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What have I discovered and what can I share? These are just common sense and have been in many threads on Basschat in the last 10 years. Effective bass lines are the best. Simple bass lines are the most effective. A good "Adam Clayton" is worth his weight in gold. An almost good "Jaco" misses by a mile. Your groove is more important than your sound. Obviously don't sound bad, but what you play beats the sound of your gear every time. The audience or your mates might tell you you sound good, but if you're a good player you'll be asked to join bands. Get the basics right. Second nature, so you can't play it wrong. Then you can focus on the good stuff. Learn to keep good time. Don't count but feel the beats. Play every note exactly in time.The basic difference between the world's best and semi pro is the quality of the timing. If you're going to stand in front of an audience, bring your best game. Every time. It doesn't matter if they are not listening or there is one man and a dog. Go home knowing that you couldn't have given any more, even if you were playing the Albert Hall. Learn to sing. Bv's are a bare minimum and will make you more valuable to your band.

It's been posted before, but both Chas and Dave played on this ...which was later sampled by Dr Dre for Eminem's breakthrough single 'My Name Is'. So, in conclusion, RIP Chas Hodges, international hip hop superstar.

The R-400's getting a WB-100-ish facelift... pics just posted on FB:

Worst gig ever was a band showcase, or at least that’s what it was billed as, at a Country Club/ hotel type place. We were told there would be travelling expenses plus food and drink for all the acts. Arrived at venue to be told that travelling expenses info was incorrect, not really an issue as it was only half an hour or so away from us. We were a originals rock band, all hair and Ibanez guitars (as was the thing back then), we then get told we were on between the magician and the Neil Diamond impersonator, alarm bells are starting to ring. Go to the backstage room, here’s the free food and drink, a huge bowl of stale crisps and a crate of out of date light ale! Get through the gig, being largely ignored or frowned at, and as we’re packing guitars away in the backstage area, the organiser comes in and says “well done lads, you finished second, Neil Diamond won”. Feeling very deflated by now, our guitarist pipes up to try and cheer us up and says “ah well, he was very good, at least we came second” at which point our drummer walks in and says “turns out only three acts turned up, and while we were getting ready backstage, the magician tried to saw his assistant in half but the table broke and she fell off the stage and fractured her wrist, and we only beat him by one vote”! Luckily no one else wanted the light ale so at least we could drink enough to see the funny side of it all!

RIP indeed. Great player.

All wired up and making a noise!! I fitted an EMG 35DC and 2 band EMG preamp in the end.... A few little things left to do but the end is in sight!! Will post some more pictures later.

I caught the gig at the Jam House this week and as a big fan of Gil Scott Heron & Brian’s collaborations it was great to see him. I’ve now seen them both live. Anyway Yolanda was on bass and she is great. She captured the vibe both tonally and with her note choices and fills so with that and the fender rhodes it was back to that authentic 70’s vibe. She was playing a fender jazz bass 5 string and usually when i hear bass players on these basses playing notes on the low B string they generally sound disconnected from the other strings but this wasn’t the case this time. She uses the B string a lot rather than just to drop a low note here and there, and even when she was digging in or doing a bit of slapping on it everything was consistent in tone, weight and volume. Could be a compressor in the signal path or just good technique on her part or both but whatever it was, it was a pleasure. I look forward to catching her gigging with her own band at some point. A superb musician

Like most ‘debates’ on Internet forums it’s a case of If you like it buy it if you don’t don’t. We can rationalise opinion or choice but ultimately the chat was about cost. We’ve had the Warwick price hike chat, the EBMM price chat, the new Fender Pro price chat. Sandberg are pretty market appropriate in their ‘regular’ range price before heat and vibration treatment, relic’ing etc. They make as strong and reliable a product as EBMM or other non fender brands. Have the detractors played one? Compared one to their fav brand? Had some actual time playing one of just decided they don’t like it? The internet eh! Proper ball ache!

Down the rehearsal space/gig venue this morning - I swear the new finish makes it sound better! The Marshall has decided it - white piping coming soon.

Well this is really something.

Spoken to Lee At Gallaghers in Grimsby. Hes found out that ALL the last batch of 12 to 18 RPBXs have come with the wrong necks but marked up correctly and been sent out to retailers. Another batch coming in October but because they are en route they cant check for correct necks. Im waiting and if they come with P necks, swapping mine for one of that batch. Lee's always a great guy to deal with and keen on price too. If anyone wants this J bass with double P pups, talk to me!!!

