bassist_lewis

It's been said by a few but it comes down to playing playing what people want to hear. As a function/party you're not there to please yourself, you're providing a service, which is get people dancing and frankly people only dance to what they know. I dep occasionally with one band who are a great band - great players, great arrangements and great song choices - and they do try to put some less well treaded material into their set but frankly it's the classics that get people on the dancefloor. I sometimes refer to some songs as "dad songs": all the dads (by that I mean men, parent or nay) will nod to themselves and think "thats a great song" but they won't get up and dance (and honestly those are normally the songs I'd rather do). Women on the other hand will hear a song they like and dance: get the ladies dancing and the men will follow. I reiterate: you're there to do a job like a plumber or a chef, not to do whatever you want. You wouldn't hire a chef that made duck confit when you asked for beans on toast! And Mr Brightside is actually quite difficult to play on guitar.

However you feel about streaming services, whatever the conclusion of monetising music, it will have a knock on affect on all intellectual property rights. If all recorded music becomes free (or by subscription) then it will set a precedent for all intangible, non-physical products like software (and books now). Effectively everything will become free or by subscription! On the other hand, the last 60 years or so has been the only time in history when recorded music has been monetised - also the only time recorded music has existed! It would be a return to normality for the music industry to stop passive income. I also disagree with dad3353353535whatever, using someone's song isn't like getting paid for doing nothing, it's like renting a car or power tools: you own something, someone else wants to use for a bit, they have to pay for it.

I play there occasionally (last Friday in fact). Are you using the house desk? I find it unnecessarily confusing and it doesn't always work. You are right to consider cutting frequencies rather than boosting, the latter can cause worse feedback. As for your guitar/fiddle problem, try turning someone down first, not up. Also, if you are a decent player you know what your fingers are doing 90% of the time so maybe tell them to leave the ego at the door! I can't come to your gig on the 24th but I imagine you'll get something during the festival as they do 2 gigs a day during August so keep this thread updated. L

I cant seem to upload pictures, either from my ipad or from my laptop. the picture loads, finishes then says upload failed (or something equivalent). help please.

Sometimes I get asked to turn down... nice idea but not practical for me

So I got my Callowhill MPB two weeks ago and I've done a couple of gigs with it, it does everything I need, it's comfortable to play, it sounds great. It's pretty much usurped my previous first call bass, my Clover, which I've used almost exclusively for the last 5 years. My dilemma is: should I keep my clover or sell it on? I've only played it once in the last 2 weeks and that was only to demonstrate it to a friend, and I dont like the idea of going between two different scale basses. I'm thinking I could get a cheap-ish short scale back up bass... or another callowhill! Any thoughts?

It's finally in my hands! And it's smaller than I imagined.

It's finally on its way!! Tim has sent some pictures in the interim:

Just what I needed to hear! Thanks!

I'm putting a pedalboard together with the following pedals: agent 00Funk, 3 Leaf Octabvre and Creation audio grizzly bass. I want to power them with the pedaltrain Volto as its the most compact and convenient way. My question is if the volto puts out 2000mA and each pedal draws 25-250mA (so total draw of 700-800mA) am I going to blow up the pedals with all the extra milliamps kicking about unused? Or will the volto only give out what each pedal asks for - as it were. Cheers

5 strings make transposition easier. If a song is in G and a singer asks to play it a fourth lower its an easy change. Or if a singer decides in the same breath as calling the song to also take it down a tone from E to D! Drop tuners are great if you've practiced the part in the new key but I wouldn't personally want to try and transpose on the fly while compensating for a different tuning.

So this thread has been quiet for a long time! Tim had been trying to get the bass to one of his endorsers to deliver to the UK - avoiding import duty - but because he was unable to pin anyone down it never happened. It very nearly got delivered by Derrick Hodge, which I was very excited about, he mentioned a couple of other people but in February I told him to just courier it as I'd like to have it by April and also I can afford the duty now. He's happy to cover the shipping, I think he feels a bit bad that it's taken so long - it was completed in September time. Unfortunately Tim has had a family emergency and then been ill in the last month but is promising a tracking number soon. Hopefully it'll turn up in the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed!!

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1414445863' post='2589440'] I'm curious, what would those classics be? blue [/quote] Re your previous comment,I'm thought this was a discussion about pub gigs in general. No surprises: Sweet home Alabama, alright now (occasionally), brown eyed girl, mustang sally, a little respect, Roxanne, Billie Jean, superstition, I feel good. Not all classic Blues/Rock and not exactly expanding musical minds but they work 90% of the time.

Over winter I play a couple of pubs in Edinburgh, we do lot of different stuff so Bruno Mars and Magic! along with MJ and The Police. The crowd is almost entirely 20 somethings and generally they are very appreciative. I think being in our 20s helps as we know what classic songs people our age are aware of.