Andyalfa

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='418750' date='Feb 24 2009, 09:01 PM']And if they do, I'll send the ghost of Alex Harvey round to sort them out [/quote] Vambo rules, OK? I saw them once, brilliant show. Is Chris Glen still going?

I've always liked Derek Holt from the Climax Blues Band. Not heard much bad about him. Two of my other nominations have already been mentioned, Jah Wobble and Norman Watt-Roy. Are there any other nominations for Derek Forbes from Simple Minds? From the upright world, I've been an admirer of Danny Thompson and "Victoria" for a very long time. Not just for his work with John Martyn, but for a very long and distinguished career all over the world. Actually, I rather like Mark King too <ducks>. Well, he kind of helped persuade me to turn to bass in the first place.

My second lesson went much better than the first. Still finding it really hard to read music though. That said, the teacher reckons I'm getting it fairly well. Having played electric bass for ages, I thought I was familiar with the basic scales, but with the upright, I have to stretch much further. Luckily I have long fingers. I think what made the difference this week is that he seems to have abandoned trying to teach me to use a bow. This is good and bad really. It's good, in that I can't see me ever using a bow in action, but using it really helps my intonation, given the sustain of a plucked string on the teaching bass is so poor. As a classically trained teacher, however, the material I've been given is not really my taste, though I've no intention of giving up yet. I always felt at home with the bass as my instrument. With the double bass, it feels even more right, like I was born to play one of those things. Certainly, at 6'4" and 16+ stone, it suits me more than say a mandolin would, if you know what I mean. I have a picture of me on a sports bike looking slightly out of proportion, then sitting "in" a Harley. I just fit the Harley better. It's the same with a double bass. I love it. So, although my lessons are on a proper acoustic instrument, I only have a Stagg EDB at the moment. One day though, I will get a real one. I just need a bigger house/car first.

I did send the email and the effect was as I hoped. We are now booked into a decent studio, fairly local for 14th – 15th March. Not only that, but the chap who does our live PA, is known there and will help out with the engineering, which will save us a few bob too. Result. As for sound quality, yes. But my thoughts are that getting something down on CD as long as it sounds OK, is good enough for a demo. Most pub/venue owners aren't going to bang it on £10k's worth of hifi and comment about the production. Horses for courses. Our last demo consited of 6 songs done and mixed in a day. Virtually recorded as live with just a few overdubs. It was a good demo, but as the lineup has changed, we can't really use it any more, hence the need for a new one. Anyway, sometimes it seems a rant is all thats needed to kickstart things in the right direction.

I was pointed to these guys by a fellow bass chatter, when I enquired about a simple AB swithc. They may well have what you are looking for though. www.redonionsolutions.co.uk

So it was the studio visit/band meeting last night, and it was very long and but pretty positive, all in all. The recording studio we went to was a no-no however. It was 4-1 against. The place was much smaller than we expected (aren’t they all?), but the equipment was OK and the engineer seemed pleasant enough. The main problem though, was the overwhelming stench of smoke. It was awful, permeating every fibre of the place. I came out feeling nauseous and I know the other band members were complaining about still smelling it on their clothes all the way home. There is no way we could be cooped up in there for 2 days solid and still feel well enough to play at our best. The band meeting was good afterwards though. We got a lot of things sorted, but we didn’t finish till nearly 11. I got home about 11:20 and had to sit on the settee with a glass of wine until midnight to wind down enough to get to sleep. Unfortunately, I woke at 5:30 this morning and couldn’t get back off because some things that came out of the meeting left me frustrated and almost angry. It’s all to do with the recording. We started thinking about a new CD early December. The idea being that we could get the stuff out there at venues and on the website to tout for wedding gigs during the 2009 season. Now, it turns out, the next date when we are all available to record is 2nd May. That’s months too late. All of the weddings, venues and bands will have been booked way before we ever start recording. Arrggghhh! The most annoying thing (probably because I am tired and stressed at the moment), is that we could all do 15th March, but we decided it was too soon to practise the songs we’d like to do. This is what kept me awake this morning. The 4 songs in question are already part of the live set, and we chose them because we feel they are the ones we do best. So why on earth AREN’T we ready to record them? If we can get studio time for that weekend, I would be ashamed as a musician if we couldn’t go in and lay those tracks down with minimal rehearsal BECAUSE WE ALREADY KNOW THEM! One 2 hour practise would see them spot on, no problem!