I saw a 'stealth' telecaster bass that I really like the look of and I haven't got a black bass so I think I might give it a go 🤔

Aye, but can ye trust t'rod..? ...

If you want to here the SuperLight Sandberg go to 20mins in this video.. Sandberg - Thomann/Studio Chimiel. Sounds fantastic. If you’re a Jazz Bass and Slapper, you’ll love this.

Give your guide dog a pat and a biscuit from me.

Been playing for 40 years and if there's one thing I've learned playing in a band it's, don't get yourself in a position where you are being 'told' what to do by a guitarist or a singer. If you do, you may as well become a session player and earn some money! The real fulfilling part of it all is - you will be the only one that is! The realistic future for those that 'tell' others what to do is loneliness as everyone will eventually have enough and leave. Same as any relationship!

i was never bitter about it , after years of thought , decades it could be the whole idea of show biz & fame ? ,, the ruthless effect it has on people ,, during those 5 weeks they tried every guy around who knew 4 strings ,, one week out of the 5 was cancelled , live music , but no jam session ,, maybe its true ,, if i only played the 1st note & bar ,,could it be , they had to stop it , ? WKD a bar down the road used to hand me the bass as soon as i walked in , yeah , so the whole thing made me completely not interested ,, in how good / big name / look at me musician , some people are , not all , you tube changed all that ,, we started to see few brilliant bedroom musicians taking on the pros ,, quite happy on you tube

I’ve got one from back when I was a DJ during the rave days in the early 90s, this is really embarrassing. I used to play at illegal parties in disused warehouses and squats, rickety old buildings, dirt and broken glass everywhere etc. One night, just before my DJ set, I’m up on the rooftop of a particularly dirty burnt out building, chatting up some girls and trying really hard to look cool, going on about my DJing skills and impressing them with some very boring ‘rave’ stories. I look at my watch and tell them “it’s time for me to hit the decks, ladies”, and with a wink and a smile, I turn the wrong way, trip and fall off the roof. I fall about 25 feet and land on my àrse with a loud crescendo. It’s chucking it down with rain, and I land on a pile of wet cardboard boxes filled with garbage. One of the girls is screaming, the other one is pointing at me and pìssing herself laughing. Somehow I am unharmed and there’s not a scratch on me. It takes me a good 20 minutes to find a way to climb back into the building, and I then spend the rest of the night drenched, with a huge brown muddy wet patch on the àrse of my bright yellow ‘rave’ trousers, stinking of garbage and hiding from the hot girls on the roof.

Looks like "reasonable travel time" varies a lot.I play in two bands that rehearse an hour away from me and both bands rehearse weekly.Gigs(15-20) are also also at least an hour away.I also have played in pit bands for musicals that also require an hour each way.Unfortunately things always seem to be on different days/evenings due to work/family/other musical groups ,especially in the 7 piece swing band. I live in Northern Ontario in Canada where nasty winter weather is just part of life and sometimes the drive to rehearsal is a bit more of an adventure than I would like but I'm smart enough now to know when to stay home on really bad days/nights.I'm 72 and still working part time as well as my band commitments but as was said above "being in a band at all is golden" and even though I figure it actually costs me money to play in the bands it is worth the time and money to me.I have gear(BG,EUB,DB,amp) that works for me and is paid for and currently have no GAS,well,nothing serious. As I have said before, we are so lucky to have music in our lives and be a able share it with bandmates and audiences.I am fortunate at my stage of life to not have some of the responsibilities that many of you have but I also realize my time is running out and I want to use it musically as much as I can,I'm contemplating finding a DB teacher(also an hour away of course) to help me with my DB skills and augment the teaching vids on the net.I live in a very rural area so any type of public transportation is out of the question...remember this is Canada. I'm lucky I get to play lots of different types of music with very good musicians and at this point I'm willing to make time for it and my playing is improving as I try to keep up with them.Making music is magic.

I struggled to get this one together. I've gone through a lot of variations on it before finding a small part that I liked then built the track around it. Hope you enjoy.

For fake wear on fake fenders? Yeah, why not? 😀

It’s one of their “Masterpiece Aged” models. Looks like you’re paying an extra grand or so to have someone ruin a perfectly nice £1-2k bass for you.

