Norm

[quote name='Paul S' post='1314157' date='Jul 23 2011, 07:53 PM']He uses a modified thumb pick, which sort of looks like he is just using his thumb.[/quote] What like a finger pickers one for lap steel type of thingy? Wasn't close enough to see that & beer was involved! Cheers, Norm.

Had a trip to deliver some of my wife paintings to a new gallery in london a couple of weeks ago. Got it done early so made a 1st time visit to the bass gallery. Went in & was blown away, just couldn't take it in! Too many basses, amps & everything. Couldn't try anything, just wandered around like a twat for a while then left. Same used to happen to me in record shops, I'd go completely blank & leave without buying anything. The only thing I remember was a sweet old trace v6 valve head just inside the door! Felt like a right dickhead! oh well I'll have to go back again with a written shopping list. Cheers, Norm.

Dude who plays for the Hamsters uses his thumb all the time.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1303647' date='Jul 14 2011, 03:41 PM']A bit like that old Arnold Palmer quote (I think) about golf being a game of luck - and the more he practiced the luckier he got.[/quote] +1 It was about somebody calling him a lucky golfer, & that was his reply. I think it's about having a need/desire to do it, then having the circumstances to make that possible. Sometimes talent will not be used for a variety of reasons (personal, social, circumstansial etc). Talent itself is only one component of a complex set of interconnected things (jeesus, hark at eeeeee!!!) Cheers, Norm.

[quote name='RhysP' post='1306531' date='Jul 17 2011, 11:49 AM']Second coolest. This is the coolest space craft ever IMO: Awesome! [/quote] Oooh, Blakes 7, what a series, well camp! Loved it.

What ever suits the song. Fingers, pick, slap, Entwhistle "Crab claw", Geddys Flamenco finger nail strum, thumb pluck, karate chop (ouch) never say never & use all sonic devices at your disposal. Q for the forum? Who was the awesome pick player who played with Zappa for a while? Simply stunning technique! Churrs, Norm.

Good game though Thom, well done [/quote] Original clip No1 has a bit more bite in it to my (increasingly deaf, 48 year old) ears. A bit more treble & high mid range. I guessed No2 for the ray but it was a complete guess. Came to the thread a bit late to vote. Couldn't tell the difference. I "liked" both sounds & would happily use both. & yes my main bass is a Ray (4 string '98, 3 band, white with maple board). Anything I play sounds like me though, digging in too hard, too much fret clank, aggressive finger style with poor technique, ha ha! I'm currently thinking of moving to a 5'er, probably a ray but will have to check out a Sandberg now too. Curse you Thom for increasing my GAS!!! Remember kids, use those plugs! I'm going to have to to keep what little hearing I've got left! IE20's are recommended I seem to remember reading on here somewhere? Now I'm only singing B/vox I should be able to get on with them better. Really struggled with pitch with them in previously. Cheers, Norm.

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='1286133' date='Jun 29 2011, 10:02 AM']Yeah, I'm the lead singer in our band, purely because nobody else could do it. Most songs I can sing and play reasonably well, some I just can't-we don't do those. Our guitarist and drummer have both started trying to sing and play recently, and both have expressed sympathy for my position now they've had a go! Sight reading? Forget it.[/quote] +1 to the first line above. Had to in my old covers band, most can do, some songs just no chance at all. Drop those & find some more can do's & practice, practice & then more practice! ALso agree with another comment that get the bass part nailed so you can concentrate on the vox. In a new originals band now, doing backing vox & maybe lead vox on a couple of numbers. Cheers, Norm.

Used to have a H+H pa system back in the late 70's early eighties, loud, clear & bombproof! Guitarist from Part Chimp uses H+H head (the green backlit face style) plus another old transistor amp (possibly a carlsboro bass head), titanic sound! Check out their album "thriller". IIRC Steve Hackett of Genesis used to use them too back in the day? Cheers, Norm

That is a thing of beauty! Nice work.

