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SteveO

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Posts posted by SteveO

  1. First bass was a squire p bought new back in the 80's. keep buying and selling according to gas, but that squire has remained my main bass and the only bass i've ever gigged with. Not for sentimental reasons though. If the next purchase turns out to be nicer to play then it'll get sold (being a tight-arse i've never spent over a grand on a bass though, so this might never happen)

  2. wasn't there a way to block animated avatars in the "my settings" bit once - maybe the old site, maybe my memory's going?

    I wonder if it is a mac thing. browsing on my pc or phone is fine, but on the mac its easier to restart the browser (and avoid that thread) than to wait for it to catch up.

    I also wonder if the member is aware of the problems from his avatar? pm-ing now as I'm sure he's a nice bloke and not the kind to wish to cause upset.

  3. I used to get right pissed off with picks wearing out so quickly. I mean some of them are so soft they only last 2 or 3 gigs. Blimey. If I didn't have to buy new ones all the time I recon I could save nearly 5 of your english pounds a year.

  4. I usually play the line leading with middle finger on right hand. Firstly because the first note is a leading note so the beat then falls on the index finger, and secondly because you can do a 21 21[u]2[/u]1 | 21 21[u]2[/u]1 | 21 21[u]2[/u]1 pattern, with the [u]2[/u] being the octave F#. this leaves loads of space around the notes making it easy to keep the groove super tight with the drums.

    Saying that, do whatever seems comfortable to you, and if its good enough for JPJ then who am I to argue :)

  5. [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1326556357' post='1498810']
    A pair of wedges for everyone...!! what sort of spec..?? no space for backline..?? why..??

    And from the sounds of it, I'd be asking why bother with this gig..???
    [/quote]

    couple of 300w active things - they had blue lights on if that helps. sorry, but I'm crap with gear :) I managed to squeeze in a small cab for myself so it went fine.

    tiny space (about 10ft by 8ft) in a tiny pub, seats for about 30 people. standing space for maybe 50 more at a squash, and they do squeeze in :)

    Why? because it is a mates pub, and it is an absolutely fantastic place and crowd. About half way between Olso and the Sweedish border. When it comes to fun gigs, this one beats all :)

  6. As many have said, EQ-ing to the room and to the rest of the band is a necessity, and the sound of me through the PA is rarely "My sound", however I try as hard as possible for the stage sound to be as much of "my sound" as possible, the reason being that as I'm listening to what I'm playing, I'm going to be adjusting technique (unconsciously) to smooth out the harshness or give it an extra bit of attack where needed, and if the sound I'm hearing is scratchy and horrible then I'm going to be compensating to get away from this even though this is exactly what sounds best in the mix. Sometimes this means that I play gigs having total faith that the FOH sound is OK and trying to ignore what I perceive to be me making a crap sound - for example on tonight's gig there is no space for any backline and we'll all be straight into the desk. All the monitoring will be through a pair of wedges. Going to try IEMs soon though to see if this will help.

  7. [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1324290583' post='1472495']
    Most HR's in companies that I know are useless and don't know employment law...and you'd be surprised how far they will press you with
    'reasonable' request/requirements that a tribunial would have a field day with.

    And in these times when jobs are difficult, they aren't going to slacken off, IMO.


    OT apologies
    [/quote]
    IME most HR departments DO now employment law (or at least the people in charge of HR do - the average HR assistant's job is office admin) HR depts are not your friends. They are paid for and work in the best interests of the company, and their role can be summarised as 'knowing the law and seeing what we can get away with."

  8. [quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1324229072' post='1472069']
    I wouldn't say just because one place had it makes it legal. I've had a few that shall we say contestable .
    [/quote]
    No it's not legal. It's a breach of article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - the "Right to Work". Any company trying to enforce the 'no 2nd job' rule will loose the case, although in the real world any employee contesting it is not likely to last for very long in that job.

    Of course if you take a second job and that stops you from doing your first job (e.g. through not being able to work the contractual hours) then they have grounds for dismissal, but if it doesn't stop you doing your first job then there's feck all they can do about it, regardless of anything in the contract. You can't sign away your statutory rights.

  9. Its a tough situation for most I think. There used to be a time when contract negotiations were 2 way - the company will want the employee to do xyz and work such and such hours and pay so much for it. The employee has their own wishes - for e.g. taking time off to gig - and a compromise will be reached. These days there is no impetus for companies to make a compromise. There's plenty of fish in the sea and if you don't want to submit to their demands then they'll find someone who will. Over here there are more jobs than unemployed people so employers are willing to be reasonable - in my case I made sure that I could take time off (with reasonable notice of course) and work overtime to make up for it as part of the contract. Fortunately the nature of the business means this is not a problem (we're not a shop with set opening hours etc) If or when I change jobs then this same condition will have to be part of my next contract. It's not so unreasonable and not so unusual, after all most parents will make sure their working hours fit around school times. It could be argued that child responsibilities are more important than playing music, but the principle is still the same.

