bassjim

Sometimes the "WAGS" have an evening of it for no particular reason other than they are all free that night. They have a good drink , a natter ect and we drive em back home. If we are doing a known "paid rehearsal" like some pheonix nights type working mens club or its one of em known places where its hardly any punters and she's on her own I prefer she doesn't come along. I find that really distracting because I'm thinking more about if she's ok than getting on with it. If there is some annoying nutter in the place you can guarantee they make a beeline for her!! If I think or know up front its gonna be one of those gigs I will usually say so prior. She has seen it all before now and will usually decide based on experience of coming to my gigs which are the ones she and her friends want to attend. Either way though she is 100% supportive and gets it. She doesn't feel she has to attend all gigs and sometimes prefers not to and sometimes just wants to come along just because. My ex wife different story.....without going into it, gig + ex wife = no. Just no.

Problem most drummers have is no way to practice at home. Even the ones that have an electronic kit at home still have the banging away on the kick pedal that can drive neighbours downstairs/next door or family members up the wall. Lack of practice leads to lack of enthusiasm. Or frustration. Most only really practice when playing with a band be it rehearsals or gigs which leads onto the usual problems associated with that. I think a lot of them end up as what I would call "people that happen to own a drum kit" rather than what I would call a "drummer". In my ideal world I would like more readily available drummers that understand the whole song structure thing as well as have all the chops, are not already in umpteeen bands, dont have a permenant personal crisis on the go, just get the fact that if you play drums you have to move a drum kit about if gigging ect (thats a debate already done) have great feel and dynamics, I could go on... that are like this one. https://youtu.be/4bAY-dVtvVo

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1490360538' post='3264589'] The last time I seriously looked at getting a motor vehicle to transport myself and my musical equipment, was when I had just started playing in my covers band. By the time I had actually added up the cost of buying a vehicle and insuring it, and before working out what the petrol, tax, MOT and everything else was going to cost; I had already way passed what it would cost me in taxi fares to get to 12 months worth of gigs and rehearsals, so that's what I did. Outside of the band I have no real need to own a motor vehicle, so the cost/benefit has to be solely focused on musical activities. I've managed perfectly well in bands without owning any transport for the 40 years I've been playing. I also think from my experience of both, and from some of the attitudes displayed here, that there is a big difference in band dynamic between originals bands, where, in a good one, everyone pulls gather for the good of the band and everyone has their own different non-musical abilities that all go together to make to band a functioning unit; and covers bands where it seems to be a bunch of individuals who get together a play gigs and that is it. [/quote] No I don't think the mentality is any different. Weather I'm in a covers or originals band the same issues are there. The same things grate. One of my previous covers bands did a stint in France and in Spain. We had the same kind of touring obstacles that an originals band would have doing gigs abroad. We all mucked in for the good of the all just as much. Had a great time. Wouldn't of described us a a mere bunch of self interested non caring individuals getting together just to play gigs. We shared the driving by the way. I've also toured with an originals band and same kinda thing really. Covers or originals you help with load in load out ect (unless your a singer ) and someone within the band may be a great gig getter and someone may be a great band MD (dictator) ect. Driving or not doesn't change that. Unless you really make it big and have some big tour bus/ limo rock up outside your mansion. Then you don't need to drive..... As for paying for taxis everywhere to offset the costs of getting to and from gigs: you didn't rely on a band mate or anyone else to do it for you so in a way you "had your own transport". You helped pay for the wear and tear of the taxis via the taxis fare. Going back to the question from the OP. "do I need transport to do a function gig?" Answer is no you don't but penalties can apply. "whats your view on the subject?" personally I think you are better with your own transport than without. Besides the band stuff you may use your new found driving skills for transporting things other than band related things about.

