scalpy

If you're using poly pockets for copies, buy decent ones from WH Smiths. The cheapo jobs have an alarming habit of breaking around the ring binder holes and going flying, normally on that really tricky turn that you also have to repeat in 16 bars time... I normally just pencil in the upcoming chord as well on the bottom right hand corner of the right hand page as well just to free up a bit of brain space so I don't have to concentrate on fretting, turning and remembering all at once. Finally, sit near your keyboard player if they're reading as well, it's a good safety net if it all goes belly up!

Let G&L do their thing without worrying about the older siblings. Aaaah, the perils of being the youngest in a successful family...

The last time I saw my HH it was sticking out of the top of the skip I had thrown it in. Never been happier to see it.

Only have 1 bass to save! When I wanted it, I couldn't find one. Then one day I got a tax rebate for £X. The next week I got overpaid by £X. That weekend I walked into my local music shop and there it was- for £X+X. I bought it on the spot, despite having told work that they didn't need to pay me the next month. I then spent 4 weeks sweating, and sure enough they had forgot all about it and paid me anyway. The fates were smiling on me, and the ol' girl has never missed a beat since. I might have,but she hasn't!

The little mark tube is great for a big, thick, clean sound. It picks up muted notes and makes them speak beautifully, so it's perfect for Soul and vintage funk stuff. It will give you floor shaking lows even at low volume, so it's great in a orchestra pit. It doesn't do grit, doesn't have 2 speakons out, and the pull volume mute switch is really stupid, and despite reassurances it doesn't matter, I hate the fact it clips with the gain above 8 o clock with my ASAT. However it's dead easy to tailor the sound to venue for me, I just adjust the VLE to suit. Lots of people on here say they can't tell what the tube adds to the sound, but I love it, and it's left on full tube constantly.

Congratulations on finding yourself someone to sell you some, they will serve you well!

Agonisingly close!

You might spend hours and hours developing your playing but you can't always produce your top form if the people you are playing with haven't matured that quality that the top players play with- feel, dynamics, space. Experience doesn't always develop this either, you need to be working with musically intelligent people who understand this. Doing lots of dep work, playing in orchestra pits and a ceilidh band with an open line up I know that I can't always bring out my top game if part of my concentration is worrying about and trying to predict what some other musician is trying to do. When I was doing lots of brass work I was extremely lucky, right place right time, and got asked to do a recording session with the Black Dyke Band. I quickly realised once it had started that I was in the situation I had spent years training for, everything was at it should be, and I played the best I ever did. (Not well enough to get a regular gig mind...!) The next week I helped my old youth band, thought I'd walk it due to the previous weekend, and found it really, really difficult, it was like I hadn't progressed since leaving at all. I don't think you're a fraud at all, your concern just demonstrates you're light years ahead of most musicians in that you're listening to your playing, being critical and shouldering the responsibility to improve. You will have to work on the drummer though...

I really, really like the look of these. The LMT is great but it's niggling away in a few areas. I'm itching to have a go with a TH500 but live miles away from anywhere that stocks one. Has anyone cracked one open yet and given it the beans?

Wish I knew this 15 years ago! So many mistakes...

Thanks for the heads up just watched it on iplayer. Tight, tight, tight.

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='1255057' date='Jun 3 2011, 09:07 AM']in a similar vein, don't tell the string section the (true) reason strings can sound so lush is because they are all out of tune with each other [/quote] That's what vibrato is for!

