xilddx

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='843749' date='May 21 2010, 12:59 AM']I take it you get your bass in your monitor then? Any tips on how you manage that? Quick reacharound for the sound guy or something?[/quote] I have the bass in the monitor, and put up with what I have to TBH. Sometimes it's sh*t, sometimes it's better than the FoH, like my Brighton gig with Krupa on Saturday. Portability is my key requirement because I travel to a lot of my gigs on public transport.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='843741' date='May 21 2010, 12:45 AM']I prefer to rape my own tone.[/quote] Onanist, are you old egg! Mmm, thought so .. it's the jumper, you see.

He talks like a mad scientist, he stings like a bee! BAREFACED Cabs are licenced and you won't get your tone raped. It's a brilliant new column, fascinating to read, YET I couldn't give a sh*t about what he's talking about, because I use a POD X3 LIVE into the PA. I get all the sounds I love at the touch of a button and let the GLORIOUSLY BASSY PA take care of the rest. And YET, it's probably the best thing I've read in a music magazine, and I want more! Weird huh? Sorry, I just got back from a very good gig to find BGM on the coffee table - glass of wine, a rare smoke and a quick read later, I find I'm feeling really rather exuberant

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='842741' date='May 20 2010, 01:24 AM']Me too. I wonder if they've smelt a rat given how many registrations they've had in a short space of time.[/quote] And me.

[quote name='XB26354' post='842683' date='May 19 2010, 11:35 PM']It's funny, to my ears none of these examples are actually behind or ahead of the beat. The smooth jazz groove was dead on, and the drums are playing straight 8ths whilst the bass plays swung 16ths. All the other tracks are in time for the genre, but I feel that this ahead, on, behind business is misleading. Some of you guys perhaps felt that the smooth jazz groove was uncomfortable because of the kick on the + of beat 2 sounding out with the last swung 16th on the bass. They're both in time, it just sounds odd because of the crossover of the two different pulses. The only track I can remember where the beat is actually late is in the middle of Weather Report's "A Remark You Made", but then at least the whole band are late on the quarter pulse![/quote] TBH, I tend to agree with you. It's all a bit arbitrary to me. The LKJ examples I posted I don't really think are deliberate. I think it's simply how the bassist felt at the time. A live drummer can't play perfectly in time so hitting a note a fraction ahead or behind is largely chance. I've tried playing ahead and behind, often with disastrous results. I always try to play on the beat and only the feel dictates wheather I feel like hanging back or giving it some urgency. It's rarely my own technique, it's almost subliminal.

[quote name='silddx' post='834376' date='May 11 2010, 04:35 PM']This should be a good 'un! [url="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106034406106630"]http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106034406106630[/url][/quote] Hope to see one or two of you there tomorrow. Cheers, N

Good luck and great fun for tomorrow night Pete! Have a wonderful show. I'll be playing with Kit in Islington at the same time. Really looking forward to the JC though. Cheers mate.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='842470' date='May 19 2010, 08:11 PM']If you were bored enough to not want to play the songs properly you should've just quit instead of tooling around playing "mini-solos".[/quote]That's a bit harsh on ol' G mate, I know where you're coming from though, I wouldn't dream of doing that in any of my bands. However, none of my bands is a bunch of tits.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='842402' date='May 19 2010, 07:20 PM']Oh its all happening now. If you are registered to this, enjoy: [url="http://toonrockpages.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bandmembers&action=display&thread=31298"]http://toonrockpages.proboards.com/index.c...mp;thread=31298[/url][/quote] Just have looking forward to the entertainment! G, it's ridiculous and you are way better off without them.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='841307' date='May 18 2010, 07:52 PM']A wireless link should be safe in the rain. [/quote] It is. You are completely safe and you can watch your amplifier smoke, sizzle and explode with complete peace of mind

[quote name='The Funk' post='842350' date='May 19 2010, 06:34 PM']Behind. Don't even try it. Every non-New Orleans band I've seen makes it sound flat, lifeless and boring. The Meters - [i]Cissy Strut[/i] [/quote] That is amazing. THAT has serious groove and panache. THAT is a massive hip hop inspiration. Fabulous mate. All the instruments are contributing to what feels really laid back and very urgent at the same time. It's magic.

My brother's a genius at this, he normally feels it though, no theory. he has it all in his head and plays around on the guitar until there's a match. IME it's best not to be playing your instrument at the time, feel it, sing it in your head, you'll get a truer reflection of YOU that way. Good luck.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='840572' date='May 18 2010, 10:02 AM']Listen and play along to this track for a good while: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDRs0Iiv6Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDRs0Iiv6Y[/url] It's a perfect example of playing behind the beat. Quite tricky.[/quote] Oh gosh. The awful video (which makes even "Put 'em on the Glass" shimmer with credibility) aside, I found the bass to be both uncomfortable to listen to and the timing is responsible. Behind, ahead and on the beat, but without any real point, it had no groove or make much musical sense to me. Live I can understand, but not recorded. When the bass was on the beat it sounded best to me. Most of the time I like bass on the beat. Sorry Pete. Some examples of live reggae dub in all pockets - Linton Kwesi Johnson. Ahead (most of the time, settles back a bit in the choruses) On (most of the time) Just Behind (near the end you can hear the drums speed up a bit and the bass starts to get just ahead, then falls back slowly but still goes ahead occasionally)

[quote name='Beedster' post='840567' date='May 18 2010, 09:58 AM']We've a couple of outdoor gigs lined up and the topic of safety came up at rehearsal last night, largely as the result of the 'what do we do if it's pissing down with rain' conversation. Anyone got a good info source on this, or any potentially useful advice/experience they can share? Cheers Chris[/quote] It's a pretty simple answer really. Don't let any of the electrical equipment get wet unless the manufacturer says it is safe for it to do so. For a start you should be playing undercover. I can't imagine any sensible event organiser having an unprotected stage with PA, amps and lighting in a country with weather like the UK. Best to check with the event organisers what their safety measures are and ask to see a risk assessment and method statement. If you get much difficulty from them, ask the local authority EHO team. Hope that helps, Chris.

