phil.c60

Yeah - We're a blues band and I love the groove of "Hey Little Schoolgirl" but we decided against it as we're all in our fifties and the "Can I Come Home With You" line seemed somewhat inappropriate to say the least.

I love my LM3 and Barefaced Compact, but am always ready to listen to other folks. The Fender Rumble 500 is currently £494.76 from my local-ish music shop, Andertons, and includes free UK delivery. If they re as good as other people on here reckon they are, and I've got no reason to argue, at less than £500 brand new it's probably the way to go for a first time bit of kit.

And if you're not Charlie Atlas....a bit more money but there's a Little Mark 3 and a Barefaced Compact Gen 2 in the ads on here both are asking £300 so for £600 (or less you've got a great lightweight set up big enough for any pub. I've been gigging with this set up for the last 4 years.with no issues.

One of my son's friends used to do this on acoustic guitar at open mic nights and it always went down a storm.

Most bizarre for me was while I was in a blues-rock trio playing all the usual stuff - AC/DC, Hendrix, George Thorogood, you get the picture. After a particularly blistering version of Voodoo Child (the guitar/vox could really do it, too) in a packed pub a nice young lady came over and asked "do you do any Dolly Parton?" I could hardly play a note for the next couple of songs as the guitarist kept looking over at me and mouthing "Dolly's next!"

I used to roll mine almost completely off (P wit flats) but I've started to roll off less recently for a bit more "presence" for want of a better word. It's all down to what sounds right to you really!

I'm not certain.

Drummer is obvious, Obligatory hat and waistcoat worn by......the guitarist!

Short clip of us at The Neptune in Hove last night - great harp playing but apologies for the dark/dim footage, that's phones for you! and you can't see me anyway because I'm hidden away on he right.....

And if you start with 17's like I did and find it's a bit much (we are not a loud band) then within the first month you can have the filters changed for no cost. I ended up with 15's, but you might need 20's. And The difference with the proper filtered ones is you can have a conversation without taking them out and hear every word. YMMV.

Pardon?

Who said anything about "matching the recording"? I distinctly said we go for a feel and then make a note of the tempo so as for the "you've heard it many many times" that's just foolish. And the thread is about "metronome on stage" so when you talk about "the drummer tries it...blah blah" it suggests that you are talking about playing live. Or it's irrelevant. Back to the literacy thing again. And as for condescending, try rereading the "it's a skill, we've been doing it all our lives" part of your post again and have a look in the mirror. And I never offered to fix anything for you either. That's me done - I'm off out in the sunshine. Ta-ra.

I can hear the distant sound of the approaching car crash. "trying it" is for rehearsals or bands that haven't learnt their material properly. Gigging it is for the finished product. As for the "we've been doing this all our lives" I deal with lots of people in my professional life who have been doing it "all their lives" - badly. That's why they need me to fix it.

Played a small venue Friday night which is a cafe/bistro during the day and a sort of bar/meeting place i the evenings. Drummer with Cajon, snare and one cymbal, acoustic guitar through a tiny amp for monitoring and through the PA, Harmonica likewise. Me my normal Barefaced and LM3 turned way down. No earplugs as we were nice and quiet (we're not a loud band anyway but I find the cymbal crash makes my ears ring after a while when we gig at normal volumes so I always wear them) went really well, lovely crowd and a really nice atmosphere and really hot. It's our second time there but my first as I was recovering from neck surgery last time and the marvellous Nodd McDonagh of this parish dep'd for me: thanks again Nodd! A steady crowd of about 35 with plenty who stayed all night and then some who drifted in and out. I really enjoyed it, it's the only venue where we have tried this set up and the first time for me and it worked really really well. So well in fact that we're going to try it at some of the smaller places we play. Unexpected left field humour from the front man - "Anyone know what day it is? It's Adolph Hitlers Birthday! This on'es for Adolph!" then launches into "Run Through The Jungle". Could have gone either way, he pulled it off fortunately. We've been booked for a private party there next month which is great.

You clearly didn't read the line that said "if we decide that the feel for the song is...." I think that's got "feel" covered. Then he needs to count us in reliably when we're gigging. Forget the maths, try literacy.

Don't forget the nutters and the oddballs, Jim. There's quite a few of those as well......

