TimR

I think if you're playing pop and funk, the front line need to be moving and grooving, most 2 set gigs I've done tend to get going halfway through the first set. The punters need some encouragement and if you don't have something visually entertaining just the music won't get people up and dancing. So as long as the front person is not just a guitarist singing with a fixed mic, you should be OK. Our guitarist doesn't move around much, so it's left up to the singer and I to move around the stage.

Indeed. "Me is wenting to the shops." Works in practice on a level, but you did originally learn the correct grammar, you just don't remember learning it or recognise it as using correct grammar.

Theory of Gravity is an excellent analogy with the dog and probably humans. Most of us know and understand the basic theory, all objects with mass, attract each other, and the attraction changes with distance and causes acceleration. No one is doing calculations in their head when they jump in the air, kids know why an apple falls downwards, we didn't previously to the 16th century. But we all know the rudimentary theory and whether we are consciously using it or not, we are still using it on some level. Where the snobbery comes in is when someone says they have a degree in music and understand 18th century composers and that is music theory. Well I have a degree in engineering and understand a bit more about gravity due to additional learning, but we all agree it's not required to understand theories to a level higher than we need to, other than for interest. If you're writing your own music and you want to convey it to other musicians to play, you're going to need certain level, and in my experience, if someone isn't following normal theory when writing and expects musicians to follow, it can result with a lot of confusion. Things that sound 'off' because in theory they sound off, won't be easy to play.

Yes. Theory is just a model. The dog knows from it's experience and the model of the world it has whether it can jump across a stream. It's not until he puts the theory to the test and jumps that he knows it's right. The only issue is there's a lot of snobbery (and inverted snobbery) around musical theory which puts people in separate camps and disuaudes a lot of people from looking at 'complicated' theory. If you know the names of the strings - you know some theory and if you know what an octave is and the fret board, you know some more. If you know a song has 4 beats in a bar and some notes are 1 beat long and other 2 or 4 or half's and quarters you know more. And I'd say that's the bare minimum to be able to play bass.

That's exactly what theory is. Just because it's not written down doesn't make it not tberoy. You know what it's going to sound like, and you know what notes to play to make it sound right.

Wow. Booking a table 2 years ahead is kind of pushing it a bit. 😂

Read the second paragraph you quoted. What's wrong with you guys tonight?

No. My original comment wasn't to the OP. It was to the Greek, who wanted to flood social media.

If they're good musicians they won't be expecting you to be perfect on a jam night with no rehearsal and they'll support and help you. If they do expect that and you get no support then they're not good musicians and don't be intimidated by that kind of behaviour, they're the imposters.

I've never heard the Sex Pistols version of Kumbaya.

That's what I said didn't I? If the OP wants to write something that's true, that's fine. If someone else wants to repeat something that they have no evidence other than the OP's version of events then how do they know it's true or flase. Hence, I'd be very wary of repeating things you heard or read. Especially as the Internet magnifies untruths very quickly and damages businesses and reputations.

Maybe, but it's still Libel.

If it happened to you and you have evidence. Then complain and use the proper channels. If it happened to 'someone you know', you are just joining the social media inevitable pile on and 'cancel' that may or may not be deserved. It's happened to me with an event I organised. One person out of 450 wrote on a different page about their perceived slight negative experience, and a bunch of Karen's jumped on and basically tore the event to shreds, even though the original poster protested that it was only a comment. Social media at its worst. An event that has been running for nearly 30 years in the same format with full explanation of what the event entails. If it had taken down my business and I'd lost income (it's not a business) I would have probably sued those involved. The resultant pile on was completely unwarranted from the original comment, as often happens on social media.

Great thread. I have ordered one to 'replace' my Warwick ProFet 5.1. Nothing wrong with it other that it weighs close on 15kg in the flight case. It's due back in stock 28th April. I may or may not have it in time for May 5th gig where I'll give it a spin. I have 2x Warwick Pro 211 cabs which are 250w per cab, and 25kg each!, so hoping for some great volume from this. Will report back. Then maybe looking at some barefaced cabs...

Good post. Simple bodyweight exercises like planks and mountain climbers will strengthen your back and shoulders without too much impact.

Travelled 80 miles to a gig to find the place had shutdown and was boarded up. This was pre-mobile phones so not only had each of the band driven there but so also had a group of hard-core supporters.

Played a gig once where the locals were calling their mates to come down to see 'the band' while we were playing. The place was rammed by the end of the night. We got £500 instead of the £350. Never happened since. 😂

I'd avoid doing that. Legally you're on shaky grounds. If a business suffers from something you wrote, you'd better be able to defend your words. Plus when the place changes hands as they do regularly, the new owner is saddled with a bad reputation. So you've achieved nothing other than sending another potential live music venue down the tubes.

@solo4652 Might be worth a read.

Red light fever?

Intelligence measurement is normalised so that its an evenly distributed bell curve. Exactly half the population are below average intelligence. But it's like driving - some people are better than others, we set a lower limit and test, those that don't make the lower limit can't drive. Unfortunately there's nothing like this test for using social media.

I don't understand the question. What is 'home practice'? 😉

Actually to be fair when we do a cover version we do it in the style, rather than someone's version. We have guitar, bass and drums. So many songs are just what arrangements we come up with to approximate something recognisable. I tend to prefer our versions and I suspect that's what must of us do, even if we won't admit it. Going back and listening to the 'original' after we have been playing something a while is quite odd and can often lead to some confusion as to how 'our version' goes.

I'm not sure anyone is supposed to 'enjoy' it. It's done to serve a function.

YouTube is all about bringing attention to yourself. You won't get millions of people subscribing to a chanel where players are just playing roots or doing stuff anyone can do at home themselves.