Is it a British thing or are we unable to give a simple thumbs up or a quick thanks to the guys who spend a lot of time and effort to post there hard work of there transcriptions here on BC. For me these transcriptions are a main source for my going forward as a bass player. Not only that several of these guys go the time and trouble of maintaining a website which believe me is no mean effort. To date I see that ChrisDev has had 25,880 views and a mere 201 replies to his post and TKenrick a 10,381 views and a total of 71 messages. There are many other contributors which show the same story. Ron. (I wish I had more feedback, good or bad)

Hi everyone, (Mods - I hope this is okay) It has just been announced that one of Norwich's most important music venues The Brickmakers will be closing its doors at the end of January as the owners - Enterprise Inns (EI Publican Partnerships) - are demanding an extra 12% to renew the leasehold - which the current landladies simply can't afford. This is probably the only dedicated live music pub left in Norwich (not to mention being named UK live music pub of the year in 2011) and is a real hub for the local live music scene. There is also a second room (The B2) which is one of the only venues in the area devoted to original bands. It also happens to be where I first met my beautiful wife 🙂. I've no idea if this petition will do any good but it's at least better than doing nothing so if any of you would be kind enough to sign it then I (and I'm sure the rest of Norfolk's musical community) would be very grateful. https://www.change.org/p/ei-publican-partnerships-save-the-brickmakers-norwich?recruiter=27439545&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial.pacific_abi_gmail_send.variation.pacific_abi_select_all_contacts.select_all.pacific_email_copy_en_gb_4.v2.pacific_email_copy_en_us_4.control.pacific_email_copy_en_us_3.control.lightning_share_by_medium.share_by_medium.lightning_share_by_medium_message.control.lightning_2primary_share_options.variant.lightning_2primary_share_options_more.variant

Alright folks, figured I'll start this thread to log my performance progress and what not. To start if off here's my song 13am played at a local Open-Mic and recorded on my mate's phone, let us know what your rekon;

Evening all, I'm new here so be nice Been playing for getting on 15 years, not amazingly well but good enough for what I need. Mainly rock covers bands at the moment but do a bit of big band stuff from time to time. Playiny a diy fender jazz, jag and ibanez fretless currently putting together a p copy as and when funds allow.

My transcription of The Police Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.pdf

How come? They have couriers in Poland 🙂

Adrian is a great guy - and lives in cider country (Frome in Somerset)

From what I can see that is a quick fix with some wood glue and on you go, however....that isn’t the point, if this was a new bass then the problem shouldn’t be there and I would either be asking for a replacement or at least some sort of refund to compensate for the damage and to get it fixed. Im Sure they would be happier letting you hold on to it and giving money off than having to do it all themselves.

Likewise, I’ve just ordered the same from Andertons. My need for shiny and sparkly new things is killing my wallet. Damn you Basschat! 😂

A classic from 79. He wasn`t allowed to say "cowson" as someone in the bbc said it was offensive so on this live vocal, watch his face after the first Gertcha he misses it out and has a smile to himself. Nice bass playing as well.

My God, I'm slacking...! Get thee along here, @joescartwright...

As it's your birthday, I guess we need to cut you some slack...

Calm Failure: https://www.minamo.co.uk/Keep-Calm-Yoda-T-Shirt-p/000176MIN.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjw0JfdBRACEiwAiDTALlHk-MY0ENtGEbGg0RMP_TVeVeU8ZfRee6aJxJ02PL8qxs4X-ODAARoCkKsQAvD_BwE

I didn't know Jacob Rees-Mogg had it in him. You learn something new every day.

I’m a bi-curious drummer and this program looks fascinating.

I bought my first bass on 14th August 1965 and started gigging on 20th November 1966. I bought the bass and amp in the first year then had to wait till the next summer holidays to earn enough to buy the cab. In some respects nothing has changed. My Duck Dunn bass lines still fit into all the bands I play in. . . with Little Richard, Bruno Mars and Jessie Jay songs alike. Then it seems like you blink and everything has changed.

I am only 53 so I can't really say, but I just thought I would comment that in that picture, because you are leaning a bit, and your shirt is dark it looks like you are actually standing behind the amp, and the guitar has a fake set of legs attached to it!

The polished alu was all dented and knackered so I thought I'd just go normal poly pickguard Trying to incorporate both style pickguards here's what I came up with?? I cut some ply to the size of the pickups I'm probably going to use, I think the placement works OK?? It's a slab body so I've still got to do the arm and belly carves before I start painting it 😀

We're finding the same thing. I think it also helps if you're not a metal band.

