Nicko

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1509617811' post='3400275'] I play in a primarily wedding/function band. But we do play the odd pub gig for potential customers to be able to come and watch us. For weddings, you can charge what you like. Whether you get booked is another matter. I think you just need to be realistic with it. Take a look at the wedding bands that are established in your area. Do an honest assessment of your band. Then try to calculate what you think you can charge based off that. As for pub gigs, we don't play many of them, maybe 4 a year, and we get £300 a go. [/quote] You're doing well to get £300 at the dog and duck. £250 is normal for the London 'burbs. To answer the OP by the time you have taken rehearsal time, travel costs, set up time and expenses into consideration pub gigs wont give much of a return. As an hourly rate a pub gig with a 1hr each way journey, 1 hour set up and 2 x 1 hour sets with a break gives your something like £50-70 less expenses for a 6 hour job. Functions are profitable but what you play is very much out of the band's hands.

[quote name='Jakester' timestamp='1509622702' post='3400348'] Hmm, deliberately seeking to damage someone's hearing to make a point? Great idea... [/quote] Geez, lighten up. [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1509622934' post='3400353'] You've not much knowledge on in ears then? [/quote] Please educate me, surely pumping volume through IEM is the same as using in ear headphones at high volume which is widely believed to contribute to hearing loss.

No, not another thread on an age old topic. Our stickman turned up last night with a pair of earplugs. For some reason this ended up with him playing more quietly. Result.

Back on topic, should I be excited that PMT are now open in London, given the numerous other stores located in and around the capital? Am I missing something?

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1509372013' post='3398375'] If everyone sends me £100, I'll reveal the simple way to make a shedload of money just by typing a few words on the internet... [/quote] Please PM me with your bank details and logon password so I can make the transfer immediately.

I'm waiting for Blue's critique of the ad.

You could fake the slide by adjusting your machine head or exerting pressure on the string between the machine head and the nut which are both fake whammy bar techniques used by Jake E Lee. You need to be pretty accurate getting the tuning back on point, and given the distance you need to cover getting to and from the headstock it only really works for slow pieces though.

I play this genre quite a lot and use a P bass with a floor mounted graphic eq set as a sad face to boost the mids. Sounds fine through the markbass. Occasionally I add some compression. I really couldn't get on using an active bass in this context, but each to his own.

I suspect the people you mention are capable of playing much more complex lines than they play, but would not come under the virtuouso category. Bass playing in rock is not about showing off for most bass players anyway.

My brothers best mate when he was a yoof ended up as a rodie for PIL, so I assume he would have had a few jars with, er, Jah.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1508261827' post='3390979'] Its the duty of the young to come up with the originals, and to push music to new places. Its the duty of old guys like me to play covers in a pub band cos thats what I now enjoy. When I was young I was in originals bands, its the way of the world. [/quote] The problem is that an originals band has no real purpose if the members are weekend warriors. Yes, you can make an EP or even an album but unless you are going to commit to the publicizing/touring you will sell diddly squat.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1508232271' post='3390628'] There's actually a historical reason for calling last orders at 11: I believe limited licensing hours were brought into force during one of the two world wars. I think it was the second, as the government realised it was advantageous not to have workers drinking until the small hours in the middle of the week, and also to get everyone into their homes with the blackout curtains up before the night-time bombing raids began. It was always assumed that the law would be repealed after the war ended. But, just like the hugely elevated tax we pay on alcohol in this country for similar reasons, the powers that be "conveniently forgot." (Of course, twenty years after that, with the explosion of amplified music in pubs, you had to start considering the neighbours as well, so perhaps ironically there was a good reason to keep an 11pm curfew in place!) [/quote] As far as I'm aware there is no requirement for last orders at 11 o'clock any more (all that changed with all day opening). My Local is licenced to serve drinks until midnight mon-thu, and til 1am fri-sat. They are only licenced for live music up to 11 IIRC. However, they choose to call time at 11.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1508185695' post='3390401'] 75-80 is where I'd like to be. Blue [/quote] If I wanted to scratch a living at being in a band I guess I'd be looking for 1 function and at least a couple of pub gigs a week. 80 pub gigs in the UK would not be anywhere near enough to support myself.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1508213790' post='3390503'] come on guys who ru kidding? An original band is a real band, they write music without taking into account whether or not girly girls will dance to it. [/quote] Light the blue touchpaper and retire to a safe distance

I enjoy practicing, or at least getting together with the band and making music. We're a covers band and as long as we have new material on the go its generally good fun. I like gigging too. Playing to an enthusiatic crowd is a great buzz. Whether the arse ache of actually getting the gigs, setting up, stripping down and everything that goes with it is worthwhile ........ The money is irrelevant and barely covers costs. Everyone in the band agrees we do not want to be gigging every week. Our ideal schedule would be 10-12 gigs a year. If I was doing originals I'd probably gig even less.

