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I change strings on average after about three gigs, if not sooner. Does that mean I'm super fast?

Just because a band plays a few covers, if they are an established outfit performing a set mainly of originals, I think it's wrong to call them a covers band. I mean who could say Chic were a covers band, without being a bit tongue in chic, I mean cheek?

It's no different to any night round here. A while ago we had some drunks stagger into some piled up chairs and send them crashing into my basses and the drum kit. I went mental and the guys apologised. It turns out it was some drunken bitch of a girl that had pushed them. It was only later that our drummer showed me a big scratch in his bass drum. A nice new kit as well. Oh, the joys of being a pub covers band!

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1419070746' post='2636168'] If we chance a song we don't know well enough and we don't rehearse enough of late... then discreet notes are used... At the end of it all, do we put on very good show... well, we are capable of that but people judge us as much as they judge anyone else... if fact, I think they judge us more as we are considered the 'upstarts'... [/quote] This is the very reason I use a stand. As I've said before, I work month on, month off, so can only rehearse, obviously when I'm home. We try to freshen our set as much as we can, therefore there's not always a lot of time to" get a new number off". That's why I have to use notes on lyrics as I'm learning the bass part, but it takes a bit longer for the grey matter to store lyrics. I certainly don't need notes for songs we have been doing for years. I'm not going to keep moving the stand back and forward as we do different songs, so it stays where it is all night

You need to "feel" the music. If you've grown up listening to rock and metal, that's what your hard wired to play. You might tackle other material along the way, but rock and 4/4/2 is ingrained in your brain. To play ska and reggae, your gonna have to immerse yourself in the music and get the feel for it before being a convincing player and not just a playing by numbers type musician.

I think it's a bit unfair to compare us with Chic. They are an extremely successful, multi platinum selling band and we're not! There's a reason for this, not least of which is the fact that we are playing other people's songs. I would love to put on a show and go the full hog , and don't get me wrong, when we were younger, we really went for it. Thing is, these days , if I was to jump around onstage and shout " are you ready to rock people?" I would be regarded in these parts as a tosser. I know a lot of the people who come to see us, plus We are all starting to get a bit older. We have to put on a slightly more dignified show. It's not like we stand like statues all night, plus our "stage" is just usually on the floor at the end of the bar with very little room for rock poses. We do make a little effort. I've seen many bands on huge stages who don't run around all over the place and yet who have captivated me. I've seen bands who do nothing but run around, and that's great too. As for exceptional or unique, we regard ourselves as pretty good. We play rock covers mixed with traditional music rocked up a bit, so it is a bit unique for this town, although not completely unheard of in this area. I like to think that by playing good music and at least looking like I'm enjoying myself, is enough round here to make people think, I like these.

Duff Mc Kagen, Geddy , Mike Inez ( Alice in chains) Justin Chancellor ( Tool) Paz Lenchantin ( a perfect circle ) all have killer tones and explain why I am such a fan of round wounds and can't do with flats !

I'm the bass player in our band, but also the singer and I find that when I'm singing, seven times out of ten, my eyes are closed, which means , stand or not, I'm not engaging the audience with eye contact. I wonder, do all the " professionals " amongst you who sing and play, do the same or are you continuously bonding with the masses? I am a firm believer that as long as you are making a decent noise in a pub, no one gives a jot, what's beside you onstage

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1418921238' post='2634918'] More likely impossible because both tracks will be heard on the same system and if you're listening to both through a pair of crappy laptop speakers for example, you're not going to hear the slightest difference between them, so it's a moot point. [/quote] So now your saying, that there would be no discernible difference. I said before, we have played a CD player and an iPod through our very high quality PA, with bass bins, and mate, no one could say, oh that sounds like a crappy MP3 . It all sounds immense. My own home system is a very good Sony system that people have commented on as being a very good sound. My friend, I will say again, I'm no expert on sound compressing etc, but I know what sounds good!

I'll say it again then. Mp3's played through our PA sound amazing. I have stated that I'm not an expert on sound quality and what makes it so. All I know is what sounds good. We have used CD players and the iPod and the difference is not noticeable .

All I know is my iPod played through our EV PA system, sounds amazing. I don't claim to know all about sound quality, but I think a lot of folk join the emperors new clothes bunch who bemoan the humble MP3 . What I'm saying is, when played through an amazing sound system, pretty much anything sounds good!

I was working last Christmas but this year we have a gig on Hogmanay, so looking forward to that!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1418816090' post='2633560'] The one that really gets me is when the guitarist quietly plays the first bar or so of the next number, thus completely ruining the flow of the set and letting everyone in the room know what bloody number you're going to play next! [/quote] Yip! That's what I'm talking about. I HATE this! We can rehearse till we are blue in the face, but the guitarer has to play a bit to remind himself that he remembers it, has the right sound dialled in etc.

