uncle psychosis

PS I can totally imagine the corresponding post on a drum forum: "hey guys, I've been playing drums with this band and they're really great---but they're giving me total mixed messages. They want to gig every week and make a real go at doing this 'properly', but when I suggested that we actually charge what I think we're worth they didn't want to know. I don't understand why they want to rehearse and gig like a pro band but they keep selling us short when it comes to getting paid. What should I do??"

[quote name='mrtcat' post='1371944' date='Sep 13 2011, 03:12 PM']Hi all, After some advice rom other band players. We have a decent drummer in our band. Playing wise he's great, really solid and puts a lot of energy into our sound. The problem is that when we're not playing he's a total headache. Firstly he's got an obsession with money. We are a pub rock band playing classic rock covers. We always get our £250 asking price and I believe that's more than many of our rival bands get. Drummer however is now insisting we charge £300 - £400 a night. If we play O'Neills we can get that much but most of our gigs are regular pubs. I don't think we'll get that much and end up pricing ourselves out of gigs.[/quote] Sounds like you need to just "take a vote" on it and then be done with it. [quote]Next issue is that he goes on to our online calendar and blanks off masses of dates well in advance. This means we already only have a maximum of 30 gigs a year for 2012. We will fill them but he's blanking off dates that he has no plans for just to control how much we play. He has just announced his wife is pregnant and due in march and has said as a result he'll be unavailable in march April and may. Finally he complains about where we play. He only wants to practice one a week tops but can't see why we're not playing the O2 every week. What would you do? He's a bloody good drummer and there's a shortage of them round here.[/quote] 1. 30 gigs a year is still a fair amount. 2. Taking time off for having a baby is not unreasonable. Two or three weeks either side of the due date strikes me as perfectly reasonable. It sounds to me like you need to have a "band discussion" with regards how "pro" you want to be. You need to all sit down and work out whether you want to be gigging once or twice a week or whether you want to gig less often. Then you need to discuss it with him. If it turns out the rest of you want to gig a lot more then maybe you should ask him if he minds if you get a regular dep in. As a married man (no kids yet) I can totally understand where he's coming from. You just need to be upfront, polite, and realistic when discussing with the rest of the band (and him) where you see the band going.

[quote name='bremen' post='1371549' date='Sep 13 2011, 10:36 AM']Bob Marley and the Wailers tunes? That was a beautiful rhythm section and the bass lines are a joy to play.[/quote] +1. Most Reggae tunes work well as just drums and bass. The beauty of it too is that Reggae is pretty much all about just keeping a nice groove, pretty much ideal for a beginner (in my opinion).

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1371841' date='Sep 13 2011, 02:23 PM']That way leads to the "Phil Collins Syndrome". A more genuine test would be to see if there's any Motown track you would put on out of choice.[/quote] Maybe. But if someone has to have heard the tracks in the first place before they can choose whether or not to listen to them again

[quote name='dc2009' post='1371801' date='Sep 13 2011, 02:03 PM']Compare apples with apples and then it might be fair. The two you just selected are many years and many genres apart, and there are not many people out there that are fans of both.[/quote] Ok, I was being deliberately obtuse! But...The Beach Boys and the Beatles. At The Gates and Metallica. Queen and The Darkness. Aretha and Dusty. Honestly, I just refuse to believe that if anyone who is musically minded would not be able to tell the difference (unless they were coming at it from a position of [b]total [/b] ignorance, but thats slightly different) [quote]Your post implied, using the phrase #no wonder# that you did think that. I apologise if I misconstrued what you meant.[/quote] Accepted. FWIW, I quite like Lady Gaga and have actually got into arguments elsewhere defending her musical "worth". But it just seems like absolute lunacy to me to dismiss Motown and then in the same breath big up the Gaga... PS log in to spotify and put on a few "best of motown" compilations. If you don't find at least one track you like then you're officially dead inside

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1371792' date='Sep 13 2011, 01:56 PM']What happened to this thread?! [b]I for one quite like Motown, but I also am quite fond of Metallica 'Master of Puppets' and a few of Jessis J's tracks. Nowt like variety.[/b] Pop has turned into a mess over the past decade or more, but I think acts like Gaga and Jessie J are a good sign that there is talent there. For example, have you heard Jessie's voice? Oh my...fantastic. Gaga's piano skills? Again, fantastic. Any of these could be played with any bass, but why not play it with an expensive one if you can afford it?![/quote] Me too. I'd actually argue that pop music has always been a mess---look back at the charts for any given era and you'll find there's a lot of dross thats been forgotten. I actually agree with dc2009s point about "rose tinting"---just not quite in the way he said it. I think the rose-tinting of the past is more that the crap stuff gets forgotten rather than the good stuff getting "better". Back to the topic---theres no substitute for practice, technique, and musicallity. A fancy bass isn't going to play a great walking bass line for you. Give any of the great players a bass thats set up correctly and they'll still be able to make some great music. Sure, nice gear can make everything more fun but anyone who thinks buying a new amp is what they need to become a good *musician* is fooling themselves. It might help, but the things you really need to become great can't be bought in shops!

