arthurhenry

It's not all or nothing. I've never managed to do it full time, though I would love to, but i did make £6-8000 per year from mostly weekend gigs. I cleaned windows during the day, which meant I could pay the bills and be free to gig whenever I needed to. Despite my degree (non musical), I've always made sure I've done fairly menial self employed day jobs so music can come first. It'd be a lot harder if I was tied to a "proper job".

[quote name='mattbass6' post='1124673' date='Feb 12 2011, 09:34 AM']Wow, that is brilliant. One question though, in your opinion, is there a minimum wattage for the guitar amp? I have just sold a Laney LC15. Would that have done the job? Thanks so much for your help and I am pleased to see that Hartke is appearing a lot. I love Hartke gear [/quote] I just got rid of a Laney 40w and switched to the 30w without a problem. 15w might struggle a bit, but if it's on top of your bass rig, you'll hear it ok. The Roland is really portable and sounds good. 30w seems ideal. Got it for £99 on ebay.

Here's what I do for a more practical version of this. I split my signal via a Hartke bass attack pedal. Parallel (unaffected) output goes to Hartke 350 head and warwick cab for lows and mids. Line out from the bass attack (eq'd for max treble and no bass) goes to little Roland cube 30 guitar amp (eq'd in a similar way). The secret is that although I have a 350 watt bass head, the 30w roland keeps up with it because the highs cut through so well. All I ever is adjust is the volume on each amp for balance between bass and treble.

Sheehan runs two outputs from his bass. From the neck position humbucker to a Hartke LH1000 into Hartke AK410. P Pickup goes through Pearce preamp powered by Hartke HA500 and into AK115. The Pearce has clean and didtorted channels. Essentially the lows can be adjusted without affecting the highs and vice versa. Conversley to popular opinion, Sheehan says he prefers the highs through the 115, which smooths them out a bit and the lows through the 410 for a fast and sharp attack.

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1118665' date='Feb 7 2011, 10:23 AM']Whenever I've played a gig, the landlord buys a few rounds for the band or there's at least a couple bottles of beer each. I'd never play a pub gig without free drinks. In fact, I'd kick up a fuss if they didnt offer free drinks for the band. The way I've always seen it, is that the band is doing the venue a favour. Not the other way round. Even when I ran a bar, I'd always ensure the band got a rider. If they're a good band with a good following, I'd want them to come back! Truckstop[/quote] Wow! In over 800 gigs, I reckon I've had about 30 free drinks- seriously. I've found that musicians are nearly always last on the list for any kind of respectful treatment.

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1118636' date='Feb 7 2011, 09:39 AM']The economics is quite simple. I was a bar manager for 3 years and I currently live in my mates pub which does live music: 1) If there's a band playing people arrive earlier and leave later = more drinks per head 2) If there's a band playing, people tend to come in bigger groups which equals more 'rounds'. At the end of the night, 3 or 4 people from the same group get a round in because they lose track or want to show off or because they want to be a nice guy, and most of the time leave without even finishing their drinks. A smaller group tends not to get extra drinks in at the end of the night. 3) If there's a *good* band in, they'll bring "roadies" with them. They don't get free drinks like the band do, and they'll be there from 7pm til 2am. 4) If there's a band playing, you can get away with people hanging around the pub after hours talking to the band, landlord etc and again because there's more groups of people rather than individuals, they'll stay later and get more drinks in. 5) If there's a band playing, you'd be wise to advertise or promote drinks that take less time to prepare. Eg, alcopops and bottled beers and ciders. Less time serving = more people drinking at once, and more profit because of less wastage from beers and wines and you'll have people getting more rounds in as it takes less time to drink a bottle of bud than it does a pint of stella. Less time for the bar staff to be worrying about glass wash too = more time serving = faster drink turnover. In my experiences, that's pretty much it really! Truckstop[/quote] "Free drinks" What's that?

Very sad news, one of the best ever.

It can be hard to fathom, I played a place for about 2 years where the band was paid £300. There were never more than 7 or 8 people in attendance and also a abr man, bouncers and person on the door to pay.

