thepurpleblob

In this day and age many charities are, effectively, well organised commercial business with well paid staff - not always the case, I know, before anybody shouts at me. I think you have to be equally hard-headed. Is it a charity that you and your band-mates support and/or is there something in it for you (i.e. is the gig going to be good marketing)? If not, just say no or ask for a reasonable fee and/or expenses. .

Some people just get too up tight about stuff. You really have to decide if it's worth the bother. The world is full of prats. I tend to try to avoid them. I do not necessarily exclude myself from the 'prat' classification of course.

+1 Get some of that slowing down software (I use Transcribe! fwiw) and chip away at it. Some songs just have the bass low in the mix and you can't always hear it. Experience (and all that scale and arpeggio practice!!) will give you an idea what they probably played - or good enough anyway. Learning a song note perfect is good discipline but if you are really just talking about playing covers then 'near enough' - or rather near enough without loosing the feel - does just fine. Perhaps pick songs where the bass is easier to hear if you are struggling, oh, and avoid tab. EDIT: A 2 minute listen.. it's mostly just root 8th notes with some runs between. Something like Verse (notes not chords): B E B E B E F# Chorus: G D A E, repeated don't know if this helps you at all.

Look at the pinned discussions at the top of THIS forum Also look at the Theory & Technique forum - especially the Major's Boot Camp (see pinned discussion again).

Join a band. Yes, it's scary but it will sort you out for sure

To be fair, I had lessons from a guy who was primarily a guitarists but taught bass as well and he was very good. The main thing was that he did actually play bass now and again and had a lot of appreciation for the role of the bass. The fact that he came from a guitar background gave it all an interesting twist.

Ahhh... (having been enlightened) not my cup of tea. Banjos might be better

Am I a bad person because I've never heard of Chickenfoot? Off to Youtube expecting banjoes or somesuch

If you can't talk utter nonsense and then laugh it off without a second thought they, unfortunately, are not really a friend. So, either way, it doesn't matter. Drink responsibly

No-one got fired for playing root notes (especially the right ones) and playing them in time. You're probably unfamiliar with the genre - you're going to have to go listen to some big band music. Sounds like a fun gig to me, although most big bands I have seen play from sheet music so it could have been worse (or better!)

I didn't read all the replies so apologies if I'm repeating. I don't think you are asking a sensible question and this maybe what is troubling you. The question should, IMO, be "what theory do I need to know?". I am certainly no expert, but I would start with a solid understanding of scales (i.e. learn them) and chords (i.e. learn them too). Even this quickly breaks down into "which scales?" and "which chords?" but that rather depends on what music you play. You could spend the rest of your life studying music theory in depth - it's like any other complex subject, you need to nail the basics and then pick and choose the stuff you need to do your job. Will it help you? Well, it helps me - I'm convinced.

AFAIK, the pre-amps are the same. The difference is in the switch. The HH doesn't have a blend control, it has a five way switch instead of the three way. How much hassle it is depends on how your bass is wired up now I suppose. Any decent luther should be able to add the second pickup.

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1325779163' post='1487552'] The clue's in the first post [/quote] D'Oh... must learn to read to the end

I was having a Spinal Tap moment

Erm... did you phone Ashdown? I'm not being a smart-arse (no more than usual anyway). The odd time I've needed something, they've been really helpful, reasonably priced and quick.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1325777383' post='1487503'] Also..I refer to the dial as per a clock face... so 2-3 is typically VERY loud. 11 is not even half way on the dial..again, whatever that means. This is because you don't see the dial indented with numbers anymore..??? [/quote] seriously?

What you don't want to do is to constantly run your amp at "eleven". It's distortion (specifically clipping in the output stages) that shortens the life of speakers more than overpowering the speakers (which is hard to pin down because it's real sound not nice sine waves which are used for all the calculations).

[quote name='Johnebass' timestamp='1325600978' post='1484905'] Howard is a top bloke, we agreed a price for the Lakland 55-02, payment within 30 mins via PayPal, all in all great communication and a pleasure to deal with. [/quote] A pleasure. I'm very pleased with the Lakland. I'm very hopefully that I've finally tracked down a five string I can live with

....just checking you have seen the 'Bass Camp' stuff in the Theory & Technique section - there's lots of fun stuff there. If you keep digging around in that section (or just ask) there have been quite a few transcriptions posted (IIRC, Bilbo has quite a bit of jazzy stuff). I'm jealous of your gig. Years ago, I used to regularly play drums (before I knew better) in a pit band and loved it. I could (maybe can) sight-read percussion but have never got anywhere near that with the bass. On my todo list!

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1325513276' post='1483779'] The transition is very easy.. unless you are one of those dearies who can't get on with a neck that's a smidge bigger or smaller than what you are used to. [/quote] That would be me. You have to remember that the strings are closer together and closer to the edge. To a greater or lesser degree it takes some getting used to. It's even more pronounced if you jump between a four and five. There is more variation in fives than there is in fours so be sure to play all you can to make sure you are happy.

I bought a tumble dryer off Gumtree this morning and it was exactly as described! ....I'm getting my coat...

Of course, by the time you get where the audience is it won't matter so much. There is a school of thought that you shouldn't ever mix cabs (i.e. a 1x15 and a 2x10 is a bad plan). The different cab characteristics will generate interesting interference patterns (like having speakers out of phase) and it could sound horrible. The message is that is just isn't simple.

Time is money... it's only 14 quid. Neg him and forget it.