Franticsmurf

We have a gig tomorrow night in a club and were told the venue would promote. When we checked last week, there seemed to be some confusion and it turned out that there were two different people responsible for booking entertainment. One did weekdays bar Friday, the other Friday and the weekend. The weekday person was the social media person, but as she didn't know about our Friday gig, no promotion (other than a poster in the club) had been done. Fortunately we have been able to get the message out. Always check and assume nothing.

I remember sitting backstage with the rest of the band trying to work out two lines in one of the verses ('Barefoot on the lawn with shooting stars/Loving on the floor in Belsize Park') minutes before going on stage and opening with Pseudo Silk Kimono into this. IIRC we didn't decide on the correct words and the singer mumbled the lines. 1990, first band, maybe 10th gig ever. 😬🤣

When does depping become a regular gig?😃 I'm playing with The Long Road tomorrow night and found out at last night's rehearsal that rather than it being a one-off as I thought when I was asked to play, they're planning more dates. They are a very good bunch of musicians, though. Then Merthyr on Saturday with a duo (Getting Even - same singer as tomorrow) to make up the numbers as they were booked as a trio! I've been the third man with Getting Even a few times recently. A mixture of pop, C&W (shudder) and anything the singer thinks of. Apart from the cowboy songs, it's good fun.

It took me a while before I realised this.

I've bought three guitars with them over the last 12 months. No problems with any of them. The service was great (although I had no queries or problems so I can't comment on that aspect).

I've been messing around with my board (isn't that the real point of pedals boards?) I'm working on two new projects, both blues/rock orientated but different styles within that genre. So initially I've been using this board with a range of effects to go through the songs and get some basic sounds. Signal path is Vexpress>Tuner>Hypergravity>Bass Clone>Neo Mistress>Olycism (delay)>Octaver>Soul Food>Glowplug>amp. Most used pedals on the bottom row for easy access. The DI box is not wired in but there as a 'just in case'. Power supply under the board. Final rehearsal tonight and gig on Friday for the band playing Eagles stuff and this is the line up that will feature. Signal path is simple right to left. I was in two minds about keeping the Neo Mistress for the flanged part of 'Life in the Fast Lane', but the guitars are sounding good at that point and don't need me in there too. I was playing with the octaver on 'Rocky Mountain Way' but in the interests of simplicity and space on stage, I've gone with this set up. I've still to decide about the other band, which plays a heavier/rockier blues set but I suspect the Soul Food and octaver will find their way back in the line-up.

We have a club gig booked for Friday. They were estimating 140 ticket sales but so far it's 25. There'll be more sold on the night I expect but it's not a good sign and I wouldn't be surprised if the event is cancelled at short notice. Last time we played there, we had about a hundred or so watching us.

I've been using one of these for home practice for over a year. Great little amp. The volume always throws me when I plug my iPod into the Aux and the neighbours often get a blast of whatever I'm going to play along to, which drowns out the swearing as I turn the volume down on the pod. 😃 I've used it in band rehearsals (a 13 piece largely acoustic line-up) as it has enough quality volume to compete with the rest of the band (without drums). There's a 1/4" 'Direct Out' on the back which I've used to feed the band PA when we acquired a drummer. For gigs I used it as a monitor with the main volume being handled by the PA. I bought mine 2nd hand and the power supply isn't the original, which is an 18v unit. Mine is running off a 15v supply as I can't find a replacement.

Welcome BassFace.

