the_skezz

There's something that seems so perverse about saying 'Welcome to a bass forum' to someone who's been playing the intrument for more than triple the time I've been able to play it Nevertheless, good to have you here

[quote name='starman' post='943670' date='Sep 2 2010, 05:09 PM']Good point Skezz, thanks for that![/quote]

No problem mate. It's not often I get a half-sensible thought, figured I may as well share it while I had it

Very good points, I agree completely. Particularly that the student needs to be willing (my mates - not excluding myself - can be extremely awkward when it comes down to doing what we want to do XD )

Free time permitting, I think I'll look into lessons once I've got a job, or when I claim incapacity benefit after exhausting myself into a coma after filling out all these damn application forms For now I'd best be going to bed, it's been a hard day's band practise - ripping the mickey out of the drummer really takes it out of you. G'night, cheers for your responses to my posts

Good luck to you, mate. I'd just advise to make sure to give them some notice that you're looking elsewhere - if you leave suddenly, there's a good chance they'll think of you as being the bad guy in the situation, whereas if you give them some notice and explain to them why, there's a chance they might think about things, understand where they've gone wrong, and maybe improve themselves. Might seem obvious, but thought it was worth mentioning

[quote name='Doddy' post='942908' date='Sep 2 2010, 01:11 AM']They aren't mandatory,but if you do have 'a will to better yourself' you will improve better and faster with a good
teacher than on your own. If you want to improve that much,why wouldn't you seek out a good teacher and learn
everything that you can?[/quote]

An interesting point, that. To be fair, I would probably take some lessons if I had the cash for it, but I've heard from a fair few people who have had musical lessons (in bass and other instruments) and some have found the teaching to not be particularly helpful, other than the basics when starting out. The only exception of them that comes to mind is my friend Nathan, who was taught slap bass at college, and got very good at it doing so...that said, he'd been taking guitar lessons for about eight years before that.

Sometimes I do want to greatly improve what I know on the technical front, usually looking at internet videos to do so (I know, not as good as a real teacher) and so persevere until I'm half decent at whatever I'm trying to pick up. I know I could get further with a teacher, but part of the fun for me is doing what I want, when I want - I know, I'm an awkward sod

Once I've got a job (hopefully sometime before the four horsemen start riding) I will look into lessons, if only just to try them out. Despite the above paragraph, I understand that it can't be all fun and games if I really do want to better myself, and reading this thread reinforces my desire to put the effort in, knowing what I might get out of it.

My bass tuition comes down to my Dad teaching me Hawkwind's 'Master of the Universe' on bass

That said, can still improvise (what I consider) to be an alright bassline - generally it'll work with the song, and it's usually more complicated and and intricate than what the guitarist is playing. Not that that's a bad thing, it all works very well together. I wouldn't say that bass lessons are all that mandatory really, so much as a good ear and a will to better yourself.

Never felt the same energy playing with a drummer with an electric kit that you get with a proper kit. Good for studio use and effects, but I much prefer the real thing for practise and gigs.

As people have said, you need to enjoy it. It sounds like you've been putting 110% into this band, effort that could be going into something you feel is more worthwhile...and where the bandmates aren't so bloody awkward. If they've left it up to you to find a singer, they have no right to be so picky about what they want. If you can't enjoy it, walk. Their loss.

Usually just my own clothes, preferably a bit scruffy/ripped, and sometimes I'll wear my Dad's old leather jacket, which I've cut the sleeves and zip off.

That said, we do have a Halloween gig where we'll be dressing up as women, so I'll probably be after a dress from a charity shop. Also probably wear a pair of my friend's ripped tights, which I saved from being thrown by putting them over my head, jumping out at her Father and demanding 'Your money or your life', leading to some very funny looks I get from him whenever I'm over her house

Depends on the song, but if you're ending in a drawn out manner you all need to be well rehearsed in it, very tight with each other and therefore able to take cues from each other audibly (as much as visually) as to when to end. This, admittedly, is one area where my own band is lacking...roughly a third of our songs and covers have drawn out endings, and I dread them each time they come up...it's become a running joke of us all trying to hit the last note; so that we eventually end up with a repeated trinity of a guitar chord, a cymbal and a bass note until the singer tells us off

If the tight endings fit the song, then definately those, they're much easier.

A guitarist in our midst?!? And this one wants to play bass?!?!?

Typical, you come in here, you take our bloomin jobs...I'm not 'avin it!

Ibanez GSR180 - think it was about £135...
Fender 50s Precision - £450, dicounted from five hundred...
Squier Vintage Modified Jazz - think about £235...

So, if memory serves on the Ibanez and Jazz, about £820.00

Played one before, felt and sounded brilliant IMO. Looked great too.

