musicbassman

Dear Dan Dare,

The word 'tribute' has nothing to do with 'fake'.

A 'tribute' is actually what is correctly known as a 'paean' - meaning  'a creative work expressing enthusiastic praise'  or ' an expression of praise or exultation' (Wikipedia)

This may all sound a bit nancy noo, but that's the way it is.

By the way, I personally am not a huge fan of tribute bands, but, hey..........................

8 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Saturday night was an almost perfect illustration of my theory regarding the audience self-selecting.

We started off playing to an empty dancefloor in a huge but only quarter-filled pub.

We finished like this:

Ha ha  - well done HappyJack.

I detect that your band's playing these numbers with tongues firmly in cheeks......

Great! - You've had a laugh playing them, the punters have enjoyed singing along, and everyone goes home happy. Job done 

Well, I did play onstage with Robert Plant and John Bonham, but it's a long story.

20 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

After many attempts to crack it in my 20s by the age of 28 I realised it wasn't to be

Ditto here. At least I'm glad I had the sense to realise by then it wasn't likely to happen - I'm sure we all know of some band in our local area who are bunch of grizzled old rockers well into their 40's still trying to 'make it '

Most big power ballads. False sincerity, pomposity, masses of musical cliches...........................and punters love 'em!

Special smelliest dogpoo award in this category goes to 'The Power of Love'  - I remember playing this with several cover bands and wishing my life could end at that very moment the chorus started..............

"Cause I'm your lady"..............................Aaaaaaaaargh.........................................

Thanks for this. I'd never heard of her. Lots of clever thoughts, concepts and ideas.

Ah! - so here's the guy who's turned up for the audition with the blues rock pub band.

I don't think this is going to go well.............................

If you're just looking for something practical and not beautiful you could consider a biggish Portacabin.

Best for security is the builders site cabin type with metal shutters to close over the windows.

There's plenty advertised on ebay. Then factor in transport costs and a mobile crane to lift it over hedges, gardens, outbuildings etc. to your chosen location.

Did this at my place a few years ago. cabin was £1500, transport £750, mobile crane £1K. It's a 'portable building' so you may not need PP

Mind you, don't consider this if you have close neighbours and you want to use one of these for rehearsals, sound insulation is very poor.

Hope this is useful.

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

@josie how about a pic of what sounds like quite an amazing pic collection? 

Blimey!   Looks like you raided Granny's button box...... (successfully!)

I must try this...................

5 minutes ago, oldbass said:

.nowadays I insist we meet up in the BL house and go through it using practise amps only.

Did this the other night for a 60 song dep I've got in June. Four of us sat in the guitarists lounge, keys, muffled snare and hi-hat and a 12" rototom fitted into a little frame for kick..sounded amazing.

This is so obvious, surprised it isn't the norm. Quiet enough to talk over, advising of arrangements, middle 8's etc. I worked through a 2 hour set of '60's covers with a band I was going to dep with a few months ago in exactly in this way. Had it done and dusted in about 3 hours. No noodlings or time wasted, everybody happy.

11 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

We had a blast of a gig at The Inn, Greatworth near Banbury last night. I expected a country pub with a couple of chilled out villagers. No, we got a pub full of the most ‘up for it’ party people we’ve seen for ages! Greatworth appears to be the kind of village where everyone goes out to the local at the weekend; it’s just far enough out of town that it’s easier to stay in the village than start getting into taxis etc.

We were squashed into a corner of the bar which meant we were eyeball to eyeball with the friendly crowd, who made us very welcome incidentally, which I always enjoy. Pretty much the whole pub was up and dancing from the word go, and didn’t sit down all night. We were still playing at midnight, they wouldn’t let us stop.

Really good tone from my MIM Jazz Deluxe and Genz Benz rig, sounded great.

When we were packing down I asked the landlord if the residents minded bands playing into the early hours? ‘No’, he said, ‘they’re all in here!’

We left having made some new friends and a return booking for later in the year - can’t wait to go back!

This. It's so great to hear of positive buzzing gigs like this when many seem immersed in doom and gloom.BrunoBass, can I ask what sort of material/covers you're playing?

Well, at least he's cast as the villain, not the hero.

He's behind you!............ boo, hiss, etc.

7 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

some people assume that the key of a song is the same as the first chord.

.................if that was the case, I really wouldn't bother going to the audition!

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

Learn the part as it was recorded by the old guy, irrespective of what the band say about your artistic freedom.

