risingson

I have stated time and time again that if the music sounds good, then the bass player (or indeed any musician in the band) has done his or her job properly. The consistent moaning about Adam Clayton only playing 8th notes for example. I'm not the biggest U2 fan in the world and I never will be, but it doesn't take a genius to work out that they must be doing something right because their music sounds good, even to me if I'm completely honest. And to a lot of other people (millions of other people in fact), their music sounds [u]brilliant[/u]. Bottom line, if brilliant music is made with a bass player playing note perfect 16ths or very imperfect and out-of-time quarter notes, then the bass player has done his job correctly. People that try and argue otherwise are the types of people usually unable to look at the larger musical picture.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1329912520' post='1549487'] I'm pretty ambivalent about them tbh, they just never came across to me as a band with anything like the influence I'd associate with an 'outstanding contribution' award that's all. Probably just in a genre that I'd not bother with much so don't hear the subsequent bands who'd cite them as an influence I expect. [/quote] Fair enough. I think the point about all of this is that the 'Outstanding Contribution' thing means nothing. They don't need a panel of people to give them a little statuette or a big awards ceremony to know that their influence has been great. The reason I see it as vaguely significant is that for every band like Blur, there's 10 Nicky Minaj's nowadays. But that's the BRITS for you. If you want PJ Harvey or Bon Iver to win every prize at a ceremony, then it's probably best to stick to the Mercury awards. Luckily I don't pay much attention to either.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1329907549' post='1549325'] Even though Damon's first Gorilla album outsold all Blur albums combined, and Alex had a single (Vindaloo?) which outsold all Blur singles combined? [/quote] It's the way music works though, isn't it. 'Mr. Blobby' went to number one in 1993, thankfully no one chose to award it. Blur were the British flagship band for the best part of the 90's, they were a huge export. The Gorrilaz obviously had the combined weight of a U.S market due to its Hip-Hop appeal + Blur's initial success, and Vindaloo capitalised on the World Cup. EDIT - an FYI, the Gorrilaz debut album sold 10 million. Quite a far off amount from Blur's combined 24 million.

I will definitely be buying this!

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1329906219' post='1549301'] Ahh I see. I thought that's what the silver/gold/platinum album things were for. Maybe they can rename it 'outstanding contribution to music [i]sales'[/i] award in future. [/quote] Are you honestly going to try and claim that 24 million album sales and two decades in the musical public consciousness that Blur haven't made a significant change to British popular music? You might not like them, but for once I'm happy to go along with the Brit awards on this one. It's irrefutable.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1329904725' post='1549262'] Did anyone actually find out what their outstanding contribution to music is in the end or not then? [/quote] I think it was the millions of albums that they sold.

I'd done live performances with a number of bands by the time I was 16 or so, but I played my first bar gig in 2006 when I was 17 for a 100 odd people. The adrenaline hit me and I don't remember much, other than it being one of the greatest experiences of my life! 5 years down the line and I've performed many, many hundreds of times over, with only a handful of gigs matching how great the first time I gigged was. Enjoy it.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1329858279' post='1548727'] FWIW, the RH750 sounded VERY pokey to my ears. I have others misgivings about class D in general but wouldn't complain about the demo I had. Not in the market for another amp, but if I had been, the 750 would be on my list unless a TF750-A and DB750 was on the horizon. No..scrub that..would go for the TF or Ag..no question [/quote] I looked into the DB750/751 before I settled on the RH750. A totally different beast and quite a bit cheaper too obviously, but the practicalities of heaving a DB751 to a gig brought a tear to my eye just thinking about what it would do to my back

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1329862814' post='1548885'] I thought they were great. Blur have always had that messy edge to them. [b]My old band played with them at Food Records birthday bash at Islington Powerhaus. I got Alex James so stoned, he fell off the stage. They are messy and shambolic live and that is a good thing in my book.[/b] The rest of the Brits was so poor. It's a tragedy that music in the UK that shifts sales is in the state it is in. [/quote] We need to talk about this more Steve! Just reading Alex James's autobiography at the moment, he got up to some crazy stuff back in the day. Balfe sounds like such a character.

[quote name='Protium' timestamp='1329862115' post='1548860'] Graham Coxon is the only one who ever had any discernible talent. A truly awful performance, their outstanding contribution to music is that they make everyone else look good. [/quote] Not true I'm afraid. Damon has bags of talent, a gifted lyricist and writer. Musical preferences aside of course. Unfortunately I've not seen the performance just yet, however as much as I 'like' (tolerate) Adele, I know which act I'd prefer to watch, even if Blur are a bit hit or miss live. If there was a problem with the scheduling of the show then that's the Brit's fault, not any individual act's. I absolutely love Blur.

I've played guitar longer than I have bass (marginally), but bass was what I focused on and took to more. I feel more powerful as a bass player, if that doesn't sound too ridiculous, you get a better bird's eye view of everything in a band situation. But because I like to write, I play quite a bit of guitar too, particularly acoustic.

