solo4652

Ha! I occasionally play cajon with Loose Change. It's always fun! Great crowd of friendly guys who enjoy playing music for a worthy cause - it's a welcome change from the full-on, loud 'n' proud 5-piece covers band I play in. I knew we were close to £500,000, and now we're there. That is a marvellous achievement. Here is one line-up playing at Goostrey Craft Centre in the summer. I'm on Cajon.

David aka Mottlefeeder - I'm always pleased to play with Loose Change - just let me know.

Steve

Errm - answering my own post here. Because I don't use pedals at all, I wasn't aware of A-B switching pedals. Would this do what I want, please?

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Belcat-ABS-520-Dual-Input-A-B-Box-True-Bypass/FY4?origin=product-ads&campaign=PLA+Shop+-+GENERIC&adgroup=GENERIC&medium=vertical_search&network=google&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=20668d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=127245249679&gclid=CjwKCAiA1ZDiBRAXEiwAIWyNC8qDvNo2FnAVECWfvetqUKhVOJAWY58eu3i-_APhpBMGBBnw9bZG8RoCTZAQAvD_BwE

I've just starting playing with an acoustic covers duo. Usual mix of pop, ballads, crowd-pleasers. Depending on the song, I play either electric bass or cajon. 

Bass rig: MIJ Mustang------> GK MB500 head----------> Tecamp 12" speaker. No effects or pedals at all.

Cajon rig: Cajon--------->Yoga D-606 Dymanic mic-----------> Eden E10 bass combo. I like to mic the cajon because I don't want to injure myself by hitting it hard to get the required volume.

Is there a way I can use just the bass rig for both the bass and the cajon? I'm thinking some sort of very simple floor switch that enables me to quickly and noiselessly switch the input signal between the instruments. I won't need to be able to play both - it's either one or the other!

Or maybe a small, powerful powered mixer? Leave the GK head at home, plug the bass and cajon into the mixer, and out to the Tecamp speaker?

All ideas and suggestions gratefully received.

That's a pretty distinctive bass - surely quite hard to sell-on. 

Apparently, it is a "Fabulous instrument with vast tonal range which lends itself to all kinds of music....."

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bohemian-BG15SWB-Surf-Wax-Tin-Bass-Guitar-BO-HE-WA-X4/223119679886?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170920101022%26meid%3D0e9d7a832e8f40ee897e7302b998f6c0%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D273518759669%26itm%3D223119679886&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

My other half is interested in starting to play keys. She has no previous experience of playing keys or, indeed, any musical instrument. I'd like to buy her a good starter keyboard, but I know nothing of such things. Needs to be lightweight, portable, access to on-line lessons, good piano tone, not over-laden with voices, knobs and switches. Budget = £100. Casio CTK 1500?? Seems to get good user reviews as a beginner's instrument. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7929799?cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59156|acid:444-797-0832|cid:598623051|agid:28645154725|tid:aud-484139255981:pla-397574480560|crid:96089428405|nw:g|rnd:11997902212473576774|dvc:c|adp:1o2|mt:|loc:1006740&gclid=CjwKCAiA0ajgBRA4EiwA9gFOR_dDPWzDFQ1vVQRrXekyGqNQNO9_mMcZyYOsXp_hj8Rg3exA_9BAdhoCtq8QAvD_BwE

All suggestions gratefully received. Thank you.

11 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

For some reason, I'm imagining everyone calling everyone else "Da-a-a-ahling". Probably very unfair, but there you have it.

Don't blow this out after one rehearsal. It could go somewhere interesting and I imagine that you can afford to sacrifice another couple of evenings just to see?

If things start to develop rapidly (which is what I'd expect with properly-trained classical musos) then you may find this initial nonsense disappears faster than a very fast thing.

Yes - I'm sort of intrigued by the whole set up, and I'll pop along for another couple of sessions. I can easily afford the time alongside my covers band. Originals + classically trained musos + not being expected to learn my part before rehearsal + people who don't know what a rhythm section is for = A sense of bewilderment on my part. On the upside, some of my poetry was very well received by songwriter who wants me to write some more for her.

4 hours ago, BreadBin said:

How did it sound when you finally played together? 

It didn't sound very good to me. Mind you, it was our very first time together. And the singers hadn't agreed the harmonies, And the songwriter/lead vocalist wasn't the best singer in the room and needs to pass that baton across to one of the others. And the song arrangement needs a lot of work. And the singers are not used to performing with a rhythm section. 

I've said I'd play with them on a sort of session basis. Once they've got the vocals sorted, they can be recorded on a phone and sent to me. I'll add the bass, and when everybody's reasonably comfy, we can meet up to play what's been agreed remotely. Songwriter not happy with that suggestion, and wants everybody to meet face-to-face "to grow the song(s) organically and cooperatively". That is so very different from learning your bass part in a covers band before rehearsal. My discomfort is probably a reflection of my need to know what I'm doing before I get to rehearsal. 

This is a sort of follow-on from my "Duffer's guide to writing lyrics" thread.

Having played in covers bands for the last 10 years, I decided to join an originals band, primarily to do something different. The "band" is: Four singers (yes, four), three of whom are classically trained, and highly experienced chorale singers. The fourth is a classically trained pianist, who also sings. She is the songwriter too. There is a classically trained viola player who works full-time in various orchestras, and as a teacher. She plays acoustic guitar too. There is a drummer, and there's me on bass. Yesterday, I turned up for our very first meeting having written out an initial bassline for a pop/ballad song. I sat there for a whole hour while vocalists did exercises, Then, it was 20 minutes of relaxation exercises for everybody. 

