Nicko

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1447775798' post='2910249'] First of all Leeroyuk45 thanks for getting involved in the conversation, not just posting the poll and running! Nicko, I'd agree with Leeroy, that the opposite is probably more likely - the pro doing a pub gig could well feel more out of his comfort zone. I would have thought as you progress through bigger gigs your anxiety levels would stay about the same as you would be building confidence. Also, as the gigs get really big the become far less personal, no worries about being next to a punter at the urinals of the O2!! [/quote] You might both be right, but Isn't the point of the questionnaire to confirm such assumptions?

Done. Would have thought the level of performance should be included in the questions (Pre/Semi-pro/amateur) and size of the gigs. I guess my level of anxiety might increase if I was doing this as my main source of food.

The MP3 is on random. These people are not necessarily "bass player" bands but these songs made me sit up and think "wow". Just from a tone point of view. Pararmore - Brick by Boring Brick The Vaccines - Aftershave ocean The Wombats - Backfire at the Disco Placebo - Hang on to your IQ Plain White Tees - Hold On My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade - the fast bit I might have to go home and fiddle with my knobs tonight!

I have to admit I was in Denmark street last week and ended up buying a 6 string electro acoustic. My sig line should now read "Fender Telecaster, Patrick Eggle NY, Simon and Patrick SP6, Fender Sonoran" in addition to the Bass kit. I was always a guitarist, but not a very good one. I still enjoy playing guitar in my bedroom and to be honest if I'm writing songs I generally start on the six string.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1447089052' post='2904743'] It is all down to learning how and when to breathe. If you dont get enough air in and out of your face, there is no way you can sing in tune or with any kind of tone at all. I had a pulmonary embolism which caused both my lungs to collapse and it took me a few months to regain anything like my original power. Doctor said I had lost about 30% of my lung capacity permanently & I would just have to do a lot of breathing exercises. It worked and I got most of my voice back, but in the process lost my falsetto range and gained bit on the top end "normal voice" range. So the answer is, get a vocal coach who can teach you how and when to breathe or google up some instructional stuff on youtube. Anyone can end up with at the least a passable voice. Oh - but for those of you who were told in school " you will never be able to sing" ignore them!!!! I have only ever come across one person who didnt make it and she was so shy there was no way he was ever going to open her mouth wide enough and yell loud enough for it to sound tuneful. [/quote] My inability to sing has nothing to do with my breathing. Even if I want to sing a short two note phrase I can't hit the notes. I'm better if I stylise the voice - singing through my nose a bit a la Dylan helps wit the tuning but not with whether anyone would want to listen to it. I did consider attending the "anyone can sing" lessons at my local college just to see if they'd change the title of the course to "almost anyone can sing". I'm sure with some lessons I might get somewhere passable but TBH playing and singing at the same time puts my timing off anyway.

I really like the Stereophonics music, but Kelly Jones is an absolute 1st class a**hole IMHO. Slash. Need I say more? On the subject of U2, The Edge is almost as bad.

Well, its taken some time to catch up on that lot. Lots of interesting stuff above, but I'm not sure anyone's really nailed the answer though. Ultimately a Watt is a measure of rate of energy (Joules per second). If you put 1 watt into a speaker the speaker dissipates the energy. Remember you cant destroy energy. The main outputs of the speaker are heat (due to resistance of the coil) and sound. Given that the heating effect is completely associated with the speaker resistance I'm still lost as to why 1 watt from a MB amp is not the same as 1 watt from a TC through the same speaker. I think there's a possibility that power can be wasted producing sound we cant hear (too high frequency). This would be amp specific. So my conclusion is if Markbass claim to be louder for a given wattage gives us the following possibilities: [list] [*]the competitors are overstating their claimed output or markbass are underclaiming [*]Markbass are telling porkies [*]Markbass frequency response is different so that we can actually perceive a different volume [*]theres a bigger difference between the RMS wattage claimed and the peak wattage achieved by markbass compared to others. . [/list]

Editors at Hammersmith. Awesome band - I can't believe they haven't had more success. Before that it was The Strokes at Hyde Park, with the added bonus of Future Islands as support, and the drawback of Beck. Even though I live in London decent bands at venues other than the O2 (O Poo more like) are few and far between.

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1446216981' post='2897834'] Do you prefer to be confused by watt ratings? [/quote] Sound is very complex, and dB levels are not really helpful. There's sound power and sound pressure. The same sound source will have two different dB ratings, one SWL and one SPL. The sound pressure level varies with distance, while the power does not. Then there's the problem of combining dB ratings. Two sources of 50dB is not 100 dB, its about 53dB. One source of 50dB and one of 100dB is still 100dB. And there's the problem of us perceiving different frequency bands as louder.

Surprisingly we had a drummer leave some time ago because he thought the guitarist was going to be an issue, and since then I don't think there are any issues with the band. We brought in a 5th member recently and I'm reserving judgement on him, but the rest of us have been together for over a year with absolutely no issues.That may be my complete lack of empathy though.