As with ped its bowels with me too. I call them "adrenaline poos", always have to have a right turf out before a gig or any situation where a bit of nerves is required. They are not crippling, (the nerves not the poo!) just a little sharpener to the edge. I always get them & would probably feel weirder if I wasn't a bit nervous. Always go for a slash in between if we do two sets though. Could always wear yer bass a bit lower to cover any embarassing leakage or splash back issues! Cheers, Norm.

I can sound crap on anything so it wouldn't worry me! Seriously though, Doddy is right, a bit of a twiddle see what the knobs do, turn it up & go. A 5'er would give me a long thin thumb rest & a fretless would mean I would sound a bit more "off" occasionally. Cheers, Norm.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1201810' date='Apr 16 2011, 01:50 PM']John Perry playing his Wal. Supposedly the first Wal made. [/quote] I'm sure I saw that drummer playing with Bjork in the mid nineties!?

Never been able to stand still & play, just get into it & off on it & follow the groove. Always on the move but have had to calm it down due to doing lead vox as well as bass, kept getting caught away from the mic when I should have been singing. New originals project though just playing bass & the odd backing vox so the bass gurning face/head bob/stomp/groove & weave will be easier. My unconcious natural movements cause grief in the studio when recording, was always being bollocked for noisy shuffling/kicking mic stands/ tripping over pedals etc. I'm a right pain in the arse, ha ha HA!

[quote name='Slipperydick' post='1225146' date='May 9 2011, 02:42 PM']Try not handing the Werthers around at rehearsals. Seriously though, its a pain innit, I'm lucky in that I found a couple of good bands of all old gits like me, but it took a while. Dunno about you, but I wouldnt be comfortable playing live with a band noticably much younger than me.[/quote] Just started a new originals project, sort of Black Keysian mutant love child of QOTSA. I'm 48, singer/guitarist is 52 & the drummer is the baby of the band at 46! None of us conform to the middle age stereotype but we are getting grumpier! Pass the werthers, originals mind not none of them fancy swirly cream ones! Cheers, Norm

[quote name='Doctor J' post='1224821' date='May 9 2011, 09:59 AM']A communal work ethic. I can handle differing abilities, I can handle music I'm not 100% into but I can't handle having to drag people along, lazy disinterested bastids who add nothing and are devoid of enthusiasm. A pox upon them, I say.[/quote] + the 1

[quote name='gjones' post='1226790' date='May 10 2011, 10:00 PM']Get a hard case like I did. I haven't had to tune up my bass in 10 years. But of course.......I do play free form jazz. [/quote] Niiiccce.....

An adage from an old pro guitarist I was told, first thing you do when you get to a gig get yer bass/guitar out of the case & put it on a stand to aclimatise. Next get the singer to buy you a pint. Then set up the rest of your gear. When backline is set up, tune up with an in-line tuner pedal. & up means up, always bring the note up to pitch not down. Why? Not sure but somebody might enlighten or shoot down in flames Stands me in good stead, especially getting a pint out of the singer. Never bother trying to get one out of the drummer! Cheers, Norm.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1225534' date='May 9 2011, 08:39 PM']Yes, I agree, don't bother tuning at home, tune at the gig, and have an inline mutable tuner for checking and be able to use your ear when possible or necessary. Sorry about the van.[/quote] Don't be sorry, it's a thing of rare beauty!!