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1490351090' post='3264472'] Wow!! Perhaps you should get some idea of the original posters circumstances before you start ordering him what to do, lessons are very extensive and expensive, cars are expensive to buy/run and new driver insurance is massively prohibitive. I'm a 56yo with full NCD and a virtually spotless driving record but I don't earn a lot so can struggle to pay the small amount of insurance I have, who knows what the OP can afford? [/quote] Its a hard life sometimes. But the fact is "that" function or pub band are not going to have a whip round just to help you out cause you're a nice guy that could do with some help when there is a very capable person ready willing and able with transport. I think a lot of the advise here isn't to have a dig at the OP or give anyone a look of shame for not having transport but more a bit of tough love. Without being able to drive at a young age I would have missed a lot of opportunities good and bad that add up to my current amount of experience. What ever that is. But all the same it would be a hell of a lot less had the driving ability not been there. To be fair the insurance for the young is daylight robbery but its just a hoop to jump through. Personally (get yer violins out) I went without other things to not only fund getting a licence but to also get the actual transport. It was a beat up old ex BT van. So i was hardly going about in style. But my whole reason for it was so I could gig. And I did. My step son ( also a guitarist) worked evenings in a pub and on a building site during the day for piss take money to fund his first car. He gigs.

[quote name='pbasspecial' timestamp='1490290181' post='3264028'] Anyone else had the situation where you go to an audition, you're the best one in the room and smash it out of the park. And then hear nothing back? I don't remember getting my knob out or taking a sh*t on the floor These guys are old enough to know how to behave (early 60's) but clearly not very professional. Just find it a bit rude. [/quote] Auditioned. Heard nothing for about a week and then a call to say I'd probably suit a band where there are less musicians because I was too busy. "but I pretty much played note for note what was on the record. Two of your guys couldn't even play half the stuff you listed to learn. ". ....."yeah well most of the guys thought you were a bit of a prick". " oh ok then . have a nice life". put down the phone. One week later...ring ring .."hello?" " er yeah. sorry about the last call. kinda got the numbers mixed up and thought you were one of the other guys. We actually wanted you to come back for another audition." " oh ok . well we we all make mistakes. no harm done ect. so when the next get together?" " I'm gonna call you in a day or two" Nothing.

sadowsky pre amp pedal

B would lead to A. I'd do the gig. And I'd make sure I properly learnt the set....

Have a look at other bands that play the same sort of thing as you. Check their websites and FB pages ect and see if there are any gems that could work for you. Occasionally in my band we entertain each others more obscure ideas. We just learn em and gig em. Sometimes they just fizzle out naturally within a month or two from lack of interest both on and off the pitch and sometimes we all prove ourselves wrong because something you think is a dead duck ends up a full on winner.

If the pub in question is saying upfront that a sizeable percentage of profits ie: 70-80 percent are going to the charity, and its a cause you would support plus you just wanna get out and play the its ok. If you get paid to play at the same pub regardless as a regular band, but feel you are being enticed into helping draw a crowd but dont want to piss of the landlord or now you have a future gig bookings dilema, and its not clear where those profits are going, make sure you have a gig somewhere else that day.

If you've been offered a gig playing covers but have no real experience of this before then take the gig. See what its all about and go from there. It might be a great experience that you want to repeat or expand into. If its really sh*t then just say open and honestly " sorry guys but its not really my bag but I had to try it out to see. Thanks for the oppotunity and its been really nice to meet you". What harm can come from that........unless they have a reputation for "if we say your in , you're in till we say you're out" whilst throwing the last bassist into the canal...

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1490182043' post='3262901'] Because some people, myself included, are not allowed to drive for medical reasons. [/quote] Yes thats' fair enough. Its a legitimate reason. You are the exception to my rule (rant). But long term, any one without a legitimate reason needs to sort this out IMO

All well and good demanding £1200.00 if you are actually worth £1200.00. I've seen and been in well organised bands that although have the "office" skills to put this in place lack the "music" skills to carry it off. I have witnessed heated post gig discussions resulting in police and ambulance attendance....... Also a band doing £850.00 including lights, DJ music and striptease act that are experienced and do a good job can easily undercut an equally good band doing the same thing for £1200.00. I would first go with are you worth in excess of £800.00 if you say so yourself and if so what do you think you can get away with asking. Too high and you could blow it. But before you sell your selves short remember that its likely the client has knowingly or unknowingly booked "Trevor and Daves' blues experience" when they say they will do it for £300.00 so can you do anything on the price. Another route is via an agency. Some agents are very good these days not like they were years ago and will negotiate very good terms. Some are still a dodgy.