The singer's garage on a Sunday afternoon. On the bright side, it gives a decent sound and it's right at the back of the garden, so there's not too much noise in the house. Unfortunately, the neighbours don't seem to take too kindly to repeated cursing through the mic and our drummer's need to beat the kit at every opportunity

Probably our ill-fated gig at the Varsity with four other bands...initially we were a tad discouraged that there were maybe three people there that weren't in the other bands. However, we gave it our all, had a lot of fun, and were apparently good enough that half the other bands were talking to us about potential future gigs...we seemed to have a much better time of it than the band after us, who (IMO) acted like miserable sods in the dressing room, not talking to anyone and who seemed to take umbridge at the fact that there was only one bloke actually moving to their set, the same as for us...of course, the other bands wanted to conserve energy for our own songs, and we didn't fancy showing much enthusiasm due to the fact that most of the blokes had shown none in return towards us or our set.

Like I said, good night, we had fun, the other bands were great and we had a lot of fun drinking and jumping around to good ol-fashioned punk.

Used to, back when half my ex-band's gigs were open mic slots alongside other (usually younger) bands who couldn't afford much decent gear. There I was, with my 50s Fender P, and these young rapscallions barely had a Squier to their name

Then I took a proper listen to the music we and they were playing, and realised that the only edge we actually had on them was that we generally played faster, more difficult material, which in our eyes excused the fact that it usually sounded like w***. Plus, we didn't play Sweet Child o Mine every other night...we only butchered that at one of our gigs

All I'm gonna say:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0[/url]

For looks, Mockingbird. But as looks aren't everything, Zombie Revenge bass.


...it's called Zombie Revenge, fer Pete's sakes. Why would I not want it?!

Sometimes I think it'd make sense, as I only ever play one bass at a time (as in, 'for a couple of months' time, for anyone who wants to be a smartarse ) until I get a new one, it seems...then that becomes my new one and only.

Thing is, I get attached to things too easily, I've got three basses and I'd miss any one of them if I chose to sell it. Plus, every now and again, one of my mates will be interested in borrowing one, so it's good to have a spare to lend.

Never been sacked myself, but was a bit of a dick about my mate getting sacked. First band either of us had been in, he was on rhythm guitar and kept on playing up and annoying the lead guitarist; so he left and invited me and the drummer to join his new band - exactly the same as the old one, only without my mate. We did.

At the time, I felt it was justified, as my mate wouldn't take things seriously and never listened to the lead guitarist. Of course, as time went by, I understood how much of a w***er the lead guitarist was and reckon that it was good to have someone who didn't listen to him - it kept his ego at bay Regardless, I should've been straight up with my mate, we never really discussed the issues he was causing, even though I knew the lead guitarist was getting angry about it.


Also sacked the band's old singer, though I was straight up and honest about that - told her to her face, several weeks after we'd told her that we really needed to see some improvement. For that, I can rest easy - especially considering it was the lead guitarist who was the main (read: only) force behind her being sacked, but 'didn't want to be the bad guy'. Dick.

Spent the last hour listening to Hawkwind, trying to tab out the bass to 'High Rise'. Think I've got it now, still probably a few fills not quite right, but sounds ok. Other than that, mostly been listening to the Ramones recently.

Three:

Les the (Iba)nez

Brenda the Fender

Caz the Jazz.


Yes, I name them. They are my babies.

I think I've found a new deity to worship. That video is my bible, and that man is my God.

My punk band, The Deficits, are playing at the One More Great Day festival in Dudley. This is huge compared to anything we've done before, so we'd really appreciate any support people could give by coming and watching us.


Tickets/wristbands for the event are 10 quid for 16s and over; however they can bring as many under 16s as they want so long as they register them by emailing [email protected] and putting their wristband number in the subject and the names of the under 16s in the message box.

If you want tickets or you've got any questions, PM me. There's a lot of other stuff going on throughout the day, so it should be worth a look.


Event Myspace is here: [url="http://events.myspace.com/Event/6145074/OMGDID-One-More-Great-Day-In-Dudley-Festival"]http://events.myspace.com/Event/6145074/OM...Dudley-Festival[/url]

Event Facebook page is here: [url="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118620344825259"]http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118620344825259[/url]

Band Facebook page is here: [url="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118620344825259#!/pages/The-Deficits/118917578136285"]http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=1186...118917578136285[/url]


Cheers for reading this, if anyone does end up coming then let me know, it'd be nice to meet some of the forumers in person

[quote name='silentbob' post='932411' date='Aug 22 2010, 01:16 AM']And in my opinion he had a better "rock and roll" voice than Axl. The tracks Dust n Bones, and 14 Years are genius.[/quote]

+ 1

I like Axl's voice, but Izzy can sing really damn well...some of the vocals he did after G n R were superb, with songs like 'Shuffle it Out' he really reminds me of Steve Tyler, whilst others he seems to have a great style of his own...brilliant singer.