Jacqueslemac

I split my time between England and France and am frequently transferring money. It's worth bearing in mind that some companies with low commission rates merely sting you with a bad exchange rate. My bank, for example, has a good rate but charges £25 per transfer, so it's only worth using when I'm transferring larger amounts. They all want to make money out of you!

Brilliant! Thanks for your help.

Help, please! I'm trying to work out the bass for the section after the second (repeated) chorus, just before the guitar solo. It sounds like a key change (and my guitarist is adamant it is), but the guitar doesn't change key. Anyone any ideas what the bassist is playing, please? Many thanks.

Of course, to take a longer term view, it's only in the last century or so that (a small number of ) musicians made a lot of money. Until perhaps the 1950s it was the managers/promoters etc who made the money. Musicians did it because they wanted to make music. It's only in the much more recent past that people have wanted to become musicians because they associated it with making a lot of money. In a way, the last 50 years have been an aberration and we're just reverting to what it was before.

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1493730487' post='3290201'] Regarding the future of bass playing (and bands in general) in the 13 years I've lived in France, I've sold loads of redundant gear for whatever reasons and every time, without exception, it's been to, or for, a young player who wants to join a band and play live (or is already doing so) I've found it most refreshing to see young people's enthusiasm regarding getting into playing and forming bands. It's not all doom and gloom. They're out there, and they're keen. [/quote] I've been living in Normandy for the past year and have struggled to find a single gig (apart from last summer's midsummer festival). At the jam session I sometimes go to almost everyone is in their 50s or older. Where do all the young players play?

Welcome. You've certainly come to the right place to end up spending lots of money on basses!

Back in the 1980s in Norwich (when I used to be out drinking with my mates fairly often) I don't remember ever seeing a live band in a pub. If we wanted music we paid to go into a "proper" music venue. Perhaps there were plenty of pubs with live bands, but I must have missed them all. Nowadays there are plenty of pubs putting on gigs. Most of them do seem to be covers bands with a good half of their set exactly the same as every other band. Maybe there was a peak in live music somewhere in the last 20-odd years and it's declined since then, but the scene seems far more vibrant than it was in my youth.

I did wonder what the rationale was for putting on a hugely expensive (I assume) awards ceremony in Japan and flying lots of (presumably expensive) rock stars out there just for a couple of pages in one of the magazines. Perhaps a last-ditch attempt to break into a new market and/or find a new backer than does not appear to have worked. Worrying time of the year for it to happen for the staff, though. I've been made redundant several times, but luckily no closer than October.

[quote name='gazzatriumph' timestamp='1479246474' post='3175101'] Not sure you will get a proper German one for that money, a Rockbass yes, Used German made ones tend to go for around £600 - £700 but if you see one for that money let me know [/quote] They might get advertised for that, but they don't get sold for that (from my experience). Personally, the only one I like the design of is the Corvette and I've bought several from Basschat. All German-made ones and all secondhand and, sadly (as an owner rather than a buyer!), they don't seem to keep their value. My local Cash Converters in Norwich used to stock a range of new Warwicks, but I've been out of the country for a few months and haven't been in again since I came back (earlier this week).

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1478636839' post='3170551'] Like it a lot, and the bass playing is fantastic and used to great effect, but is it lead/melodic? To me it wouldn't be anywhere near as effective without the vocal being there. [/quote] I've just listened to it and would say that the vocal is the lead "instrument" in the piece. The bass is very prominent, but isn't it playing a support rôle to the voice?

Slightly off the original thread, but we used to let our female drummer sing the AC/DC songs because it suited her vocal range better. Similarly, not many male vocalists can sing like Justin Hawkins!

[quote name='YeastieB' timestamp='1478380117' post='3168787'] Randomly came across this: [size=4]Sound Like Royal Blood - Without Busting The Bank [/size] [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2tNAXPczMk"]https://www.youtube....h?v=I2tNAXPczMk[/url] of course depends on the what's in the bank. The simpliest set-up looks like line-splitter with the octave up pitchshifter going into a small guitar combo and bass with amp distortion. [/quote] I was just about to post the same link. Don't watch it - you'll get addicted and end up watching all of them! Eventually you'll end up thinking you need to buy hundreds of pedals.

