Rosie C

On 17/01/2024 at 15:32, Richard R said:

 

No excuse for messing up now.

 

Perhaps! The first time I played in our church band, we played as people arrived, I forget what the tune was, but it was in 3/4. After a couple of times through the BL grinned at me and said "now let's play it in 4", and when we'd done that, "now in 2!". I felt like I'd been set some sort of initiation test and passed.  

1. Why you don't have any gigs? -  I'm recovering from laryngitis, and we have winter and summer set lists, so a few weeks to put together some new songs is welcome

2.Do you rely on an agent ?  - no, most of our gigs come through recommendation

3.Who finds coordinates and confirms gigs? Me - band leader, lead singer

4.  Are you or any band members in this for the money? Not really, we're happy doing community events - carnivals, fund-raisers, etc.

5.How much do you want to gig? - very much, I love the buzz from live performance 4 or 5 summer gigs and 1 or 2 Christmas gigs for our renaissance band. But I also dep. in a friend's cover band as needed 2-3 times a year and perform at folk clubs.

Thanks everyone! & thanks for the linke Phil, that lead me to 

I'm looking at getting a wireless headset mic. The arrange of frequencies is bewildering. The options that are legal without a licence seem to be 863-865Mhz or 2400Mhz which is the wi-fi band and I'm guessing could be problematic. Just wondering what other people are using?

2 hours ago, Cat Burrito said:

I could name and shame too many studios over the years 

I won't name the studio, but my worst experience - I turned up for a classical piano exam and the staff had to explain they didn't have a piano. 

14 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

I wonder which guitars he’s keeping.

I was looking at the National guitar, lot 37 from memory. But then I read the detail and it's not the one from the Brothers in Arms album. Makes me wonder how many guitars he has!

23 hours ago, Rich said:

The place we used the other night (Firebird in Bristol) has a range of different bass rigs to choose from. 

https://firebirdstudios.co.uk/category/equipment/amplifiers/bass-amp/

I've never been to Firebird, but it's the place RockSchool's also assigns me for exams, despite being in deepest, darkest Wales.  That does look like a decent line up of equipment though!

3 hours ago, Paul S said:

 

One strung with rounds, I guess.  One fretted... one for metal.  Erm, struggling here....

One for bowing with metal strings, one for pizz with synthetics...

22 hours ago, gerryc said:

I know diddly squat about DB maintenance and have been given the chance to buy a nice looking blonde bass. However there are a few issues, a lot of rattle on F and F# on E string tried card under string at nut end still rattle, card under string at bridge rattle gone, removed card from nut rattle still gone. I was wondering how much (a ballpark figure) a luthier might charge to replace bridge, strings and carry out set up. I'm 74 years old not been playing DB very long, got my other DB just before first lockdown and play mostly Bluegrass and Country.

I recently had my bridge converted to adjustable, I was reccomended a luthier who will do it by mail. That could be a solution - adjust the bridge up a couple of mm?

I use an LS-2 for line switching - it has level adjust on both channels. At the end of the line is a GEB-7 for EQ, mainly to roll off the lowest tones to reduce feedback. 

I have ACS ambients and I love them. I mainly use them for playing double bass I take a feed from my tuner pedal into a little amp them into the IEMs. I'm starting to use them when singing as well now, but that's a work in progress.

On 23/01/2024 at 13:12, Doctor J said:

If you avoid the fashionable brands, you can pick up genuinely great used instruments for less than 500 quid. 

Or new even - my Squier jazz was a tad under £400, I bought it the day before covid lockdown. I couldn't fault it really, certainly compared to what I was playing in the 1980s.

I would dearly like a Hagstrom H8. One day...

10 hours ago, Jason Karloff said:

Sometimes when I'm led in bed at night, I think about this. 

 

I think similar at times. After 30+ years of just messing around on instruments I started a music degree. I have to be careful with topics like "effective practice" to look forwards and how I can do things better, and not back at thousands of hours of ineffective practice! 

I placed several orders for acoustic treatment last year - delivery was a bit slow at times, but the price was the lowest around.

Brilliant, thanks!

Thanks @Kitsto !

Does anyone have a checklist they use when booking gigs that they could share? I have a meeting coming up with our town council and I'm trying to think of things to ask...

On 12/01/2024 at 23:06, martyy said:

I should say as well that I was originally playing bluegrass/country. I remember buying the bass from Thomann and telling them that at the time. Probably why they set the string height high. These days I'm more interested in soul verging on jazz I suppose.

Others must have had better experiences, but every instrument I've personally bought from Thomann needed setting up again by a local luthier.

On 12/01/2024 at 23:01, Downunderwonder said:

If you get it set up with an adjustable bridge it is less of a big deal to set up in future. You might like an easier ride to get going and change it up again yourself down the line when your strength improves.

 

+1 on getting an adjustable bridge - as well as being able to try different heights, you can fit a Realist Lifeline pickup. 

I play bluegrass and jazz - I'm a big fan of Innovation Rockabilly strings - a lovely dark sound and much easier on my hands than metal strings. Only suitable for pizz though.

John Taylor - the inspiration for starting to play bass back in the 1980s and still my favourite bass player.

On 14/01/2024 at 20:13, SumOne said:

The current band learns one new song a week with a weekly practice to go through that and most of the rest the set. That's much more relaxed but we do already have a full set and gig every couple of weeks. 

That's about the rate our band have been working at. When you add in holidays, Christmas, sickness, etc. it's taken us about six months to get a decent range of songs to suit a range of situations. 

On 22/12/2023 at 07:33, Minininjarob said:

We used to have Fri night practice but it went on a long time and by the time Sunday came along the leader often had felt a change or two was needed (after praying about it) so practice was still needed p on the Sunday. So to avoid the long practice on the Fri it was decided to meet earlier on the Sunday to do the practice. Everyone has to be well prepared but it works well as everything is fresh when the service starts and people are thankful to get another evening free. 

Exactly the same in our church - Fridays used to be our rehearsal, then a meal at Weatherspoons next door. But it took an evening, and it was rare everyone could make it. So now we meet up an hour before the service - works just as well.

Some sort of reference tome, like the Oxford Companion to Music?

8 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

When I first started playing I went to the local guitar shop and bought a load of picks in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours as that's what my "Teach Yourself Bass" book told me to do 😄 

The "standard" shape is the only one that felt good and I've stuck with them ever since.

I currently use these Hercos, they're a bit lighter than expected for use with a bass but I like a bit of give. A much more expressive sound for me.

 

 

I use the gold Herco for mandocello, once I tried them I've not used anything else.

1 hour ago, Bolo said:

Was it much different in the late 70s-early 80s? 

I suppose in the 70s & 80s the UK had student grants, so there was the route the likes of Bowie followed of going to art college and having a few years to experiment.

44 minutes ago, chris_b said:

IMO cheap supermarket beer is in the process of killing live music.

Maybe I'm just too old, but for me loud volume is killing live music. We were at a pub last weekend, just for a beer. There was a band setting up and we would have stayed, but they were SO LOUD. The drummer was wearing industrial ear protectors...