This is all fine and dandy, but often - particularly if you're auditioning for a job in an already long established covers band - the song has gradually morphed over the years into something rather different than the original  - this especially applies to the rhythmic feel of the number.

You can start playing the original bass line and it immediately clashes with the bands current rhythmic interpretation of the number - although they'll claim they play it 'just like the original'

This can also be a problem if you're doing a one-off dep gig with no rehearsal time - they'll start playing the number at a function and you can't understand what you're hearing - sometimes the number is almost unrecognisable until the singer comes in - takes you a moment or two to simply get the feel, meanwhile the band are giving you dirty looks.............

Here's a few things to consider when pricing-

How good is your band compared to other similar bands available in your area ?  (no, honestly)

Were you recommended to the client?

Are you booked up most weekends or are there big gaps in your diary?

How many in the band? Just playing for dancing or putting on a big showband style presentation?

How far away is it? (Time and fuel)

How long are you going to have to be at the venue? (Lot of hanging around at some gigs, many hours sometimes)

Direct or through an agent?

First class buffet and drinks provided or a packet of crisps?

56 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

For my part, I find interest in just about any drum part, and treat it as a challenge to play 'simple' stuff cleanly and regularly,

This absolutely, and the same should apply to any bass part - no matter how simple it might appear on first listen - there's always something to hold your playing attention, or there should be.

Prime example - Higher and Higher - (Jackie Wilson) - just one repeating bass pattern, but so many people seem to play it sloppily or with slightly the wrong feel!

1 hour ago, BrunoBass said:

We play the local pub circuit doing alt rock and indie covers from the last decade or so.

That statement you made contains all the information and job description necessary for your drummer -

It's a covers band? = YES

So you're going to be playing popular covers that people know, so you get gigs? = YES

So are you going to play shoegazey obscure album covers? = NO!

No band can demand that punters stay and listen to the band's personal favourites, they'll just vote with their feet. And there's no fun in playing to an empty room.

Gibson EBO bass = A 1950's Bentley or Daimler - never mind the speed, feel the smooth ride!

........recently left Pentangle tribute band - didn't fit in.............................

................understands the Circle of Fifths..................................

Bass player, very experienced mature ex pro. Currently depping with long established  60’s band in Surrey, this due to finish end May. Looking for further dep work any style Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, or a permanent position in top quality well established functions band, ideally 20 - 25 dates a year, or would consider job share with another bass player if much more than this. Absolutely reliable, good appearance, good ear, very quick learner.  musicbassman@hotmail com

I've had exactly this issue recently with a band I'm depping with - it's all straightforward 60's covers but line up includes two guitars plus keyboards, drums, bass, vocals - we've been squeezing onto fairly small stages lately and this means I have one of the guitarists amps right next to my bass rig. Both guitarists are very very loud and the drummer is possibly the loudest drummer I've worked with in a while - result is that I really have a problem hearing myself  - but roadie says bass is plenty loud enough out front. I'm having to work by eye on the fretboard sometimes rather than my ears!

The bass tone is very nice when isolated, so that's not the issue - quite a bit of the bass is pick playing also, so I think there's plenty of definition there. Maybe it's just having the guitarists amp so loud and so close that it's dominating what I can hear, and maybe you were in the same situation?

Next gig I'm going to raise my cab up about 40cms by putting it on a heavy box I have  - I'm hoping this will help a bit. Top of the cab will then be chest height rather than waist height as at present.

12 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

until vocalists Mother walked on stage, dragged him off and took him straight to a mental health facility. 

Turns out in the days we hadn't heard from him, he'd scored a massive bag of weed, and had been doing nothing but smoking it since. Whether this directly caused the psychotic episode he was sectioned for we'll never know. No idea who called his Mum. 

Wow - the ultimate humiliation - being pulled off stage by your Mum!

He's not a singer, he's just a very naughty boy..........etc.

Well, we've all experienced the dreaded 'hollow stage' effect where the whole of an insubstantially built stage is acting as a giant resonating soundbox for the bass and sending out all sorts of false information to your ears about tone, volume and harmonics. Some bass players might claim that putting castors on your cab (i.e. the same as a dolly) can really exaggerate this unfortunate effect. Personally I don't think this alone would make much difference, but other BC'ers may have different opinions. Discuss.

Half from the Jazz, and half from effects used judiciously and discreetly, I would say

Always like listening to this guy, he's a master of fluency and precision.