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1446213412' post='2897792'] I wish people used this metric to describe their products. Got bless science and engineering [/quote] The last thing we need is manufacturers confusing us with decibel ratings.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1446212524' post='2897778'] +1 A Watt is 1 volt delivered at a rate of 1 Amp. This has nothing to do with output volume. Using Watts as a gauge of volume is like taking the mpg of your car a a gauge of speed. For my job I sell lighting. We always are discussing the output Lumens per Watt. Surely with a stack config we should be talking about decibels per Watt? [/quote] I'm pretty sure there is some correlation between wattage and sound power level (measured in dB). Sound power level is related to the sound pressure level (also measured in dB) that that we perceive as volume. The technicalities of this are beyond my interest, let alone my technical competence.What I maybe meant to ask was Do two bass amps claiming to be 200W with identical frequency response run through identical speakers have the same loudness? Or are the lounge people right.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1446211740' post='2897770'] Not really sure it matter as long as it has enough............ If you turn your amp up to half way on the dial..what does that equate to..?? who knows.. so as long as you still have decent sound on the amp to spare you'll be ok. I'd be more interested in whether the amp delivered the sound I wanted to hear... right the way thru the range but some amps sound ok..until a certain point and then get quite harmonically distorted or ugly sounding. Two of the best amps I've used quite recently that 'amp' up very well have been the TF550-B and the DB750..but then they are top end amps. IMO. [/quote] I couldn't agree more. When coupled with the size of cab etc, its all irrelevant. It doesn't actually matter, but I'd guess most people would narrow the search down by setting a wattage and price range to begin with. It was just when I read it I though "really???"

According to those highly regarded chaps over at the Great British Bass Lounge [size=5]"[color=#353D4D][font=nerisregular]Not all manufacturers Watts are 'equal' in terms of loudness but with Markbass amps you get maximum bang for your buck".[/font][/color][/size] [color=#353D4D][font=nerisregular][size=5]Is this actually [/size][/font][/color][color=#353D4D][font=nerisregular][size=5]true? I mean if someone quotes RMS or peak it should be a direct comparison shoudn't it?[/size][/font][/color]

Did anyone see this. I though the songs were absolute pish, but that bass player was playing some lovely lines. It reminded me a bit of the Blockheads bass. Apparently the bass on the record was by Yaron Stavi. I've never hear of him before and don't know if it was him on the prog. Anyone else catch this?

No, When I play my peavey instead of my precision I always think it sounds s**t. Last time I played it at rehearsals the rest of the band though it sounded great and it feels nice which is why I'm reluctant to sell it.

Something from the Sugarcubes if your vocalist has the lungs. Really depends on how cheesy you want to be. Shakespear's Sister would go down well. 4 Non Blondes

At our last gig we had 250 enthusiastic punters. Even the door staff complimented us on the mix of songs in our set. We did hear a few requests though: Johnnie Be Goode Sweet Child o Mine Basket Case Do you know and Kasabian? Can you play any Bon Jovi? I think sad cliched pub rock is alive and well. No one ever said the punters had to have taste.

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1446019194' post='2896128'] This. If you're in a remotely popular covers band, why are you NOT playing this? Along with all the other stuff punters love? That's what you're paid for! I've played it innumerable times, and still enjoy the song and the inevitable joy from a well-lubricated audience! [/quote] It hasn't been on tour setlist because we don't do classic rock. We sell ourselves as alternative and Indie. I agree the punters would probably love it, in the same way they'd probably love a few Beatles songs, Hotel California and some Creedance Clearwater. . We're paid to give them a good time, there's no reason why we cant play stuff they know and love which isn't sad cliched pub rock.

Nellie Fat Lardo The 20 Stone Roses Very Heavy Stereo Elastica ted Waistband Bachman Turner Overweight Rage Against The Vending Machine Belly (oh sorry thats a real name)

I got seriously into Billy Bragg when I was young. I can't stand the politics, but those old albums where it's just Billy and a guitar have some absolutely fantastic songs on them and most of it is teenage angst, and unrequited love rather than waving a red flag. Life's and Riot and Brewing Up with are the best, but Talking with The Taxman is really the first one with a "band" sound. Sadly it had all gone horribly wrong by 1990 and The Internationale. If anyone wants to know how to construct lyrics, start with the Bard of Barking, and A Lover Sings. Or listen to some later stuff like Tank Park Salute and tell me you're not moved by the words.

Currently I'm loving playing Wheezer's Buddy Holly. Very simple, but a cracking song, shame it ends so soon after starting. Bang Bamg You're Dead by the Dirty Pretty Things is awesome when the band gets it right, just great fun to play and just about complicated enough to keep me honest.

For all those in West London, its with great sadness that I learnt of the impending closure of RnR studios in Uxbridge. I've been using it a few years and I've been through some good an bad bands, sweated in summer and got frostbite in winter. Apparrently there's a new owner, but I'm not sure what the plans are for re-opening.

I have reluctantly accepted requests from other band members to include this song in the set list, even though I think it stinks. I can work our whether the bass line is good, bad or indifferent. It appears to me to be very simple root structures and what appears to be random passing notes. Or have I misunderstood? Because I dislike it so much I haven't learnt it properly - that would involve listening to it - but no one seemed to notice I was freestyling the passing notes.

I've always been "naturally" good at a lot of things, but to be honest have never excelled at anything. I'd like to think the theory is correct because my lack of excellence could then be assigned to my laziness. But, if the theory is that your skill is consolidated by wrapping the neural pathways created by mistakes what happens if you're naturally talented and don't make mistakes?