GreeneKing

Thank you. The balance perhaps varies a little from instrument to instrument. I've played worse. 1990 era NT Warwick Thumbs come to mind Peter

Thank you Matt. I’ve succumbed to a long held longing for a JCB. It’s a new red one and if you know me at all you’ll know I have no qualms modding a new bass getting it how I want it. I think I prefer the Babitz over the Hipshot. Babitz confuse the issue by making a hard to get hold of Epiphone version to accommodate the raised collars on the Epi’s inserts. Mine barely has any raised portion. Mine is really good quality wise. I’ve lowered the bridge a great deal and fitted Dunlop flats. I needed to put some PTFE tape on the pot spindles to prevent the knobs falling off. The tuners are a bit naff and black Hipshot Ultalites are waiting for collecting from the PO. The bridge (black) can wait a while but I’m going to move the strap button to the top horn using epoxy forced up into the cavity. I’m loving it

A question to the floor... Babitz make 2 models of Gibson style 3 point bridges. One is for Gibson and one is for Epiphone. Epi's evidently have a collar on the mounting posts that is raised above the body slightly and the Epi version accommodates this. What did you guys use on the JC? I think the Epiphone version is only made in black. Any help greatly appreciated as always. Peter

There's been some reasonably acrimonious to'ing and fro'ing going on. Finally, at the very last, the lead guitarist has said what it's all about (ffs), that he was exasperated with me because I'm not musically adept enough to cope with his style of playing. His anger and exasperation plainly visible for months, was down to me as I half guessed. I'm not good at improvising over a chord chart. That's an understatement I learn a song beforehand and when we come together as a band I play pretty much the 'textbook' baseline unless it's too difficult for me when I'll adapt it. If it's not right I'll listen to advice and sort it. I can spend many hours on a song that gets binned at the first hurdle. That's me and I value advice and work to develop my playing. I tried to talk about the inconsistent song structure, how I felt it needed sorting and that it spoiled my enjoyment of doing a good job. He got angry. At no time did he communicate exactly who with or why. As said above, we could have communicated when to move from chorus to bridge etc. He's finally said exactly why. Because I can't cope l with his style and seamlessly adapt to an extra phrase or two being inserted or deleted from the song structure on a whim (by mistake). He plays by feel and I'm a music technician. I acknowledge that we all make mistakes. I put a lot of work into my playing. I'm not gifted in some ways but I can hold time, play an appropriate bassline and get some feel into the song. i.e. I can fill the role. This is where his 'musical differences' or 'musical incompatibility' comes in. It's a bit of a shock to my esteem but I'm not sure that his expectations are fair or realistic. He's not vastly experienced with bands and gigging. So basically I've been sacked because I'm not good enough. (Or perhaps because he can't communicate at all and he has unrealistic expectations). I don't think he was impressed when I said he played too loud and dominated the band by way of it. It's calling him a musical arseshole evidently. Upwards and onwards then. Peter

Drummer, who i suspect is in communication with the lead and his bro. These aren’t bad folk. We started out as a jamming setup, no ‘boss’ as such. Then I got us a gig! The lead plays too loud. He also plays by feel meaning that his song structures can be loose and inconsistent in some songs. He can’t or won’t deal with that. He gets threatened when I raise it as an issue and has gone off on one again. End of really

yep, I’m a little gutted, especially since it feels like the blame has swung around in my direction. But I’ve learnt that my standards are higher than some others.

Well it has all disintegrated. Fallen apart in an apparently convivial manner but from the ‘we wish you all the best in your musical direction’ messages I guess I rocked the boat against the ‘boss’ and that wasn’t acceptable. I wonder if they already have a replacement in mind? I feel that I’ve been reasonable in my questioning of the inconsistent structure of some songs and how this left me exposed musically. This thread has helped me see that my thoughts on this are valid. Sadly it created I situation where I became the problem. Im a little gutted that it ended this way I guess but sometimes we have to stick with our position. Peter

Thank you Pete. Appreciated.

