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actually, i found it a lot harder to play sitting down. i had an epiphone explorer around 10 years ago, and because of the stumpy bit above the fretboard (as opposed to a round bit or a hooky bit like on a strat), it kept sliding down my body. it was quite a fun guitar, a nice metallic red. nice for a first electric anyway.

or: ... the inevitable hiss you get from the audience.

yeah i've wanted to have a shot on one of those since i heard tool's song lateralus. that dive bombing bass is immense. i wonder just how much you would actually use it though. seems like one of those "amazing for two songs" pedals. we are talking about that red thing aren't we?

i can't remember if i did or didn't turn up at drakes and give nick a big hug goodbye. did anyone see me?

sorry, i don't actually know any singing teachers, though perhaps that place on the corner of union street and holburn street may do lessons? i think it would make a great difference, because part of learning to sing is correct breathing technique, like that old thing they tell you about singing from your stomach, not your lungs. apparently when david bowie stopped smoking recently, he found that he could sing five semitones higher. not entirely relevant, but interesting all the same.

Woah there boy, don't tar us all with the same brush. I remember a few monday nights at the palace around 2000, muttering swear words about a certain mr morrison for playing no less than seven limp bizkit songs in one night. I'm not preachy in my distaste for limp bizkit, but i can safely say i have never, ever liked them. or danced to them for that matter. not even that mission impossible one.

i'm sure there's some pedal you can get that you can set to record while you play, for say 5 seconds, then it will loop it back to you over and again until you stop it. infact, i know of zoom pedals that do this - but i wouldn't really recommend them most of the time. so say you hit a single note, you could start recording maybe a second after you hit the note (so you don't loop the pick/scratch noise), then stop it a couple of seconds later, then loop it. many zoom boxen do that infact. about the piano thing, i've always wondered how they really worked. there used to be a grand piano at school with the top off, so you could see the strings actually vibrating when the keys were played. it was really fascinating. so the sustain bit, do you think it works similar to the noise you would get if you plucked a string, then touched it with a piece of paper? where the hell did that come from i wonder. ah well, it's friday.

Not wanting to be a smart arse here. But a piano sustain works by holding the hammer key on the string struck by the key doesn't it? The difference being that piano sustain is a physical contraption, whereas sustain on a guitar is achieved by alteration of the signal created by the guitar. Like redmeat said, I would say your best bet is a compression pedal. I've never actually used one, but I've heard that dedicated pedals can actually do nice things by compressing the guitar sound. I suppose what you really want is a compressor/expander which amplifies the signal as it diminishes and compresses it when it is too large, though that is likely to introduce distortion and maybe feedback. Like redmeat said again, I think something like the Boss CS-3 might do what you are looking for, though there are probably better sustainers for a little more money. Boss pedals are really easily found on ebay mind... so if you want to try them out cheaply, that may be your best bet. Wait for soundian to pitch in though, he'll know some quality stuff on this subject.

I'm guessing that you'd have to hit it a lot harder than a normal tom to get the required volume and tone. tightening the skins up to make it louder would probably just give it a horrible tone. How about getting trigger pads and a sampler so that you can make exactly the sound you want from a drum you already have? It'd probably cost around the same, taking into account the stands you'd have to make/buy for such a large tom.

do you think they're any good for bass? i'd love to have no leads.

tav, have you ever found any schematics for pedals on the internet? i remember looking before but not getting anywhere. would you links to some here if you know of any?

so aye, where's he gaan like? the official fan club were asking.

maybe you should look for jj cale, that's who wrote it originally i think.

If you are sharing an amp or a kit, you should be prepared to have settings changed, items moved, etc. That's why you write the settings you liked down. You should however be shown the courtesy of having your equipment treated with respect. some muppet from a local band once put a bottle of beer on my amp and cab, spilt the beer all down the back of the amp. That's just rude and stupid. There are plenty places to put drinks when you're playing on stage. On top of expensive electrical equipment isn't one of them.

The same happened to Whistlebinkies in Edinburgh, they were closed for ages because of that a few years back. Don't know if they actually kicked someone out, but someone leaving their pub injured themself in their doorway, resulting in their death.

Cafe Drummonds 1 Belmont Street Aberdeen AB10 1JR 01224 619931 or something thereabouts. perhaps it's 619930.

mmmm, rode mics are nice. we were recently in a studio with a classic mkII, it sounded really, really, really nice. yummy.

Probably worth adding that a pop shield is a worthy investment / blue peter DIY job if you are planning on recording vocals. I thought my SM58 was broken until I started using a pop shield, suddenly the sound came to life. Bit of EQ and fanny's your aunt. I didn't have any tights at the time (all in the wash), so I just used cling film and poked lots of holes in it. It still worked very well actually, except for the occasional wispy-crisp-packet-floating-in-the-wind kind of noise. There's always e-bay for purchases too... I've seen a couple of nice Rode mics on there. Oh yeah, with condenser mics, don't you usually need phantom power?

Re: MONEY BACK... Yes, here on Venus we often have implementation problems with fatwas, hence we leave repossession details in the hands of the venues. Of Venus.

unanimous though i thought it said unamourous. which incidentally, is not a word. i could be a judge, but only for spelling.

Do you have a song called "anal beard" or is that a pet name for Brian Fudge? Ambiguity tickles my wick.

Actually, the money back guarantee works like this. Drakes pay a band for playing, but if at any time in the 16 days following the gig they decide that the band sucked very, very badly, they can ask the band for the money back. If the band do not give the money back, a fatwa is issued.

seconded on both counts.