phil.c60

It's not just bands in pubs, either. A good few years ago wife and I went to see Debbie (now Deborah?) Harry at Wembley arena. The sound was so absolutely f*****g awful, (sorry about the effing but that's how bad it was) like being in a dustbin with various people banging on it with sticks and melons and brooms and anything in between that made a sort of indefinable booming noise, that after 20 minutes of absolute torture and despite having travelled a long way to be there, we were seriously considering leaving. Suddenly someone somewhere got there sh*t together and like flicking a switch the sound was transformed. Even big names in big venues don't get it right all the time. I've also given up watching live broadcasts (or recorded, often makes no difference) on the dear old Beeb from Glastonbury etc. as generally the sound is awful. You can rarely pick out the instruments and vocally it's usually poor. Surely they get their feed straight form the desk and should be able to make a better fist of it. They seem to sacrifice the music sound quality for a,lot of crowd noise for that "authentic festival atmosphere". Or some such bullshit. Rant over, Happy Fathers day.

Hmm - not sure about that. A lot of our set has songs with stops in during a vocal line where the band is brought back in with a drum fill. Unless someone is going to shout "bam ba bom ba tsch brrrrup" or whatever, I don't think rehearsals would be of much use. Sad to say it, but you'll just have to wait it out or get someone to stand in. If you have recordings of rehearsals (we - I, that is - record all our rehearsals and most gigs with a Zoom HN4. Fantastic for what we need) or gigs why not suggest everyone just refines their own parts or comes up with new ones at home using the recordings until you can rehearse again?

Don't pile it on.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1432211042' post='2779204'] Ah, but the context is the interval between two notes, not position of either note in a scale. Dropping from C to G is a fourth, and going back up from G to C is also a fourth, no matter what key you're in. [/quote] You and Dad are both right. In the key of C, G is the 5th regardless. It's the 5th "below" in this instance (ie below the chosen root note), which is the interval of a fourth. t's still the 5th note in the scale, so G is still the 5th. Going back up to C in this instance is like going fro the 5th to the octave, which is the interval of a fourth.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1431450074' post='2771518'] The volume control on a bass is a cut control. It doesn't make the bass any louder. Only quieter. So if you turn down your bass you're effectively limiting the range of dynamics available to you. Or rather making that range more narrow and harder to make fine adjustments from your fingers. . [/quote] errr if you turn your bass vol down and it makes it quieter, then set your stage volume via your amp gain / output, then turn your bass vol up it gets louder. I don't think I ever suggested that the vol control "amplifies" your bass - it's passive, so the max pickup output is what it is. I appreciate that as the pot bleeds the signal to earth to lower the pickup output, it may affect the overall dynamics/sound, but it's a sound I like (and even my guitarist commented that he likes the overall tone I get - who ever thought they listened?) so it works for me. Ymmv.

Hot Rod P bass with 90% volume on neck (P pickup) and about 15% on bridge (J pickup) with most of the treble rolled off. Keeps all the unwanted stuff down a bit plus it sort if seems unnatural to me to set anything at absolute flat out! Surely most controls work best inside their operating range rather than right at the end? With regard to dynamics, you can still play harder/softer regardless of where you start with the controls set. The only time this approach might be tricky is if you simply aren't loud enough with your amp on max and digging in but that's unlikely, surely? (or your amp/cab isn't big enough!)

There's and old line about "You can only con a greedy person easily" and it seems to be mostly true: most of the time the deal seems too good to be true, and it usually is, but the buyer manages to convince himself that he is "lucky". Of course he soon discovers that he isn't, however I have just received a very interesting proposal from a Nigerian gentleman who seems to need only the use of my bank account for a short period of time for me to make a huge amount of money so perhaps I am the lucky one after all.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1430572646' post='2762743'] I saw them in 1977 or 1978 (before they were signed) at the recently-opened Swindon Oasis - they supported Talking Heads (who I had gone to see) and I had no clue who they were. They sounded like a pub rock band to me. Talking Heads were totally fabulous. At that time I did not think DS were [i]quite [/i]as fabulous, and nothing they did after that changed my mind. So, thpp! *Runs away thumbing nose - crashes into lamp-post - is rendered unconscious - instant karma* Edit - Many years later the Gallagher brothers saw Inspiral Carpets there and used the name of the venue for their equally unremarkable pub-rock band. Not many people know that. [/quote] So were the Gallagher brothers originally called "Swindon Oasis"? Christ, that's a weird name for a band.

