PaulWarning

jam nights and open mic nights are different things but they can happen at the same time, usually they'll have open mic people on as well as the 'jam bands' and sometimes different people will join together at open mics if they all know the same song, but that's not really jamming in my opinion, jamming as someone else pointed out is is doing a 12 bar turnaround so some guitarist can bore the derrière off everybody with their 10 minute (or more) guitar solo, confused? I'm not surprised. As for being cliquey, yes they probably are because the regulars know each other but once you've been a few times and they know you're not going to scare everybody off with your musical ineptitude you soon became a member of the clique, that is friends with the people there. I've got friendly with other musicians in my area by attending open mics, don't do jamming though, I don't generally know the standard jamming songs (or want to) and they don't know mine. "What do you mean you don't know Wishing Well?"

from my own very limited experience of singing you can sing the song better if you know the lyrics without having to think to hard about them or even worse, read them

Ah! the old music stand debate, I don't like it at all, especially for the singer, he's the focal point of the band he should be interacting with the audience not staring at the lyrics, like you say it's crutch if it's there he'll use it, I used to have one when I started doing open mics, I got rid of it, if it's there you'll look at it. Our singer will sometimes have lyric reminders on the floor of new songs we're doing but soon gets rid of them The only time a music stand should be used is if you're depping, otherwise, learn the songs

hope you've got a strong back or a roadie, my eyes are watering just looking at it, if the weight doesn't bother you, none of them will disappoint

I sold one of these too, good combo's, light but cumbersome due to their depth and just one handle on the top, could never quite get the sound I wanted, found the EQ section a bit limiting, I now use a Trace SMX GP12 head with two lightweight Fender Rumble V2 cabs (2 x 8 and a 1 x 12), best of both worlds

that's exactly my position as well, like you say it's surprising how the audience doesn't notice mistakes, on the very odd occasion we've had to start again the crowd don't mind they think it's amusing. According to our singer it happened to the Manic Street Preachers at a recent gig. I once played the whole of Ace of Spades in the wrong key (I'd just change basses because of a broken string and the preplacement hung in a completely different way) I suppose because of the heavy fuzz effect, nobody noticed. Far better to be entertaining than perfect and boring, not saying entertaining and perfect isn't the ideal though, just don't think I'm good enough

thought I resurrect this old thread, I'm still making mistakes, the worst one is when I start in the wrong key, trouble it really gets our new guitarist down (doesn't mention his own mistakes though!), says it's embarrassing and goes into a sulk, didn't have a good night on Saturday (mistakes wise), and at the end of the evening this guy comes up to me and congratulates me on my playing, go figure.

Whatever you're comfortable with, suspect this might be controversial, but it doesn't matter (unless you're a slapper ), I've seen bass players change from pick to fingers mid gig I it didn't make any perceivable difference to their sound, being a punk bass player I'm firmly in the pick camp, with eqing a pick can sound like fingers, listen to Macca

I once sold a bass hard case to a guy, and we got chatting "What's the name of your band then" says I "ZZ Birmingham" came the reply, "Oh, ZZ Top tribute?" I replied "No" he says "We don't do any ZZ Top songs and we're not from Birmingham" Wonder if he's on here?

I think it's a good idea to try and reflect what sort of band you are in the band name, but ultimately like a child or pet name after a while you couldn't imagine it named anything else, I mean there's been some rubbish names for bands in the past that seem ok now, first time I heard The Beatles I didn't think it was a very good name

yeah I was 53 when I started playing bass, although I did play guitar in a limited sort of way before that, bit like my bass playing now

yeah I thought that, then later on starts talking about not using a backline at all and relying on monitors

this can be true, I don't think us pub bands should be so far up our own backsides that we should imagine the only reason people are in the pub is to watch us

this is the thing, there's watts and then there's watts, it would seem 100 valve watts are plenty (never used a valve bass amp myself), 200 watt Class AB amps are enough, but Class D amps seems to need to be about 500 watts, as I understand it anyway, and that's before you start talking about speaker efficiency. Even listening to them in a shop's no good, it's not until you get in a full band situation that you find out if it's giving out enough volume

I've got a 150 watt series 5 Trace head, plenty loud enough, class D watts just aren't the same

if he's a really good front man he's probably a narcissist, most are drummers that don't drive aren't a problem as long as someone else is happy to transport them and their gear around, otherwise it is a no no for me as well

I'm afraid it's a decision for you, we've all got shortcomings, some peoples you can put up with, some peoples you can't, all bands have stuff going on but only you can decide if it's piissing you off enough to leave

I've put 81-100 but how many can I play without making a mistake? a lot less than that

years ago we were supporting the Subs and Charlie heard our soundcheck, he says"Nice song, one of yours" we hadn't the heart to reply "No Charlie it's Green Days Welcome To Paradise" still makes me smile, cracking gig though, full house and Nicky Garrett on guitar for them, never the same without him, though the new bloke is a lot closer than Jet ever was IMO

are we allowed to ask why he got banned?

coated strings are the way to go for a long string life, I used Elixir Nanowebs for a while they lasted a long time and stayed bright, very smooth though, not to everyone's taste, I now use DR neons, they last me about 6 months (2 hour gig most weekends plus practicing), again not to everyone's taste, but they look good under lighting if you're in a Punk band . They do cost more but I think they're worth it late edit, I should add I change them every 6 months because I broke one during a gig after about that length of time, so I change them as a precaution, there's very little difference between the new and old once the initial brightness has worn off

we use 58's with the band but I use a 57 for home use (practicing my vocals for open mics) and I prefer the 57, not so much bottom end on it, more of a Jeff Lynne type sound which suits my occasional flat vocals, could be a counterfeit though, I got it second hand

sometimes it's better to have the in house sound man sometimes your own, depends, as always, if they know what they're doing, it should always be possible to get a reasonably sound, a lot of the time it's a case of TURN IT DOWN. Remember going to a small outdoor festival a few years ago (Strummercamp), all weekend it was the familiar loud bass drum and mushy sound, then Ruts DC came on and it was chalk and cheese, everything nice and clear, I actually messaged their Bass player (Segs Jennings) about it, back came the reply "We've got our own sound guy"

saw her at the Butlins Alternative Festival last year (calling it a punk festival seems to be one step too far for Butlins) a good show, very professional and put a lot into it, but not really my cup of tea and not punk

I use a Trace Elliot with clipping lights and passive P bass, I have the gain turned right up and the red clipping light doesn't come on, don't know whether that's any help or not, but it depends on the amp, they're not all designed the same