First ever gig in the late 70's with a rock band doing originals, we wanted to do an out of town gig for confidence booster so got this bloke who had heard us rehearsing & wanted to be our manager to add us as openers on a gig he was promoting in Barnstaple. Got him to pay us up front (not that naive, eh?) travelled down & played a storming 30 min set to our guitarists wife & the sound eng! The front bar was fairly busy but the gig room was out the back through double doors. Got congratulated by the locals at the bar on our set!?!? Well done lads, sounds great etc. Not many more people went in for the local headliners & the promoter/our prospective manager got progressively more pissed & obnoxious. He followed us to the chippy & reached over the counter pressed all the buttons on the till locking it up, we left him there in a row with chipless punters but he caught up with us in the pub car park & drunkenly told us we could be huge with his guidance, a speech cutoff in its prime by him spewing his guts up all over his shoes! Last gig of my old covers band (that convinced us to start doing originals) was a sunday lunchtime late summer 2009, outdoors in a beer garden with a small covered stage, first set went down ok with a reasonable size crowd. Second set with a bigger crowd was met with almost silent indifference until last but one song, during (i kid you not) "I predict a riot" which sparked a dog fight between 2 staffie bull terrier types, which spiralled into a confrontation between respective owners & a barney which almost all of the beer garden joined in! Fortunately it was just chesty stand off row stuff with not many punches thrown (or connected) but we 3 just looked at each other, nodded and just quietly packed the kit down. Nobody paid any attention to us just carried on the arguments. Got paid though. T'was Bristol & maybe the reason for the silence during the second set was they were dogging each other up. "You doggin I up?" quaint Bristolian expression, the equivalent of You looking at my Pint/Bird/sister/mum etc. Cheers, Norm.

Good on ya, sounds like top fun & I really enjoyed the vids you posted. Strong songs with a twist. Cheers, Norm.

First saw them at the Colston Hall, Bristol with Max Webster supporting (very interesting band too) then at Hammersmith Odeon. Cant remember if it was Farewell to Kings tour & then Permanent Waves it was so long ago. 1979/80? My habit (bad?) of digging in & hitting really hard finger style is all Geddy's fault! Well thats my excuse anyway. That yyz is a blast. Mistified my nephew when I got most of it right from scratch memory on his guitarhero game as I used to play along to it all the time when I was younger. Don't really do big venue gig going anymore but hope all of you who are going have great nights! All hail the Gedmeister! Cheers, Norm

[quote name='bottlebassman' post='1214586' date='Apr 29 2011, 09:25 AM']Your singer should be able to learn and remember some of the lyrics surely? After all, you have to learn and remember the bass lines, yeah?[/quote] Seeing singers with a lyric sheet on a stand or even holding a book (worse!) always used to get my goat until I had to take over lead vocal duties to keep a band going. I was of the same opinion as you bottlebassman, I've learnt the basslines why can't they learn the lyrics? I still struggle to remember words to 30 odd songs in a 2 setter gig. Sometimes I barely look at the book, some songs I get lost & have to read them (different ones no pattern to it). Yeah, its a crutch as somebody earlier suggested, I know but I don't get stressed about it. I just keep the book low on a cut down stand like a monitor, have large clear print & a little clip on light for dark stages. I've noticed more pro's using lyric sheets, Robert Plant for example on his electric prom gig, Michael Stipe sometimes too. Keep it low & people don't notice it so much. Other general comments to Jambo10. Agree with lots of the comments above, 1. Light from above, front side rather than rear where poss. Difficult at some venues i know. 2. Get yer heads up, look at the audience, smile, interact with the rest of the band, look like you are enjoying yourselves. 3. Backing vox & harmonys lift songs. Work on helping singer out on choruses. 4. Material choice, vary pace & tempo of the 1st set, save some slammers for the last few songs. Choose songs you can all do justice to, especially sing. If the singer is struggling it doesn't matter how good the band are. 4. Don't introduce every song, segway some songs together, take it in turns to introduce songs/chat to audience. Share the load & keep it brief. Your band isn't bad at all but could be loads better (like the rest of us too) All the best & good luck, it sounds like you will get there as you are willing to work at it! Cheers, Norm.

[quote name='3V17C' post='1201380' date='Apr 16 2011, 12:25 AM']After doing my bands usual set of rock covers featuring plenty of Iron Maiden and running around/foot on monitor action playing a P bass fingerstyle: "really good bass playing, just like Keith Harris!!" hmmmm C[/quote] You can, I caaaaant, etc

Good work, fella! Just listened to the EP n'awl, very impressive. I like the almost minimalist feel to the riffs & cycles, it would be all to easy as a 2 piece to try & busy it all up too much to replace guitar or keys. All live too, thats ace. Cheers, Norm