Winter is over ;)

Pastichio wrote:dont mind him, first gig nerves are the worst. I was shaking on my first gig, and I've had some great gigs where I played perfectly and some bad ones were I could barely keep it together. These things come with time and confidence. You guys did good for first gig.

See your nice. I was pretty nervous.... The hat covered the crowd though so that helped a lil ^^

I don't think he was being mean, I think he was trying to be helpful even if he was over critical of a band who were playing their first gig. On our first gig, our singer forgot words to the songs, I forgot bits of songs. We had one gig were everything went wrong and we couldnt get out of there fast enough, then we would lick our wounds and come back stronger and tear the place up. This happens with well known bands too.

Haha Yeah I know he was being helpfull.. I watched the video and had a go playing like that ... It's hard to keep your arm up all the time... I need muscles.....

We did a gig at Bannermans in Edinburgh and I couldnt get out of there fast enough!!! That whole day was a right off.. I had a huge interview in the afternoon which last 5 hours and then straight to the gig!! Was hell. I was like.. 3 songs in .. Can I go home? hahaha I'm not doing this band any favours.... No one noticed though ... Thank god!

It does help, I have a habit of playing with my hand bent over while I'm sitting down and I have to keep correcting myself. I can't see from your pic but what rig are you using for your bass?

Haha Yeah I bet it does ! It's just easy to be lazy hehe.

It's a Ampeg SVT-II/CL or Ashdown bass amp with 8x10" Ampeg cabinet , They have different ones in that studio but I think its the latter in the pic

The trouble with playing like that over long periods of time is your hand can seize up and you can develop CTS, which can put you out of action for awhile. I have the same trouble with my left hand, I'm a busy enough player and my hand is constantly moving around the fretboard and over a period of time my hand starts to get sore, so I always make sure I stretch my fingers and hand muscles before playing. I had to stop playing for a few days cause I strained a muscle in my left hand, it wasn't nice.

So thats the rig where you rehearse? What rig do you use for gigs?

I'll be honest... I don't have money for amps or stuff... or even a new bass at the moment.. So I use whatever amp the other bands are bringing along.. Failing that I use my mates amp and pedal.. which are awesome but forget for the life of me what they are. I've only had to borrow it once.

I'm a poor bassist v.v

Thats a shame. I was like that for awhile, I was using an old Fender speaker powered by some piece of crap power amp that our lead guitarist found in a dump or something. I had to save big time for my marshal, which now resides in our lead guitarists shed and I only see on gig nights lol.

Awww haha, Well at least you have it! I should be working soon though so I have a long lists of things gig wise to buy...... I'm actually excited by that prospect. haha. You'll know when because Ill be looking for opinions on this forum haha

well let me suggest this bad boy http://www.marshallamps.com/product.asp?productCode=MB4410 this is my amp and I love it, great tone.

I know I get over-critical, so sorry about that!

It's just that from personal experience, I know that whenever someone gets a lot of praise they end up in the sky. Even if they don't, praise doesn't do much for a person except boost their ego a bit.
Criticism on the other hand points out what someone needs to improve.

I didn't criticize your feeling for the beat, because it sounds great. Also, everyone else already praised you enough

What I pointed out are the small mistakes which no one really notices or cares about, but it does turn into a problem eventually. I should know, I've spent a lot of time focusing on the small details that no one ever writes about or stresses. Gary Willis points this whole anatomy of playing that almost no one pays attention to. When you get into analyzing your own hand positions and how different positions and energy transfer work, you come to realize a lot.

Oh, and wether it's a first gig or not, it doesn't matter. There was a local band that had a first gig and they were worried, we felt sorry for them so we praised them on a job well done. Problem was, that they never got any better, because no one ever sat down to tell them where they went wrong. :S Yea there was a bit of improvement, but it was never on par with the top local bands.

EDIT: Recently I saw a young bass player perform. He's an ego-maniac :S He learned to slap, he shows off a lot and everyone says "wow you're amazing". The problem is that his technique is sloppy. By sloppy I don't mean unwanted noise, I mean that he wastes more energy than he uses.
Being less sloppy isn't for the sake of sounding better, but for using less effort and being able to play much more smoothly than you are at present.

akyra wrote:I watched the video and had a go playing like that ... It's hard to keep your arm up all the time... I need muscles.....

I've always kept my arm up like that. Right from the start while practising the line in Dman's lesson for absolute beginners. I have fairly long arms, it just felt more natural... Anyway I highly doubt it's a problem with muscles. Back then I was far, far weaker than I am now (I'm still not particularly strong) and I've never really had any problems with it. You'll see my arms when I post a bass cover or something... living proof that muscles don't really matter

I'm going to try and supply you guys with a tip for holding your arm up... Try because I don't think I can explain it properly XD

So, you need to adjust your bass position in relation to your body. I've seen a number of bass players who hold their bass in front of them like a billboard. Holding your arm up while holding the bass like that is a bit difficult.

Start from that and move the body of the bass slightly towards yourself, to the side of your own body. The neck should be in front of you, not directly in front, but at an angle. On a whole, the bass should be in a diagonal position in relation to your body. Keeping one leg in front of the other will help the bass rest neatly against your side. This way you will hardly strain your arm while trying to keep the wrist straight, because you won't need to raise your elbow too high. Plus, it looks cool

Or you could play like this dude

So low that you can't reach your G string?

I set my strap as low as it could possibly go and tried playing like that. It actually worked quite well... or it would've if my bass wasn't quite so top-heavy.

LOL!! I'm the least egotistical bass player there is. Each time someone says Im good I reply, thanks but I'm still learning. So don't worry you dont need to crit me to keep me in check .

And Ive got the hang of it now

Good girl
Trust me, it'll pay off in the end XD

Stryfer wrote:Good girl
Trust me, it'll pay off in the end XD

Do you know how dirty that sounds?

"Dirty" is in the mind, not the words

Man, if rep still existed on these forums...

Stryfer wrote:"Dirty" is in the mind, not the words

Indeed, but then again. I ám a certified psychopath.

Dare I ask you to prove it?

BABIES FOR BREAKFAST!!!

Dropthelines585 wrote:BABIES FOR BREAKFAST!!!

And first prize goes tooo....