Franticsmurf

Our BL is a big Bruce fan, so a lot of our stuff leans towards his style.

I've just started working on the Bruce Springsteen/E Street band version for the Hulla band as a request for an up coming wedding gig. Our version is loose enough that I have free reign over the bassline I play so I'm currently swapping between the guitar riff and original bass part. As part of the same request list, we're also working on Texas Hold 'Em, 21 Summers, There's Your Trouble, Thinking of You and Rainy Night in Soho.

The Hulla band are rehearsing for a wedding, including 6 request songs, which we're happy to do. It exposes us to stuff we may not have considered and the current 'standard' set includes several toons that started off as requests. We're a large band with an unusual mix of instruments (drum, bass, guitar x2, sax, trumpet, ukes x4, banjo, keys and bongos with several of the above singing) so arranging for new songs is fun. As a massive Springsteen fan, the BL starts off from a point of 'what would Bruce/the E Street Band do?' and then we end up with a Bruce/original version/Hulla band mash-up chart at the first rehearsal. Sounds chaotic? Yes, it often is at the start. Doesn't always work (Imagine an E Street Band version of 'Dancing Queen' further interpreted by ukes with limited ability to play anything other than strict 4/4 on the beat, bass and drums trying to inject some movement and feel and the rest following as best they can - we don't do that one anymore 😃) But largely it works and by the time the gig comes around we're pretty tight. The best part is that there are no egos, lots of laughing and I always look forward to the next rehearsal. Not everyone's cup of tea, I'm sure, but it works with my philosophy that being in a band is about enjoying the whole experience - live and rehearsal. In some ways you are also rehearsing on stage relationships, which usually leads to a better experience for the audience. And speaking of tea, as we rehearse in the local village hall, there is always tea available. 😃 Our 6 new request songs are Texas Hold 'Em (Beyonce), 21 Summers, Staying Alive (we're working on the Bruce/E Street live version as a starting point), There's Your Trouble, A Rainy Night in Soho and Thinking About You (Chic). If I'm honest, the only ones that I'm enjoying at the moment are Staying Alive and Thinking About You. I suspect that Texas Hold Em, Staying Alive and A Rainy Night will remain in the set.

We use one with the Hulla band for the annual festival. It does the job but it's a pain to manage (lay out flat and stow away) and very heavy. As @BigRedX says above, try and get one with a drum as I think that would be much easier to handle. I believe there are version available now that work with cat5 cables.

Yes. I have no problem with notes/cues/music/charts etc in whatever form, but they should not interfere with the interaction with the audience - so it comes down to how they are used. In bands I've played with where one or more people are reading directly from a sheet (usually the lyrics from a phone but occasionally charts) the performance suffers. I include myself in that where I've had to play a new piece 'on the night' from a chart. It always sounds dry, uninspired, lacklustre compared to playing it once I'm familiar with it. And, of course, constantly looking at the sheets means you're not connecting with the audience.

I love this part of any new band. And great that you spent time not playing and making sure everyone was on the same wavelength. Time away from instruments can be as productive as time learning new songs. Good luck. 😃

In addition to my contribution above, I also find (and have done since school exams) that unless I'm trying to remember a specific thing (fact or note sequence) I can't - in other words often before a gig I couldn't actually tell you the notes of the bass line to, for example 'Take Me To The River' but as soon as I start playing it I'm there and it's fine. My notes will include the start note for songs like that and any other prompts that I need. When I was doing my exams, I'd enter the hall completely blank and I'd have to manage the panic of thinking I couldn't remember a thing, but as soon as I read the first question I was off. I've done gigs with that feeling at the start, too, but now I know to expect it and I have the crib notes to fall back on.

I'm a bit like the OP and also a couple of the other posts above. I find unless I'm playing the song regularly, specific riffs/fills etc disappear from my head. The OP mentions 'Don't Stop Believing' and this is a good example of my struggle - I know and can play the riff but if it were to come up as a request and I hadn't recently played it, I'd have difficulty getting it started. In my case I have an annotated paper* set list for every gig, with not only song and key but notes (a bit like @uk_lefty above), e.g. 'riff starts on A', 'descending middle 8', 'vox only at end' and sometimes the first few words of lyrics if I'm singing. The notes are very personalised so I wouldn't expect anyone else to be able to use them. The set list is normally no more than 1 side of A4 and usually I'll split that into 1xA5 per half so it's not intrusive. More often than not the notes are a prompt rather than something to sight read and I always try not to use them if I can help it. *Paper because I have seen tablets and laptops crash to a halt, crash to the ground and run out of power. I have also seen people contorting themselves to try and see despite the reflections from lights/sun on the screen. That said, I depped with a mate's band at a festival and had three sheets of notes (Eagles covers, only a few days to prepare) when, during the first song, a gust of wind distributed the notes to the audience. I I fell back on the 'watch the guitarist's fingering' technique and made it through. Paper notes and now gaffa'd into place.

