Richard R

I can imagine that with the layout as drawn the guitarist needed to really push the volume from the back to be heard out front in a dead hall, which is why he drowned the sax players. I'm supposed to be at work so I'll have a proper think later on, but my first thoughts - independent of any equipment purchase - would be to rotate the guitar, keys and bass round anticlockwise one position, so the bass & drums are on the back row, and the keys and guitar are in front. That gives the guitarist more projection without travelling through four people in front. Bass of course gets everywhere, that's why we're normally stuck in a corner 🙂 Where are you based, and when's the next gig?

Unbalanced runs from the mixer to the FOH amps or the on-stage foldback is quite common even at pro-level gear, its a line-level rather than mic-level signal so won't suffer in the same way from noise. I'm not quite clear on what you have and how you use it though - so let me just play it back if you'll pardon the pun: Behringer b205d: this is a little personal mixer/monitor which is currently used with the vocal mics plugged in, so that they can hear themselves. Also sends an output to an active speaker. 300W 12" active speaker: just the output from the vocal mix. "PA" - is this just the 12" speaker? Guitar amp Keyboard amp Bass amp - all three above independent mixed by the players. Drums - full kit unamplified? A large "big band" section of unamplified instruments who will balance their sound naturally (assuming they can hear each other) What you think you need: More FOH power for the backline and vocals, without drowning the big band The band members all being able to hear each other. First questions: How do you arrange yourselves on stage? Vocals out front with rock band behind and big band behind them? Vocals then big band, then rock band to one side?

Interesting, not what I would have expected at all. I shall have to keep an eye and ear out.

OK - so what's the advantage of an Alu neck? Yes you could make a truss that is light and stiff, but the thermal expansion is way higher than wood, so surely the thing will need constant retuning?

Very smart indeed.

Not seen this before - but I'm looking for a sturdy bag that has also space for my laptop and this looks pretty much perfect. I hope someone on BC has tried it.

in which case you should like these guys:

So to answer the original question, as someone learning bass and having to look at Tab, stave, lyrics with chords scribble on top of them etc. The main advantage of tab is that it tells you where to put your fingers. That's a pretty big advantage which we should appreciate. If the tab is badly written and there are better fingering available for the same notes then that isn't a fault of Tab per se. The second is that it's all plain text ASCII so easy to reproduce on the web or anywhere without special font. The huge drawback of Tab is that it's hard to convey rhythm very nicely. The best I have seen is to include bar lines in the scale and capital letters for minims (half notes) and lower case for crotchets (quarter notes), and to dot them. I also prefer when I have seen the note names used on Tab, as that helps with working alternate fingering. That gives a lot more use without trying to make Tab as rich and complex as full score, by which time it's harder to read, because it doesn't use specialist fonts.

The listing says it is a HUGE piece of musical history, and the photo of the guitar does not actually show the strap. So I think it's really 100m long and much of the cost if the hire of the truck for the included "free postage"

Hmmm. First that requires me to listen to some Marilyn Manson, then work out how to play it, then where it might fit. Oh and play it at a service that's video'd not just recorded. Challenge accepted, but your £10 will be worth about 10p by the time you have to pay up on my account - so don't hold your breath! I suspect @scalpy can do it in his sleep though.

Now that I would like to have heard! Likewise. Fortunately we also have a CCLI Song Select subscription so can download lead sheets too. If I've never played the song before (even if I've sung it loads) I look at that to figure out what beat the chord change is supposed to be on :-)

Well done for owning up, that was very brave. Do you feel alright now?

I first read this as "When did churches go mental?" - which is a completely different question! 🙂 Apart from the (to me) bizzare fact that there is Christian Metal - why not use the best available technology of the time to make the best possible sound? A cathedral organ sounds old fashioned to us, but they are the most complicated musical instruments ever made and were the cutting edge tech of the day.

I'll ask Dave :-) Yep. Especially if you can get it into "He who would valiant be"

Was this the one I played at the bass bash? Lovely indeed! Alas I'm not allowed more than one bass, and it's not reasonable to upgrade until I can play properly anyway :-(