OldGit

I think there's another thing we haven't talked about that has a bearing. Some people join bands and some people play in bands. It's a subtle difference but I mean that in some bands the members are like family. They socialise and get on outside the band. They are mates beyond the band. They will still be sending Christmas cards 10 years after the band has spilt. My Main band is like that. We've been playing together for 18 years. If one of my band mates needs to work something out we all help him to do so. Other bands are made up of people with more detached professional relationship. They do the job in that band for a while and then move on. I have played in bands like that too and it's more of a challenge to get that support and empathy. It sounds like the OP is in the latter category. The PA setup and break down is good practice and the more you do it in rehearsal the faster you'll be able to do it at gigs. Plus I assume you have split the jobs up so that you all do your bit. I'd suggest dropping back to monitors only until a few rehearsals before your gig so that you can maybe spend that time rehearsing rather than doing the PA. You may be able to negotiate a few weeks of single rehearsal. You might also suggest splitting the rehearsals so that some are "specialist groups" such as vocals or rhythm section or any other sub groups you have so that they can tighten things, work through any hitches and try new things (different harmonies, effects etc) Also try some "quiet as possible" rehearsal where you run things through acoustically or close to. Not only will your ears get a rest but you'll find some nice little things to fix that are impossible to hear loud, especially if you are playing loud enough to need ear plugs at every rehearsal. Again that will bring the set-up and break-down time down, and give you different aspects to work on.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8685&st=0&p=90010&#entry90010"]Pop/Rock covers band floor fillers thread[/url] Distill the best ones from there ... Female Vocals? Wow, loads of great stuff including some contemporary ones. Tina: River Deep Mountain High, Proud Mary, Steel Claw, Steamy Windows, We don't need another Hero, Nutbush, Knock on wood, come together, Aretha: Respect, Think, Freeway of Love, I knew you were waiting for me Dusty: Take another little piece of my heart, Son of a preacher man Lulu: Shout, Boom bang a bash a boom (joke) Debbie: French kissing in the USA, Call me Tide is high Chrissie: Brass in pocket, Chain Gang, Kid, Talk of the town Kirsty: A new England, In these shoes (brilliant), Days, Walking down Madison Annie: Sweet Dreams, Misionary Man, Thorn in my side Kylie: Can't get you out of my head (and Blue Monday mashup) Duffy: Warwick Avenue, Mercy Amy: Rehab, Valerie Lilly: Smile, LDN, Tings: That's not my name, Shut up, Noisettes: Never forget you Girls Aloud: Sound of the underground Grace Jones: Slave to the rhytm, Pull up to the bumper baby, Demolition man, Private lives Grace Slick: White Rabbit Joni: Free man in paris Kate Bush: King of the mountain, Rocket man, Them heavy people Britney (and Richard Thompson) Oops I did it again, Hit me baby. Supremes, Diana Ross: Can't hurry love, Keep me hanging on, Upside down, Chain reaction Other women you could also listen to/poach from Florence and the Machine La roux Lady Gaga Alison Goldfrapp Bjork Laura Marling Bat for Lashes

It's really about communication and, to some extent, recognising that the band is more than the sum of it's parts. You may all know your parts but playing as a band takes more than that The Op's band is probably overdoing it, given their situation, but there's justification for various different types of practices and rehearsals: Writing stuff, learning new stuff, preparing for a live gig or recording. There's other things that can only really be done in a whole band rehearsal (or live) like sorting overall band sound, dynamics, cuing, effects, team building, building friendships, disaster recovery, set transitions etc. However it's important to say why the rehearsal is happening so that everyone understands. The singing drummer situation is a good example. There's only so much you can do at home, oe even on your own in a rehearsal studio. Singing lead and playing drums must be pretty tricky and then setting monitors and all the rest would take some "gear rehearsal" time. I'd be a bit narked if my drummer was sitting there going "well I can play my bit" whilst I worked through something tricky that needed the whole band sound.. When I have something specific to work on that I can ony do in a rehearsal situation I always make sure I list it on the "what are we going to do at the rehearsal" email that goes around beforehand. I would then expect my band to give me the time to do it and to tollerate tings for teh overall good of the band.

Thanks for all the input OG

"not tested" ie "tested and so rubbish I took the strings off again immediately so that the problems are not even more evident."

