the_skezz

I've had two this month. Now I've left the band and I have NONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I often pout if I'm concentrating too hard on what I'm playing, can easily stop this by reminding myself not to do it. It's not so much of a problem if it happens, a lot of the time I'm headbanging while bass playing so my hair gets in the way and stops people from seeing it.

Interesting train of thought, but IMO it depends on who you're getting the advice from and what for. Particularly with bass, people can have very fixed ideas on what it can and can't do, which may lead to you limiting yourself or the advice having an otherwise negative effect on your playing (the last person I'd go to for advice about bass teechnique/ writing basslines would be a guitarist; many of those who I've met pretty much want it following the guitar or doing a basic 'bom-bom-bom-bom-bom', which is pretty limiting). Seems like a good idea, but very reliant on circumstances IMO.

[quote name='OldGit' post='788418' date='Mar 28 2010, 11:58 AM']Never act (or play BOTBs) with animals or children... Did they tell you the criteria for doing well, what the judges were looking for?[/quote] They didn't tell us what they were looking for, but I'm wondering if audience reaction was something to do with it...I've seen other BOTBs with similar occurences (i.e. pop bands and children did 'better' than metal/rock bands), and to me it seems like a somewhat unfair way of doing it...naturally, the pop songs will get a better reaction, since more people will recognize and become enthused by them, giving pop bands an advantage. This is speculation, of course, since they didn't tell us what they were looking for, and so audience reaction may not have been a part of it...ah well. The prize was some time in the school's (apparently quite good) recording studio, but to be honest we haven't got enough original material for this to really be of any use (plus I told the guitarists that I'm leaving the band, so I probably wouldn't have been able to play on any recordings even if we'd won ). And agreed with the 'not playing with children' school of thought, we played two rock nights at the local arts centre (thankfully not a competition, so no prizes) and the younger children tended to get preferential treatment, being higher up in the bill, getting time to sounddcheck, etc, even those who weren't very good.

Had a ten minute slot in a Battle of the Bands at our rhythm guitarist's school. We played alright, got a good reaction, but didn't win (or even get 2nd or 3rd place) unfortunately...that said, of the bands that did get in the top three places, two of them played quite popular stuff (the winners playing Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance', for example) and the others were quite young children, making me wonder if the judges were influenced by the genre of songs played or by the age of the participants. Sorry if that came across as sour grapes; I'm not denying that those three bands were very good (the young uns in particular were very good for their age; the fact that they played mostly AC/DC covers particularly enamoured me to them) but in my opinion there were several other bands there (not necessarily us) who should have been in the top 3.

Genetix by the Stranglers. Great song.

Got one myself at home, undoubtably one of the best basses I've played. Action is amazing, stays in tune for ages, an absolute pleasure to play. My only complaint is that the scratchplate doesn't always photograph well...looks a bit tacky in some photos. In real life, it looks absolutely gorgeous. [attachment=45311:DSCF2797.JPG] The scratchplate looks pretty good there...flash photography tends to make it look washed out.

Well done, glad it went well for you

Wasn't bad, though there were a LOT of issues. First of all, the lead guitarist (who booked it at the loca community centre) told us to get there for six, and for the support band to get there for half six (though our singer had a soundcheck for a gig he was doing for another band, so he had to be late, as did our drummer, who was doing something with his family). I was there for six. The support band was there for half six. The rhythm guitarist got there at quarter to seven, the lead guitarist got there after seven. Having had no dinner because of trying to get there on time, I was quite annoyed about being told to get there so early. After the support band, we did our set, which went pretty darn well. At least for the first forty minutes, then the singer had to leave for a gig elsewhere, and so we had to rely on the crowd to sing along to songs for us (at least on the well-known songs like 'Don't Stop Believing' and 'Sweet Child o Mine'; we had our friends filling in for stuff like 'Ace of Spades'). Eventually, it all kind of got to the stage where we were partially improvising stuff like 'Domination' by Pantera and 'Hallowed be thy Name' by Iron Maiden...which didn't go too badly tbf. After a while, it got to the stage where the support band and some of our friends were coming up and messing around with our instruments, which was a quite nice, informal way to start the evening. My main grievance with the evening was towards the end, when we were trying to think of any songs we knew that we hadn't played yet. The rhythm guitarist suggested a song of our own that we've played quite a few times and know quite well, which me and the drummer were up for (the only reason we hadn't played it earlier was because the singer didn't have or know the lyrics, now that he had left this was no longer a problem). Naturally, our lead guitarist decided that it would be much better to play a song of our own that we weren't that sure of and that we've only ever played once all the way through, leading to a pretty big mess of a song. This pretty much reflects the guitarist's general attitude; if he wants to do it, it has to be done; it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Ahem, sorry about that rant. Despite several aggravations, it was a pretty fun gig; the informality of merging with the crowd provided a nice change from our last couple of gigs where we've been on a stage (here we were on the floor). It was also the first time I've been able to turn my Marshall up particularly far (the master volume knob was about a third of the way round, and it could be heard from down the road). Oh, I also got drunk afterwards and went to sleep in a field for half an hour before stumbling home; which was a nice end to the evening.