My current drummer has been known to use one, not all the time, just sometimes.and he's a real drummer. If we decide that the feel for the song is 131 or 129 or whatever, we (and he) will go with that. On a gig, if I asked you to count in one song at 131 and the next at 129 could you do it? Reliably, and consistently? And then keep to it through the song? You are also the rhythm section after all. I don't think I could. In fact, I'm sure I couldn't so I let him get us going and then we may push or pull it a bit but it keeps us honest. I was in a band for a very short time, several rehearsals and one gig with a drummer who could keep a perfect tempo. Trouble was it was only one. Flat out. When I kept insisting that it was too fast (the singer was having to sing some songs so fastt was unintelligible) his response was "We're a rock band". He was also way to loud, to which his response was "we're a rock band".You get the picture. So did I. I left.

I'm doing a small Bistro/Coffee shop gig later this month with acoustic guitar/vox through our usual PA, a pair of Electrovoice 12's and a Yamaha EMX512SC (a bit big for the room really, but hey-ho - there's nothing like a bit of headroom!), harmonica player with a 9 watt HarpTrain combo and drummer using a Cajon etc. Planning on taking my Roland Basscube 30 which is my at home practice amp and hoping it's enough but will take may Sansamp VT Bass pedal and if it isn't I'll DI into the PA (as I will have plenty of headroom!).

Good gig Saturday night at a venue we play regularly. It's a well known live music venue and in recent years it has been 2 gigs a year due to the pressure of bands wanting to play there, but this year I got the "we have so many blues based bands I'll give you only one and we'll see how it goes" which was disappointing, but.........It was busy, crowd loved us, bar staff loved us, we played well and were really on it plus the guy who books the bands came to watch the first set so I called him this morning and he instantly magic'd up another date for us in August. And when I had to go back to him and rearrange after a date clash (don't even go there) he called me back within an hour and had juggled things to fit us in on a date we could do. Can't ask for more from a gig really, happy pub, happy crowd, another booking. Only slight downer was the drunk (very) lady who during the second half: kept tried to get on stage with us, gyrated backwards towards the stage at one point so it caught her behind the ankles and she sat on the mike stand, kept whirling her scarf around and lassoed a bottle from the bar with it which exploded on the floor, you get the picture. I actually shouted at her in her ear to F$$$ Off at one point when she tried to shove me out of the way so she could get on the stage, which is unusual for me I'm normally quite calm and cheerful but it was the umpteenth time she'd tried it. That's why I play a Fender - so I could fend 'er off with it!

Don't be lazy, find some different venues!

We had some 20-something girls like that at a gig last year - one appeared in front of us with a tray of shots and tried to persuade the guitarist to take one as she passed, without understanding that he sort of had his hands full at the time! They were great - made the whole evening as it was a birthday night out for them. They were just the right amount of drunk, if you know what I mean. Lively but not a nuisance.

That really did make me laugh out loud.

Best one yet was the drunk lady a couple of NYEs ago who stood right in front of the band and told the harmonica player: "This would be a great band if you weren't in it" - I nearly piffed myself laughing at that, then complained she couldn't find her handbag - it was between her feet - then decided we weren't starting another song quickly enough and shouted "Come on, lets go - 1, 2, 3,4, er....5" We still use that now at rehearsals and it makes us laugh every time (yes, if we were doing White Room or some such it would be correct but we weren't). She then almost fell over and was gently escorted away by someone. Never saw her for the rest of the evening. Then, there is the guy known as "Singing George" who is always completely rattted and is the scourge of the open mic scene where he lives as he insists on performing some endless ode or tone-poem with four hundred verses. Goes on forever and won't stop no matter what. Boring as $$it and he's a big obstreperous git to boot. He gets "over friendly" with women as well and tends to get removed by the door staff pretty quick on music nights before any real trouble starts. He's a complete pain in the rear. I think he is actually banned from most of the music venues now as I haven't seen him for a while.

We struggled to a gig a few years ago through the snow to a small village pub. It was packed as the locals couldn't go anywhere else and a great night. Played there again in the summer and it was half full - everyone was at home having barbecues. You can't win them all.

First gig for us at a new venue. Crowd a bit thin due to the snow but those that came had a good time. Landlord chappie gave us very clear instructions (!) "I know my room and I play in a band - there's lot's of bare brick and hard flooring in here - roll off the treble or no matter how much you turn down it will still be too loud and keep the drums in check. I'll come and tell you if you can go louder" Which he did. Apparently his door staff have noise meters and he checks with them to make sure he won't upset the neighbours. He told us bluntly that there were a few bands who wouldn't listen and he won't ever re-book. Seems a bit silly of them really when there are so many bands chasing fewer venues. We played well and it was a good vibe so over all a success despite it only being half full, he was happy and want's to give us more dates - plural duly noted by our harp player who dealt with him! No hanging around at the end either - a tap on my shoulder while I was packing up and a very nice bar staff lady apologised for the turnout (it was actually snowing with a couple of inches on the parked cars) and handed me the money.