[quote name='P-T-P' post='841020' date='May 18 2010, 03:58 PM']Lots of good suggestions here and the variety suggests that "big sound" means different things to different people. I'm going to guess that what you're looking for is a way to fill out the sound now that there's more space as you're down to a three piece. I'm more inclined to think of this as being a technique/playing issue more than a gear one. Definitely you and the drummer need to get in the zone. If you can come up with licks that will compliment his fills and if he can learn to accentuate your lines, that's a big part of the battle won. Don't be afraid to play fewer notes, but make sure you let each of those notes enjoy their full potential - don't choke those quarter notes off until they've rung for a full quarter of the bar, for example - as this will thicken up the sound considerably. A little less attack in your right hand will help too, try to allow the notes to bloom rather than explode and fade. A nice set and forget compressor will be your friend here. You don't need to have squillions of controls, just level and ratio will do fine to smooth out the peaks and troughs in your volume. Set your amp level higher than you need and practice playing with greater control and nuance in your right hand (assuming you're right handed lol), if you need more volume, get it from the amp, not from playing harder as this can lead to a loss of control and subtlety. Think about playing the same line in a (left hand) position further up the neck as this can add a little depth to your tone.[/quote] Probably the best advice you'll get, I'm ashamed I didn't think of it first.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='824824' date='May 1 2010, 01:54 PM']Write out a chord chart - you don't need to be able to play the guitar or piano. You can figure it out on teh bass. If you can write out a bass line, you should be able to figure out the chords. If you can't, you don't know as much theory as you think [/quote] Yes, that's what I was thinking. I have to learn everything by ear in my bands, which I find very easy as it's fairly simple music. But if I needed to (I don't) I could fairly simply write out the chord charts. I can hear the tonality and work out which key centres and scales they are based around. Bubinga5, why do you need chord charts? I have no idea why you would if you've already learned the songs by ear. Is it simply as an aide memoire?

[quote name='Tee' post='840034' date='May 17 2010, 07:08 PM']I do it too as i write and record my own stuff at home. At practice, i hop on the drums, when the drummer leaves the room for a smoke [/quote] Same as me, I used to have a leccie kit, but I sold it to a real drummer. Out of courtesy I always use hotrods or brushes on other people's kits though. I love a good shred on a guitar now and again, I'm not writing at the moment.

I think that's OTT too mate. All my bands rehearse very infrequently. We know the material so the rehearsal a few days before a gig is simply to sharpen up and work out any issues. I rehearse with Kit a bit more often because she writes a lot of new material, I record it on the H2, send it to all, and we learn it. Fairly simple process. That said, we rehearsed two new Krupa songs for the first time on Weds and played them yesterday, they sounded great. I suppose it's all down to the amount and complexity of the material. TBH, the only way a band is going to get truly as tight as a duck's backside is to gig often. No amount of rehearsal can come near the tightening effects of regular gigs IMO, there are so many other factors in a gig that you can't replicate in rehearsals.

I have a gig the same night but I'll be at the JazZ Café. Have a great one Pete.

[quote name='51m0n' post='838540' date='May 15 2010, 11:47 PM']Sorry mate, I couldnt make it this evening, I'd have love to have seen you guys. Hope you had a great time and got a really tip top 'up for it' Brighton crowd! Si[/quote] No worries mate. It was a great gig, very professionally handled by all concerned, and they had a superb sound engineer and PA. The crowd were lovely and very responsive, only about 50 of them but they were really into it and Krupa had them singing by the end of the set. It was a splendid day out. My first time in Brighton unbelievably, seemed like a great place.

Just get a POD X3 Live, programme your bass nightmare and let the PA take care of the rest, man. Backline is so '90s

[quote name='MB1' post='836103' date='May 13 2010, 01:00 PM']MB1. All The Best! ... a Funky Bollywood pop version of Y.M.C.A.? [/quote] Thanks mate. I am going to wear my Freddie Mercury outfit

[quote name='Musicman20' post='836211' date='May 13 2010, 02:39 PM']This is my first gig with the Snagsby lads... What do we do? Rock/Pop/Funk covers. Anything from the Rolling Stones, to Kings of Leon, to Stevie Wonder. All their links are in my signature, but bear in mind the websites are due for a massive overhaul as myself and the vocalist are new to the band. 19/06/10 - Steels - Sunderland. Cheers Gareth[/quote] Have a great one mate! I'll ask Mrs silddx to let her extended Sunderland family know!

[quote name='51m0n' post='836071' date='May 13 2010, 12:34 PM']If I can make it I'll be the fat straight uncomfortable looking old fella [/quote] Dude, I know exactly what you look like 'cos we had a chat at the Bash. So stop being so modest it would be great to see you there man!