I have been using my Zoom B6 for the first half of the year as the nature of the Hulla band gigs has meant I've needed a few rapid changes. (From the dirty Squire-esque sound I've been using on 'Town Called Malice' and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' to a psychadelic flange/phase on our version of 'Sweet Child of Mine' (which follows the Sheryl Crow style rather the the G'n'R original) and clean P Bass sounds for the Motown numbers. But the gigs lined up for the second half of the year are shorter and the set lists less varied. Coupled with smaller venues (we're usually a 13 piece) I've decided to down size to a small board which I'm currently using in rehearsals. The goal is to end up with just the MS60b although I do like the sound of the Ampeg. Our sound guy has a shelving filter on my channel which negates the need for the Broughton H24. The DI is there so I am self contained (for most Hulla gigs I DI and use IEM but one gig coming up is a multi band line up and we're not in charge of the sound, so I may be using back-line and/or DI-ing). The MS60b gives me a clean channel, tuning/mute, a filter and chorus.

Rig 1 is a Peavey Minimax 600 into two TE 1x12 cabs. 2nd 'rig' is a Zoom B6 into the FOH desk (I count this as a rig as it's the set up I always use for the Hulla band). Back-up amp is a TCE BAM200 but this would usually go through the TE cabs.

When I played on the club circuit, it was strictly 2x45, with the ents sec standing in the wings calling 'last song' in the first half. At the end of the second half, we might be allowed 'one more song' but only after the sec had come on stage to allow it! Once or twice we were asked to play longer but as it was a contracted gig, they would offer more money, too. For pubs we usually ask the landlord/lady and more often than not it's around 45-50 for the first set and 50-60 for the second, with encores if requested (and with the nod of the boss). We have about 2.5hrs of material on hand, just in case, and can busk through a bit more if necessary, but it's very much b=venue driven. With the Hulla band, it's usually 2hrs or thereabouts although our self organised festival tends to go on a bit as the singer is a Springsteen fan and tends to get a bit carried away. 🙂

Before I saw the light and became a bassist, I played guitar and my dream was to own a Les Paul. Eventually, I found I could justify it as I'd started playing in a busy duo (which is where I started playing bass, too). I also had an opportunity to get an American Strat at trade price so I was using both at gigs. As much as I loved the Les Paul, the Strat was more versatile for the duo and eventually the Les Paul went to fund yet another bass. Recently I depped on rhythm guitar in my mate's band and he lent me a cheap Squier Tele as a back up guitar and I loved it. So my answer would currently be a Telecaster. But in the same way as my bass-of-choice changes, so would my go-to guitar.

Yes, I have to play through songs quite regularly (monthly, or thereabouts) to be ready to play with any confidence, although I have found that once the song starts and I've played the first few notes, the rest tends to fall into place with little problem. I guess it's largely a psychological thing for me.

I don't think you're unreasonable to expect being paid your share of the cost of the gear as the band (and new bassist) will be benefiting. Personally, and as long as it doesn't compromise the buy out, I wouldn't be worried whether or not I was playing the gig. You've done the decent thing and offered to cover it, if they choose not to use your services, that's ok. But I would certainly want clarity on when the buy-out was going to happen. How they organise that within the new line up is up to them but I would be thinking that the money should come to you within a couple of gigs.

I have two basses for sale in my mate's shop and usually that would be the justification (ok, excuse) for looking around for something new/different. But so far nothing is calling. At best, I see something, think 'that would be nice to have and play' and then move on.

The last song I played was an extended, audience requested version of Proud Mary as an encore with the Hulla Band at our Hullabaloo festival in Gower. I was playing my Fender P bass through a Zoom B6 straight into the desk with in ear monitors.

I believe that is a conversation for Gongchat. 😂

And in Cardiff on Monday. Nick said the band welcomed the audience videoing but to switch the little light off as it annoyed the bass player. Guy added that the light didn't work (it doesn't in that context). Later he introduced Guy as the less annoying bass player. But it all felt as if it was part of the stage banter.