Most musos that dont drive and say its not a problem is because the musos that drive them dont often voice their discontent. If you live in a city and most venues have the backline, thats great but if like me its pubs and clubs and functions spread out around the county and beyond... For most drivers, its a drag to have to constantly pick someone up and take them back again. If the first few gigs dont start to grate the next few gigs will. There are some exceptions as there are some folks who will do anything for you and your band always but this is rare. In any of my past and present bands doing this kind of work,you would have to be something pretty exceptional to be up above the pecking order of someone who does drive. Or you would have to be in a position where the band doesn't have any choice due to lack of competition from other bassists wanting the same gig. If I were asked to lecture at a BIM type school I would probably give a big speech on how as far as I'm concerned based on personal experience as someone who has had a driving licence since the age of 17, who has been roped into this hassel countless times to the point I will only do it on a " no other option available " and it means I wont get to gig unless I do, a driving licence is as important as owning an instrument. You can always hire a car. You can share the hire and driving of a van. But most of all you have the independence to make your own choices as to which band you want to make the effort for or which you feel is making enough of an effort for you. I've made the effort to get a licence and get my transport sorted, it was grief and continues to be grief running it, so why should you not have to bother? I get that some muso circles are in the inner cities and owning and parking a car doesn't work ect but all the same, if you get a gig out of the inner city then what? Yes it makes me angry when I'm asked to do a dep gig and would it be cool if I could just pick such and such up on the way. As you can tell this makes me cross, so in answer to do you need transport, not if there is someone who can shoulder this responsibility for you but try and remember that no matter what they say to your face you are a pain in the arse. Be very grateful and ALWAYS offer to pay not just a contribution to fuel costs but all of it. They still pay for wear and tear. Make a lot of effort to be that persons bestest band mate ever. Or get a licence!!!

I think there is a specific time in your musical life when its cool to go and have a go. Usually its in the first half of it. If you haven't done it before you should. If you dont buy a lottery ticket ect...... However there is also a time when if you've been there a few times before and either satisfied your thirst or decided on what terms you would ever do it again, then at this point decline. At least you have had that experience which can be added to your repertoire. But ultimately if you don't want to give up a day job, use up day job holiday, help fund £2-3 grand then its ok. No one can or should force you. Every member of the band has their own agenda and you pulling out makes it difficult for them to fulfill it. The band may find someone else that will but from that point on its nothing to do with you. A friend of mine is just going on tour for the first time right now but her band have got some government backed funding thing. She gets something like £100.00 per day, paid to her ! for doing it. The band she is in is run by the singer song writer who has presented this whole thing as a business plan and received a budget. I dont know all the ins and outs of how you set this up but I did tell her that I'm not happy about my tax pounds going to help this project when I personally have suffered several either self funded or low budget record company outings but if they can do it why not others?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1489960542' post='3261147'] All strings look to have gone up in price since I last swapped them! [/quote] since my last moan here on BC about price increases, some have come back down. Hmmmmm.......

Pre pub type gigs ( starting about 9pm) when ever possible I try and eat a fairly decent meal at about 4-5 pm. Long before any nerves or pre gig jitters set in. Chicken with pasta or rice dish. Slow burning carbs. Nothing doughy. If its a wedding gig and we are being fed there is usually more of a calm and so then i will go with the flow but even then I dont go " free food!! " and stuff as much in as possible unlike some of my band mates I usually eat a bagel/sandwich/something healthy I/my fiance prepared earlier and a have "a",as in one, beer or two( at the most) when I get back in (midnight- 1 am). I avoid all fast food/takeaways and don't drink alcohol on a gig. ( that one time was embarrassing enough). On any gig day I try to have a good big healthy breakfast. So that's NOT a fry up!!! I'm 49 but am told by most I look mid to late 30s. (sorry but I also go to the gym most days) If its a late night and especially if there is a gig the next day, I dont want to be hungover or be out of sync. Its hard enough just having the regular sleep pattern knocked at this age so personally I keep it healthy. Having a good few beers/wine ect on a non gig day or the very occasional post gig party is ok though. In my earlier days doing this any thing went and I could bounce back but these days I'm there more for the music than the party.