Ho ho sad but true

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='837453' date='May 14 2010, 06:08 PM']Spotted this on eBay the other day whilst looking for local pickup bargains: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Bassman-100-/170484850319?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item27b1b05e8f"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Bassman-100-/...=item27b1b05e8f[/url] Similar? That's a 70s Bassman 100 but with a whopping 4x12[/quote] Spot on but for the cab ..

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='837448' date='May 14 2010, 06:04 PM'][url="http://www.ampwares.com/"]http://www.ampwares.com/[/url][/quote] Ta Bill. I found that about 30 seconds after posting my first post, hence my visible internal dialogue

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='837404' date='May 14 2010, 05:13 PM']The 70 was the smallest one. They ran from 1976-83 and the 100 was the middle one. They do crop up fairly often both here and on the Bay. Best of luck[/quote] There was a 50 watt too. "A great recoding guitar amp but not up to a band for bass". They say. Also tales of people running 8x10's from the 70 watt head "not loud but sounded fabulous" I'll peel my eyes and look out for a 100 I think.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='837397' date='May 14 2010, 05:07 PM']er, back on Planet Earth I have a Fender Bassman 135 head. It's a 1978 model. These ran from 76-83 and came in 3 sizes, the 135w being the loudest. I'd quite like the matching cab but I hear the heads are good (a great one trick pony, if you like what they do great, if not they ain't for you) but I've heard the cabs are a bit weak. Anyhow, some pics to share...[/quote] Cheers. I think I know what the one I'm after is called now. It's the silverface "bassman amp" (70 watt) and the "short" cabinet. No idea where to find one though

[quote name='cheddatom' post='836987' date='May 14 2010, 11:06 AM'][/quote] Thanks Tom .. Needed that

Wow OldGit, Thanks for the info. Now do you have anything on talking to yourself? I'm a bit worried ... Cheers, OG (or, in other words, do the simple research before asking for expert help, as I often tell people )

Hi OG Found a little somethijng about the Fender Bassman 50/70 - McCartney used on on the recordings for Let It Be and on the roof for the famous event. You can just about see it in this picture though not clearly enough to see if it's teh diagonal 2x15 or teh straight side by side version. Good luck with your search. OG

Hi OG [url="http://www.ampwares.com/amp.asp?id=28"]The head is a Bassman Amp Silverface[/url] Model/Circuit Number: AA165, AB165, AA270, AA371, AA568, AC568, AA864 Years of Production: 1968 - 1983 Era: Silverface 50 or 70 watts. On that web page is also a chart of the average price these sell for (in the USA) EG 21 examples were spotted in April 2010 with an average selling price of $425 And the schematics .. Sorry nothing on the cab so far. OG

When I were a lad, and this were all fields, I had one of these rigs [attachment=49649:fen68bas...head_cab.jpg] I'm toying with getting one again as it sounded lovely (or so I remember) Can anyone identify exactly which models they are? Head and Cab. It just says "Bassman Amp" on the head. TIA OG

[quote name='TankJon' post='836428' date='May 13 2010, 06:00 PM']+1 for Joe Bonamassa ...great guitar player and writes some great blues/rock! I've done a few blues gigs with a guitarist who refused to tell us what songs we were going to play till the night. My self, the drummer and the keyboardist all had to stand fixated on his fretboard and many a time during a "jam" at one of these gigs we would end up going to change to the IV only to have to improvise some sort of mad 2 way keys/bass run back to the I because the guy was still quite happily noodling over the I. It was a bit of a mad set-up to be honest but a good laugh.[/quote] Oh I recognise that scenario. I go to some jam sessions where some players don't tell you what they are doing. You end up guessing the chord from the thumb position on the back of their guitar neck The other extreme is the guy who tells you he's playing an original tune and then tells you the chord changes all the way through a bog standard 12 bar blues Sure mate, totally original ...

