Musicians check in here. If you play, tell us about it!

[bassnut]

I've been playing bass professionally since around '70.
Midway through high school I fell in with two brothers from a musical family, guitar and drums and another guy who played guitar, sax and percussion. We had a tight little combo that played country, rock, blues and funk. We played simple but clean. Everybody sang (badly) but it didn't stop us.
We must have played every community center, high school, Lions, Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis club in Tulare County CA including Lemoore Naval Air Station and at least once before graduating.

Myron Floren opened for us at the Kings County Fair I remember. What that means is he played first so the old folks could go home early and we stayed and played for the kids.

I'm still at it. I still play simply and dynamically. No frills. Meat and potatoes. I support the song and singer and hang in tight the with the kick drum....unless the music is esoteric.

I never got famous or played in a high profile situation unless you count opening for Ambrosia at a UCLA concert. Richie Havens opened (played first) for us at The Troubador
Did a little studio work playing on jingles and commercials and backed lots of singer-song writers etc.

Studied theory and Jazz at MPC in Monterey CA for a couple of years.

I'm still at it playing 3 night a week in a classic rock trio for the last...6 years! How the time flies...

Never played in a metal band BUT our drummer, Jimmy Volpe, played in a band called Warrior back in the day.

Any of you metal heads remember this obscure classic? (That's Jimmy in the video)
YouTube - Warrior "Fighting for the Earth" MCA Records What a hoot!

Seems like I'm always playing with other players that did bigger things but somehow I always missed the boat though I've had many different kinds of adventures away from the stage.

There's a bunch of crumby videos that people take of us with their phone cameras being posted over on the Youtubes. Can't hear the bass on most of them. Can't even see the bass player!
What's up with that?

YouTube - pat obrien and the priests of love

Edit:
Shout-out and thanks to daveP for starting this thread.
That was a cool Allman Brothers experience!

Read it here - bottom of page:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/lounge/171859-i-felt-truly-old-last-night-2.html

 

[Southern Gent]

Certified, blooze/jazz, khaki wearing, high dollar gear, Gear Page card carrying tone snob here.....

 

[bassnut]

Certified, blooze/jazz, khaki wearing, high dollar gear, Gear Page card carrying tone snob here.....

Groovy. Snob-on as long as you're in demand.
Sometimes relaxing your standards a bit will seem to bring the rest of world a little bit closer.
Ensemble playing is...with other people, I've found.
The gear is for your inspiration only. Very few other people notice it.
Bottom line - it's about vibe, soul and honesty.
The most important pieces of gear you can bring to a gig is you and your commitment to the music.
Put the music first.

 

[DaveP]

I was thinking about a gig we snagged once where we played for a beauty pageant. It was a rather strange experience but really enjoyable. We set up in the orchestra pit next to the runway at a local civic center, ran through a rehearsal one night, followed by a full dress rehearsal a couple of nights later. We had a couple of horn players and a 3 piece string ensemble in the pit with us. It was a lot like the Tonight Show band!

Our job was to play for the performers who sang or needed music to perform to. This required quite a range of expertise, but we pulled if off quite well. The tune I remember most was a Carol King song that was sung by the young lady who went on to win the Miss Georgia pageant and continued on to be a Miss America contestant. She did "It's Too Late". We rocked it and she came over after the contest to thank us for our rendition. In her opinion, it sounded just like the record and inspired her in her singing.

Anyone ever do any off beat gigs that made you have to work hard to be successful?

 

[DaveP]

What about amp and instrument preferences? Over the years, I've owned and played through a Fender Bandmaster, Fender Bassman, Vox Berkeley, Vox Super Beatle, A big Gibson 8x12 280 watt RMS amp, Peavey 4x12 Musician, Marshall 8080 combo, Roland Cube 60, and lately a Peavey Vypyr Tube 60.

The Tube 60 has been the most fun of all. It has 12 stomp boxes and 12 effects built-in. Dual 6L6 output with a single 12AX7 preamp gives it some of the best tone I've experienced, combined with a lot of versatility in the effects area. I have the Sanpera II foor controller that lets me program combinations of settings in banks of 4. It also has a looper that I use to record up to 30 seconds of repeating rhythm to jam with.

Demo of the Peavey tube 60 here (best heard through headphones)

 

[Southern Gent]

Groovy. Snob-on as long as you're in demand.
Sometimes relaxing your standards a bit will seem to bring the rest of world a little bit closer.
Ensemble playing is...with other people, I've found.
The gear is for your inspiration only. Very few other people notice it.
Bottom line - it's about vibe, soul and honesty.
The most important pieces of gear you can bring to a gig is you and your commitment to the music.
Put the music first.

Nope...not any more. Got a handful of guys that get together every once in a while. Gig days are over and done unless it's a charity fund raiser or such. Nothing but a man and his toys now...chasing the tone he hears in his head. I agree with everything you said for anyone who is aspiring......I no longer aspire. I suppose getting older does that to you. I can create a BT and play over it all day long. No fuss, hassle.