Time to play music? Not as such - songwriter split us into singers in one corner, rhythm section in another and then spent 20 minutes with each group. Yet more waiting around. Finally we got to play as an ensemble for fully 20 minutes before we ran out of rehearsal room time. 

Songwriter tells me that this way of working is common amongst classically-trained musos. Is that correct? Don't know whether I have the patience.

On 02/11/2018 at 16:56, lozkerr said:

I like this - I think I'll have a play with it and see where it goes. I've thought of an ending, though. It needs work, but the basic shape's about there:

So I'm sending you this letter saying what we did today
The sights, the sounds, the smells, I could go on and on
But when the waiter asked me, I had nothing real to say
For she was only there in memory, reality's long gone

 

I like that. A lot. Let us know where it ends up, please.

2 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

 Fine as confessional poetry but not so much as a song lyric.

It's not that it's particularly 'deep' but the lengthy process of going through rejection, moving on, growing, optimism and being cherished places too many demands on the casual listener - unless the purpose of writing those lyrics is simply to help you put a frame around things that have happened to you, which is a perfectly admirable reason for writing things down.

If you're writing songs for other people to listen to, you might be better off choosing two consecutive points in your journey ( [Rejection > moving on] or [growing > optimism] or [optimism > being cherished] or even [being cherished > rejection]) and writing a song about that shorter journey. Try to do the whole process in one go and you're in for five or six verses of reflective stuff and dense, poetic words which is fine if one is Leonard Cohen, not so much if one is not.

So: why not write about a simpler, shorter journey and maybe take the personal edge off it by writing it in the second or third person. Oh, and get the hook into the song within 28 secs or it'll never get past a radio playlist committee 

 

Thank you. That's exactly the sort of advice I was looking for.

2 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

All my ex-floozies

Did me down low

But now I see clearly

I'm past that, and how..!

Ha! 😁   You want dodgy doggerel? - I'm your man. You want catchy song lyrics - speak to Dad 3353!

3 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

I go back to lyrics I've written after about a week, it's surprising how 'the best thing you've ever written' are absolute rubbish when the initial enthusiasm has worn off

Exactly the same with my over-wrought hand-wringing "poetry"! Awful.

1 hour ago, Monkey Steve said:

the lyrics to some of my favourite songs are complete gibberish - I don;t think Ronnie James Dio wrote anything that makes the slightest bit if sense. Chris Cornell is another one.  Doesn't mean they don't work brilliantly in the songs, and create a mood rather than a clear narrative

so, don't lose any sleep over it, just crack on

or search "how to write song lyrics" in Amazon...

Now that hadn't occurred to me! However, for me, lyrics should be meaningful. Also, they should rhythm, and they scan. Maybe this is where I'm going wrong - trying too hard. Here's an example. I've just been to the barbers. While waiting, I jotted down a few lines. Bear with me. Please be gentle with this heart of mine.

Most of my women inhabit my past,

and all of those women took me to task.

Never so lonely, now ever so clear

that fear of short-falling should stay in my past.

More verses would tell of moving on, recovery, growing, optimism, being cherished for the first time ever. I'd re-work the last line of that first verse for the last line of each verse. Title = Future past.

Too deep for song lyrics? Trying too hard? 

I have been writing poetry on and off for many years, and could probably raid my "back catalogue" *cough* for start-point phrases and ideas. For all I know, some of my poems may even work as lyrics. Trouble is, my musical knowledge and theory is pretty scant. To what extent would that impact upon writing song lyrics? Also, to what extent do you consciously write a hook into lyrics? Or do you concentrate on the meaning and poetry first, and then maybe attempt to fit some rhythm/tune around that? I feel I could do the former, but not the latter.

Any suggestions, please? I've done a quick web search, but I'd welcome any and all suggestions.

Oh yes. I've been lusting after some cool funk vibes for a long time now, bludgeoned as I've been by a double-kick rock drummer. Must show him the Fearless Flyers vids - snare, kick and hi-hat, and that's all. 

Thanks for posting all these videos - they've re-awakened by mojo.

Short scale Hollowbody Skyline, on left of picture. Modified by previous owner with pan pot. Best short scale I've owned - indeed, quite possible the best bass of any scale length I've had.

I use a Yoga D-606: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pulse-d606-Snare-Drum-Microphone/dp/B00785DZ8E  £22. This is for busking with a lightly amped acoustic trio at local craft/food fairs, and suchlike. If there's a desk feed available, I'll go through the PA. If not, I'll go through my Eden E10 bass combo. I can be loud enough without any amplification, but that means I have to hit the cajon fairly hard, which is not good for my neck/arm/shoulder arthritis. On a related note, I've also cobbled together a folding stand so I can sit on a chair rather than the cajon itself in an effort to stop me from leaning forward and slouching when playing. 

Aaah. Apologies for the repeat post in that case.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-worlds-worst-short-scale-electric-bass-guitar-Lynne/142924619217?hash=item2146f89dd1:g:fG4AAOSwN91bcDLo

Our gig for tomorrow night has been cancelled - singer has just rung in sick. That's a real shame because band leader was talking about trying a new PA setup - quite what, though, I don't know. Our next gig isn't until June, so we'll have the chance to try out new things in rehearsals - as long as everybody agrees.