First song I [u]learned[/u] to play all the way through was the Kinks 'All Day and All of the Night' The first song I actually bothered playing all the way through once I had learned the individual bits to it was Iron Maiden's 'Revelations'.

[quote name='Twigman' post='775212' date='Mar 15 2010, 02:40 PM']My #1 tip would be SLOW DOWN.... now I've never heard you play but I guarantee that inexperience and nerves will result in either you or the drummer getting into a 'race' to the end of the set....LOL Take it steady IT IS NOT A RACE![/quote] Interesting...in my band, me and the drummer are fine, it's always the guitarist who starts playing way too quickly (at least whenever he gets the chance to start off a song...never has Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' been played so quickly) To the OP, I've only done six gigs before now (got my seventh tonight) but all I can say based on my limited experience is, as other people have said, to have fun; don't worry too much about anything other than playing the songs...in terms of things like stage presence, I wouldn't worry too much, as it's only your first gig and stage presence takes time to develop...just do what you feel comfortable with. As I said, this is based off my limited experience and so may not be much help; in any case, good luck, I hope it goes well for you.

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='735177' date='Feb 4 2010, 03:57 PM']Didn`t one of their guitarist say he was popping out for something and the next time they seen him, it was 5 years later. Huw Lloyd something or other. More than likley tripping his t*ts off. Jez [/quote] You were close with the name, it was actually Huw Llolyd-Langton. According to Lemmy (this was before he joined, but apparently he was hanging around with them at the time), they were around a campfire, all on acid, and he said he was going for a walk Sheer brilliance, that's how you leave a band in style. @ the OP, wow, that's awful. I hope you told them where to go, they can't go treating people like that. Good luck if you're starting up a new tribute band, hopefully you can avoid such situations in future.

Cheers for the welcomes, guys

[quote name='V4lve' post='719297' date='Jan 20 2010, 05:28 PM']The funny bit in the middle of Rush's XXY. Makes me smile very time..[/quote] Same here, dude. Geddy Lee does some fantastic stuff. Other than that, just some of the songs already mentioned...The Who's 'My Generation' and Cliff Burton's 'Anaesthsia/Pulling Teeth'. It's hard to pick a favourite, tbh.

Stranglers - Nice n Sleazy (Nice leading bass line, gives a really gritty feel to the song) The Who - My Generation (Not just the solo, but he puts in a fair few variations on the bassline through the song...really shows his mastery of the instrument IMO) Tool - Schism (Great riff, really sticks with you) Spinal Tap -Big Bottom (Cos it's friggin Spinal Tap)

I'm Conor from Wolverhampton, also known as the Skezz, Skezza, Conski, Conrad, and annoying little sod. I've been playing bass for nearly eighteen months now, and enjoy playing punk and hard rock. I'm currently in a thrash metal band called Skorned (previously known as Vintage, then Dissidia); we play a fair variety of songs, from Sweet Child o Mine through to Davidian by Machine Head (yeah...not my choices, before anyone asks). I play a Fender 50's Precision (reissue with a gold scratchplate) though a Marshall 4210, which sounds pretty sweet (I also use a Zoom B2 effects unit). My main influences are Geddy Lee, J.J. Burnel, Duff McKagan and John Entwhistle. I enjoy a variety of music; though my favourite bands are predominantly metal (Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Judas Priest, Scorpions) I still listen to a lot of other artists, such as the Ramones, The Who, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, Gorillaz and Tom Jones. Looking forward to browsing the forum, speaking to and learning from other bassists (mainly because most of my music-related conversations are with a guitard with a messiah complex). I'm glad I've finally joined, been meaning to join up for a good while now (my Dad's been nagging at me to join up for a while now)...don't be too hard on me if I'm something of a n00b