Put it this way, to be wrong I’d need to be telling lies. I’m not.

Absolutely agree. In previous bands myself and the drummer have held it together. I’m good at counting Sadly our lead guitar plays too loud and dominates the whole band.

That may be the outcome. The Rhythm guitarist has no desire to gig at all and no lead aspirations. I see performing as a natural progression. The drummer is more closely aligned to the lead guitarist I think. Whatever will be. I need to keep myself free from any unpleasant stuff and stay honest in all this.

The fact that he is playing songs and altering the structure at whim is a fact. That is the issue here. How good I am or each of us are in this instance is immaterial. I get complimented on my playing by other members but the issue is myself and the rhythm guitarist having to sort out what is going on mid song and looking numpties doing so. We are as good as we are. We try to do it for enjoyment although when you are being hung out to dry like this it tends to spoil the fun. I’ve no desire to castigate the lead guitarist. I created this thread because I wanted to know if the situation I’m up against is unreasonable. I was fairly certain it was as I’m not a total newbie. I’m not the most experienced band member despite being a lot nearer 70 than 60 (how did that happen). I now have no doubt that this guys musical ‘style’ and expectations are completely unreasonable. I have tried to deal with this the right way and I’ve been met with tantrums and someone who believes this situation is my problem not his. I can do no more. It’s a shame but I’ll move on. Once these threads get to a certain length they become unwieldy. Probably time to give it a kind despatch?

Generally, in my experience people don’t.

Of a set list of 22 he was consistently getting 4 or 5 ‘inconsistent’. Every now and again he’d surprise me by adding one to the list that had always been okay before. The real issue I guess is that he doesn’t see anything wrong with his approach.

It’s not timing. My timing is pretty solid. Please see the post above.

What he was doing, as I’ve said a few times now, is missing a few bars, or phrases out mainly. Usually around a bridge or coming up to the outtro. There is nothing artistic in it, just not getting it right and not thinking it important. Sometimes where a phrase should be shorter, like either side of the middle bit in ‘Come Together’ he’ll play it like the rest of the song and sometimes he won’t. He just approximates song structures on a whim.

That is an ideal approach. Sadly the bugger plays so loud he and probably the audience wouldn’t notice if the rhythm section stayed on course

This has been a long thread. I hope it’s been entertaining I has reinforced my view that being blasé about song structure isn’t acceptable. As was said, I’m not psychic. I’ve chatted with the rhythm guitarist over the phone. I didn’t realise how much he felt the same way. He’s been keeping quiet about it. It’s not just the loss of a few bars here and there but his lead in for solos is being hammed up to the point where he doesn’t bother and just carries on chugging out chords. He’s not as bothered about it falling apart as I am. Well, back to the books and time to work on some skills beyond learning and playing songs. Thanks to everyone that has contributed. Peter

I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 16. There is my field of expertise I wish my bass playing were anywhere near that level.

It’s really not about him having a flair for improvisation but instead chopping the odd few bars out due to both not bothering to get it right and not seeing it as any sort of an issue.

I’m not talking ‘loose and stylish’, just getting the structure wrong and most commonly cuttings bits short. To my way of thinking that is making a mistake. He doesn’t see it as a mistake but his ‘playing by feel’. Perhaps a bigger issue is his tantrums every time I try to say anything about it.

Well, I wrote what I thought was a fair communication. I read it to my lady who made several wise suggestions. I re-wrote it making it quite gentle and giving my view without rubbishing his. It said how his loose ‘feel’ approach to song structure wasn’t compatible with other musicians. It ended with a comment about wanting this sorted in a good way. I’ve just read his reply. He’s countered my opinion by saying that his ‘style’ is okay with other musicians he’s played with and that we’re musically incompatible and we should call it a day. He’s spat his dummy out again. Sadly, if this can’t be sorted it not only means letting friends down re the gig, it also scuppers my only avenue for playing alongside others.

We haven’t been a gigging band for long, just a bunch of guys meeting up for a jam regularly. So there was no need to address his inconsistent structure.