The Funk

I'm now paranoid, or for those of you who've blocked me, blank space.

Hah, that's sweet. Because you can't have your bass and eat it.

Thanks for posting! Any deadline for submissions?

Sorry. Still traumatised. And still abroad!

[quote name='ARGH' post='119698' date='Jan 13 2008, 07:02 PM']FORGOT STRAP! (Dont ever do this EVER...NO.... REALLY DONT!)[/quote] First pro gig - arrived 3 hours early. Hung out with everyone, laid back, ate dinner. About half an hour before, wanted to warm up. Opened my gig bag... "Where's my strap? Oh ****. Not enough time to go home!". A friend of the bandleader ran off to another nearby venue and came back as we were about to start the set with a spare guitar strap - a cheap, nasty, weedy thing, but I've never been so grateful.

[quote name='BeLow' post='119583' date='Jan 13 2008, 04:54 PM']Classic for me is the shock that chord charts and fretless side dot markers are suddenly invisble when you are under stage lighting conditions.[/quote] First gig I ever had with a fretless (not long after getting my first one) I realised that wearing sunglasses on a stage with poor lighting while not having good enough monitoring to check my intonation was maybe not such a great idea.

Impress the opposite sex? Me at the bar next week [to hot brunette]: So... did you know that the 10th fret of an E-string, 5th fret of an A-string and 12th fret on a D-string and 7th fret on a G-string are all Ds? Hot brunette [to large boyfriend]: Dave... this tw*t's talking about my g-string. Me [to large Dave]: No, it's not what you think. I was just talking about fingering positions.

My '84 has snapped. I left her unattended while I've been abroad and apparently a couple of players stripped her finish and gave her some vigorous slapping and popping. She had a smooth and pronounced top end and bottom end with a nice mid-scoop. Shame about the cheap pick-ups and faulty wiring. Considering putting her in a hard case and leaving her there when I get back.

Bridge pup on 7 1/2, neck pup on 4 1/2 = magic.

If you like your funk heavy and want your rock soulful, then come down to the Foolish Earthlings gig at the Water Rats on Saturday 9th February (around 9pm). If you also like to see a band that can improvise its balls off, you should not miss this. And if you just like to be bought free drinks, come and be my guest. I will provide one free drink for you and an additional one for each friend you bring along with you. This is our first gig with a revamped line-up: watch as we put our killer keyboard player and funky frontman through their paces. Cost TBA Weblinks to full details will be added

[quote name='dood' post='118671' date='Jan 11 2008, 04:44 PM']I'm guessing this is the one in question. In which case, certain models do have a configurable primary winding.[/quote] Moisture vaporators? Sir, my first job was programming binary load lifters.

[quote name='David Nimrod' post='118550' date='Jan 11 2008, 02:26 PM']Good advice... pretty much what I do a fair bit of the time [/quote] I've been getting away with it for 14 years Bilbo's advice is the perfect ideal. It's a good thing to try to implement as early as possible. But if there's time pressure to conjure up basslines, the quick fix is what I suggested. Random fumblings on the instrument in the early stages of your development can help you hear all the different notes and intervals that are available. Until you have them all in your head, you might struggle to hear lines in your head without the aid of the instrument. But the end goal should be reaching a state where your imagination prevails over chance discoveries or stock formulae. At the moment, I use a mix of all three. I don't think there's any need to restrict yourself to just one method of coming up with an idea though.

If you have no inspiration or ideas, just play the root note on the 1, and then a combination of the third, fifth and seventh. Just play pentatonic stuff. It's simple and it sounds cool. Major pentatonic on major chords, minor pentatonic on minor.

[quote name='jammie17' post='118016' date='Jan 10 2008, 05:32 PM']Return to Forever....the Original Band will reunite in 2008.....Romantic Warrior was an unbelievable album....Stanly Clarke....sigh [url="http://www.chickcorea.com/player_temp.php"]http://www.chickcorea.com/player_temp.php[/url][/quote] The original band or the Corea-Clarke-di Meola-White middle line-up? That would make me cream my pants.

There was that joke in Robots. It's a mix of jazz and funk - I think it's called Junk.

I like to think of Jazz as more than just a genre but a family of genres. All the best stuff is truly great: the bebop greats, Satchmo, Duke Ellington, the 'cool' stuff and the fusion escapades.

8 - just started in December '06 and had a line-up change in September '07. Back on track now and ready for the new year. We can't gig too often though otherwise noone will come to see us.

[quote name='OldGit' post='111604' date='Dec 31 2007, 07:25 PM']getting good feedback is tough too as your mates won't want to tell you you are crap or your material is weak or you present it in a poor way[/quote] After one gig that went well and got good reactions from the non-partisan members of the crowd, I asked a good friend of mine what he thought. He said "I only have 15 suggestions... but if you guys weren't good I wouldn't have any".

That's the thing. I know several decent bands who cover the same kind of ground as us - I think it'd be better if we just started putting on nights ourselves at these same venues.

I think the main problem is that we play places where you have to generate the entire audience yourself, so there's no chance to pick up any new people.

My one experience as an engineer was a bit of an eye-opener. I could not believe how rude many musicians are. The "proper" engineer hadn't turned up and I was in the band soundchecking after the band on stage. I knew the frontman and engineer so I offered to get everything up and running to speed things along. The rest of his band were a bunch of cnuts and couldn't stop whinging. When the proper engineer turned up I apologised for messing with his settings - he told me I'd got it bang on. Part of the art of playing live is managing to put in a good performance when you can't hear the rest of your band, can barely hear yourself and can only hear cymbals.

Open as in more even across the frequencies, I think, with a smooth top end.