a bit more and maybe add some backing vocals. Another few tips. Practice your stuff in the dark with the lights off (at home!) until you can play it without looking. W Watch telly (muted ) whilst you run through your set. Do one number per night and run through it 20 times without looking. You'll soon get how to play without looking. If you are worried about making a mistake, don't. No one will notice unless it's a howler in which case smile and shrug and make a note to practice that tune a bit more. Train your band to not look round and give you the death stare if you play a C over an A rather than an A .. (used to happen to me - the guitarist had never heard of a bass player that didn't always play roots and fifths.. He didn't last) Make sure you know where the bits are in the set where you [i]really [/i]have to look at your frets and the bits where you don't. Where you don't have to (say just grooving on a note) then look up. Make looking down the exception rather than the rule. Another idea, especially if you have a new guitarist who maybe hasn't settled in yet, would be to swap sides so you are stage right of the drums. Then you can look along the neck of your bass and still keep the rest of the band in sight for visual cues, plus a slight change of sight line takes you to most of the audience whilst still having your fretboard in line of sight should you need it. The down side is that your drummer looks towards his hi hat but you can probably train him to look up for cues too

[quote name='jmstone' post='541087' date='Jul 15 2009, 10:52 AM']Oh I'm so in the dark here.. perhaps I need to speak to am image consultant! [/quote] No ... you need to listen to one (or the ones are giving you the answer on here) Ok Here we go: standard image consultant's questions: What constitutes success for your band? More gigs and bigger audiences? Nicer venues? Playing support for big names? Selling 20 Cd's at your gigs? Your mates telling you it was great? Sober total strangers telling you your showwas great and they want to join your mailing list, Myspace, twitter and come to every gig and bring all their mates? Total strangers asking you to play their party/company christmas do/stage at Womad? All of the above? What do the bands you look up to look like on stage or in their publicity shots and videos? Once we know that us image consultants can suggest a few ideas you can take back to your band.

[quote name='jmstone' post='541063' date='Jul 15 2009, 10:30 AM']Haha.. yes! Good spot! That was attempt number 1 at band image.. Not sure the singer liked the fact I didn't bother to bring cufflinks for the shirt! but I think it was quite funny! See [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9g99Lej6SE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9g99Lej6SE[/url] and [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkwG70xj7QY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkwG70xj7QY[/url] Attempt number 2 was a DJ - see [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrzMYCTnFa0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrzMYCTnFa0[/url] Attempt number 3 was jeans and a t-shirt (i.e. what I normally wear). Guess which one I felt most comfortable with, but was least popular? I'm not averse to making an effort to go on stage, although I find that kind of thing intensely annoying in my everyday life (some deep character flaw clearly), but I'm at a bit of a loss for what to go for... Any ideas would be gratefully received! James[/quote] Call an "Image" meeting. Totally switch from this negative attitude to a positive one and go with whatever she comes up with. This is such a small thing in the overall scheme of things that it really isn't worth getting in a huff about it and spoiling your enjoyment and the band's enjoyment. Oh if we are talking image, you and the male guitarist need to start looking at the crowd or the exit signs and stop watching your frets. That will vastly improve your audience's enjoyment of the gig. If you look like you are having fun they will too.

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='541044' date='Jul 15 2009, 10:15 AM']I find this thread quite funny, there is no way on earth that my band would arrange beforehand what we are wearing, people will get home from work, or get up in the morning, put on clothes, then show up to a gig later and play in said clothes.[/quote] Fine, but you have a band agreement to do it like that. Don't fix it if it ain't broke...

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='541002' date='Jul 15 2009, 09:30 AM']Sounds like a Martin Bell thing going on.[/quote] Yippie! Another chance to post this: Rowland Rivron as half of the musical duo "Raw Sex" in his ill fitting linen suit complete with open, pink & frilly shirt and open fly ...

[quote name='bumnote' post='540841' date='Jul 14 2009, 11:18 PM']What a ridiculous business this has become. My best friend moved to a place near Doncaster in the 80s. We used to go and look around the music ground shop and think how ridiculous the prices were then. Oh if only we had spend more on guitars and less on beer. A point I remind my wife when I bring another bass into the house.[/quote] ha ha yeah if only we'd all bought an extra set of Pbass scratchplate screws and pots in the 60's

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='540881' date='Jul 15 2009, 12:27 AM']Just played my first gig with my SVT sounded epic. Was warm after is that right? not really hot but warm including the jack lead.[/quote] OK,OK, OK, but how was the SX with the actives??