After seeing a band with a short bass player playing a Jazz bass, for years I ignored anything with a big Fender style headstock for fear of looking as silly as I thought he did at the time - it really looked as big as him! With hindsight, I was clearly taller than him (I'm 5'7") but it influenced my choice of instrument for ages. I went with 'two-a-side' paddle headstocks before discovering the headless bass - first a Hohner Jack, then a Steinberger Spirit which I still have. I dabbled with short scales and now have a Gretsch Electromatic which I like. But last year I bought a Stingray 34HH and last month a Precision. Why did I wait so long? 😃

The set up is usually Zoom B1four and headphones unless I'm tweaking sounds, when it's the pedal board into amp and one speaker. Low volume, with the intention of doing final tweaks at rehearsal before or between songs. If I know my neighbour is out, I may crank the volume up and get some final tweaks done then. I tend to work on songs for the bands I'm in, and build in some technique practice along the way as I struggle to get motivated to practice technique alone. Currently working on the Xmas set for the Hulla band (few gigs but usually big charity ones) and a set of Eagles tunes and other songs appropriate to the genre for a dep role in an Eagles tribute gig (The Long Road) next Friday.

When I started playing in my first covers band, the rhythm guitarist and I shared a mic for BVs. During 'I Saw Her Standing There' we'd back up the lines 'I never danced with another' and 'I held her hand in mine'. I realised early on that he was actually singing 'I never danced with her mother' and 'I held her gland in mine'. He passed away a few years ago and I always sing his version of those two lines, with a big grin on my face just like he had on his. 😃

After reading the original posts I thought I'd try the Sonicake too. It's on the board and sounding good at home. I have yet to use it live but so far so good.

So important and often overlooked.

That looks gorgeous.

I've had a Bespeco (volume only) pedal for years. I've gigged it and used it as a foot rest. Cheap, cheerful, quiet. I think they're less than £20 on Amazon. I've just added a Sonicake Vexpress (volume/expression pedal) to my board - it has a smaller footprint than the Bespeco. I've only had it a few days but so far so good.

And club politics in South Wales. 😃

You could be describing one of my last pre-lockdown duo gigs, except it was a rugby club. They'd just won their league and you can imagine the state they were in by the time we arrived at 8pm. The club song was Sloop John B, to which there were many and varied lyrics. I think we played it four or five times throughout the night. I was covered in beer - not thrown at me but splashed over me as they jumped up and down. One grabbed my mic to sing but having anticipated it, it was switched off. He then proceeded to fiddle with the catches of my leads case, slurring 'which one is the volume control' at me. I couldn't wait to leave and won't be going back.

I'm in the process of moving to IEM for one of the bands I'm in as I'm taking on BV duties, but the drummer prefers to hear my bass through my amp and speakers. The other band is old school at the moment. I have no problem with either option as my bass rig (Peavey Minimax 600 and 2x TE110 cabs) is less than 20kg in total.

We had a contract through the agent. But on the night we felt it was best just to co-operate, because we could. The 'I'm paying you' element was sort of said in jest - difficult to explain unless you were there but there was definitely no overt threat, more a 'he had no right to book you as I'm the one with the money' kind of thing. My point was to highlight the internal politics that happen within committees. Had there been a direct threat, we would have been out of there and chasing it up later with the agent, and spreading the word on the local musicians forums.

Neither was I - so I thought. But these things creep up on you. 😃

When 'the committee' get their hands on things, it's rarely good news. We were booked as an Eagles tribute act at one club by one member of 'the committee' but the chairman wasn't happy about it. First we knew was in the interval, when the boss came up and told us, nicely, to play a variety in the second half. When we explained we were booked as the tribute act, he said words to the effect that it was not him that booked us, but that him that would be paying us, and that he was going to have words with the booker. Fortunately, the same line-up played cabaret gigs too so we quicky drew up a new set, played it and got paid The original booker wasn't happy but we referred him to the chairman.

I see what you mean. No, mono out but in both ears. Mono amp.

My Peavey MiniMax 600 has both and a built in tuner.

Chris Squire - generally from the first Yes album I owned, Yesshows, and specifically this bass solo from Ritual. At the time (way before the Internet) I only had the audio recording and I was convinced this was a guitar solo because in my limited experience, no bassist played like this. I don't think I've come close in terms of technique and I don't own a 4001 but I do tend to play at the dusty end of the neck, often play with a pick and I like that gritty sound (where appropriate).