This has seriously got me thinking about a DJ5 string, first time in a while I've been struck by GAS! Agghhh must save for a Sadowsky!

[quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1329844954' post='1548415'] Just goes to show that price means nothing to a good instrument My lakland is a much better player than any fender i've tried (except a horrible gold one with amber hardware i tried once to test a pedal...that was a REALLY nice bass!) [/quote] +1, my Lakland destroys the Fenders I've owned in fit, finish and tone.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1329820976' post='1547746'] To be fair I usually stay to heckle the other bands. [/quote] Haha! We have a van and a system, which means no one gets to leave early 'cos we're all travelling back together anyway. And we've got a ton of gear to shift. Huge cable trunk, big mixing box, big RCF P.A., guitar amps, bass amp, kit, hardware, keyboards... you get the idea. Rare if we manage to get away within the hour at covers gigs. When its our own stuff, the get out is usually dead easy because of provided backline/P.A etc. which cuts down get out time dramatically.

As Doddy says really. If you're a working player and wish to maximise your potential, it would almost be a bit mad not to consider playing double bass. I recently bought an upright and am enjoying it immensely. I don't see myself using it much live as my band don't have much call for it, but it's a nice thing to have nonetheless.

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1329837711' post='1548221'] Odd that they stopped making them for a while. [/quote] I'm not totally clued up but I believe there was some conflict concerning the licensing of the body shape from A-Basses who originally came up with the slight offset look of the body.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1329839275' post='1548265'] I'll try not to be offended. [/quote] I didn't really mean the stick it got on this site but you always get that impression from TB that its largely people that like to complain about nothing, just for something to argue about, without having much or any experience of how gear performs 'live'. A sense of self-entitlement seems to go hand in hand with these kinds of subjects over there. Not wanting to tar everyone with the same brush of course, and I know there's some players over there that really know their stuff. But for me, gear is black and white. It either performs for you in the way that you want it, or it doesn't. If it doesn't... well then don't use it I guess!

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1329817793' post='1547676'] Should really be stickied at the top of every thread in this forum [/quote] A thousand times yes. Recently bought a TC RH750, chose to completely ignore the advice about the amps power ratings, and quite frankly I was right to do so. I trust my ears most of the time, and my ears tell me that my RH750 is friggin' loud. Most of the the complaining on TB came from the hobbyists who were more interested in stats than the actual performance of the amp in a live situation if I recall correctly. A note on the low/low-mid thing. I owned an Eden WT800 and no other amp I've come across recently could top its low/low-mid abilities (they were extreme, virtually unmatchable in sheer power). To me, the low-mids seem a lot more controlled and usable in the RH750, although its still a new amp to me so only time will tell if this is true across the board at all the venues I tend to find myself playing.

The fact I often leave off buying strings until the last minute before traveling abroad often means I end up dashing into my local music store and getting Rotosounds because it's largely all that the Liverpool stores stock. Not terrible strings but they don't last. My preference if possible is to get D'Addarios, and although the Pro Steels don't last long either, I've had good experiences with D'Addario nickels recently, which have lasted pretty long. I still can't stomach £30 for DR's, they just don't seem worth it and I've used them plenty before. I'd be interested to try out some Elixirs next.

Best Jazz basses in that price bracket IMO. I wouldn't dream of getting rid of my DJ4, although I would really love to add a DJ5 to my setup. My only wish is that Lakland would do a bit more in the way of interesting finishes.

No in answer to the OP. We have good nights and bad nights like any band. For example, Saturday evening I did a gig for a lady who had more money than sense, and zero manners. Her 55 friends were of a similar ilk. The gig was a bit of a nightmare. We largely played acoustically like we'd been asked, which was fine but the bar staff at the place we were playing were on our backs about keeping the level right down (to an impossible level, me with no amp playing through our JBL monitors at such a low level the acoustic guitars were masking what I was doing). A lot of people taking cocaine in the toilets as well, acting like total knobs. One bloke took it upon himself to reach over and detune my G string (I actually could have killed him for that, what gives people the right to touch my stuff?). But you learn to deal with it. You try and find the audience members who are genuinely enjoying what you are doing, of which there's at least a few, and then 'vibe' off of them to get your satisfaction out of what you do. Saturday night was a rare occurrence for us though, and it's usually a lot of great people that we play for!

I've played a lot of Sadowsky Metros. The most recent ones I played were an MV5 and a P/J 5. The P/J 5 didn't really have much to write home about and I was disappointed because I'd waited quite a while to try one out. The MV5 however was so good that it was all my girlfriend could do to stop me from getting a credit card and buying the thing there and then. Quite simply a brilliant bass, and it sounded sublime. Great low B too.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1329753031' post='1546777'] What is it with those clubs? They mean nothing, right? [/quote] It's all a bit sad, really. Sadowsky Owner's Club #674, Musicman Owner's Club #901, Ampeg Club Member #49,838. We get it, you play your bass in your home by yourself!