Doddy

Bearing in mind that the majority of pubs don't have an in house PA,you need an amp. Preferably one with enough power for when you don't have the luxury of using a DI. I've played a lot of gigs where the PA has been for vocals only. Also,it doesn't matter how good you are as a player if you can't get to gigs. There is nothing worse than being reliant on someone else to pick you up and drop you off. The other band members will tire of it very quickly.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='818065' date='Apr 25 2010, 02:01 PM']take it or leave it, 500 smackers on the day 100 in advance, I was going to walk and tell them sorry Pete, can't do it, but I told him look if you find another bloke to do it then fine but if you get desperate and you want to use me, I will not wear your matching suit but I will use a seafoam colour bass to match and I will wear a tidy black shirt over black jeans, I will stand away in a corner and with little lights over me you'll only see the seafoam bass and everyone's a winner, you know it makes sense.[/quote] I don't know what the problem is about wearing a specific outfit for a gig.It's not like you had to buy the suit yourself is it? If you don't like the outfit,at least it was only for one gig. Grin and bear it. No disrespect,but if you said that to me I would have booked someone else. If I was paying you that kind of money and asked you to wear something specific,I would expect you to wear it. I'm kind of on both sides in this debate. I agree with Rich that the sound and playing is what is most important,but I also think that the visual aspect is really important. I do think that if the band is going for a certain 'look',you should adhere to it,because the one guy who goes against it stands out a mile...and not in a good way.

I always say how much I love the Emma Electronic ReezaFRATzitz. I don't know of many bass players (or guitarists for that matter) who use one,but when I was looking for a distortion pedal that was my favourite one by a long way.I love it. It can go from nice smooth overdrive right through to completely filthy distortion. I tried the Fender Sub-Lime recently and that is a really good pedal too.

What is your slap technique like? If you play 'thumb down' (Flea style),it is is virtually impossible to isolate strings. I would always recommend holding your thump in a more 'upwards' position or parallel to the strings,which lets you be more accurate. You should be able to hit each string individually without sounding the other strings. Whilst muting with the left hand is vital,it all starts with the accuracy of your thumb.

Another vote for Comfort Strapp-I've used them for a while. It's a shame you don't want colours or patterns-these Marvel Comic straps are supremely cool...... [url="http://www.theacademyofsound.co.uk/Guitar_Straps"]http://www.theacademyofsound.co.uk/Guitar_Straps[/url]

So,as an update to my last post,I've really been enjoying using an Emma Electronic DiscumBOBulator, TC Electronic Nova Repeater and a Boss OC2 lately. I can't believe I never bothered with the OC2 sooner-I'm loving using it.

I thought it was a reading gig?

I think the term 'genius' is used to frequently as a substitute for 'good'. Michael Jackson was a top class entertainer-but was he a musical genius? I don't think so. The same with Queen. I know guys who can sit and transcribe big band charts for every instrument from memory alone. To me that is more of a genius than someone who writes songs-the musical knowledge and understanding to be able to do that is far greater than what is needed to write a song. In my opinion of course.

[quote name='bassace' post='816397' date='Apr 23 2010, 04:15 PM']So, Doddy, what is your definition of Trad Jazz? Pl keep it to the music and not bring in the 'old guys with beards in pubs' argument.[/quote] I've got no problem with 'old guys with beards in pubs'. I don't enjoy listening to the whole Acker Bilk style playing,which is generally what is classed as 'Trad' over here. The main thing I don't like is often on the final couple of choruses you get the Clarinet,Trombone and Trumpet or whatever all 'soloing' at once. I just find it hard to listen to. I've played them kind of gigs and enjoyed them,but I don't like listening to it.

I don't think it's really worth arguing over. Faithless would rather play jazz than pop. Great. I'm sure there are people on here who will only play in original projects. It's really the same thing,and it all comes down to what you want out of it. I'm doing a straight up jazz gig on upright tonight,but tomorrow I'm playing funk and disco on electric,and midweek I'm playing with an acoustic singer/songwriter. That's the kind of thing I like doing. Although I really can't stand Trad Jazz.....

The MTD Kingstons are great basses. I've got one of the older 'Heir' models which has humbucker and jazz style pickups and is passive. It's a lovely bass-plays and sounds great. I'd recommend them to anyone.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='816141' date='Apr 23 2010, 01:14 PM']I found out recently that, until he gets another gig, James Lomenzo has been selling furniture in a friend's shop.[/quote] That speaks volumes. He's a great player in his own niche,but he is also a 'rock' sideman who may or may not have the ability to branch out. He may be able to,but his reputation has put him in a genre that places more emphasis on 'band' members than sidemen,so he will find it harder to go from gig to gig,and 'pop' MD's will overlook him because he's a 'rocker'.

I think you can look at it another way. There are players who will only play in their original rock bands and who would never dream of doing anything else,because either they see it as 'selling out' or they don't have the ability to branch out (usually). These are also the ones who have to work in Tesco. In the same way, I know guys who only play jazz,who will gig every night of the week,but won't earn as much as a player at one function gig. Granted,these players are usually either supported by their wife or retired. I think to make a living now,you need as many skills as you possibly can. You need to be able to lay down simple root notes and you need to be able to swing hard.If you can read a chart and play upright(even synth bass),you will be more employable. If you choose to stick to your own niche area, unless your band gets big or you are extremely lucky,you will have to get a day job,because having 'integrity' doesn't pay the bills. While playing great music with great players to an appreciative,but small,audience is a great feeling, so is playing 'less'(?) great music to thousands. Players like Janek are in a position where they get the calls for big gigs and the smaller 'players' gigs because they have worked hard honing their skills to be able to do them. ....And they don't have to work in McDonalds.