DBs + loud outdoor gig= new sensation never before experienced whilst playing. Trouser flapping but closer to waist level than the ankles. Focusses the mind mid-way through bleedin' JBG I can tell you. No, mine aren't for sale.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1251903' date='May 31 2011, 07:08 PM']I have a friend called Ceiri Torjussen, a trumpet player and composer who I knew when he was a kid. He went on to become an arranger/composer in Hollywood and worked extensively on films like Terminator 3, Blade, Day After Tomorrow etc. Big name stuff under the composer Alan Silvestri. Ceiri wrote his own stuff and was offered the opportunity to hear it played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra - no pressure then . During rehearsals one of the musicians commented that the stuff he had written was unplayable. 'That's funny' says Ceiri. 'The Los Angeles Philharmonic managed it easily enough'. Now THAT is a put down.[/quote] Should have taken it to the LSO! Some of the American guys have chops that beggar belief, but the traditional brass band route of our brass players still produces players that the rest of the world can't touch. The new principal of the LSO auditioned against players from across the world, got the gig at the tender age of 21. Former top chair of the National Youth Brass Band. Back to reading scores, the actual notes are usually only the players concern. The conductor will refer to the rehearsal mark or bar number and if necessary comment on the tuning of intervals or the like, which read the same in any clef. The above posts about looking for lines etc are all bang on, and transposition is not strictly necessary if you're looking for the shape of the phrase for example. (At Uni I studied with several members of the Halle and they stood by 2 theories, 1. play the wrong notes in time and you might just get away with it and 2. it's better to play sharp than out of tune.) However if you are scoring then, it does become very necessary, but Sibelius (the software) has been a god send! Sibelius himself of course did not need it...!

This post reminds me of a great story about the late, great Maurice Murphy, principle trumpet of the LSO. Bernstein was conducting a rehearsal, and asks Maurice, "you going to play that with a mute or not?" Maurice replies, "Well, on the score it says with, but it's been pencilled out." Bernstein- "So, hot shot, what are you going to do?" Maurice- "You tell me, you wrote it."

Never had an 800 bass amp, and I'm not entirely sure how similar they are but my 800 guitar amp is a double edged sword. It sounds fantastic, but the PCB bends as it gets hot and over the years a crack developed and it's very difficult to fix. Marshall at the time weren't splashing out on top quality components either so I've blown capacitors etc. They are now "vintage" but they weren't considered in the same league as earlier models even at the time. I gave up repairing mine all the time and just bought a newer one. I'd ask whoever sells you theirs to let you rag it for the length of time of gig at least and see how it holds up.

Got cheated out of first prize once in one of these. The limit was 3 covers, which we stuck to. However, the crowd knew the words so well to one of ours the judge decided it must be a cover as well, and therefore we cheated. The judge, resident of a small gaelic country near here, gave to another band from the same neck of the woods, who he happened to be friendly with. Our lot were so pi**ed off after singing so well the bouncers had to escort the judge driving out of the car park like he was in the movie In the Line Of Fire.

Fantastic, folks, didn't know what electrical term to go for. And to think my dad designed power stations...

Just a quick question really. I've got an outdoor gig on Sunday and the MD wants to know what load/draw/demand my amp will put on the generator. I've looked at the back of the amp but don't know what to tell him, 500W, 240v or something else. I'd RTFM if I knew what I was looking for! The amp is a 500W Little Mark Tube. Thank you in advance. Harry

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1229425' date='May 12 2011, 10:44 PM']Well with the 18volt preamp of the big al the gain on my old LMTube was only just above 9 o'clock. And my stingray not much Higher. In the manual it will say how to set the input gain right. I doubt that you will need much more volume as I found the midget plenty loud on it own with 300watts into it.[/quote] Interesting. The gain on my LM Tube doesn't go past 8 before the light and the clipping come into play. I've been wondering if it will affect my ultimate volume when it comes to it. I really like the sound of this amp and the weight, but I must admit there are a few niggles that stop it being the answer to all my prayers. GAS for a Tonehammer 500!

A man goes to a pacific island for vacation. As the boat nears, he notices the constant sound of drumming. As he gets off the boat, he asks a native how long the drumming will go on. The native casts about nervously and says "very bad when drumming stops." Later that day, the drumming is still going and it is really starting to get to him. So, he asks another native when the drumming will stop. The native looks as if he's just been spooked. "Very bad when drumming stops," he says, and hurries off. After a couple of days with little sleep, the man had had enough. He grabbed the first native he saw, slammed him up against a tree, and shouted, "What happens when the drumming stops?!" The native replied, "Bass solo."

New basses for me. Fresh, pure, virgin.