Pluck your bass gently and do't try too hard and end up wringing it's neck.

With regard to dear old Micky Hucknall: every time I hear "I keep holdin' on" I just think for f###s sake let go, Micky, let go. And I hope you're a really long way up.

Not said to me, but.....took my dad (crotchety old git) to see a friend of mine and her Motown revue act (which was really very good). As part of the show she always had an old friend of hers come up for a guest spot, usually involving Rockin' Robin ( I know, I know, and I hate the thing with a passion). After the show I introduced my dad to my friend, and he said "I really enjoyed this evening - the best bit was when that other woman got up and sang" I kid you not. I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. He wonders why I don't take him out much.

Whitney effing Houston. If I hear her over-shrill screechy voice I can feel the rage welling up from within. In fact just typing her name has got me.....oh dear God....it's happening again.....

Yes, The Brasenose is always heaving throughout the three days and they often have some great acts on the trailer in the garden - we saw King King on a Thursday afternoon one year. Spent a lively Saturday night in there another year with a couple of local guys - drinking, laughing and generally taking the p***. Sadly my wife can't take annual leave these days during the school holidays so we haven't been for a while.

Cropredy has always worked for me - only one bar so anyone playing who wants a drink has to mix with the crowd, which is nice. Usually plenty of acts I want to see and some that are a pleasant surprise, not overly expensive, toilets that are regularly cleaned and have bogroll, etc., but weirdly I don't like Fairport that much and go to the pub on Saturday at about 8.00 and skip their finale (all three hours of it)! That' probably going to make me persona non grate next time I go.

......which is my kind of town (although not exclusively), even if it's not yours, JTUK. And we're booked pretty well 'till the end of the year with no problem getting repeats, so even if it's not your bag, it certainly floats quite a few peoples boats. Oh, and we don't have lights, either. Or smoke. Or foam. Or explosions - we just do what we do as well as we can.

Played at a place with a raised stage, and an entrance behind for access. During one of the many ferrying trips I stepped off the stage quite quickly towards the open doorway, sprang up after the drop off the stage right under the door frame. It hurt like hell, and my eyes were swimming. Staggered around, but managed to avoid falling over - just. Felt my head, and could feel a line from the door frame in the top of my scalp, followed shortly after by a nice warm wet feeling. Went off to the (skanky) toilets and unwound masses of bog-roll and attempted to clean off the (by now) copious amounts of blood. After a while the bleeding calmed down, but left me with a nice red hue to the top of my hair. Finished setting up, and half way through the first set the guitar player said "You know your still bleeding, yeah?" I just nodded - as I was sweating it was trickling down my forehead. "Never mind," he said " there's a bloke at the front who looks like he'd lick it off if you'd let him" I could barely play for laughing at that point. Finished the gig, wiped myself down and drove home . My wife was not impressed.

[quote name='Shedua511' timestamp='1427913263' post='2735860'] I find the six string a very different animal, while the fiver required minimal adaptation from fur strings. It is true that they are not fashionable nowadays, at least you would get that impression watching tv: old, beat up four string is the required accessory this minute [/quote] Fur strings? Nice to play, very soft under the fingers I would imagine but a bit muffled. God knows what they'd be like with a pick!