Blues' point about booking the first 6-12 gigs up front: ( Hi Blue!) Yes and no........ Yes = recently I have been offered a string of dep gigs. Because they are all paid and are in fact actually gigs Ive said yes. If they were "can you come and jam/rehearse because we intend to get gigs " would be a most likely "No" because I already have a gigging band. Booking gigs upfront is great way of asking the right minded people to join up. It makes sense, there is purpose, a common goal......But No = So recently my regular gigging band starts to look around for even more gigs to add to existing ones. This is an established band with a good rep. We have had from " fully booked till next year" to "I'm not paying that" (and thats' the for the discounted first gig see how it goes rate!) They also want to see proof of the bands existence and quality via you-tube promo ect. They want to know what they are going to be paying for and will thier punters ,in their opinion, like it. In our last get new gigs campaign, we were successful in three out of ten venues. The rest we have dropped due to piss take money on offer or have to wait till the next booking is available, which is into next year. I guess the exception would be if the gig getter is a well known on the scene muso, that is already respected, and has already done plenty of good successful gigs either at or near the venue in question.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1489668561' post='3258785'] I would say do your research by reading a humorous novel on the subject, available from amazon (link in sig) That would be the best thing to do first... I AM SUBTLE!!!!!! [/quote] Great book!!

Not sure of when in the last 5 years I've needed more than 350 watts. Always been plenty loud enough with 2 cabs running. I think if you like the tone you get with it, go for the TH350. I think bigger amps volume wise are good if you regularly get to stand 10-15 feet away from them on a big stage. Other wise you could get a regular " can you turn it down" request when you are stood close to your rig but cant hear it so well. The "louder" amp may be throwing/projecting your sound further out than you realise. Especially when cramped in together next to a drummer and a gitard with gig induced sensibility loss.

Covers band: Contact anyone you know, musically speaking, on a personal level first to see if they would in principle be interested and to what ends are they prepared commit. Anything positive keep on file. Explain you are also advertising and if they know anyone who may be interested, send them your way/ get contact details. Put an ad up in your local join my band ect website. State at least half the tunes for a proposed set list in the ad. State what type of band it is. "Funk soul/ Blues/ general covers / Rock ect." To play "pubs , clubs with the view to go on to private functions." Add the statement : "are you currently in a gigging band but not happy with your lot? maybe you are happy but would like to be doing more gigs as well as your current band". ( If this new band is a winner they may turn their backs on their current band. Its the music biz and the music biz is fickle.) Ask all applicants if possible to send you a youtube or simular link of them performing in a band/gig ect. Be honest about what you intend to do to start with, ie: put a set together, learn set and gig locally for cheap to get things up and running with a view to up the ante if all is going well. If you go blasting straight in with " we're gonna get £500.00 a gig " its unrealistic. Experienced players will know better and the not so experienced will be expecting it to happen. Most good experienced players will want to rock up, play and get some lolly, which is ok so keep these on file if you get any " I'm interested but just wanna rock up and play" answers. Some of these guys and girls in reality may only gig once every other month due to delusions or grandeur and feel this is all beneath them having not let go of past triumphs. They may end up joining your ranks once things get going. When auditioning its worth bearing in mind: Someone with great enthusiasm could, with a bit of practice turn out really good and not ever let you down. So don't be a musical snob. Ok if they are enthusiastic bit really really sh*t dont bother but if there are signs of hope try going with it. To be up and gigging from scratch within six months for most people with day jobs/kids/ect either everyone is already an experienced player with a history of regular gigging or you are going to need to rehearse as much as possible so ask if the applicants are willing to do 2 rehearsals a week or a regular get together at someones house. I would make this clear in the ad that you intend to have an intense startup phase as the aim is to get up and running quickly. Anyone with the right attitude or experience with the actual time to do it hopefully will recognise this is the way to do it. If you are really really lucky and get a response from all band members stating that they are fed up with their current band and like the idea of something fresh, you could be up and out within a couple of weeks, never mind six months. ( and then you could use the extra gig money to help fund hay for your unicorn).

