queenofthedepths

No problem! Guitards are expendable. That's why you have 2, right?

My first gig was 5 months after I first picked up a bass (I was pretty much new to music at the time) and one of our guitards couldn't make it, but we still had a great gig; one of the best experiences of my life. So go for it!

I hope so!

Layla's a good song until you get fed up of the outro repeating itself!

That's an atrocious advert! Why would anyone want to buy all of that together, even if it was genuine?

Yes indeed! I can see exactly what you mean.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear!

"Cosmetically I have lost the tuning keys knobs" Cosmetically?!?! Not replacing them's gonna keep the bidding low, I should imagine. Still a bargain, though.

I meant Andy - sorry; you posted whilst I was still typing!

Minus one point for an out of context quote..! If that wasn't your point, what were you actually getting at?

Don't forget the open low D in all the gaps! Take deep breaths during the keyboard solo. Listen to the vocals to remind yourself where exactly you are in the song. That should keep you sufficiently distracted and it's what works for me when playing Engel.

I actually really like your drumming! Come to Bristol!

[quote name='AndyMartin' post='222944' date='Jun 20 2008, 02:07 PM']I'm not referring to any particular tosser. I'm talking about my general experience with many bands playing both covers and originals, and that is that the individuals and personalities involved have a greater bearing on creativity than any simple rule about covers or originals. I've met very few truly creative musicians, and what I've found is that even when playing original music, most are just reprising the the same old same old.[/quote] Are you saying that in your experience, musicians in originals bands tend to be less creative/bigger tossers than those in cover bands? Of course, there's less room for egos in cover bands so maybe that's a point. I suppose, the more creative a band tries to be, the more its members are likely to be arrogant and selfish, preventing the band from actually having a serious creative output. I hope that doesn't offend anyone! I certainly don't think it's true in all cases, but there are a lot of said tossers out there. On the other hand, aren't purist cover band leaders also likely to get really fussy about how the songs they've personally chosen (Marcel Duchamp would call that art) are played? I think I'm sticking by the statement that "originals bands have more potential for creativity than covers bands" as well as "playing originals does more for your creativity than playing covers". I'm well aware that I'm now talking bollocks.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='222935' date='Jun 20 2008, 02:02 PM']I've found usually songs start out rigid but actually get less well-defined the more they are played. Unless you're playing to a click because some parts on a computer or DAT or whatever - I don't imagine that's much fun.[/quote] If playing the song gives you great satisfaction (I think there's more potential for playing a song [forget the crowd reaction for the moment] to be satisfying if you've written it yourself), even playing it rigidly can be amazing fun. Aren't there any lines you just love to nail?

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='222864' date='Jun 20 2008, 01:04 PM']with originals you are creative in the first but then once the song is down you must become totally restriced to the song you have written[/quote] Not at all! My guitarists don't play their solos the same every time either and to some extent we improvise a bit all the time. An original song written by the band playing it is no more restricting than a cover by somebody else; in fact it's less so because they have a bit more license to do things differently and still call it their own. I think a nice example of that is Pulse by Pink Floyd; listen to some of the bass lines on there played by Guy Pratt compared to the originals!

Building a time machine and hacking off an arm would probably be quite difficult with just one arm! Not to mention reattaching the arm! Sounds to me like a good plot.

[quote name='AndyMartin' post='222810' date='Jun 20 2008, 12:10 PM']YOu are making the incorrect assumption that the song is the only potentially restrictive factor. AS Warwickhaunt and SJA have already stated, an originals band can be the most stifling environment. IME the most closed minded and snobbish people I've played with have been guitards in originals bands who turn up with a "song" that they've "written" and god help the bassist who plays anything but the roots of his chords. OTOH some of the most open minded and encouraging musicians I've played with have been in covers bands. It's the individual and the situation and not covers or originals.[/quote] I wasn't talking about originals bands, though... I just said that playing covers is a restriction. I write pretty much all the music in my band, and I admit that I'm still restricted by my ability to communicate my ideas to the other members and also their ability to play it. However, as a composer, my only limit is my imagination.

Thanks for the 2p explanations, guys! I shall remember that. [quote name='warwickhunt' post='222577' date='Jun 19 2008, 11:40 PM']I think you talk b*ll*cks! 'MY' £0.02[/quote] ! Much as I enjoy talking bollocks, I was being serious then. I hope you weren't!? [quote name='mcgraham' post='222752' date='Jun 20 2008, 11:15 AM'][i]Why[/i] can you not be imaginative and creative doing covers? Are you [i]really[/i] restricted to doing things [i]exactly[/i] as recorded? Are you telling me that you can't think of something else that could work with that song, or perhaps even improve upon it, either on your instrument or someone else's? Surely that is a great opportunity to be creative and imaginative right there... Mark[/quote] By doing covers, you are at least restricted a little bit. Unless you start off being reasonably creative, I don't see how you can apply creativity to cover songs!

I wouldn't use one for bass, but if I wasn't skint or it wasn't £52, I'd consider getting one for playing drums.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='222481' date='Jun 19 2008, 08:53 PM']That's because you've spent so much of your time trying to reproduce other peoples' arse chatter, whereas I've been painstakingly honing my 100% original bollock-talking skills the whole time.[/quote] To be honest it looks like it's the other way around! Anyway, assuming there is a little seriousness left in this debate, here are (why do people always say "is"?) my tuppence: Playing covers does not sap your imagination and playing. Playing covers instead of original stuff does. I think striking a balance is important, but if you have to devote all of your practising time to one or the other, playing covers is best for getting gigs and having fun, whereas playing originals is better for improving your creativity.

[quote name='uptonmark' post='222447' date='Jun 19 2008, 08:01 PM']i`d give my right arm to be a one armed bassist [/quote] No-one's stopping you, surely!!!

If I lost just my right hand, presumably there'd be some way of holding a violin bow. Failing that... PRILLAR HORN!

[quote name='Mumbles87' post='221872' date='Jun 19 2008, 01:16 AM']Following a link for her video found this japanese girl who does a pretty ace cover of the Evangelion theme [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJg2QssNOwQ&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJg2QssNOwQ...feature=related[/url][/quote] Can't say I'm a fan of his tone!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='221812' date='Jun 18 2008, 11:20 PM']I was trying to make a point about how useless analogies of that kind can be.[/quote] Yeah, that thought had crossed my mind too. I think analogies CAN be useful, but only if you're a pedantic sod like me who'll pull himself up every time he adds extraneous factors and remain firmly on the point. No offence to anyone making such analogies, but I think we're all a little prone to hyperbole and rhetoric, which is what renders such analogies useless.