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"In truth, this obsessive attention to detail can wrap us up in knots if we let it. Most lines break down into very few important notes surrounded by a lot of flubber. If in doubt, roll of the treble and 'thud' away!!! I have done whole gigs like this in the past [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] "[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I do whole gigs like this most of the time.....[/font][/color]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1427897185' post='2735592'] cheers, think I'll pull the trigger, I use Alpine sage pro's at the moment but everything sounds so muffled when I use them, it doesn't help that my hearing loss is around 6K Hz anyway [/quote] If you know that is the range where your hearing loss is, If you ring ACS ask their advice I'm sure they will be more than happy to help you so you can make an informed choice when you go for your mouldings/hearing test. As I said, they will always swap them if you don't think they are quite right for you.

We had a couple of George Thorogood songs in our set which clearly was not enough for one guy at the back, who somewhat the worse for wear would not stop shouting "I Drink Alone" at the end of song. Eventually getting somewhat fed up, next time he did it I shoved my way to the mike and nailed him with "I'm not surprised". His mates fell about.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1427825024' post='2734763'] do these ACS Pro plugs cut all frequencies? all the ones I've tried (generic fit ones I admit) have cut the upper frequencies far more than the lower ones despite what has been said on here, which means the fashion for having loud bass drums is made even worse, ok when you're playing bass though [/quote] They say that the pro 17's cut evenly across the spectrum so I went for those, but I found that with my band they were too much. They willingly change the filters for free in the first 28 days, so I rang, spoke to a very helpful guy who said 15's were the answer as they cut slightly less bass and less attenuation overall, I sent them off and they were back in 48hrs. I've been perfectly happy with them ever since. I was prepared to pay what they cost because I thought I might need to swap them or get advice: I did and the service was great.Once again. you get what you pay for! I have tried disposable sqidgy foam plugs in the past for other things (like shooting) and hated them. These are moulded to fit (via a Boots hearing person included in the price with a hearing test) and are still comfortable at the end of a gig. Couldn't ask for more, really.

It may well be that the stuff that "isn't quite right" simply means that someone else in the band can't play it! Unless the bass part is a real hook, you may be able to play a simpler version and most people listening would never know (there's been many threads on this subject before!). If it's something that you just can't play at the moment, then the band have to live with that and move on and find some stuff you all can play, while you practice like mad until eventually you can play stuff like that (don't worry, that [i]will [/i]happen), or tell you they don't think your good enough for the band which is most unlikely: there will be songs with guitar parts the guitarist can't play, songs the singer can't sing, and drum patterns the drummer can't get. That's just how it is in most amateur bands. Unless they're all seasoned 1st class pros and you're not, in which case you're screwed. (joke).The guitarist is never going to suggest things [i]t[/i][i]hey[/i] cant play, likewise the singer won't suggest things[i] they[/i] can't sing, and the drummer is unlikely to have any sensible suggestions anyway (also a joke). So perhaps your suggestions are a bit tough for them, and perhaps they're not as honest about their abilities as you are about yours! And Icastle and gary mac are right: in a while you can revisit some of the songs you can't seem to play a the moment and you will surprise yourself.

I had a bad case of sinusitis which made my left ear felt like it was under water. Eventually I wondered if it might be hearing loss from playing, but as I normally stand with the drummer on my right it was puzzling. Fortunately my hearing tested as normal (for my age) and the wateriness eventually disappeared but I invested in some ACS Pro earplugs because it did worry me at the time and I wish I'd done it years ago. I don't rehearse or play without them now, and if we're off to see a band I think will be loud I wear them then, too. When you think of what you spend on Basses, Amps and cabs why would you not spend proper money (mine were around £135) to protect one of the most important bits of kit you have that can't easily be repaired (if at all, in some cases). And like Discreet, I'm not normally a sensible person either!

Thanks all, can't wait!

And, for me, why a drummer is better (yes, I know, I said it) than a programmed drum machine which always sounds a bit soulless to me, it seems to lack "feel" somehow (now I've probably started something) as do overly processed auto-tuned vocals.