gilmour

Have look at the Sontronics stuff very affordable and sound good too.

Thanks for posting this. I really wanted to get to your masterclass, but couldn't get out of bed (late gig!)

Practice in front a full length mirror. Seriously lets you see what others do, and gives you time to hone your rock n roll shapes

I get that you'd be upset at the accusation, and obviously on a forum we can't tell tone of voice etc. However I have an office in a rehearsal rooms and unfortunately bands do 'wander off' with equipment on a very regular basis (miss are a particular favourite), I can think of one occasion on which a set of decent Mapex drum stands had mysteriously turned into cheap Stagg ones. When the studio can they do try to be vigilant and often it involves going through diaries and working out who was in when. You can rest assured that the studio hate making the call just as much as you hate receiving it. Last week we had a situation where a band took home an expensive CDJ deck. They were called and they'd said it was an accident - I'm not sure how it could've been but still it's been returned and is all water under the bridge. It's sad that these things happen, and in the majority of cases it's the minority causing the aggro. I'm glad it all worked out ok for you in the end, if it were me I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, then if anything similar happens again start thinking of using somewhere else.

the technology these days is good and reliable enough that worries about form, false starts, tempo shifts really aren't really an issue provided you know what you're doing. For me the trick is using it as an instrument and performing it live, rather than playing along with a track

Loads of interesting thoughts in this thread. I don't want to repeat all of those. What I did want to add is that playing to a click and playing to a backing track aren't necessarily the same thing. Granted a lot of the time they are, however not always. One of my projects runs Ableton and with that we trigger verse/chorus/bridge loops via MIDI controllers (we still get a click track) however it does give use the space to go around a chorus an extra time, or cover a few bars if the singer comes in at the wrong point etc. I think it also makes sense for the audience as they can see that someone is doing something to make the noise coming out of the speakers.

I have the latest MBox and it was tricky getting it to run I had to install various drivers etc. it wasn't plug n play. Trouble is Avid stop supporting their hardware after a while. Still it's worth checking their website for drivers.

I don't think that sounds like a bad plan at all, it's good to put a deadline on things to help focus the mind. I remember quitting a few years ago and putting my gear in storage about 2 years later I got a call asking me to an audition and I've never looked back.

I haven't tried these but do have DiMarzio's in two of my basses (my Zoot and Project P) and both lots sound awesome.

In street art the way to clean your nozzle is to hold the can upside down for a few seconds and spray until only gas comes out - I'd imagine that done regularly that will prevent blockage.

You should ask OBBM. He has a graphite necked SR5 - I had a play on it once and it was immense. I thought it was much nicer than the stock neck, although a costly mod. The other thing (that I'm given to understand having never owned one) is that the graphite necks are much less subject to environmental change than wooden ones. I find with my SR5 that when the seasons change it needs to go off to the luthiers for a rod check. If only I could afford a graphite neck

I've been playing 5 longer than 4. TBH for me those extra low notes come in really handy when playing with horns or keys, simply because of some of the keys they like to play in - it's good to have the low option rather than the higher. The other place I find it very useful is working in covers bands where they transpose the key. Just makes it easier as you can shift a shape without thinking too much! When I've played rock/metal I found I rarely ever used the extra string.