    I remember when I was in the UK the buzz-topic among HR was Work-Life-Balance, taking the European view that a happy employee is a productive employee. It's sad to see that this has apparently fallen by the wayside and it looks like it's gone back to the old pre-union employment model of 'work them to death and then find a replacement that you can also work to death'. I suppose the only options are search for a job that allows you the time off that you want, or become self employed.

  10. Once auditioned for a 10 piece soul band. 2 guitarists, keyboards 2 vocalists, 2 saxes, trumpet and drummer. The only ones to show for the "audition the new bassist rehearsal" was the drummer and the 2 sax players, no messages of apologies from the others. Went pretty well considering. Vocalist called the next day saying the drummer was full of praises and offered me the gig, but told them that there was no way I'd be wasting my time with a band that couldn't be arsed. Felt pretty good at the time although it was about 9 months before the next offer :)

  11. The third way is to have your iem for you alone, taking a feed from your amp / effects chain / Di box / whatever before it goes to the desk, instead of taking a mix from the desk. This way you rely on the monitors for the sound of the rest of the band. You can easily boost your 'me level', meaning less faffing for your engineer, plus you can tweak it on the fly without having to catch the engineers eye.

    Of course its not as controllable as the custom mix approach, but few musicians need to have anything other than 'more me' - perhaps the drummer will like a louder bass in his mix.

  12. Doesn't the Galaxy Tab have a usb port dongle thing that plugs into its proprietary socket. Just like the ipad? the only other way of getting files onto them looks like via the wireless ethernet, which of course the ipad also does (Been looking at them as christmas is approaching and no 1 daughter has been dropping a few (un)subtle hints. (I'm going for the ipad anyway, but I wanted to look at what else is on the market)

  13. I too like your 'down to earth' style - nothing mote irritating than the usual 'look at me' presenters. It's probably a British thing. Are there any plans for tutorial bass stuff too? I thought the rhythm guitar tutorial on triads in issue 1 was well done (I've not looked at any others yet) - again the unpretentious informative style really works well. Looking forward to the next issue.

  14. Its a bit of a pisser for sure, but the reality is that most singers have a fairly limited range, and the originals of most songs are done in a key to suit the singer. Hotel California is a good example, which Don Felder originally wrote in Cm. Don Henley couldn't sing in that key so it was changed to Bm for the recording. The point is that some bands will just not do songs that the singer can't manage others will detune to play the song in the original key, others will just play the song in standard tuning (for example we don't bother to detune to D# to play the GNR songs, but play it in the same fingerings as they did so our version of sweet child is in D instead of the original C#)

    Don't get me wrong, I feel for the OP, but it is just the way things are and if you're going to dep then chances are that some times you're going to have to play in unusual keys. Fortunately (IMO etc) the bass is the easiest instrument to do this on, and usually just means moving the whole pattern up or down a few frets - obviously working around open strings as necessary. Pity the poor brass section who will have to play a wholly new pattern that bears no relation to the one they may have learnt before.

  15. [quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1320623454' post='1429196']
    ...they insisted I use their DI because they knew how to use it...
    [/quote]

    I am a gear head and tend to take everything that I can think of (I prefer to think of myself as being prepared) yet have never used my DI box. My experience is not huge, but the 2 studios and a handful of venues with house PA all preferred that I use their DI boxes. Seems to me that they may have been embarrassed and thought to blame you rather than to admit their mistake.

    Edit: Of course there is no rule book of what studios must have, so maybe they genuinely think that DI boxes are not their concern. Bit stupid IMO as it makes them look unprofessional at best and at worst could mean that the recording session may be cancelled. Both are hardly likely to get repeat bookings.

  16. Great stuff. Love the dive-bombing bass in the break in the middle.
    I like the vocals, although my pet hate is singers breathing too loudly. The start of the first verse sounds good, but once your singer starts panting at the end of each line it sounds too choppy, and this detracts from the track. If you can get him to take a big breath for the 2nd half of the verse it will improve it considerably.
    I also think it could benefit from a 3rd (and maybe a 4th?) verse as it sounds too short. I know it's 3 mins and that is not a short track, but It felt more like 1 min. I just got into it and then it was all over.