Great lists both. Best of luck with Rythmn Stick though. Our band want to do it, but just watching the vid of it gives me a nosebleed. Luckily the (girl) singer would be hard pushed to cover Ian Dury so I may be off the hook.

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='396081' date='Jan 31 2009, 12:31 PM']They look cool although you still have to put the T-bar somewhere, which is easier said than done in small pubs. Defo better than big old par cans.[/quote] Just started looking into lighting and these look ideal. We get hot enough anyway without pumping out loads of extra heat through conventional rigs. The question is though, where the hell do you place them? I presume they don't have enough throw to stick them too far away from the stage/performance area.

Hey guys, would it be OK if I brought my 16 year old bass playing nephew along to the bash. or is there an age restriction, being in a pub and all that?

[b][color="#FF0000"][u]WARNING - These photos are rated 18[/u][/color][/b] This is me recording our demo CD last year. One taken from a recent photoshoot A gig in 2007 And the first outing for The Beastie

I just read that Percy Plant has won a Grammy for the album Raising Sand he made with Alison Krauss. Radiohead also won stuff for In Rainbows. Am I in a time warp or something? Both of those albums were out ages ago, weren’t they?

Saw this guy on the Ashdown stand at the NEC Music Live show in 2007. He was awesome. He just wandered up looking like a punter, picked up a bass, plugged in and wow I added him as a friend in MySpace as soon as I got back. [url="http://www.myspace.com/wojtekpilichowski"]http://www.myspace.com/wojtekpilichowski[/url] there's his website too, [url="http://www.pilichowski.pl/"]http://www.pilichowski.pl/[/url]

I don't have this problem, mine's an EUB which also has a headphone socket. However, for a real DB, it sounds like you need some kind of mute. [url="http://www.thestringzone.co.uk/categories/practice-mutes/products/ultra-double-bass-practice-mute"]http://www.thestringzone.co.uk/categories/...s-practice-mute[/url]

I played my first gig on my Stagg a week ago. Only did half a dozen songs, partly due to stamina, partly because it wouldn't suit much of our material. It went down a storm. Feedback from the band and audience alike was very positive. They loved the look and the sound and couldn't believe I only got it at Christmas. More material has been learned and I can't wait for the next one now. The upright is the way forward for me.

I had my first double bass lesson last night. I was pretty excited beforehand and would have been gutted if the snow had prevented me going. Anyway, I made it OK and the lesson went really well, although not quite what I expected. For a start, he had me playing with a bow. I have never used one before and had no intention of ever using one in the future, but I thought what the hell, I'll give it a go. Although I still don’t think I’ll ever use one outside of lessons, I have to admit, it is a very good aid to teaching. Using the bow to hold a note really helps with getting your intonation correct, because you can easily hear whether you are sharp or flat. In fact, when I tried plucking the strings instead, the sound was very dull. The bottom E in particular, had so little sustain, you could hardly tell a note had been played at all, even on an open string. Maybe it was the choice of strings (arco only?) that was the cause, or more probably, trouble with my technique. Whatever it was, the sound was totally dead. The only way to hear what you were holding was to use a bow. This is in total contrast to the Stagg, which has probably too much sustain when plucking. Definitely nearer a bass guitar than a pucker upright. At the end of the hour, I realised that this is going to be difficult to master. There’s the physical challenge of the left hand, of course. Holding the strings down, spreading my fingers to reach the notes and concentrating on keeping my first finger still when stretching was all demanding. My left hand was shot by the end. Not painful, just tired. The hardest bit, however, is going to be learning to read music. It didn’t help that the printing was so small. Even bringing the stand closer didn’t really help. I could barely make out the individual notes despite wearing my glasses. For the first few exercises, I could just make out finger numbers underneath the stave, but I know that there will come a time when they aren't there and I have to learn to read. I confess, am dreading it. In summary, it was a case of realising just how much I have to learn. I have exercises and scales to practise, stretching and strengthening to work on and sight reading to do too. Thank goodness there’s a two week gap until my next one. The verdict is that I am more keen and enthusiastic than ever. In fact, I can't wait to get home tonight and have another go.