[quote name='dc2009' post='1371752' date='Sep 13 2011, 01:37 PM']I notice you didn't copy the bit of my quote that pointed out directly where you were wrong and had put words in my mouth. How telling. I didn't say you said my opinion was bollocks, it was chris_b IIRC (apologies if it wasn't), but you directly referenced the 'forum etiquette' term I used in response to it, which is why I responded and pointed out why I thought it was out of line. Oh, the irony.[/quote] Oh, go on then, just for you: [quote]You clearly haven't read my posts properly, and have drawn incorrect conclusions from what I've said. I tried to justify what I said about standing the test of time, it wasn't just an insult.[/quote] Yes, you did try to justify it. But I didn't really think your justification held much water. [quote]I said I couldn't tell the difference if I heard a song of each of theirs blind, because oddly enough, I've never listened to their music of my own accord before. Is that a crime?[/quote] I don't own any At The Gates. Nor do I own any Justin Bieber album tracks. But I'm pretty sure I could tell the difference. [quote]I did not say that they are only looked on fondly because of their deaths. I did not say that. So don't put words in my mouth. I'm not at all trolling. Of course these acts were immensely popular before they died, MJ is another case in point, but their deaths have done wonders for their estates, that is a fact. It is a fact that Elvis' estate has earned more than he ever did in his lifetime. It is a fact that a collection of MJ's records reached number one in the album charts after his death.[/quote] I didn't say you were trolling. I said you came across as if you could be. There's a difference. Its also a fact that Mozart and Beethoven are massively more popular now than they were when they were alive. I don't really get your point. Nearly everyone gets a surge in popularity when they die. Thats just the way it is. [quote]Calling someone else's opinion bollocks is never necessary, so when you say no wonder I was getting such comments, [b]clearly you are someone who thinks it is acceptable to do so[/b], which I find downright rude. If you actually think that someone's opinion is bollocks and have decent, factual evidence to back up your view, why not present your case so they can read it. This is a discussion forum after all.[/quote] I did not think that. Please do not put thoughts in my head. I find [i]that[/i] downright rude. "The mark of an educated mind is being able to entertain a thought without accepting it". Understanding the reason for something happening is not the same as agreeing with what happened.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1371729' date='Sep 13 2011, 01:24 PM']You clearly haven't read my posts properly, and have drawn incorrect conclusions from what I've said.[/quote] [quote]Calling someone else's opinion bollocks is never necessary, so when you say no wonder I was getting such comments, clearly you are someone who thinks it is acceptable to do so, which I find downright rude. If you actually think that someone's opinion is bollocks and have decent, factual evidence to back up your view, why not present your case so they can read it. This is a [b]discussion[/b] forum after all.[/quote] Oh, the irony. I never said your opinion was bollocks. I just pointed out why I thought it was wrong. I'm off now, I can't be arsed [b]discussing[/b] this if you're just going to get upset when people disagree with you

[quote name='dc2009' post='1371675' date='Sep 13 2011, 12:41 PM']I definitely agree with the rose-tinted thing, and did try to allude to it in an earlier post. Not just about motown, but with Elvis or anything like that. I swear a death does oodles for how people remember music in later years, Elvis, The Beatles etc.[/quote] Oh, c'mon... The [b]fact[/b] is that Elvis and The Beatles changed music forever. They are absolutely massively important artists and would be regardless of whether or not Mark Chapman had shot Ringo instead of Lennon, or if Elvis was still alive and performing in his own tribute act in Vegas. Honestly, with your statements that Motown "hasn't stood the test of time", that you couldn't tell the difference between Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield, and now that The Beatles and Elvis are only looked on fondly because of deaths you just come across like you're trolling. No wonder you were getting some comments that breached "forum ettiquete"...

[quote name='dc2009' post='1371131' date='Sep 12 2011, 09:37 PM']I dare say I could pick out a Gaga song in the first few bars, and [b]wouldn't be able to tell Dusty Springfield or Aretha Franklin apart [/b]if I heard the two alongside each other.[/quote] I refuse to believe that anyone with ears (nevermind anyone who plays an instrument) couldn't tell the difference. Don't even get me started on your Motown comments either!!