Once in ten years and I only play with my fingers. It was the E-string. Must have been faulty, although it had been on the bass for a few, err, years.

In my old band, we used gig money to buy the PA (one guitarist actually bought it and we paid him back). Once we'd paid up we paid a proportion of gig money to get lights, a snake (multi-cable thingy) and kept a small proportion for wear and tear on the whole kit. We all agreed up front that if anyone left, they'd be paid back a proportion of what they'd put into the pot. I left the band and was paid my agreed cash. So far so good. The singer now plays bass too, but if a new member joined, I don't know if they would have been expected to stump up cash to "buy" their share of the PA. If not, would they get less of the gig money? And what happens if the band splits up completely? Who pays whom? Who ends up with the PA? I wonder if the MU has a pro forma contract for PA ownership? In another band I played in the singer was a company director (with a Porsche and a couple of split-screen VWs). We practiced in his firms' workshop (free of charge) using his expensive PA (he loaned us in-ear monitors if we wanted them) and he transported the PA to gigs in one of his firm's vans. We did help him unload it and set it up, mind. He didn't ask for extra gig money as far as I'm aware. I joined because the band wanted to get heavier. It was a pain in the neck that he then decided (after one gig) he didn't like the band's musical direction and quit! Three years later, the guitarist and drummer are back with him, playing what they did before I joined. PAs are obviously very important in band dynamics!

Are you sure it's a Rockbass? I thought they didn't have the Warwick two-piece bridge (and had Rockbass on the headstock).

Count your blessings! I've been living in France since March and haven't seen a single pub-type gig advertised (and I'm less than an hour from two pretty big towns). I go to a jam session most weeks to network and try to find a band looking for a bassist, but if/when I do find one, it looks like we'll be lucky to get a gig or two a year (apart from private parties for other ex-pats). Gigging is one of the things I miss most about England. On Midsummer's night virtually every bar and restaurant in France has a live band (so I have managed one gig this year as part of a hastily thrown-together band. One rehearsal would have been nice!). In St Lô there were at least a dozen bands playing. Goodness knows what they do the rest of the year. A French drummer told me the culture of live music is gradually spreading here, but it'll take years before it's even a tiny bit as good as your side of the Channel.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1471196286' post='3111171']fairly unique.[/quote] Either they were unique or they weren't, but anyway, I recall reading that he covered the important bits up (wax or resin or something) so no-one could work out exactly how the amps were wired. Good bit of PR, anyway! The same could be said of 1958 Les Pauls. I doubt whether many people can tell the difference between a genuine one and one of the modern reissues in a blind test. There's an awful lot of hype in every area of this industry.

I have a Variax and after much fiddling decided the best sound of all was the Rickenbacker one. So I tried a real one and decided I'll stick to the Variax. Didn't like the feel of the real one at all. When I'm trying basses in a shop I take my own headphones and my AmPlug. That way I can make a reasonable comparison with how my own basses sound. Unless, of course, the shop has an Orange Bass Terror and a couple of Orange cabs. But if they did, I wouldn't dare turn the amp up to the level I would normally hear my bass at! The AmPlug may not be ideal, but I can play what I want without embarrassment and it's a like-for-like comparison, not coloured by whatever amp/cab the shop has.

It would resolve the conundrum of the original post.

What I mean is that if some members of the band want to invest in in-ear monitors, let them. Those who prefer to stick with stage monitors can do so.

Apologies if I've missed something, as I haven't read through all the thread. Does it have to be all or nothing? For a short time I played in a band where the singer used in-ear monitors but the drummer (who also sang) and guitarist didn't. We all used our own backline. I borrowed a set of in-ear monitors and it was great. I could get the exact mix I wanted. The guitarist hated the idea because he liked to feel his tone as well as hear it.