arthurhenry

Surely the most widely owned accessory? Is there a bass player or guitarist in the country who's never owned one? Mine's going strong after 23 years (with the help of an elastic band). A classic.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1085816' date='Jan 11 2011, 05:56 PM']For me it goes both ways.There are some songs I play regularly that I still enjoy listening too,and others that I don't. The same way that there are songs that I never liked but after playing them for a bit I get into them.[/quote] Agreed. Many times I've learnt songs I dislike by bands I dislike, but once they've settled into the set and I'm happy with what I'm playing on them, they can become my favourites. I'd never listen to the original again though!

(Bass) "is a supplementary instrument." "As a bass player, you can't play when the drummer hits the snare, you have to stop." ???

Anyone use these? I'm considering changing from a 2unit SKB syle rack case to a soft bag type, but does it offer any advantages in portability, ie any smaller or lighter, or just easier to move around?

I have never illegally downloaded music and would be uncomfortable doing so, but what if you're downloading a song for your band to learn and play live potentially hundreds of times? In theory at least, the artists would still receive royalties via the PRS, so does that make it OK? The other aspect of this is; how exact a science is the distribution of royalties from live performance by cover bands. I've done a few gigs where the PRS have turned up (usually when the club owner says "just two half hour sets tonight lads, hush, hush") I think we may have given them a setlist, but what if we chuck in Pride O' the farm by Dixie Dregs? Do they recognise it and make sure Mr. Morse gets his money? Unlikely. What about snippets of 007 and superman theme that we sneak into a song?

[quote name='bassoctopus' post='1068109' date='Dec 23 2010, 07:06 PM']This was a factory second that a dealer in the US was selling on ebay for around $500. I sent it to some friends in the States as a joke saying buy this for me for Christmas - we always do silly stuff like that! I was a bit shocked when they turned up with it the other night I don't think Hamer make them any more, so they are pretty rare. My band do early 90s covers - Kings X/Pearl Jam etc, so the twelve string will fit in perfectly for some of the set I am a very lucky lad![/quote] How the hell do you get away with covering King's X?! Most people have never heard of them, let alone realise that they're one of the greatest rock bands of all time and should (quite seriously) be bigger than U2!

Play as much as possible: Most importantly play live at every oppurtunity, in any situation. Secondly, learn by ear from recordings and I mean learn dozens of complete albums and hundreds of songs and don't be satisfied with anything less than note perfect.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1064690' date='Dec 20 2010, 02:55 PM']Erm ... I did. Just ignore me. See if I care.[/quote] Sorry, my fault, hope I didn't make you sad Jack...

Wot no Rick Kemp?!!

No one's said it yet, but what's to stop you playing both the original and lower octaves? For example, if I'm riding along on a 5th fret D, it's nice to punctuate it with some low Ds (Hipshot on a 4 string, I should add) or blur the two together.

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1063362' date='Dec 19 2010, 11:25 AM']I am a HUGE Mr. Big fan, i missed a week of school to see them in London for my birthday and also in Belgium! People find that odd, considering their hit which reached 3rd? in the charts here in 1992 is three years before i was born! Mr. Big have always meant something to me, the year i "discovered" (as it were) them, they decided to get back together after that, then Billys Attitude 25th edition was annouced the week after i had found out the UK waiting list for the Red ones is 7 months! (But Thanks to Alex at Yamaha Customer support i already knew about them xD) Fantastic band, amazing musicans, nice people and they are back, and i HOPE to stay! The song "Around the world" is on Youtube as well as part of an interview [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1mJw8CBeDo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1mJw8CBeDo[/url] Which has amazing riffage! Haha bit of a Fanboy rant! But thats what i am! Long live Mr. Big![/quote] It's great that younger fans are discovering them. I bought the first album on the day of release and saw them 6 times back in the early nineties, including at the Marquee. By the mid nineties, there was zero press interest in them in the UK and I felt like the only fan here for many years! New stuff sounds great, they should be back over here in 2011.

Almost always when I've seen bands do this, the bass player plays it a la Mark Evans on the original recording where the bass doubles the guitar riff through the verses. However, for the last 32 years Cliff Williams has played a straight A pedal through the verses and indeed, this is how it's played on what many consider to be the definitive recording from the If you want blood live album. I prefer it that way myself.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1047137' date='Dec 4 2010, 10:11 AM']It's popular with pub bands because most of the pub-gig going public like it - for a good reason, too. IMO, it's a great song. It's an easy song to play, but a hard song to play well - not just the bass, but the whole band too. Whenever I've seen a pub band do it, 95% of the time they murder it. It's too fast, too straight, no dynamics... I'm sure JPJ's band do it spot on, though. [/quote] Very true, easy to understand musically, but nailing the feel is not easy in this one. Have played it with many excellent pro musicians and rarely have we managed to recreate the groove of the original.

Most bands treat it as a simple 3 chord song, but it's actually very difficult to get the feel right if you weren't brought up in the deep south. Work on the feel and try hard to get it right and you'll play it better than many other bands.

What about a stand alone stomp box that did this though?

With software like Amazing slow downer which can slow down a recording without changing pitch, surely it would be possible to plug into some kind of device which could change your pitch live on a standard tuned bass. Very useful if you joined a band who tuned down a semitone and you didn't want to adjust your set-up and string guages. You could also "tune down" to BEAD whilst playing an EADG bass or any other combinations. Can't believe there's not something which does this. Wouldn't work too well on acoustic instruments though!

[quote name='Hobbayne' post='1039876' date='Nov 28 2010, 01:14 PM']I took a couple of guitars there recently for a setup. They are based in a back street in Bermondsey. You have to press a buzzer for someone to let you in and you go up a flight of stairs into an open plan office with a few guitars hanging on the wall, not really like a shop at all!! They dont really encourage you to try the guitars though! I dont think its a very good way to sell things like that!" They guy I spoke to (nice bloke he was) told me that when they used to have the other shop, he used to get people in trying the guitars out and then saying "yes i,ll buy this!" and going away and buying it cheaper on line, so I can see his point. Still, they done a cracking job on my 34 year P Bass though! [/quote] The repair was probably done by Chris Ward - excellent repair man. The bigger picture of all this would seem to be the sad fact that it's very difficult to run a bass only shop as a viable business even in London. There is the Gallery and that other one I won't name.

Who needs tab? You can look up just about any song you'd need to learn on youtube and learn it by ear. Probably quicker than using tab too.

As I said, The Joker, Daytripper and Pretty woman. I honestly think these would be recognised by many people in the street, even if they said "oh yeah, that's that Beatles song". There's one way to find out - who's got a battery powered amp?

Steve Miller band - The Joker Daytripper Pretty woman

Was doing 90 gigs a year 5 years ago, but has become fewer and fewer since. Down to 20-30 per year now. Every musician I know is in the same boat. Is there anyone out there still playing every Fri and Sat?

I think it's all about confidence in your own ability and comfort with getting across who you are through the music. I play the way I play, whatever the genre and it seems to work (never been fired - yet!). I would expect Geddy Lee to sound like Geddy Lee whatever he was playing (instrument or genre) and as long as he does, he sounds good to me. Not everyone will agree!

Don't change your feel unless you want to. Instead of sounding like a rock player trying to play funk, just make sure you sound like YOU playing funk. Do this with conviction and it will work.

I've used the grade 6-8 scales/arpeggios for practice and found it pretty useful and enjoyable. I typed a list of all the scales/arpeggios, cut it up and picked them out at random, then picked from cut up bits of paper with all 12 keys and practiced.

Try adding some compression, it'll even out the volume between low and high notes.