I hear what you all are saying but, there has to be some noise created before you start. This is pubs we are talking about. We set up and play, we don't arrive in the afternoon and do our sound check whilst the place is empty. You HAVE to sound check. Ok, we make it as quick as possible cos we have a decent idea of where our settings should be, but to start totally blind, would be very not alright! I'm talking about making noise between songs. Sorry to the OP, looks like your topic got hijacked

I too, hate long gaps between songs and it's one of my great falling outs with our guitarist, who suffers from OCD and must tune up in between every song, then play the parts of the song to make sure he remembers them. I've heard people shout, oh, I like this one, just on him twiddling and I get cheesed off cos the song has lost its impact. It makes any banter I might have thought of, impossible to use as it wouldn't be heard over his playing. It's my great hate and so unprofessional!

Alright mate, I too have a Euro LX , which is a lovely bass, but I always reach for the fenders when we gig for some reason. It's annoying cos I love the Spector when I'm playing in the house.

I bought an e bow and couldn't get much out of a bass at all. It works fine on my guitars but sh*t on the bass!

I admire these guys but feel that I'd rather be top of division one than bottom of the premier league if you know what I mean? We know our limitations. We are a pub band that occasionally does weddings, parties etc. I think we are pretty good, but in the past , people have saId why don't you go professional and do this all the time? I thought, nah, I enjoy it as a hobby, but to do it all the time, I would grow to hate it as we would have to travel all over and play every night of the week to make ends meet. It's hard to get to the level where you could just do weekend gigs and still make a living. Good luck to these very talented guys, but for me, I'm happy to stick to what we are doing

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1416163205' post='2607501'] Not really. Most estimates put Clayton's 'net worth' at $150m...which is somewhat behind Marcus Miller who is worth approx $215m. I'll take brilliant musician who is also minted over the slightly less minted hack any day. [/quote] I'm sure Mr Clayton takes that on board and will give it his undevided attention as he struggles to improve his musicianship for you

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1410426931' post='2549256'] I also own a Geddy Lee jazz bass. There isn't a SINGLE bass I've ever played (including all the ones that went through the music store I worked for and all the ones I've tried in other stores and belonging to friends etc) that has a neck profile like the Geddy Lee. It is unique Also, sound and tone comes from the player (phrasing, note choice, rhythmic phrasing etc), not the bass, so I don't follow that logic :-) I've never had anyone comment on my playing after a gig and say 'it was awesome but your bridge pickup sounded a bit too much like Geddy Lee' [/quote] I own one of these too and I would love if someone said I sounded like Geddy Lee! I can dream, eh?

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1418762485' post='2633150'] Here's a picture of me doing a gig with Smokey Robinson , unfortunately it was difficult to see around the stand from where his pic was taken [attachment=178751:images.jpeg] [/quote] Congratulations mate you broke the ten page barrier.....can we make 11 ?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1418749522' post='2632949'] How glamorous the music business is! Punters milling about like drunken skittles with bad haircuts, bumping into things and vomiting on one's pedalboard... bliss. [/quote] I have never had one of said skittles ever say to me " oi! Mate, what the hell is that stand doing there? I'm not putting up with this, I'm off to stagger into another more musically adept band of minstrels ". Strange innit?

I tried, but one of my posts was obviously considered too risqué and was whisked away into the netherworld, never to be seen again!

[quote name='pierreganseman' timestamp='1418725714' post='2632633'] yes you do... you don't wanna be the one stuck on stage with a broken strings / none working bass.... end up being "that guy" and its basically the end [/quote] Erm, how does that mean you have to carry a spare head?

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1418748387' post='2632936'] It's all about marketing and deciding what kind of people you want to your gig. Is Simon Cowell marketing X-Factor to as many people as possible and creating a bland content or is he targeting a certain market? Are middle aged bass players part of his target audience. What do we actually lose if someone walks out of a gig because we're using music stands? Who knows? Maybe ten other people stay because we are? Who do we want at our gigs? We're marketing to people who will jump about and drink loads of beer. Not to some muso nursing his one pint of real ale who comments on the bass player because he's not playing the exact line as played on the single even though he has the music in front of him. . [/quote] At last, someone speaketh the truth, will we miss the overly cynical, critical muso who scoffs at the lack of musicianship clearly available judging by the presence of music stands? Or will we revel in the drunken hordes that know nothing of the intricacies of playing an instrument and who will ask us for the song we just played before they came in, and will insist that you must know this one etc. etc.etc. I think I know the answer!