I'd add my name to the list of Ashdown Customer Service fans. I've had contact with them several times of the last couple of years (no, not all faults!). I have always found them quick to respond and excellent in their advice. For example, they sent a replacement LED for my VU meter (free, next day delivery) and suggested using a contact cleaner for my noisy pots rather than take it to a shop for a service. They are also always quick to help with advice for matters as diverse as extension cab suggestions, and insurance valuations. I love the sound/look of the gear too, so have no problems in recommending their products to anyone.

Complete with the famous (and pretty much unused) S1 switch...OK, why not. Do I need to bring an amp?

If I can get a pass, I'll try to get along. No point bringing my P-Bass I suppose, but I can bring the Stagg if anyone fancies a go.

I thought about that, but doesn't it only cover the individual member, rather than the whole band?

Just been asked to provide evidence of PLI to a venue we are playing soon. As far as I'm aware, we have none, so.... Is there anyone who will do [i]just [/i] PLI for the whole band in one go rather than as indiviual members? I can get "free" PLI with my instrument cover, but to add other band members will cost an extra £50 or so each. It'd be a whole lot easier to get one policy in the name of the band.

Just think yourselves lucky you play bass guitars. I had this idea of changing the stock strings on my new Stagg EDB. Seems that double bass strings start at just under £100 for a half decent set. I'm sticking with the originals for the time being...

This is probably a dumb question, but are there any cheap, commercially available A/B switch boxes to speed up my changing instruments half way though a set?

[quote name='hitchy64' post='383275' date='Jan 17 2009, 02:52 PM']This sounds like most practices I've been to over the years. You spend hours listening and re-listening to songs only for the others to either not bother learning them, or worst still, change their minds and suggest other songs for learning... Yeh...i'v been their!!![/quote] Glad read this. I thought it was just me! Drives you bl00dy mad sometimes. I'm currently learning Lovecats, The Cure on my new upright bass. Not that we'll ever do it in the band, but hey. I like the tune and it's quite a challenge.

I'd like to take the place of Leon Wilkeson of Lynyrd Skynyrd (on the stage, not on the plane!), Aston "Family man" Barret in the Wailers or Paul Chambers on the recording of Kind of Blue with Miles Davis.

I’ve been a fairly low skill level player in a covers band for a while now. I learn stuff by listening to records and reading tab. I’ve read a tutor book from time to time, but that’s about all the formal learning I ever did, and as a result I feel frustrated and p1shed off at my own limitations. I want to be able to play better, but what’s holding me back is a lack of basic music theory. I know from experience that when I do read and learn something, it takes a while to sink in, but when it does, it’s like the lights coming on. Wow! At last I understand what’s going on, hey I can use this elsewhere and apply it to this piece or that piece. It’s like a chink of light into a whole new world has opened up and I move on to the next level like on a computer game. Then, after a while, I feel frustrated again when I over use the new found skill and everything starts to sound samey and stale again. So I learn something new and the whole thing starts over again. This may not be the best or quickest way to learn, but it’s how I’ve progressed from just playing root notes, to basic riffing, to actually starting to embellish bass lines I learned from tab and sometimes make them sound more interesting (to me anyway) than a particular recorded version. Now I have a new challenge though. Since Christmas, I’ve been playing an electric upright and this has very quickly shown up my lack of rudimentary knowledge of scales and harmony. So much so, that I’ve taken the step of booking myself in for proper lessons with a proper tutor. I just hope that years of bad practise hasn’t totally ruined my chances of progressing. What I’m trying to say is that had I done some basic theory or had some proper tuition 30 years ago, I might even be earning my living as a musician these days, rather than playing for petrol money and fun in pubs. I’m happy enough with that, but I can’t help but think those awful words, “what if...”