thepurpleblob

Playing too fast / too slow, too loud / too quiet and so on... it's the same thing as playing the wrong notes as it's doing it wrong. If you're doing it wrong (and we ALL do) and somebody points it out to you, you say "thanks" or have a polite discussion and sort it out. A musician who can't do that is a bit of an derrière and a liability. It actually IS a team sport.

Some courier companies will happily send musical instruments up to their full value. However, the insurance is *very* expensive. If you're sending a bass with a value of over a grand expect to be paying the large end of a hundred quid. 

2 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

Err, isn't that exactly what happens in any major Government Public IT  Project...? New NHS IT, Universal Credit, all crap and junked as unsuitable after spending millions! 🙄

I have a theory about this. Possible not the time or the place but briefly. It's tendering. Tenders are written by tendering departments that know absolutely nothing about the technology they are writing a specification for. The tenders are bid for by companies who have no idea how they will complete the specification (which doesn't make any sense anyway) but think they'll build something that matches the spec enough to get paid if they get it. Disaster ensues...

Is it just me... a courier company has one job to do. Take your stuff and get it there safely. However, they have managed to con us into thinking it's perfectly ok for us to pay extra insurance for them to do their job properly. 

I work in IT. It would be like me saying, "it's just your luck if the software I write works. I recommend you take out insurance against me screwing up but the small print lets me off all the same if I do".  I'm not going to be in business very long...

I'm old enough to have seen films in the place.... followed by a few bands.

A shame. I wonder if it'll be back?

2 hours ago, Quilly said:

Nobody taking responsibility for the Vocal PA (or knowing how to use the desk). Every gig I play there seems to be issues with faulty Mikes, faulty leads, too much reverb, not enough reverb, tinny vocals, muffled vocals, boomy vocals, feedback, monitors not working etc etc etc. Drives me effing nuts.  

I've been the "sound guy" in a couple of bands (I've also played in) mostly by default. Although I essentially don't know what I'm doing I've got to the "I can get by" stage more by luck than judgement. However, it's completely stresses me out. Other band members have always been consistently irritating. "Yes, I know it's bloody feeding back. Now go away and let me fix it!!!".

I'm never doing it again 😂

"Atmosphere and Tension"?

I can only dream 😌

Just now, Twigman said:

I can play quietly and often do so.......

 

I suspect it IS you

I CAN play quietly. That's rather my point. I've just found that while saying, "that's two fast/slow" is positively responded to, "that's too loud" just gets blank looks. This is even with quite experienced musicians

Drummers are the worst. Well, I know that applies to almost any assertion 😂

However, I used to be one and I can absolutely promise you that it is possible to play drums quietly!

I come from an orchestral background originally and playing with dynamics (as written of course) is a BIG THING. It's not especially difficult to play most instruments softly or loudly and things in between. 

However, to most 'rock' bands I have played in this is a complete mystery. There is one volume and it is loud. Why is this so difficult to understand? Even some quite rocky songs have some subtlety but not once the average pub band has got hold of it. That quiet middle eight is just as thrashed through as the chorus. Even otherwise excellent musicians seem to struggle with this. 

Is it me? 

I didn't read the whole thread so I might be guilty of repeating. 

I started playing at 38. I am now 54 and gig regularly - have done for most of that time. Here is some random advice that springs to mind.

- Set up your bass so you can pick it up, flick a switch and practice. Reduce the number of impediments to practice to the absolute minimum. 
- The first few weeks and months is the bad bit. There is a 'hump' to get over. If you want to do it you will but you'll need to dig in. Eventually it starts to make some sense and you can play stuff. 
- There are loads of good books, YouTube videos and stuff in these forums. You should use them all but when you are starting out and you will be overwhelmed and clueless a few quid spent on a teacher is a good investment. 
- If in doubt, learn the bass parts from LOTS of existing songs. Try to do it by ear. Apply the theory I hope you have learned. Choose different genres. 
- You don't have to buy expensive equipment but buy something half decent that you actually want to play. Equally well, expect your tastes to mature and you'll want something else/different in time. 
- It doesn't matter if it's a P/J/MM or whatever. Equipment will never make you better but practice will. "Your tone" is a luxury. In tune will do.
- Aim to find a band and play some gigs as soon as you can. It's terrifying to start with but nothing will teach you quicker. Don't be ashamed of being a beginner - if you need time to learn the parts, say so.
- Some people really benefit from open mic nights and the like. Some people (me!) can't think of anything worse. 
- Always aim to find musicians better than you not worse. 
- You don't have as much free time at 40 as you would at 14. Pick your battles. Aim to practice every day but you can't and don't have to learn everything. If you don't want to learn slap then don't learn it. 
- Dedicate some time to learning music theory. It's good for you!
- Buy a tuner
- You're probably going to meet some strange people you wouldn't have done otherwise...

I think I cart around four grands worth of gear about with me. But I bought it to use so that's what I do. I look after my stuff but they are tool tools and subject to wear and depreciation. 

I can't play with a pick at all. And I've tried - a lot. Complete mystery.

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Couple of weeks ago I received an email asking about a magic booking...

This is it. I have not edited it. At all.

 

"Ayo wagwan b holla at me with you bbm pin eint I looking for a sick magical party with the mandem like playing pin the shank on the donkey and real life pinata"

 

I have no clue.

Hello. How are you? Kindly reply to me using your Blackberry Messenger.....

yeh, never mind 😂

Pfft... is Biffy Clyro not rock. Is Wolf Alice not rock? And that's just the last two tracks I happened to listen to before answering this. Oh, and I'm old enough to *remember* 1971 by the way 😂

I'd like to be - I find his free stuff useful - but I've never managed to justify to myself the expense. It's (as far as I know) about $170 a year. I don't like the way it's almost impossible to find the price on the web site either 😉

I'm probably sounding a bit curmudgeonly here but I've yet to find a pre-amp (and I've had a reasonable selection of these here) that does anything useful above and beyond just setting it flat or having a passive bass. 

I generally play through a SansAmp RBI which, granted, has a sound of its own but for tweaking out the room characteristics the knobs on that do the job. Having said all that, I've never really subscribed to the "my sound" thing. Sounding like a bass will do fine 😀

I had an ACG for a while and, while I loved the bass, the EQ was completely beyond me. There didn't seem to be an obvious 'turn the damn thing off' position. That's mostly why it went. 

Are we qualified to give relationship advice? 😲

I've never met a so-called "promoter" that I've liked. They tend to be some form of failed-musician sociophobe. 

A lot of pubs around my way are turning into pseudo-restaurants. They have less space (dining tables = money) and don't want full bands while people are eating. 

Me out of focus... it's better for everybody that way!

Just remembered... Sit Down by James. Of course the bloody punters love it every time. Good grief, I can't stand playing to the proletariat :-D :-D

Whiskey in the Jar - all one-hundred-and-fifty verses of it. 

I don't mind Oasis in small doses. Goes down well in the right place. Noel Gallacher's High Flying Birds is a more reasonable compromise though. 

It's never been appealing to me... 

Never none. There are some songs that just seem to cause a mental block. There's one with a weird little chord sequence at the end - I always get it right in practice and always screw it up on a gig. 

I blame old age!