I think its important to you if you feel the difference. I've been playing the same bass for years now. Over time I've adjusted the pickup heights to the point that I have quite a distance between the PU and the string especially over the back pick up. When I tried out a new bass the PUs were very close to the string and I found that really difficult to do my thing as per normal. This works for me 100% but other players want it the other way round and some think the out put isn't going to work as well. My playing has adapted over time without me noticing it and now this is how I like my Jazz bass set up. If its unique to you then that's just the way you like it. Nothing wrong with that at all. We are all individual after all.

although its a 2 year old thread perhaps my 2pence may help anyone in the same situation now or in the future regarding singers. .. So my regular band were doing the: get singer. singer bad.sack singer.start again. get good singer. singer leaves because of better money elsewhere/joins a cruise ship. will only sing for x amount ect. Our solution ( we play covers BTW) We became a collective. We are the band featuring ........insert name of singer. We currently have 4 singers in our pool of vocalist right now. They all have something thats unique to them and we change the set slightly depending on which one is singing. Each singer is free to do what ever she wants music wise and can be in several bands if she likes so we dont get this commitment problem. Every gig we want to do we have a choice of 4. We book in advance and offer the gigs out on a fair share basis. No complaints from band ,singers , landlords or audiences. Keeps it interesting for band and audiences alike because we do things differently depending on whos on which night. This weekend just gone did a gig saturday with one and sunday with another. Any time any one of them wants to make a solid commitment we can consider it but it works better for us when they know that they are very very replaceable. We even have a few singers that would like a piece of the action and would like to join our collective, but we don't need the cover right now but have them "on file" so to speak. If we pick up a wedding in a pub its automatically offered to the girl thats singing that night. If she cant make the date we offer it around. Anyway thats what we do. Maybe you could advertise for a collective of musicians as well as singers. Every one learns the same core set and add what you like depending on whos doing which gig.

Been using this for about 5 years with no complaints ( except the odd boomy room, but thats not the gear at fault!) and always look forward to the next with the same. Love it. Fender Jazz. Sadowsky preamp pedal EBS Chours pedal Tuner pedal EBS 350 head One EBS NEO 1x12 plus one EBS NEO 2x10 cab. (Either or both depending on size of gig/ rehearsal ) Nice good quality leads but cant remember off the top of my head what brand. Must be good though because I've had the same ones for years.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1488644973' post='3250752'] I wish my strings were as cheap. £18 is still not bad. I hope the surfing trip helps take the edge off it for you. [/quote] well i did catch my first green waves. the one where i rode all the way back to shore standing up with a robot dance finish was very cool. no one filmed it though.... bit like my best bass solo in public....

hello folks. So today I get back from a little trip surfing and need some strings for this weekends disasters/gigs. Because I have left it till the last minute I have to go into town to buy my favourite roto sounds. ( i like these so no I dont want to try xyz right now . these are my prefered brand.) A few weeks ago online and in the shops about £12.00 a set. Now, apparently because of brexit, they have gone up to £18.00 a set. Not asking for a for and against brexit point of view here but more of an explanation as to why, when we haven't actually left yet, why the price has suddenly gone up. Anyone from Rotosound want to chip in? Have you put prices up? Why? Brexit effects you because ? You import French steel and they are punishing us early?All the cheap labour gone home? British steel and other british ingredients no good? Any one in the retail want to chip in? Prices are up because of Rotosound? Or.. did everyone across the board exhaust all stock bought in two weeks ago and this is all brand new stock? I do get a feeling I'm being taken for a ride here.....