 

[Southern Gent]

What about amp and instrument preferences? Over the years, I've owned and played through a Fender Bandmaster, Fender Bassman, Vox Berkeley, Vox Super Beatle, A big Gibson 8x12 280 watt RMS amp, Peavey 4x12 Musician, Marshall 8080 combo, Roland Cube 60, and lately a Peavey Vypyr Tube 60.

The Tube 60 has been the most fun of all. It has 12 stomp boxes and 12 effects built-in. Dual 6L6 output with a single 12AX7 preamp gives it some of the best tone I've experienced, combined with a lot of versatility in the effects area. I have the Sanpera II foor controller that lets me program combinations of settings in banks of 4. It also has a looper that I use to record up to 30 seconds of repeating rhythm to jam with.

Demo of the Peavey tube 60 here (best heard through headphones)

Modeling has really come a long way since the ax212 was introduced. I've been toying with the Axe-fx and Axe-Fx ultra and it is the closet thing I've played to a smoking tube amp. Compression is there, sag is there but it's a lot of product to mess with. Too many options can cause us to be knob tweekers instead of guitar players. There may be a day, perhaps not in the foreseeable future, but a day nonetheless when modeling amps reign king. I suppose with a little work/learning curve, it would actually be easier to set up a midi board than it would be to patch & channel an old analog stomp box board. I'm a little old school and prefer the latter only because of the lack of midi education.

 

[bassnut]

Up until recently I've been using a '68 Fender Dual Showman powering a 2x10 and a 1x15 spk cabs.
85 angry watts!
..and lots 'o fun.
It's tubed with whatever Groove Tubes sound the cleanest. Don't remember which models.
It's a small club I work in and I have about >< this much extra head room before noticeable distortion (not a bad thing...) when playing the loudest but it's a fun amp.
The preamp is simple and perfect for dialing in good bass tones. My electric upright loves it. Solid state amps make it sound nasal and clanky.
I noticed a little degradation after 2 solid years of use (could be my ears) so it's now parked and slated for the shop for a tune-up.

Along the idea of gear as inspiration I mentioned, if you checked out Pat's vintage amps in any of the videos, he has nothing after '65 which is the Twin Reverb.
The little tweed Fender Deluxe that usually sits behind me, used for his harp is a '52. It's older than I am.
These days you can buy new equipment that arguably might sound better (subjective) for a whole lot less money but.... vintage is fun!

 

[Southern Gent]

You're right....period. That's why we are all chasing the old circuitry or anything PTP handwired. That's also why amp makers that will build you something that is new but vintage can get $5000 for a 50/100 watt head.

 

[DaveP]

I agree that modeling amps can be a multi-threaded source of confusion. I treat mine like a rack of stompboxes and effects. I have a bank of 4 saved models that represent 4 buttons on the Sanpera controller on the floor that I use all the time with my Les Paul (SD Pearly Gates HBs). I have 4 similar setups in bank B for the P90 Goldtop and bank C has 4 for the 79 Stratocaster. Setting up a bunch of stompboxes is not my preference. I typically used a tubescreamer, a chorus, and a tuner on the floor with a plain jane amp.

It doesn't take long at all to get used to the features and functions on the amp. I'm an old classic rock type guy and I turn around and run through them occasionally to change the sound with ease. If you don't use the amp for a while it takes a couple of minutes to get the dual functions back in your head.

What I really like most is the tube tone. The amp sags and produces good tube type tone with palm mutes. Root/5 dyads hold steady and produce clean overtones without screwy artifacts. And there's the lack of a bunch of stompboxes on the floor. I set up a combination sound that becomes a button on the pedal. When I set up I have the amp to plug in and a controller pedal that uses an 8 pin midi cable back to the amp. That's it. Even the wah pedal, a volume pedal, and the tuner is built in to the controller. My main sound is a Plexi model that cleans up with a roll back on the guitar volume and gets growly and aggressive with the knob rolled forward.

 

[DaveP]

Groovy. Snob-on as long as you're in demand.
Sometimes relaxing your standards a bit will seem to bring the rest of world a little bit closer.
Ensemble playing is...with other people, I've found.
The gear is for your inspiration only. Very few other people notice it.
Bottom line - it's about vibe, soul and honesty.
The most important pieces of gear you can bring to a gig is you and your commitment to the music.
Put the music first.

Bassnut, I agree with all that you said. Given that, a good, broken in guitar and an amp you respect will put it all together. I've also had great nights on substitute gear. There was that night that my guitar got left out of the load. Totally my fault. The bass player drove 100 miles round trip to get it while I played bass. He got back close to the end of the first set. I could have been happy playing bass all night.

 

[pianoguy]

I've been playing piano for almost 50 years - took a few lessons early on, but I'm mostly self-taught and only play by ear. I almost gave it up in my early teens, but then Elton John came along and his music got me interested again. I was in a horrible garage band for a couple years back in the 70's, otherwise it's just been a hobby. About 10 years ago I discovered online collaboration, and it opened up a whole new world - I've been able to make music with people from all over the planet. Here's a bunch of collabs from over the years, a mix of covers and originals:

Other Collaborations

 

[DaveP]

The internet put things together, that's for sure, pianoguy. Everything from music lessons to jams to publishing of your creation is out there waiting.

