CHW

We played a gig the night of the England Wales game- the bloody landlord turned it off when we started playing. I protested loudly and it got turned back on. I did drop a couple of notes when the Welsh scored points but I think I was the only one in the pub watching it. Who says bass players can't multi task? Bass, Backing Vocals, Guitarist glaring, and Rugby watching

Because being in a band is tough. If there are a few dominant personalities someone always needs to back down and if its always one person getting their own way then something will eventually give. Getting gigs is difficult, especially getting paid gigs- you need to be something of a sales person to be really good at getting bookings in, and it can take time for a band to become profitable. I'm not sure exactly how long, but I've been with a band for 4 years, and the gigs are now regular, but they weren't at all to start with. I'm still not sure whether the band has paid me back for what I've spent on it. It is a difficult thing to genuinely enjoy every moment of band work. Unless you are playing that genre of music that you love, and all of your band mates are equally committed, you are bound to not particularly like, or enjoy some of the material (be that covers or originals). Gigs to one man and his dog, gigs where the punters are a bunch of arseholes, gigs where you play a blinder, the punters love it and the landlord says- "No, not for my pub lads"

Can't do anything more than echo the previous comments- Hire Both, Hire the better singer, much of the audience will love watching a size 18 girl with confidence as much as a size 10, If I am going to be totally misogynistic, go for the one with the better backside- as you've got to stand behind it and watch it wiggle for a couple of hours. No seriously- the better singer every time (although how you fit in personality and commitment wise with the rest of the band is hugely important too)

Just seen OP update. Insensitive buggership at its best

There's a difficulty knowing whether this is light hearted ribbing that goes on, and is essential in good functioning bands, or genuine insensitivity. I'm forever ribbing the 2 guitarists about turning up last, and taking as long as the drummer to set up, and almost eternally twiddling knobs in the lifelong search for the perfect tone.

I'll speak to the owner of the studio and double check dates and prices. Am I right in thinking a Saturday night is the way forward?

No idea whether the venue is the kind of thing that people use for bass bashes but the rehearsal studioI use regularly put on live nights, they have a decent stage, room for up to 80 people, but 20 would still work, bar, and seating area. It has parking available and is on an industrial estate so no need to worry about noise, It's in Oldham though so not central, but is only 5 mins from a tram I think.

I have a yamaha pacifica 812 that was my main gigging guitar for about 10 years, I bought it as a workhorse, and work it is exactly what I did, it is pretty beaten up these days and I never really cleaned it up or did anything to it other than a quick wipe over with a duster when changing strings. I recently sent it off to a local luthier to fit a new bridge and set it up, he also redressed the frets and gave it a thorough valet. It feels great, and sounds great but there is something strange about it, it doesn't feel like my guitar anymore, I used to know it inside and out, no-one else had ever played it and I could probably tell you where and when most of the major dings and wear happened. So in answer- dirty mojo, if it's my own.

It's about the band priority. If the band priority is to promote funkblackreggaemetal, I think you have to find members who are all committed to that cause, and therefore willing to play for free, for several years, to empty venues and to look to build a scene from scratch. Some scenes will build, and some will die a death, being in that band is about your commitment to the cause. A random member, looking to play a few gigs, earn a few quid and enjoy playing to full crowds is not going to last long in that band. In my acoustic band, our priority is to play stuff that you wouldn't necessarily expect to hear, but that people know, arranged a bit differently. We are all on board with this, and there are few disagreements over whether something is working or not. If we added in a 4th person at any point, it would be really necessary that they bought into the band philosophy

Corduroy- Dad Man Cat

Get the Funk Out- Pat Badger, Extreme, Stand By Me- Ben E King My Girl- The Temptaions

I had the fun of sharing a bill in the South of France with a flamenco company, alongside a morris dancing team, I was playing melodeon for the morris dancers and I had some great time communicating with the musicians with points and grunts. They were genuinely shocked and surprised at the English rumpty tumpty playing style and seemed pretty impressed.

I once led the sacking of a violinist in an acoustic band that would turn up 20 mins before we were due to start, ask where's my mic? (expecting it set up ready) and then pack up and leave 30 seconds after we had been paid. It still took me a good 6 months to finally get the agreement of the rest of the band.

I have to say that in over 100 parcels we've only ever had one issue, and it wasn't with the delivery team at either end. I was I suspect a pretty catastrophic error in a distribution centre where our parcel was, in all likelihood, crushed by a forklift or bigger. My mrs regularly sends Emma Bridgewater pottery, and like instruments, it is one of their banned items.

I've not been in years but I visited quite a few times back in the mid 90's. I was in my late teens at the time and felt that it was something of a pilgrimage in many respects, however, I feel that I was treated pretty rudely by most of the shops at the time. Now I know that at 17 I was very much not in the viewscreen as a great customer who would spend a significant sum with them, but a different impression left with me as a 17 year old kid may have changed my longer term intentions regarding where to buy. I also wonder whether the decline of Denmark Street is associated with the rise of music superstores- Bass Centre (as was), GAK, Academy of Sound and PMT. In the past, when we were used to a local independent music shop on the outskirts of our local town centre, alongside the double page Flying Pig adverts in music mags, Denmark Street was a little piece of heaven. Now it is tired and out of date.

I do my best to keep hydrated when rehearsing and gigging, however, I do seem to be continually thirsty when playing (no it's not diabetes as I regularly check my blood sugar) I sweat like I'm exercising when playing and it is a pain in the backside. I've not really thought about it too much but maybe the answer is to top up prior to playing. I do want to avoid being desperate for a pee mid set though

Played a bit of a bear pit on Sat night. We've played it before, and on those occasions it's always felt as though the entire place was about to kick off. Even as we were loading the gear into the pub it was in the middle of a small brawl. We had a series of very drunk people trying to grab mics, punching the singer, and bouncing around into "band space" with no real protection, although each did eventually get thrown out. Added to which we had a local celebrity tramp, running topless into the pub, grabbing an abandoned pint and rocking out for a few seconds before being ejected, only to appear at a window giving it the rock horns.- repeated throughout the night.

[quote name='Wonky2' timestamp='1437604096' post='2827592'] Saw the first few shows... There was a young lad on who was a travis picker ......exceptionally good... [/quote] Got through a few rounds but I think he was probably too much of a 1 trick pony in the end.

Funnily enough I have no objection to Huey Morgan being a judge, he may or may not be an exceptional player (I've not heard much of his playing beyond the stuff on the records... who could tell that Prince is a world class guitarist from listening to 1999?) but he certainly demonstrates a knowledge and understanding of the instrument and industry that make him a suitable judge IMO.

What a wonderful world- Joey Ramone's version. Most people don't know it, but do know the song. It does seem to go down well most of the time. Oh, the acoustic trio I play in does Boys of Summer

Re Mustang Sally Alongside my band stuff I also play for my local tennis club. At our NYE do I was asked to bring along a guitar and mic and do a quick spot. After doing an old blues song and a Johnny Cash number I got asked for Mustang Sally. Instantly I had a dance floor full of people, and 3 of the female members doing their best Commitmentettes "Roid, Sally Roid" BV behind me. People just like it

I've enjoyed the classical, jazz and acoustic sections immensely. However "decent for 13" the lad on the electric is, he shouldn't have got past the first round, I thought there were far better players who didn't make it.

Must try and get to see Bellowhead again before they call it quits

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiKtMJSYs_U"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiKtMJSYs_U[/url]

[quote name='bassist_lewis' timestamp='1437422845' post='2825918'] And Mr Brightside is actually quite difficult to play on guitar. [/quote] Band number 2 I play in do a pared down acoustic version of this- always seems to work well