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' post='1370576' date='Sep 12 2011, 03:36 PM']You can either make the pedal or you can't and circuit boards can't cost that much can they?[/quote] Manufacturing doesn't work like that. You need to source (and buy) parts in bulk or else costs go up massively, you need to devote time to R&D and building prototypes, you need to factor in the cost of not working on your existing products versus developing this new one, etc etc. If you're only going to sell 2 or 3 then its just not worth the effort.

The string spacing on my Yamaha TRB1005 feels about the same as it does on my Jazz bass. Haven't measured it, but it doesn't feel like a stretch...

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='1367332' date='Sep 9 2011, 09:34 AM']Uncle psychosis, that's really interesting, what sort of things did you learn and how has it helped?[/quote] So far its been mainly technique things. My left hand technique was/is pretty terrible. Learning to play `properly' has made it easier for me to play some songs, my poor technique was holding me back.

[quote name='merello' post='1363318' date='Sep 5 2011, 07:44 PM']Had a poor experience in GG Glasgow recently - looking to buy a present for someone and two of us collected the cash (remember that!) and went in, had a pluck, said, 'we'll take it!' and looked proudly at each other saying, 'well that was easy!' Sales assistant then says, I'll just serve this guy first and come back. We looked at a free assistant and asked if we could pay him and got a 'No.' (Is there some sort of omerta going on?) We looked on the bright side and had a wee browse at the untouchables down stairs. Came back up and asked, 'OK, can we buy it now?' as it lay waiting on the counter. 'Er...just be a minute!' Wandered round once more then 30 mins after our instrument had been chosen looked at the item, looked at the assistants, looked at each other and left. Went to Merchant City Music and bought a slightly more expensive item immediately, got talking to the sales assistant about guitars in general and he volunteered the chance for me to get a shot of an EC Strat and a AmDeluxe Tele. Superb! That's the 3rd time something similar has happened and they have actually lost about £950 in sales over their lack of desire to serve.[/quote] I've always found GG in Glasgow very friendly and helpful---but at the same time I can totally picture the scenario you mention. They never seem in a rush, do they! As for Merchant City Music---great shop, just a shame its so small One of the assistants in there is really helpful, one day I went in to try a POG2 and he spent about 30 minutes with me, changing the settings as I played (I asked him to) and then me changing the settings as he played. Gave me a really honest opinion on it too---when a slightly pushier attitude might have made him a sale!

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='1361908' date='Sep 4 2011, 04:55 PM']I'm not a good bass player. You probably tear your hair out when you hear people like me playing in pubs. You know the sort of thing; plays the root in time and has copied the odd bass line from the tabs, and that on a good day. I started playing as a middle aged adult from scratch 4 years ago, went straight into a band so the bassist could move on to other things and was playing pub sets of 2 hours in just over a year from playing my first notes. My learning experience has been a desperate scrabble to learn the next song for the next rehearsal and gig a week later. This means that I have seized on what works with no attempt to master theory or scales. Not that I am averse to a more thoughtful approach I just haven't had time to get off the merry-go-round. Currently I grab the chords play in the root a lot and have found the fifth, minor seventh octave and chromatic progressions are my friends. I'm just starting to play with the major and minor pentatonics. I tend to think in terms of box patterns rather than scales, so most of the time I don't even know which note I'm playing, just where they are relative to the root. I never improvise except when working on a new song and never live. I've never had a lesson in my life. So that's me. Where do I go next?[/quote] You are, effectively, me (except I have a bit of formal music training elsewhere). I recently started taking lessons and I've learned a lot---probably more in 2 or 3 hours lessons than I had in the previous year. Getting my teacher to help me sort out my technique has made playing (and therefore learning) songs easier.

[quote name='henry norton' post='1359576' date='Sep 2 2011, 10:19 AM']I've noticed some Chinese made guita#s are approaching the £1000 mark now. This at the same time as Gibson launching their new Melody Maker US built range at less than £500 (sadly no basses yet). There's no doubt the high end Chinese gear is very nicely made and designed (often by US companies) whereas the pared down Melody Makers leave allot to be desired in terms of equipment and finish. Eventually this will filter through to bass guitars so the question is would anyone here put up with sharp frets and minimal equipment just to have "Made In The USA" stamped on the back of the headstock?[/quote] A quick trawl of pretty much any US based guitar/bass forum will show you that the (massive) US market is obsessed with the idea that "American = better". I think its hard to say exactly why they think that way (personally I think a lot of it is just racism, conscious or unconscious...) but thats just the way it is.