Because they are Planet Waves. Seriously though,this is why I stopped using them. I had 3 of Planet Waves cables and all of them failed after a few months. That was when I tried Spectraflex,and I've not had any problems since.In fact,one of them has been abused quite a bit-screwed up, thrown in a rucksack etc. and it still works perfectly after about 5 years. That's why I'm happy to endorse them.

[quote name='JackLondon' post='815639' date='Apr 23 2010, 12:02 AM']Did you know the Primus done most of the music for South Park?[/quote] Well.... They did the theme tune anyway.Most of the stuff was written by Trey Parker and played by his and Matt Stone's band. Also-Les Claypool used to play in his high school big band,so he's played some jazz.(That's also where he learned to read).You can hear the influence in the clips of Primus' acoustic gigs under the name 'Bob Cock and the Yellow Sock'

[quote name='Faithless' post='815176' date='Apr 22 2010, 04:48 PM']Wow, 12 responses in half an hour, that was catchy, wasn't it.. I know, what you're saying about money thing, anyway, it's somehow sad a bit, that such players have to take pop gig to pay their rent.. BTW, Doddy, what about that JEM tour?[/quote] Janek had been the MD for a couple of tours doing all the TV promo and stuff,including opening up for Dave Matthews Band on a US tour. Anyway,she recorded a new album and the band had blocked out a ton of dates ready for the promo tour. They rehearsed up to speed,and then two weeks before the album launch,she fell out with the record company who then pulled the release of the album and subsequently cancelled the tour. I don't think it's sad that these players take pop gigs at all. You mentioned Mike Stern earlier-he toured with Blood,Sweat and Tears. Dave Weckl played drums for Simon and Garfunkel. Marcus Miller played with Luther Vandross. By taking these kinds of gigs it allows them the luxury of doing their own thing without financial worry-and it seriously raises their profile as musicians. There is no shame in playing pop music to thousands of people every night.

I have spoken to Janek about things like this,and believe it or not no matter how good the music is with Mike Stern or with his own project,the money isn't superb. He's got rent to pay in both New York and LA,and playing jazz clubs won't always cover it. When he tours with his own band,he has to shell out thousands of dollars in flight's,accomadation and wages before he even does a gig-and sometimes just breaks even or even makes a loss. When he is MD'ing a gig like VV Brown or JEM,it is a good paying gig with no outlay,and will allow him to play smaller 'credible' gigs with his own band,without as many financial worries. They are also very high profile. I won't even tell you how much he lost when the last JEM tour got cancelled-but you would be asking questions if you knew. Let's be honest,I would love to play with Mike Stern-but I wouldn't think twice about taking a high visability, great paying 'pop' gig.

Some people do get agressive if you say anything slightly against football don't they?

It depends what areas you are looking at improving. I really like Ed Friedland's books-particularly 'Building...' and 'Expanding Walking Basslines'. 'The Working Bassist's Toolkit' is also very good. Paul Westwood's 'Bass Bible' has some good stuff in it. 'Improvisor's Bass Method' and 'Concepts in Bass Soloing' are very good aswell. There are a lot of good books out there,these are just a few that I like. As you said preferably with tabs,I'm going to suggest looking at 'Simplified Sight-reading for Bass'. If you get some reading under your belt,you will be able to get the benefit of books like 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown'. As easy as tab may seem at the moment(i don't think it is personally),you are basically limiting yourself as to what material you can study out of,as pretty much all of the best material is written in standard notation. Also as good as books are,they are no substitute for a good teacher. This would be the best way of improving your playing as you would have someone to point out the mistakes you my let slip on your own,and you will progress quicker.

I wouldn't worry about the flat and sharp options on your tuner. If you are using a chromatic tuner,then it is simply a matter of dropping the E string a tone so that the tuner reads a D-it's no big deal. If you've got one of those tuners that only tells you the note if you are in the vicinity of the standard open string, try playing the harmonic at the octave (12th fret). Then you are basically tuning to the same pitch as the open D string. ...And Yes,dropping the E string down to D makes it an octave lower than the open D string

[quote name='ianrunci' post='814043' date='Apr 21 2010, 06:27 PM']Another good one is " I want what I paid for it" Why? it's six months older and had had one more owner lol! just accept depreciation[/quote] Yes!!!! I really agree with this. If you want your money back,don't tell the potential buyers how much you paid for it. You paid £400? Great....I'll offer you £300. Agreed on the Japanese Fenders. I think that they are a lot more consistent quality wise than other Fenders.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='814187' date='Apr 21 2010, 08:05 PM']* Edit: Since I've fallen out with people for statements like that in the past: If you heard a drum solo of similar rhythmic content, would you be impressed?[/quote] I've got to agree with you there. Rhythmically it's nothing special,but in fairness the speed is impressive. My main thing against Mark King is that while his playing is certainly quick,there never seems to be a great lot going on harmonically. That's why I like thumb players like Marcus and Victor and Alain Caron. They've got all the technique,but it's not just about rhythm and octaves(Flea is very guilty of doing that). They often have a lot of harmonic content in their playing.

The Marshall VBA 400's are going for around the £600 mark secondhand at that minute. To be honest,I don't think the fact that it is a prototype will particularly increase the value by that much. Same with the cab-I'm not sure on the current second hand pricing,but the Quo association won't bump up the price immensely, if at all.

I bought the 5 string version about six weeks ago,and really like it. I don't really play around too much with the active circuit-just a very slight mid boost. It sounds really good,plays great and has no quality control issues. It's done most of my gigs since I got it.