Normally I'd avoid it, but if you can negotiate free food, free drinks and want to see the headliners why not?

For us, we do bulk suggestions when we are bored wit the current list. Each member of the band suggests songs they feel fit the set. We list all the songs out and sit down to discuss whether the songs are [list=1] [*]technically possible [*]well known enough [*]will get the audience to react [/list] A surprising number get knocked off the list with question 1, eg a keyboard based song (we have no keys), a song that's too far from the singers range or slap bass (which I can't do proficiantly). Then we argue endlessly about each others lack of musical taste and eventually end up putting stuff on the list that we don't want to do. Last time around we had 47 suggestions. About 15 made it through to the list of potential songs. We then ignore the list because someone occasionally comes up with a blinder of a suggestion. Then we play a gig and realise that the punters taste isn't the same as ours anyway.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1507904398' post='3388717'] Ha. Once we had vetoed something it couldn't be suggested again. Sounds like your band member has problems with rejection. [/quote] He can be a bit needy at all times and constantly asks during practice whether what he was doing was all right. He didn't even realise he'd duplicated the songs until I forwarded the previous email to him. Drummers, eh?

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1507888119' post='3388532'] Every Jazz Guitarist ever. I always struggle with the underrated thing because it is inevitably subjective but there are a million Jazz guitarists who can outplay the more populist players yet remain obscure even amongst musicians. I am not going to list them as there are far too many. [/quote] Surely being underrated is more about what you play then what you can play. On this basis most jazz guitarists are not underrated because what they do play appeals to a small audience.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1507903665' post='3388709'] Additionally in my old punk covers band we worked on the theory that if it hadn`t been in the top 30 many punters would be unlikely to have heard of it, so no matter how good a song it was, not top 30, we didn`t play it. [/quote] We take a similar approach. The trouble with more modern stuff is that it has to have been both top 30 and still regularly played on the radio or somehow kept in the the public ear (eg film scores, adverts etc). There's no point in playing last years best top 30 as almost no one will remember it. I always take a look at youtube hits which are also a good indicator.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1507903417' post='3388706'] Best covers band I was in had a policy of not including a track if even one person didn't like it. Could be frustrating, but eventually we ended up with a killer set that everyone liked. [/quote] We also have a veto. It is used sparingly so as to avoid hacking people off. The main problem last night was that I wanted to veto almost everything that was suggested by one band member. When I got his suggestions 80% were ones we had previously discussed and dismissed.

When the band started out we decided we wanted to do post punk, indie and alternative stuff that everyone would know, but that not every other pub band played. It turns out we actually do quite a lot of what other bands play (Chelsea Dagger, Take Me Out, Florescent Adolescent, I Predict A Riot, etc, etc), but that's not the point. We played a few gigs and some of the punters started asking for more "classic" rock. Reluctantly I agreed to put some "off message" tracks into the set list. We now have Sweet Child O mine, Walk this Way, and Enter Sandman in the set. I'm OK with this and I agree we shouldn't restrict ourselves to a narrow genre. Last night we met to discuss potential new songs: Of the 47 song suggestions 15 were what I'd call Hard Rock, or Classic Rock. Suggestions included I Cant Get No Satisfaction, Paradise City, Schools Out (Alice Cooper) and Tush. Apart from Schools Out I don't mind the songs, but they are in no way consistent with what our current band identity is. I asked if we put Paradise City on the list would we ever play it instead of, not as well as, Sweet Child, and I might have well have taken a dump on the table. When I said if they want to do stuff that old then maybe something like Ace of Spades would be more in keeping with the Post Punk/ Indie thing they didn't get it at all. Is it me or they have they got the wrong bassplayer?

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1507662145' post='3387109'] EVERY instrument needs to be played with good time, whether their perceived role is time/rhythm related or not. Nothing sounds worse than a lead guitarist with poor time. It's one of the things that separates the great players from the rest. [/quote] I don't disagree entirely. I think what I meant is timing needs to be excellent for bass, but good will do for other instruments.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1506779722' post='3381081'] Lowering the level of protection is not a good way to go IMO. [/quote] I couldn't disagree more. What you need is to get the overall level down below about 85dBA. At this level hearing will not be affected even if you expose yourself to it for 8 hours a day. Its also worth remembering that a 3dB cut represents about a halving of the overall energy level. 80dB is about what you would be exposed to standing next to a busy road, 90 dB is when that big lorry goes past. However, if you experience any discomfort due to that bloke hitting the crash cymbal while practicing you are likely to be in the 110 dB range, so a cut of 25 to 30 would be appropriate.

A place to nominate bass lines with so many variations on a central bass theme you are not sure whether the player just forgot what he did the first time round. I'm not talking jazz. eg: Sweet Child o Mine No One Knows Anything by Flea