TimR

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1506501651' post='3379121'] sure but the thread's about being the worst or best PLAYER in a band not necessarily the best or wort band member. Often I've found myself in bands where the best player was often the worst band member as they were usually self-indulgent and not team players. [/quote] One area you can learn from is mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes when playing. It's all about how you recover from mistakes and how many you make. If you're always making mistakes and have to stop mid song there are three outcomes. Either everyone else stops and the band looks silly, everyone gets confused and the song degenerated into a complete unintelligible mess, or everyone else carries on without you and leaves you to catch up. If it's the latter then you're the worst player, if it's the first one then everyone is on the same (low?) level, if it's the second, who knows what's going on, one person will be driving the band and eventually it'll sort itself out or you'll all stop. Another clue is whether the band can pick up a piece mid song during rehearsals. Good musicians can pick up a song from any point in the song. Bad musicians will insist on starting from the top everytime. Which wastes a huge amount of time if the bit you all keep getting wrong is at the end of the tune. You can't learn how to do these things on your own at home, they're things you work out in a group situation. Then there's the learning of tunes. If you have a player who is coming to the practice without having learned their parts and then spends ages trying to learn their parts while everyone else is stood waiting. It doesn't matter how technically well they can play after they've learned it, they're not a good player. Again that's something you only learn when you've been in a band. .

So he quits at the drop of a hat? Didn't offer to try and rearrange whatever it was he'd double booked. Can't keep a diary. Doesn't call you to try and apologise when he's upset you. His heart's not in it and your email was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

If someone mentions a gig to me, I put it on my diary with a ? next to it. If something else comes up I query it with the rest of the band. It's not hard. In the old days we used to call it 'pencilling it in'. Actually, that's what I still call it, and do the same for all unconfirmed social and work events. .

Why don't you flag the posts that bother you? A problem shared...

Play him at his own game. Ignore his clip, post yours and if he complains say there were no complaints about the first one. Unfortunately, you still come across this type of behaviour with men in their 40s. You need to develop a strategy.

[quote name='Hey_Pauly' timestamp='1506200049' post='3377069'] It's because they're Canadian. We are very nice people. [/quote] Beat me to it... .

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1506176378' post='3376888'] ... As for the "SJW" label... it made me smile. Really? Social Justice Warrior? Give me a break [/quote] Thanks for that. I nearly had to reach for the google button there. Is that even a thing?

[quote name='The59Sound' timestamp='1506152800' post='3376716'] People are often surprised when these SJW's go out and try to correct people's behaviour and then get decked... [/quote] I think you'd be surprised how many people manage to calmly ask people to stop what they're doing and get a positive result. If you're frequently being 'decked' you should probably look at the way you're approaching these people.

There are an awful lot of deluded instrument owners out there.

I had I not been playing bass for about a year. His death passed me by. A friend of my dad's gave me a Jaco study book and a video. Still have it somewhere. Might dig it out.

I occasionally play at a pub where 50+ year old women come into the stage area and thrust their drunken bodies up against me while I'm trying to play. It's not particularly unpleasant, more distracting but it makes playing quite difficult. If the situation were reversed there would be a riot. When I was 17, I worked in a packing factory, the women there were absolute animals. Again, if you've got a strong enough personality it won't affect you. Not everyone has a strong confident personality... You'll quickly get to a point where the entertainment is dictated by the morons as decent bands won't play there. So, ignore them and say nothing and wonder why the quality of bands starts to slide in your local...

Has anyone had much experience of syncing audio files from different devices. Say I used one H2 with external O/H and Kick mics, one H2 for bass and guitar and another for vocals. Is it easy to mix the results or are the clocks not stable enough.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1506086547' post='3376385'] Hence the first sentence of my reply to TimR. [/quote] It's a bit of a confusing reply. If I come across someone being mugged or raped I'm sure I would make a bit of noise or at least call the police. I'm not totally sure those activities are even in the same league. Having a word with someone who is getting a bit rowdy is a different ball game to confronting a rapist or a mugger. I've had to have words with people at gigs. Usually they look guilty and say sorry. If you don't nip it in the bud they get more and more rowdy and end up pulling your gear over. I'm not a big guy but I've spoken to people on the train whose actions have been making people feel uncomfortable and they've apologised and calmed down. There are ways of approaching people that are non-confrontational and there are ways of escaping situations when they start to become confrontational.

He had some very serious issues. I thought I'd read he was having trouble holding his bass and standing for gigs but I can't find that thread. Might have been someone else. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/285588-alcohol-my-progress/

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1506025480' post='3376033'] Yeah. A lot of bassists do seem to be somewhere along the spectrum. [/quote] It's Internet forums. Mumsnet is just as bad.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1506014039' post='3375925'] They're all bollocks apart from that Marilyn Manson case which is literally cock and bollocks! [/quote] Is the bass player responsible for the singer's actions? https://www.spin.com/2014/02/fishbone-stage-dive-lawsuit/

[quote name='steantval' timestamp='1506011160' post='3375896'] Having a word with the idiot, the idiot may take offence and give you a bloody nose, just not worth the possible risk. [/quote] Or he may shuffle about looking at his feet uncomfortably and say sorry?

Well, not quite. There's not a lot I can do about all the rapes and muggings in the world that are going on. I can have a word with the idiot standing next to me at a show there and then and maybe make them think twice next time. I'm fairly sure I shouldn't have to wait until all the rapes and muggings have been stopped first before I approach him.

Here's a list of high profile nasty cases. http://www.nme.com/photos/20-outrageous-times-bands-were-sued-by-their-own-fans-1424248

I was on a ladder training course a few weeks ago and a guy had fallen 3ft off a ladder and broken his back. Took 12 years for him to get his compensation. In the mean time. He lost his job (obviously), his wife left him and he tried to commit suicide. When I was 18, we had an idiot at one of our gigs stage dive into the crowd. The crowd parted and he hit the deck. Very hard and didn't get up for quite a while. Accidents happen. I don't fancy having to pay for lawyers in a 12 year court case to prove that I did everything possible to stop someone jumping off the stage during one of our performances. Even if the disabled guy is 99.99% to blame.

I've seen lots of technically crap bands receiving a great response from an audience so I'd say a lot of the time it's down to attitude rather than technical competence. So I'd be happy to play in a crap band if they're getting the gigs and entertaining the audience. What I'm not happy about is playing in a band of technically good (or bad) players who think they're amazing but don't get a decent audience. I think there is a level for me where i am within a comfort zone. The Goldilocks zone of bass playing. Not too good and not too bad, getting gigs and entertaining audiences. Who is the best person to decide whether you (or anyone else in the band) is a good player?

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1505818241' post='3374487'] Quite a few posters in here seem to have equated the wolf whistling and "smutty comments" with simply looking. Looking at/watching the dancers is fine. Whistling and making smutty comments is unacceptable, surely? [/quote] Entirely depends on context and on the nature of the performance. In this situation, it's not acceptable. There's obviously a few people around who can't draw the distinction and will be polarised either one way or the other. Plus it's the internet, it's either right or it's wrong, there's never any in-between. .

Dancers and acrobats have been wearing leotards for centuries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leotard

As everyone has alluded to: There's at least three reasons why it's done. It varies depending on circumstances. It's art, not science. Just use your ears and retune your bass. .

No not old fashioned. Some people have always been like that. You just have a different set of values. Probably best you don't try and start a business.