kiat

Perfect summation 😉 Are you a mind reader? 🤣

Especially if he had brought his own bass

Great write up - felt I was there 😉 . For some reason I thought you were going to be on grass/mud! That's a nicely positioned drain. Well done for going home and improvising solutions to the keeping things dry problem. That's a ton of songs to learn, I feel your joy and pain. I like your "creative lapses" phrase and promise to give it back once I've used it!

Hehe, yeah, though Boston at night wasn't that bad - I've experienced worse! It cost me more in travel than the fee (my car is very pricy to run and was bought before gigs were back on the table!). The dep aspects are here...

Usual process for me is to cut the songs out in the morning from the recording of the night before that I make when there's a reason to (a new band, set or drummer etc) and I have to say I'm cringing at my playing on the 2nd set opening song, Happy Hour - I'm playing it a semi-tone out, the first 3/4 🫣😥🥴. My mind was convinced that the MD had given us all the correct band key (A) on the setlist, when in fact they all were ignoring it (except the new dep) because they always play it in Bb. Looking at the setlist later I realised that the MD had written down the band key was A, the original was B and the difference was -1. A clue. At the time I knew it was off within the 1st bar, but kept going, wierdly my ears half adjusted to the discordance, but I knew that something was wrong and tried to figure out the right key whilst keeping the pattern. Stopping for a few moments would have been better. Painful lesson. Note to self: trust my ears, not what I was told and find the right damn key PDQ!

Last night in a Boston pub, 1st dep for Kloane, an 80s+ covers band. Was apprehensive to be honest because, though I had depped twice recently with most of the guys for their soul big band, these songs were mostly brand new to me: I'd never attempted these basslines before, even at jam nights or learning at home. Out of 30 on the setlist, 9 days to learn 25 of them. I had a feeling they wouldn't mind if I used a tablet as an aide and it turned out to be the case - it was a bloody useful crutch. I don't know how I'd have fared without it, but on some songs I'd have been not got the starts right and missed some of the many breaks, interludes and specific endings. Most of the recorded tracks are fade out, but I had their backing tracks the vocalist uses on his solo gigs and I trusted the band would follow the structures, which they mostly did. Had a few unannounced key changes which totally threw me for more than a few bars as I was trying to desperately transpose in my head whilst keeping the groove going 😱😎. Pay wasn't the best, but we all get the same and this is the first that's not been cash No rehearsals, just straight in. It's nice they trusted me for that. I'm not even a semi-pro, so this has been a challenging but huge learning experience - and on the night a lot of fun once we got going. Hopefully I'll get called in again. In the meantime I plan on learning these songs properly!

Another dep last night, my 3rd and the 1st with this band. 25 great songs "learnt" in a week. First gig where I read off my tablet: hard to maintain focus on the score, check my fingerboard from time to time, get eye contact with bandmates and crowd, watch the drummer for visual clues. Had a blast though!

I'll have try one, one of these days. No music shops nearby unfortunately. Btw could you tell it's a USA visually from differences?

Of course. Personally I'd have a hard time playing in a band with a guy that's been ripping off other musicians. Maybe they don't hear from bass players he's stolen from.

10 minutes in and realise.... * mildly surprised Claypool's not English! (dunno how I got that idea) * more "let tell you about my whole life" rather than an interview. A great style and service from Beato * how nice it is to watch YT vids embedded, no ads!

How are professional bands employing this fraudster and thief?

With a limited number of pedals and devices (to use in my signal paths) Pre, Post, Amp, DI, BT, IEM (band feed, bass), transmitter headphones, etc, rather than having to move and jig devices and their connections around into different configurations based on the use case: practice at home, band rehearsals, videoing, gigging, I'm thinking about audio routing with 1/4" patch panels (or other compact mono or stereo patch cables). I'm thinking it might be worth the effort and sacrifice. Has anyone tried this before and if so what worked/didn't etc?

I'm on the B-string a fair bit because of the key changes. Also some handy open strings are no more. On the other hand I'm glad Brown Eyed Girl and Crazy Thing Called Love are original key, they'd have been a pain to change as they are fiddly and I play them in another band.

They do down well I'm told! It's definitely helpful. I'm paying attention to the recorded songs that fade out, as I'm pretty sure they won't on the night! Will be checking with the drummer who is in top of the songs and has more time before the gig (he plays in their other band I just started depping with). Thanks for the tip. It's a long record and I don't think they'll play it that long, so hopefully be less opportunities to get out of sync!

Not bad, thanks @nilorius, but not as good a set of tones that Ігор Одарюк, a talented Ukrainian bassist, managed to get out of the JO5 he tested. For sure it's partly in the fingers!