Thanks. 😀

I played with the Hulla band at their annual Hullabaloo festival yesterday. On the preceding few days we were glued to the weather forecasts as there was rain about. We set up the covered stage on Thursday evening and did all the wiring and line checking Friday morning. I sound checked with the support band I put together ('50% Dave', as two of the four of us are Daves) as a kind of 'is it all working' check (it was!) The Hulla band sound checked in the evening and we usually play a mini gig (30 minutes or so) as a thank you to the helpers and to let the visitors know we're around. (The festival is held on the village green about 20 yards from a popular beach and within a couple of miles there are several large holiday caravan sites - we usually get a few people wandering in to see what's going on. Just as we finished, the heavens opened and after the rush to tie tarps down and seal the stage, we settled in to a fish and chip supper. Saturday's weather was great - not too hot and with a breeze blowing as we did the last minute checks before sound checking the other acts. By the time the first act went on there must have been upwards of 200 people there and by the time my first band went on (around 4pm), perhaps 400 were seated around the green. We'd sold around 800 tickets and as it's a charity event we don't expect all the people who bought tickets to turn up but we were also having a lot of 'on the day' ticket purchases so by the time the Hulla band went on at about 7pm, the place was packed to capacity. Two songs in to the set and it was clear that the singer's voice wasn't going to last - he'd been croaky all day and comparing the whole event hadn't helped. The set called for seven up tempo, rocky numbers (think 'Town Called Malice', 'I Fought The Law' etc) to start with before a local choir joined us for another 5. One of the female backing vocalists and I sang with him (I was sight reading the lyrics from the Sax players music) and we managed to get through to the choir section. After the choir left the stage, the choir leader joined us on stage (she sings with us a lot) and after a few more numbers the singer's voice started to improve. We managed to get through the rest of the set (about 3.5 hours in total) and carry off a couple of encores before his voice finally called it a day. It was a great day - the support acts were really good mix (sea shanties, blues, punk rock (my band) and the choir. We had around 100 people upfront dancing from the start of the Hulla set until the end. I'm just back from the post gig site breakdown which we managed to do in the drizzle, so we were very lucky with the weather. My kit for both bands was my Fender P bass through a Zoom B6 DI'd to the desk. For 50% Dave I also had an Epiphone Les Paul going through a patch on the B6 set to give me just reverb and a dab of chorus, with an EHX Hot Wax pedal for drive and lead sounds. With the Hulla band, I used my in ears via a Behringer P16m monitor mixed receiving the pre-fade signals from our X32 desk as there's quite a din on stage with brass and percussion. With 50% Dave, I was able to hear the monitor speakers. The Crowd Our singer 50% Dave

Most of the time I'll work out the bass line from repeated listens to the version we are working from (often a different tuning for the singer). I'll aim to get the basics right so that I can play through the song quite quickly but without trying to add the fiddly bits. I'll learn the song properly with repeated play-alongs, and this is where I'll start developing the fills and working out the key bass parts (the hooks and riff that have to be played) .The Hulla band has a habit of changing arrangements so initially I'll stick with the 'no frills' version for rehearsals, bringing in the hooks and fills as I nail them and as the arrangement requires. It takes me a while to learn a part so early on I'm using notes and charts as necessary but as the rehearsals go on these become smaller and smaller pieces of paper. For example, during the month of so of rehearsals leading up to our gig on Saturday I've had to learn 6 new songs, four songs re-arranged to include a choir and to familiarise myself with the rest of the set. My notes went from 3 sides of A4 down to the current 3/4 of a side as I picked up the parts and arrangements. Now I have what is effectively a setlist with keys, prompts for starts, tuning down/up, and the odd middle 8. There are two songs with key changes that always throw me, so they are in. Where I'm singing, I'll also have prompts for the first word/phrase of the line if necessary.

It's a great feeling! After years of playing standard/generic pub rock, the drummer suggested a side project of Abba songs rocked up a bit. While it never took off properly, we rehearsed a set and it was such a breath of fresh air. It gave me a new respect for the Abba songs we were learning, gave me incentive and motivation to learn new bass techniques. With a new singer bringing in some more modern chart/pop which we also gave the 'rocked up' treatment we played a few gigs which went down really well.

This is Steve Hillage! 😃

For years I played in a band whose BL was excellent at reading the audience on the night. While we stuck largely to 'the set', the order often changed and there was a pool of additional songs we could launch into if necessary. He inevitably got it right. But then something changed and he became really bad at reading the audience. There would be noticeable gaps between songs and we'd either end up doing songs from his solo act or from the repertoire of songs he was teaching students at the time. For some reason he got obsessed with playing Sweet Caroline in every set. Nothing wrong with the song as such, but as a Blues Rock band it stood out badly. His justification - they all loved it and anyway someone asked for it. The former excuse was hard to argue against as, inevitably after the juice of the barley had flowed, people would sing along to it. But no one ever requested it within my earshot or eyesight.

I've seen a few of the YT videos of Jon and the Band Geeks, and enjoyed them. So I was interested when this new single and album were announced. Having listened to the single it takes me back to the Jon Anderson Yes days. Yes from 1967 to when Anderson finally left were my favourite band and it's great to hear something definitely new but with the elements that made Yes the band I was into. CD will be ordered.