KevB

I'm not really much of a Jaco fan per se but I always like the way his tone/style fits into the material on Joni's albums, especially Hejira. Great example of 'serving the song' which is at the heart of a good bass performance. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsFqFfJh0qQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsFqFfJh0qQ[/url]

I found a site the other day where you could put your salary in and pick a pro footballer and it would tell you how long they take to earn your total annual salary. The big names were earning mine in roughly a quarter of an hour, and the figure I put in was before any deductions. Different world.

Also a regular gigging pro has to account for the things from his fee that many 'amateurs' doing pub gigs don't - like tax and putting something aside for a pension plan. I expect many muso's don't think they can afford to put money aside, as Bilbo said it's all a bit hand to mouth and then they either have to work until they drop or rely on goodwill to get them through tough times, health issues etc.

Not tried the MXR but I've used a Hartke Bassattack pedal for years and liked it, wouldn't gig without it now. Despite all the knobs and buttons on my Trace amp I think I can get just that bit more out of it with the pedal up front. I've used both passive jazz and precision with it. I wouldn't recommend it if you are into a lot of fiddling on stage though, the position settings on the knobs are almost impossible to see on stage. A while back there was an anniversary edition of the pedal with clearer knobs that was available at a stupidly low price, wish I'd picked one up. They are not available any more but the regular black one is, gone up in price a bit over the years but still cheaper than the MXR.

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFB4qe5vv14"]https://www.youtube....h?v=xFB4qe5vv14[/url] OK, it's a cover

I got matey with one of the guys I ended up being in the house band with when we were doing open mics. I got him in to do a 2-man outdoor gig with me as part of our street party for the jubilee. He popped over to run through some tracks at my place and got quite whistful saying that he grew up in the area I'd moved to but there was no way he could afford to buy somewhere near me now. I don't have a particularly well paid job and live in a very run of the mill semi. He's gigging every week and also doing one to one lessons. He's an excellent guitarist, bass player and more than adequate on drums, also plays a bit of keys and has a good singing voice. Been pro/semi pro like this for many years and has been in backing bands for known artists yet still couldn't afford to be my neighbour, I was surprised to say the least.

If I'm gigging reasonably regularly (still only about 3 times per month for me) then I find I change rounds every 6-8 months as they begin to lose their 'zing' by then.

I spotted some music stands so I'm out.

I was in a band once where we decided to make Radar Love a bit more interesting so where it gets a bit tedious in the middle we then swapped over to Twilight Zone (probably the only other Golden Earring tune anyone in the audience would know) for a couple of verses/choruses then back into RL for final verse/chorus. Fun to play but we couldn't get the combination down to less than 7 minutes so it did tend to send people to the bar on occasion

Just in case anyone wants to relive the moment [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMlmISMod6s"]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMlmISMod6s[/url]

I'd actually like to play a few more different venues just for the variety but the current band I'm in has a rolling agreement with 2 venues to play them every month. Another venue we played about 3 times last year is now also wanting to up that to 5 or 6 this year but that is still only 3 different places. I think there's an element of 'too many eggs in too few baskets' for me but that seems to be how the band leader rolls.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1422880257' post='2677776'] Gauge, material and type perhaps are more substantial factors than brand, but brand will have an effect. Re your Rotos, I'd expect a cheap set by an unknown brand to be preferable to most Rotos I've played [/quote] Oh absolutely, I'm talking about direct comparisons - same type and same guage. Flats v rounds is too much apples v oranges for me to consider it and there's obviously going to be a change when you start going to significantly heavier or lighter guages otherwise there'd be no point. Having said that I've tried 45-105 rounds in steel and nickel and didn't notice much difference.

I liked one of the youtube comments 'next up - no more heroes on pan pipes'

Much easier to keep clean and if it's done right need not feel 'sticky'. I had a preEB stingray several years ago with a maple fretboard which had been finished and it looked very nice even though it wasn't entirely straight!

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1422620437' post='2674676'] The black finish comes with a maple board, the olly white and 2 tone burst both come with rosewood. [/quote] Thanks for the info, must be that is the only black one I've seen then! It sounded pretty good from what I recall, seen her playing it just a couple of times. If I was to consider switching to 5 strings at some point I think this would probably be my road in.

One of my very earliest bands took an age to finally gig with me on board, I was a relative beginner and they were all older, experienced players who had gigged lots in the past, taken a break and then looking to get back into it so I foolishly went with it but I wouldn't now. Turning down songs that 'people won't know' is often shorthand for 'songs that I don't really know, probably can't sing and can't be bothered with learning right now'. You joined a band in the expectation of regular gigs in sensible time frame and they haven't delivered, I don't think that's shallow at all.

Tried lots of different manufacturers through the years but it's always surprised me how [i]little[/i] difference there is between one set of roundwounds of the same guage and another. After reading lots of string related threads I thought I'd better check again so last string change I swapped the cheap £5 a set jobs I'd been happy with and bought some Rotosounds in the same guage for about £16. Can't tell the difference at all, if anything I think I prefer the £5 set. This is testing them in a real life situation though, playing in a band. Maybe I might hear tiny differences in isolation just noodling in my bedroom but I couldn't care less about that, it's not what I'm playing for.

Will be interesting to see them live if they hit the road in the UK, looks a bit odd with the lead vox coming from drummer for Rush material. [url="http://www.planetbravado.com/"]Bravado[/url] are still a pretty decent Rush trib for UK punters.

Played last night (though we didn't do ARN). Oldest song was over 50 years since release, newest was from last year. Both went down as well as each other. Pick the right ones for your audience and do them reasonable justice and you will keep the punters onside.

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1422811471' post='2677033'] We were watched by an ex-roadie of Jimi Hendrix the other week. [/quote] It wasn't Lemmy was it? Best one I had a few months back from a punter, whilst stood in front of drum kit having a shandy in the interval, was 'Does the band pay you to look after their gear when they are on a break or the venue?'

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1422661645' post='2675507'] I like them up front if the drummer can play - which he certainly can. You guys are too used to telling the shed-builder to less it! [/quote] Not heard enough of them to form an opinion. On that particular track he does seem to be coming from the Ringo Starr school of 'chucking a kit down a flight of stairs' approach to fills though.

The thing that comes over more to me is the drums are just a bit too loud, think it would have improved the feel if they'd been mixed a bit lower.

There's a woman who occasionally turns up to a jam night I sometimes go to and she playes one of these, though it has a maple fretboard and I've never seen another like it, all others I've seen are rosewood. It is also a 5 string like the OP's.

Always full on with my P bass, tone varied slightly to suit the song accordingly. If I'm not needed at all for a while I can mute with my tuner pedal. Final output vol always at the amp end.

Good point Bilbo. Also take into consideration that the Rush gigs in more recent tours have actually got longer than when they were selling more albums, they are virtually doing 2 x 90 min shows back to back with a 15 min break. At the end of the day no matter how good your technique is, rock drumming will be a physically demanding excercise.