At least a year ago now, Jeff had a letter published in Bass player in which he apologised for being "wrong" - his word, in some of the views he'd held and put forward in the past and that he was now much more open to other opinions of musical education. It seemed to get almost no reaction for some reason.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1111448' date='Feb 1 2011, 06:56 PM']Why do we keep getting these questions? They are always asked by hobbyists about professional playing situations and include typically unrealistic views. Do you hobbyists go to work at any time not liking the journey/boss/co-workers/job/office/clients? I bet you do. Have you lot no integrity? Ah, hold on, I've got to go, Gary's on the phone about a gig.[/quote] Not everyone is either a hobbyist or a pro. As a semi pro, I often find myself stuck somewhere between the two. I've done gigs with hobby players and had to grit my teeth through some awful drummers and sloppy guitarists. Somtimes, I'll admit, I get nothing out of these gigs musically speaking. Often, I get very little out of them financially, but I was out on a stage playing rather than sitting at home and I may have played a town/venue I haven't played before - this means something to me, it wouldn't to all. I've also done enjoyable gigs with hobby players where the fun aspect takes over from any gripes about playing ability. I could just as easily be gigging with pros and enjoy the challenge of staying at the top of my game on these gigs. Pro players have told me that the only difference between them and me (meaning any good semi pro) is that they happened to be in the right place at the right time on various occasions. Let's face it, not everyone can be. So perhaps another aspect to the integrity question is: would you gig with inferior musicians for little money, just to play? As I said, I have done, but I do draw the line somewhere.

Rose blue was the colour name of the BB, but it did show up as pink, although you can see some blue in it in a certain light. The RBX was the first (unsuccessful) attempt at reproducing Billy's original "Wife" P bass, but the "Wife" was certainly the template for the Attitude. It's essentially a professionally produced version of all the hotel room DIY mods Billy made on the P. Billy has said thet engineers have told him the Attitude is the most P sounding bass other than a real precision that they've heard. It all comes from the P bass!

[quote name='silddx' post='1109528' date='Jan 31 2011, 02:57 PM']And you also realise that our very own Craig Martini is the bassist in Gilbert's band, and is the bassist in the clip?[/quote] Yep.

You do all realise that the "Cover band" in the original post is the incredibly famous and well respected guitarist Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr Big) and his band?

The improved neck to body joint is the most interesting new feature, don't you think? Seriously stable and the angled bolts are a unique feature.

I forgot to add - Yorkie and flask of tea. Essential for the journey home!

On a gig: Spare strings x2 Spare strap Spare Bass Small & large flat head screwdriver Philips screwdriver Variety of fuses Spare battery Ear plugs 2x XLR lead 2x power lead 4x Jack to Jack lead 2x XLR to jack lead Soldering iron Spare speaker lead Pen and paper Polishing cloth Wire cutters XLR to Jack adaptor XLR M/F adaptor Spare Mic

Bob Daisley

I needed a valuation for my insurance company and gave up in the end. Even Vintage and rare, where I bought the bass were no help. Another place I tried wanted to take the bass to bits to check it was all original! No thanks.

Martin Barre or Steve Hillage.

Anything that makes good music. It really doesn't matter in the slightest.

[quote name='northstreet' post='1094397' date='Jan 18 2011, 08:36 PM']Tad confused here. I've always played the bass part under the solo on the E. I've also always played the high part as G/G octave/F#/F# octave (to be honest, I often cop out and play this part starting on the 3rd fret, but if I'm feeling brave I'll go up and down from the 15th). So have I been playing it completely wrong for the last xx years?[/quote] The high notes are G 17th fret D string, D 19th fret G string, then F# D, with an open A part underneath at the same time. Bar some tricky muting, it's then easier to stay on the open A with the F# and E naturally on the E string.

The important point is to play the rhythm on the A along with the high notes. You can hear it on the recording, it's not overdubbed, but played as one part.

This song seems to get mentioned a lot in various threads, but have you noticed how many players get the solo section wrong (or perhaps take the easy way out) and don't keep the rhythm going on the open A under the high G/D/F#/D bit? There was a video lesson with James Lomenzo (great player) where he strangely talked about the trickiness of getting back to the 5th fret A after the high notes. Why fret the note when you've just been playing the open string?! Fraser played it all on open A. There's a tricky bit of muting to be done when crossing strings, but it's worth it.

Not a lot you can do about it, anyone who leaves their house these days will end up on youtube at some point.

Where does RMS fit into all this? A Hartke LH500 puts out 350 watts into an 8 ohm Warwick 211pro. The 211pro handles 400w RMS, what does that mean?