    [quote name='Duarte' timestamp='1317941762' post='1396635']... there is definitely more in the pipeline. ...[/quote]
    Looking forward to hearing more :)

  17. [quote name='chris_b' post='1340419' date='Aug 15 2011, 11:49 AM']If bass is easy then you’re either a genius or you’re not doing it right![/quote]

    yup on both counts :)

    seriously though, once you can do the two handed tapping, sweep picking, fast runs etc etc on a guitar then the only difference in doing it on a bass is the slightly more physical demands of playing that instrument. The point is - and this is why bass is an easier instrument - that in the vast majority of situations you don't [u]need[/u] to do any of that 'hard' stuff. The only thing hard about learning the bass (as opposed to the guitar) is to treat it as a rhythm instrument, and spend your energies on developing a good sense of timing rather than concentrating on playing expressively. Thats not to say of course that you can't be expressive on a bass or that you can't grove on a guitar. Generally thats why guitar players that play bass sound sloppy - they just haven't needed to focus any of their training on rhythm other than at a rudimentary level. I would say that bass players [i]are[/i] aware of the different roles of instruments in the band and when given a guitar usually doesn't try to play it like a bass... which brings us back to the OP :)

  18. [quote name='Bilbo' post='1149488' date='Mar 4 2011, 04:28 PM']Is it just me? I think (know?) its harder to play guitar and easier to play the bass. Now obviously the hardest bass parts are harder than the easiest guitar parts but, overall, the bass is easier. Its fundamentally one note at a time not several. Got to be easier. I have four guitars and one electric bass and one double. I can play the basses, I can make a credible go of gutiar parts but, of the two, the bass is by far the easier instrument to play, not just because I have played the bass more but because it [i]is[/i] easier.

    And less strings (normally)[/quote]
    I can't quite tell if you're being sarcastic here Bilbo, but I agree wholeheartedly anyway. I play guitar to a (IMHO) fairly good standard, but Bass is far far easier.
    As an example, we have 10 new songs in the setlist this summer. The guitarist has been working away for months learning all the solos etc. I spent about 2 hours in total learning the handful of riffs and then just listening to the tunes to get familiar with them. We'll thrash it out tomorrow night at rehearsal, but I can guarantee that I've put in much less work than he has.

    Improvising on bass on the other hand is much much harder. Playing around with the timing, a few to many "unusual" note choices, gaps of more than a bar long, these things make you sound interesting... when you're playing guitar. Do that on a bass and you will get laughed at (or at least make people cringe inwardly) of course this doesn't quite apply to an improvised bass solo when you (presumably) have someone else holding the groove together. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. The point is this...


    BASS IS EASIER - Get over it!

    :)


    Edit: I dunno about everyone else, but I often stop for a rest... I'm going to be playing this fairly simple pattern for the next 30 seconds over a few chord changes... hmmm, she's quite nice... give her a smile... who's that she's dancing with... she's quite pretty too... oh, wait a bit is that the chorus coming up... no there's another verse...
    I would guess that the 'rests' that your guitarists are referring to are when they just strum a few chords for a verse or two and give their brains a bit of a breather.

  19. [quote name='charic' post='1339798' date='Aug 14 2011, 06:26 PM']The dremmel is on amazon.

    Just to say a quick thanks to everyone but I have decided to yield to finances and put this particular ambition on hold.[/quote]
    Don't give up just yet, you don't need to buy all of that stuff before you start. As with most crafts the trick is to start simple and build up your toolkit as you go along. It is possible to do inlaying with a scalpel, a mallet and chisel and a block plane - admittedly it'll be tough to do any intricate lacework in Mother of Pearl with those tools though. Remember that as good as modern tools such as mini routers are, they were inlaying wood well before Ben Franklin went out kite flying on a stormy night.

    I've checked in the workshop and I've got the Dremmel 300 - cost me about 300 Kroner (30 quid-ish) I'm sure the 4000 is the mutts nuts with its "Electronic torque control system", but I can honestly say I've never wished that I'd gone for a more sophisticated model.

  20. [quote name='charic' post='1338940' date='Aug 13 2011, 06:40 PM']Andy that's great! If you start looking into this aswell please pitch in. I'm just sorting the shopping list now. Which I will post up in it's completeness before I go begging for bits for my birfdy :)

    Thanks for your help SteveO, how long do your router bits tend to last?[/quote]

    Still on my first bit :) I haven't done that much inlaying. I've done 5 box lids with inlays (the inlays were about 5cm square) and an inlaid string on a chest (about 15m total length) they're still sharp with no scorch marks the last time.

  21. [quote name='charic' post='1338917' date='Aug 13 2011, 06:02 PM']Thanks SteveO,

    I'm not looking into doing basses/guitars for a looong time. Which Dremmel are you using out of interest?

    Thanks for the tip radius tip... :lol: confusing line :)[/quote]

    Oh, I don't know. Its a blue one :)
    It looks like the 4000 from your link, but they're all much of a muchness. IIRC the differences are negligible - cordless, different attachments in the box etc.

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