[quote name='sshorepunk' post='539080' date='Jul 13 2009, 07:46 AM']but it wasn't until I started palying on stage I realised the side markers were bairly visible compared to my previous fretless, dropped on a wrong un at some point but managed to slide back in [/quote] These are good. [url="http://www.fretlord.com/glowdotz.htm"]http://www.fretlord.com/glowdotz.htm[/url] Easy to see dots, white in daylight and gently glowing on stage The stick on over your side markers. You can feel them but it's worth it. About £13 delivered from the states, and alot cheaper than SIMS leds

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='540936' date='Jul 15 2009, 08:17 AM']+1 to Russ. We're there to provide entertainment, most of which will (or at least should) come from the music, but a fair chunk of which will be in the presentation. My pub rock band has the same discussions, only about whether or not to take the lights! As far as "band uniforms" are concerned, there is nothing worse than a band that almost gets it right. One band I was in agreed to play a summer gig in cream linen suits ("[i]We've all got one, right? OK, let's do it![/i]"). On the night, the drummer's 'cream' turned out to be sh*t brown, while the guitarist was so fat he could no longer get into his jacket and he just stood there with his enormous paunch spilling over the waistband. [b]You really don't want to see the photos ...[/b] If you're going to do it at all, then do it properly.[/quote] Oh yes we do +1 for Russ' points. Status Quo probably wear Armani off stage. The denim is the stage outfit. Your singer is right. You do need to wear something co-ordinated and it is vitally important that it looks as if you are on the same page. You really don't want to look like the roadie who set up the gear then just stayed on stage to play bass whilst the others look like they really made an effort. Sure the music is important but if, as you say, you are not that great then the show, including your clothes, will be even more important and will help you be more successful faster. Plus you can easily split the band,or get fired, over this subject. Why not ask the band if you can try it for 6 months and see how it feels, see what the punter reaction is and then review it as a band...

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='540820' date='Jul 14 2009, 10:42 PM']Is it the law that all Americans must have that style of beard?[/quote] Hell yeah! Actually it's mostly just the men. I think Paul Rodgers is to blame, and he's ostensibly British

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='540517' date='Jul 14 2009, 05:29 PM']Hey, me too! I didn't pull many chicks, but I found a keeper. S.P.[/quote] ?

[quote name='Rich' post='540494' date='Jul 14 2009, 05:17 PM']I fell for the whole rock and roll, get in a band, have a few beers, strap your bass on at a comfortable height, who cares how it looks, avoid getting in fights because it's really dumb, look average and not pull all that many chicks but who cares 'cos I just love playing, approach to bass playing [/quote] +1 -beers Works for me

[quote name='bumnote' post='540801' date='Jul 14 2009, 10:23 PM']In the late 80s early 90s I sent a pair of p bass pickups from my 64 to Kent armstrong for rewind because one of the cables had come off. He said I would be better off with a new pair of genuine fenders which he would let me have at cost and he would keep mine for spares. Oh how gullible I was[/quote] Well he probably re-wound them and sold then to the next punter for £20 so he's probably kicking himself too:)

Mine are cheaper Maybe I should list them upon Ebay alongside those Just noticed he's got a Hank Marvin Plectrum - used by him ... for £75

You have plenty of neck attached to the body.. Will you use 6 bolts?

You may want to have a prowl around the[b] WIKI [/b](link a tthe top of the page just by the also very useful[b] search[/b] option) Eg here's one on buying a bass ... [url="http://wiki.basschat.co.uk/info:buying:choosing_your_first_bass"]http://wiki.basschat.co.uk/info:buying:cho...your_first_bass[/url]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='540536' date='Jul 14 2009, 05:45 PM']I can fully understand everyone's attitude to music shop salespeople, but as someone who has worked in music stores for over 25 years, you can't imagine some of the sonic bashing our ears are subjected to on a daily basis.[/quote] So Pete, apart from total silence , what would you [b]like[/b] to hear when people try out a a bass?

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='540442' date='Jul 14 2009, 04:20 PM']Spiders to the roadie... I'd hate to be the [i]defenceless kitten[/i] that gets trapped underneath the rig at that gig. S.P.[/quote] blx to the "defenceless" kitten, I'd hate to be the not-quite-quick-enough baby gerbil the kitten ripped apart whilst still alive, after [s]torturing[/s] playing with it for 20 minutes, before getting trapped.

Just found this .. I note that he's not standinig in front of it when playing In fact I suspect he's going through that small cab and head behind him I wonder who the over-amped headliners were Any other examples?

[quote name='crez5150' post='539876' date='Jul 13 2009, 11:17 PM']All I'm gonna say is make sure you keep receipts for everything..... I mean everything.... [/quote] +1 You can offset all your gear and stage clothsad dry cleaning and travel aand some foodand stuff so if you are on pub gig rates you'll be fine. If you don't keep receipts and records of everything - and I too mean everything - the tax man can assume you got paid for thousands of gigs more than you are declaring and YOU have to prove you didn't ...

+1 on all the advice Playing with opther people is what us bassist do (a few soloists aside) so find people just a bit better than you to jam with. I was well confused initially though 'cos I though this post was from Poptart I thought Mark had lost his memory...

[quote name='Earbrass' post='539483' date='Jul 13 2009, 05:13 PM']Great stuff, but a wee bit fast for the average Morris side, perhaps![/quote] Yeah they are showing off

Hey great ... nice one

[b]The Modern Parents[/b] "Thanks Dad" "No problem Son, me and your other father also got you these Rufus Wainwright CDs...." "Is there something you want to tell me, Dads?"