In many ways I'm an ideal customer for shops, in other ways...not so much. I don't waste people's time. I only try if I'm genuinely interested in a purchase, if I'm not going to buy that day I say so. [b]I always ask before touching[/b] any guitars, and I'm always careful with my belt/zips/ring/watch not to scratch anything. Funnily enough, I've never experienced any appalling customer service! I'm always amazed when I read tales (and its quite often from our cousins across the pond) that start "so, I was in guitar center and I pulled the custom shop strat off the wall and was about to plug it in to the Mesa Boogie when the sales guy came running over and started hassling me...". For me, trying stuff without asking first is like going into John Lewis and going for a nap in one of the beds on show. No. Just, no. Don't do it. However, in many ways I'm not a great customer for shops because whilst I would prefer to buy guitars in person (I've bought 8 basses/guitars in the last 10 years or so and only 2 were bought sight unseen) and appreciate the service you get from a shop whilst buying an instrument, I'm not prepared to spend over the odds on small things like pedals and strings when I know I can buy them second hand or in bulk on the internet and save a packet. Combine this with not being a total gear nut that has to buy a new axe every week and I don't really spend all that much in my local shops.

[quote name='throwoff' post='1365268' date='Sep 7 2011, 01:35 PM']Where a bass is built is very ingrained into our culture as players and generally where a product is built can affect our decision to buy.[/quote] This is totally true. For myself, I don't care where a bass is made, so long as its a good instrument. However, when buying an instrument I also consider resale value when buying things these days and unfortunately a lot of the musical world is biased/prejudiced/downright racist when it comes to where instruments have come from. A sad fact of the guitar/bass world is that an American made instrument is probably going to hold its value much more than a Korean one, almost regardless of the actual quality of the instrument. There are probably exceptions out there---but until the bass/guitar playing community as a whole overcome our instinctive feelings that "American (or German, or wherever) = Better" then it'll keep happening

[quote name='bassman2790' post='1361526' date='Sep 4 2011, 09:07 AM']Traded my Midnight Blue Rickenbacker for Martthebass' 30th Anniversary Stingray yesterday. Fret slots were a little shallow making playing around the first three frets hard on the tendons but with some careful use of the nut files and a tweak of the truss rod, this bass is amazing. Almost plays itself. I should have bought a stingray years ago, would have saved me alot of GAS money [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmojo/6111742078/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmojo/6111742078/"]Stingray 1[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/markmojo/"]markmojo[/url], on Flickr[/quote] Wow. I'm not normally a fan of Stingray aesthetics but that one is gorgeous. They should do more in fun colours

Posted this at musicradar the other day but its probably of interest over here too: I noticed the other day that Guitar Center (massive US chain) are now shipping to the UK. Here's what they claim, based on a visit to their website: All prices in pounds sterling Duties and VAT calculated at checkout Low international shipping rates Guaranteed landed costs (no additional charges at delivery) Free shipping over $300

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1360876' date='Sep 3 2011, 12:28 PM']If getting a blue bass is a deal breaker, why not buy a regular german Streamer for £600 or so and spend £200 getting it refinished in Ocean Blue? You'll still save a few hundred quid and you get exactly what you want! Truckstop[/quote] ^^^ This. Second hand Warwick prices are stupidly low at the moment, it seems really silly to buy a new one.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1362484' date='Sep 5 2011, 12:37 AM']I realise the economy hasn't been that strong for years, but over on talkbass you see offers like '100 dollars off' even sale items, for certain holiday periods. I know it's mainly US gear, but you even see it on Markbass equipment. Why can't we have a few sales over here (and I mean decent sales)?[/quote] I think its partly a cultural thing. Loads of US companies do "crazy" sales at their major holidays---I guess its the norm over there. There's probably also a considerable supply/demand element to consider. The USA is a much, much bigger country than the UK---I guess that Boss can halve or quarter their profit margin on their pedals over a weekend and still sell enough to make a decent profit. Not sure they could do the same here. And, unlike clothes, music gear tends not to go out of fashion so theres less pressure on retailers to shift their stock, like in the January sales. It is rubbish though!

[quote name='Westie9' post='1359589' date='Sep 2 2011, 10:35 AM'] As far as I'm aware [b]it's now a straight 10% fee based on the final amount[/b], THEN your paypal fee... What bumps it up is all the little extras, reserve price, buy it now, extra pics, initial listing fee etc: Try Gumtree or even Preloved for a couple of weeks first. It's free and you can put pics on too. Bit of a pain though waiting for folks 'not' to turn up![/quote] There's a maximum fee. Can't remember what though.