 

[Southern Gent]

The internet put things together, that's for sure, pianoguy. Everything from music lessons to jams to publishing of your creation is out there waiting.

1975 was the year I began my journey. If only the internet were available way back then. Folks just starting have a wealth of information to use that wasn't readily available for most. I'm amazed at how quickly some of the younger folks are progressing in their playing.

 

[DaveP]

1975 was the year I began my journey. If only the internet were available way back then. Folks just starting have a wealth of information to use that wasn't readily available for most. I'm amazed at how quickly some of the younger folks are progressing in their playing.

Way back when, we had to listen to the record and try to decide where on the neck the solo and chords were being played. Now, you just search you tube and watch someone play it in front of you, with a slow motion segment to boot. Or, find a streaming concert video and watch the original artist play (with pause functions available).

Now, I sound like my Dad who had to walk to school in the snow.

 

[pianoguy]

Way back when, we had to listen to the record and try to decide where on the neck the solo and chords were being played. Now, you just search you tube and watch someone play it in front of you, with a slow motion segment to boot. Or, find a streaming concert video and watch the original artist play (with pause functions available).

Now, I sound like my Dad who had to walk to school in the snow.

Six miles, uphill both ways ;-)

 

[Southern Gent]

Way back when, we had to listen to the record and try to decide where on the neck the solo and chords were being played. Now, you just search you tube and watch someone play it in front of you, with a slow motion segment to boot. Or, find a streaming concert video and watch the original artist play (with pause functions available).

Now, I sound like my Dad who had to walk to school in the snow.

No doubt....I scratched up more vinyl and wore down more needles than I care to remember. But I'll tell you...I think we became better "musicians" because of it. Not knocking anyone who learns from tabs and videos in any manner but I feel that maybe the ear doesn't develop in the same manner as ours. Seriously, when you talk of "finding" the key, notes, chords...after a while you just kind of recognized by hearing what and where the notes were and took off from there. In 35 years of playing, my ears have been my greatest asset.

 

[DaveP]

It was kind of funny the way that I learned scales and theory. At 12, when I started guitar lessons, the teacher would spend about 10 minutes with me playing from the last lesson's sheet music to make sure I got it down correctly. Then he would spend about 10 minutes with me on the new lesson. I would play, deciphering multiple notes on a stem, and picking slowly. Then the last 10 minutes, he would teach me a new song to play by "ear". He would show me how to play the song and I would copy him. I'd go home, practice, and come back the next week.

30 years later, I had played in several cover bands for long periods of time. I gave up sheet music because they were expensive and usually not correct for the record I was trying to learn. I learned by ear from listening to the records and making chord charts (cheat sheets) for the rest of the band members.

About 10 years ago, I bought a "coffee table" type book from Barnes and Nobles that included large sections on music theory, notation, and I learned all the scales, modes, and how to construct chords without referring to a chord chart. That little purchase turned out to be one of the most valuable resources I ever read on playing guitar. Suddenly, I knew how to build a chord just from its name and could point out the component parts of the chord by note and scale number. I learned from the book that all those patterns I had learned on my own from cover tunes were standard patterns for the same scales in the book. Now, I knew what they were called.

The Nashville Number System (diagrams in an earlier post) opened my eyes a little further by introducing a system in which any song could be played in any key with one chart! You could tell the band, "This is a 1/4/5 progression with a hook at the 2 then the 5 chord. The bridge jumps to the 4 chord for 8 beats then the root for 8 beats, back to the 4 chord again for 4 beats and then to the 5 chord for 4 beats with a turnaround on the 2 and the 5 chord.

The little jewels you pick up along the way add up over time. If someone had found a way to pack this in my brain as a teenager, I might have ended up a rock star. Few players knew this stuff in my circles in the 60s. Most of the ones that did know were the teachers in the music stores and the session musicians in studios.

 

[DaveP]

No doubt....I scratched up more vinyl and wore down more needles than I care to remember. But I'll tell you...I think we became better "musicians" because of it. Not knocking anyone who learns from tabs and videos in any manner but I feel that maybe the ear doesn't develop in the same manner as ours. Seriously, when you talk of "finding" the key, notes, chords...after a while you just kind of recognized by hearing what and where the notes were and took off from there. In 35 years of playing, my ears have been my greatest asset.

I totally agree. We learned all the licks the hard way and used them as building blocks for our own creations. I listened so intently to guitar players on records that I absorbed all the little nuances in their technique. You don't learn that from a Tab, even though there are tablature signatures for rakes, slides, up bends, down bends, pre-bends, and vibrato, as well as any other thing that is commonly done.

 

[Southern Gent]

Yep..the big door for me was chord construction. Learning how chords are constructed just opened up the fret board. For years and like most I slugged around the pentatonic major & minor scales. Opening myself up to "color" became one of those epiphany type revelations where the sky opened up with big bright lights. Learning that "more is not always better" was a kicker too. Sometimes the best music is found in the silence between notes and the notes you don't play. Took me the better part of 25 years to learn that.