[quote name='Rich' post='832270' date='May 9 2010, 03:27 PM']I reckon Alan looks about 40, never mind 50 was a great night, Al played a song on every instrument in the band he even played sitar on one. It was interesting to hear my bass in someone else's hands. We clubbed together and bought him a trumpet.[/quote] Yeah stunning skill level and breadth of musical ability. Every band should have one ... He didn't already have a trumpet? Amazing

[quote name='stevie' post='836365' date='May 13 2010, 04:53 PM']Lots of good advice here - thanks, guys - although I was thinking of running for the hills until I read OldGit's message. This is not an existing band but one that is being formed, though some of the members have played together before. So there isn't such a thing as a set list yet (and the band may not turn out to be strictly 100% blues). I'm aware of how tricky some of these tunes can be. For example, I'd find 'Still Got the Blues' impossible to busk, and unless you nail the bass line fairly closely, it will simply sound wrong. Ditto for 'Need Your Love so Bad'. I do think it's a good plan to learn a number of specific songs thoroughly before the first 'meet'. After all, you wouldn't audition for a soul band without knowing Knock on Wood. I'll try to get an idea of specific tunes next time we talk. [b]I'm also going to find our what a fat shuffle is.[/b][/quote] Ha ha yeah.. Let me know when you find out In the circumstances you could take control of your destiny and propose some tunes in the genre that you know or feel you can learn. Then the onus is on them to do the work too I'd raid the Joe Bonamassa tune list for some classics. In reality the initial tune list will probably depend on the singer and what they know. However you should all agree the same 4 or 5 numbers (max) to do at the first meet, the keys and who's version you are doing. Beware of things like "The Thrill is gone - BB King version" as there's about 10 recorded versions by BB and they are subtly different. You could try "They called for Stormy Monday but Mustang Sally is just as bad" by Tom Principato [url="http://open.spotify.com/track/4OcWqiNH3C9865FYp7RBVJ"]http://open.spotify.com/track/4OcWqiNH3C9865FYp7RBVJ[/url] A song about every band playing the same few standards, night after night Spotify and You tube are your friends here

Might be in trouble with with the Ric rollers too [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Retrovibe-RV4-White-Bass-classic-styling-DON-T-MISS-/190396405603?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c54829763"]Retrovibe RV4 White Bass classic styling £300[/url] And Fender [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-Black-Jazz-Bass-Vintage-Modified-Geddy-Lee-/190387240435?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c53f6bdf3"]Jazz copy with S1 style switching, 21 frets, blocks £119[/url]

and if you really want to worry .. read this [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_blues_standards"]Wikipedia list of Blues Standards[/url]

You'll almost certainly need "Need your love so bad" done in the Fleetwood Mac stlye. You also need to know the difference between that and Stormy Monday as they have some similar odd quirks. But any band worth auditioning for will give you a set list with versions and keys and, say, three tunes to learn for the audition. Assuming you can actually play, auditions are more about whether you get on together than if you know the 1967 original version of "Born under a bad sign" by Albert King or one of the 30 or so cover versions there have been (Homer Simpson's is my favourite ) If they tell you that's the version they play and you do your best to learn it for the audition that should be OK as it shows a good attitude and willingness to learn and work on things. That's much more important than nailing the exact right bass line but having a poor attitude or not being a nice person. If you say "well it's new to me but I learned it best I can" you'll win. If you turn up and say "oh yeah. I've heard it a few times but but I didn't have time/couldn't be arsed/didn't think you were worth the effort to actually put any work in before now" then that says a lot about you and you'll probably not get the gig ... So, be proactive, ask them what they want to play at the audition and learn the tunes. That also shows a professional approach to it from you - [b]remember you are auditioning them too.[/b] Also buy this month's Guitar and bass magazine and read the letter about Dr Feelgood vs your average pub rock blues band .. That will help too

Yeah i reckon that's a pension being cashed in. $20,000 reserve I'd say.

[quote name='Sibob' post='835673' date='May 12 2010, 09:00 PM']Thats an entire retirement plan right there! And the history of the bass is pretty cool too, even if only half of it is true! Si[/quote] I was in a hurry earlier and didn't read the description. Just looked at the pictures, fainted, and shut the page down. Just read it now .. Elvis? wow.. We should run a book on how much that sells for.

[quote name='cameltoe' post='835537' date='May 12 2010, 06:30 PM']Not that heavy, I just don't feel all that comfortable with it on. I'm sure someone else would love it and have no problem with it. I've messed around with the strap loads btw.[/quote] Stick it on the bathroom scales, mate. People always want to know how heavy a bass is, especially if you've been talking about bad backs and stuff.

Oooh I'd have trouble leaving that in the vault ..