Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was speaking to my son (who has taken up the drums) and he made this interesting observation:
The drums are the only musical instrument that you can learn to play without really having to know how to tune them or set them up.

In his opinion (and mine), the thing that sets the great drummers apart is that they are the ones who figure out how to "tweak" their drums to get them sounding "right".

Hopefully, having a bass-playing Dad will help my son develop into a better drummer than some of his contemporaries/peers.

...and having a drumming son will help his bass-playing Dad keep doin' it well past the point where many of his peers give it up...you guys have a good thing goin' there!

Hey Alvaro, is your screen name a reference to the Bajosexto guitar? Those are cool axes...quite a few players here in Denver, where the Latin music scene is strong and popular...

hey a friend of mine plays in a cover band in Denver ... Denver is a nice little town ...

The Mild High City! Yeah, we like it...what band does your friend play in? Maybe I can track 'em down and give 'em a listen...

I've been wanting to start a cover band myself, to sort of make fun of some of the excesses of 'prog' rock...I want to call it Englewood, Lakewood and Parker, after three Denver suburbs.
The running joke would be: I'll be Greg Lakewood and drink sherry whilst posing at the mic on an oriental carpet...all the while dragging behind the tempo as much as I can manage. Meanwhile, Carl Parker, in matching track suit and sweatbands, will be rushing the tempo as much as he can...until we stage a fistfight while Keith Englewood hides under his Steinway. I think it's got great entertainment potential...

this is their web site ... http://www.neversurrenderband.com/

They have one of those problem drummers ... and no Rics ... but they are a reasonably good cover band ...

bajosexto=six string bass? Literally anyway. Most latin bands I see in Lima use 5 stringers or Ampeg baby basses which really sound good for latin music.

No, no bajosexto reference there... just a little self deprecation... I play the 'bajo' (bass), and am quite literally 'big'..

As for the bajosexto itself, I believe it is a baritone acoustic guitar, with double courses on the four higher tuned strings... so that makes it a 10 string baritone guitar. It's pairing with the accordion in TexMex 'Conjunto' music is where it is most prevalent.

Some friends and I have been "morphing" from a jam band to a basement band and now, ever so slowly, to a "play in front of people with access to vegetables" band. Aside from all of the scheduling problems, trying to work in original songs and finding semi-common ground musically, the thing I really have no idea about is what to ask for as far as payment. What does a cover band normally draw for playing at a relatively small or maybe mid-sized bar in a large US city (Denver)?

It's interesting to read the band rants because at one time or another our band members past and present have all been the source of, and all been subjected to, almost every problem you guys have mentioned. It's nice to know I don't have to worry about the complacency associated with smooth sailing.

There are a number of ways to make money playing clubs one is to charge cover at the door, you guys make the cover this works in large clubs where they pack em in ,generally most bands make between 300-800 a night split how many ways? depends on the club depends how good you guys are ,if you have a following...you really have to love it cause hauling your stuff around sucks.

Alvaro, I always took that to mean big bottom, as in BOOM! Estoy bajomediano52.

Yeah... bajo - low... alto - high...

...but the word bajo is the one commonly used to refer to the instrument of all our choosing! Specifically, 'el bajo electrico'. As for bajo meaning 'bottom', I wouldn't pretend to make a definitive statement on that.

Maybe Sergio can give us the official King's Spanish ruling!

Otherwise, long live the 'bajo players' of the world!

I lived in Lima Perú for a while (my wife is Peruvian), the drummer (of course, who else haha!) used to call "bajo" "bass" (pronounced like the fish), I told them that was a fish in English, after a while "my bajo, su bajo etc" turned into "mi pescado" (my fish), it became a band joke, they could never get it right. "Bob no te olvide su pescado" "Bob don't forget your fish"
Maybe you had to have been there.
Sérgio can give it to us in about 8 languages I think.

Ken is on track as far as playing for the door. My band usually plays for a predetermined set fee, and the club keeps the door, but that is certainly up to you to negotiate. The really challenging thing is finding club owners that aren't slimy. If you find a club owner who's honest and treats you well, definitely take care to be loyal to them as well.

Remember that as fun as playing out is, it is a business, too. Give the club owners a good performance for the money you make. Try to pack their club with your following, and be professional in your contacts, etc. If they make money while you play, you will be asked back again. My band has been fortunate enough to find two club owners in town that are honest and good to work with. In turn, we'll go the extra mile for them, too. It works out well. We take other gigs too, but those two clubs are our 'home base,' so to speak. It helps a lot that our following likes to go to those two clubs, too.

In our particular situation, I'm sure we'd love to play for the door... we've heard from reliable inside sources that the place we regularly play at makes an average of $2 - 3,000 at the door on the nights we play there.
I doubt that the club would go for it, but as Martha Stewart might say, it'd definitely be "a good thing".