ubit

We were booked to do a Christmas dance once. The set up was, we were to play a set, then this other band (keyboard/singer and drummer) would do a set and then us, then them and finally we would join together and finish the night. About four hours of entertainment altogether. We did our first set and then the drummer of the other band came and told us that the keyboard player/singer of their band was so drunk he couldn't perform. Would we carry on and do the rest of the night? We didn't have enough material for that length of set. We had to start dragging up slow numbers or long since dropped numbers and then the dreaded repeating songs when it's the same audience. I wanted the ground to open up and was just willing the night to end.

The worst of it was the drummer of the other band who also organised the gig only paid us our going rate which we would have got anyway. He was a crooked little bugger.

Many years ago I had a string break on me. First song, big intro, launch into song and G string breaks. No spare. Had to stop the gig, jump in a car and run up the road grab another, fit it, tune up and carried on. Altogether the least professional I could be.

I always carry spare strings or guitars now.

I've never had an amp fail but on one occasion we were playing in a barn with very dodgy electrics. My valve amp kept cutting out. I would play for 30 seconds then it would go iff for 10 seconds os so then repeat. I eventually went through my spare di and went straight into the pa. Problem solved although I struggled to hear myself. I thought my amp was knackered but next gig everything was working fine so it was definitely the dodgy electrics.

The majority of my guitars and basses live in the spare bedroom which has become the music room but I have a Taylor acoustic that lives in the living room alongside a five string banjo. I just love having instruments handy for picking up or for simply looking at.

36 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I've been listening to a few P vs Mustang videos and the Mustangs seem to 'out P' the Ps on every occasion, whether full sized split or mini Mustang split pickup, at least to my ears. YMMV. Of course it might be down to strings, but in a mix, etc.

 

 

 

I don't think that a fair contest as he clearly states that the Mustang has brand new strings and the P has old strings. You can hear the new string bark coming from the Mustang.

I gigged for most of my playing career using a Status Eclipse. It was a great bass but I always wanted a Fender. When I finally got one I was blown away. Just simplicity and such a great tone without worrying about peaking or batteries going flat.

I have a few of both and I am happy.

1 hour ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

 

Yeah it's definitely not a range thing. His voice has a richness and a tone and timbre which is absolutely superb (although granted, subjective, when you start taking about tone). 

 

On the other side of the coin, you have people like Adele, who has a huge range, and can undoubtedly hit all the right notes, but it's like nails on a chalk board. Kind of like playing a flute solo on bagpipes. The notes might be there, but it sounds bloody horrible! 

It's the same with Frank Sinatra. He didn't have a particularly huge range but the quality and richness of his voice was what made him a superstar.

I have always boiled my strings. I have tried wiping them, soaking them in methylated spirits and used string cleaner but always return to boiling. I get about three gigs out of new strings before I feel the brightness has gone. I boil them and get at least another gig, maybe two. I have tried boiling for a second time and never got favourable results. So boiling for me is a once only job in the life of my strings.

Dance and trance music from the 90's was to a large part instrumental

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

His lyrics are pretty good. If he chose to publish them, unaccompanied, as poetry I would have no problem with that. It's that he chooses to set them to dull repetitive music (and IMO the music would still be dull even if it wasn't so repetitive) that means they need to be judged as songs, taking both the music and the lyrics into account. And on that level it fails miserably, the music being so terrible that it completely negates the genius of the lyrical content.

Opinions and all that.

Barry Manilow didn't write I write the songs.

I have lent out my number one P bass but only to my brother in law who is an excellent musician and I know he would look after it. Trouble is I re stringed  it just before he asked and when I got it back the strings were dead.

A while back I was taking guitar lessons from a guy and he said he was going on tour with a well known band. I offered him a shot of my Geddy Lee J bass. He took it on tour and when he returned it to me, not only were the strings dead, he never even gave me as much as one free lesson.

I have decided no more lending out.

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Despite being more than a little interested in "Gothic" music in most of its forms, I do not like anything that Nick Cave has produced, and think that as a songwriter he is vastly over-rated.

This is what I mean. I love everything he has done. I mean who can't appreciate the genius of these lyrics?

3 hours ago, tegs07 said:

Tom Waits 

Leonard Cohen 

Nick Cave 

Shane MacGowan

 

All superb and Lyrically wonderful. Guaranteed to clear a party in seconds (apart from fairy tale of new york - the pogues lovecats….)

I was at a festival a number of years ago and Grinderman was playing. I met a local guy later who said Nick cave was shite wasn't he? I was like, I loved them. Then he said but Paulo Nutini was great and I said I thought he was shite. Just goes to show, tastes and all that.

40 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

The Wombles mimed on TOTP.

No way! Childhood ruined!

I cannot stand anything by the Beatles. I realise I am in the minority but I just found all of their songs to be turgid and boring. I detest the song American Pie . I visibly  shiver when it comes on anywhere. Dire Straits early material is excellent but they turned into something I hate. Money for Nothing and Walk of Life are dreadful, although I do concede that video juke boxes in the 90's are probably to blame for this.

I haven't read through every post so apologies if they have been mentioned but I hate the negativity towards Nickelback. I think they are a really good rock band and when we went to see them they were excellent and the sound was out of this world. I have seen many more "credible" bands who have been poor live.

4 hours ago, tegs07 said:

Im sure there are studies out there where people judge the sound of an instrument as being better if they know it’s a famous make. Violins being a good example. 

Acoustic instruments do have differences in tone depending on their build material. That isn't the point of this post. It's solid bodied instruments that the o.p. is talking about.

Can I have 5 minutes of your time to talk about Cheesus?

A good few years ago when we were playing I over heard a couple of girls who had been at school. with us muttering "would you look at them, what age do they think they are?" I laughed as we were in our early forties and were going down a treat. I thought I would rather be up here doing this than getting old before my time and going out slagging off others.

To be honest does anyone actually bother about the winners? Last years or was it two years ago there was I think an Italian band who were actually not bad. I haven't heard anything from them since

I can concur with this. I have two P basses that I built from cheap body kits from Ebay. I also built a Strat guitar from cheap body parts. I fitted them with good quality pick ups and hardware and they all sound superb. Easily as good as my American Std. P. will I sell the American P? No way! Even knowing that the wood makes no difference I still love the look and feel of the top guitars. Plus knowing you have a genuine legendary piece of musical folklore in your Hands counts for a lot.