80s, but not the good 80s; the kinda naff, spandex-driven 80s... We're the By Jovi band I've alluded to in the Audition From Hell thread a while ago, we'd achieved a functioning drummer, and decided to embark on a UK Tour in installments...basically, we'd been through the back of Kerrang, listed the pubs/venues that other folk were playing, and phoned them up. The furthest North was a place in Stirling, which, of course, we couldn't manage to hang another gig off, so we were going to have to drive up and back in a day. Oh good. Singist blags a Merc van off his Dad, which was certainly big enough for all the gear, if a little elderly. Guitarist turns up with his mate, whose reputation had preceded him as a Proper Roadie. As he and I are the only driving license holders in the entourage, it's decided I'll drive up and he'll drive back, as I've spent the morning in work, and I'm clearly going to be far too fatigued with playing and then fighting off the attentions of adoring fans and almost certainly herds of groupies to drive back. Off we go. 400 yards later Proper Roadie demands a comfort break, an event which he repeats at depressingly frequent intervals during the 250-mile journey, hinting at early-onset incontinence issues. The trip is made even more depressing by the realisation that the van's 50mph top speed isn't quite enough, even with all the windows down in the rain, to expel all the carbon monoxide which the broken exhaust is depositing into the cab. The van's also doing about 8mpg, but at least that means we get to stagger out, coughing and wheezing and doing that wafting thing, at every services between Manchester and Stirling. By teatime we're at the venue, all is suspiciously quiet, and the total lack of any of the posters we'd sent should have set warning bells ringing. The landlord, who in hindsight had been just a bit too keen to get us to play this particular weekend (I might add here we were doing this for a fee based on 'Either what you can take on the door, or 10% of the bar, boys' i.e. nowt from the landlord himself) welcomes us with a beaming smile and cheerful predictions that 'the place'll be rammed very soon, boys'. Predictions he seems happy to repeat throughout the evening, despite increasingly overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And so, chanting the hopeless mantra 'Well, we're here now, we may as well...' we set up and soundcheck. Proper Roadie, his heavy lifting duties discharged for the time being, returns from the bar beaming and holding a pint "This Drybrough's Heavy* is good stuff. I'll just have a couple, I'll be right as rain by the time you're finished." I should really have paid closer attention, but right then we were more tasked wondering where the the adoring fans were all meeting prior to turning up en masse. We settle down to a couple of hours of taking it in turns to wander outside to look up and down the street, eyes peeled for any signs of the crowd, before eventually deciding that we'll go on and start, because then the siren-song of, erm our songs will inevitably draw the punters in... I might add at this point that in the three hours we've been at the venue no-one, and I mean no-one, has even looked in the door, and the sole other occupant is the landlord, who has disppeared to his back room, and has taken to just popping his head round the door every now and then, giving us a two-thumbs-up, pulling another pint for Proper Roadie (I did say I should have been paying closer attention) and disappearing again. After some tense negotiation, we decide that a door take might scare off the potential punters, and we'll settle for 10% of the bar take, relying on some last-minute hard-drinking Scottish rock fans to take the edge off the diesel bill to get home. Off we go, all staring at the door, willing the punters in. Nothing. Not a Scottish sausage. Another scout of the postcode in the break reveals a deserted neighbourhood, with nary a punter to be seen. Spirits are low, with the exception of Proper Roadie, who is very happy indeed, about something or other. As I've said before, I wasn't paying much attention... Then, in the middle of the second set, two ladies wander in and up to the bar. Our somewhat listless performance jumps up several gears, anticipating the late surge of fans, and many unwise shapes are thrown for their benefit. Perhaps understandably, given the desperately pirouetting, lungeing and eyebrow-waggling idiots on stage all trying to catch their eye, they drink up quick and leave. Are they rushing off to bring all their friends? No, they aren't. We finish the second set, not even able to face playing an encore to ourselves, and start to break the kit down. The singist, always a man of infinite resource when there's things to be lifted which might be heavier than his mike stand, volunteers himself to seek out the landlord. He returns holding aloft our earnings for the day, the princely sum of 15p. He shows us a piece of paper on which the landlord has helpfully detailed the important financial transaction: '2 x halves of lager @ 75p each = £1.50 x 10% = 15p. Cheers boys.' We look up. The landlord is once again absent. 'Read it again' says the drummer, squinting like Peter Grant looking for the catch in a new contract... 'We could raffle it' says the guitarist, ever the optimist/cretin. It is by now gone midnight, and we've the really big PA boxes to shift, and now, far, far too late, I'm looking for Proper Roadie. He is eventually found out in the beer garden slumped in a pool of...let's just say 'his own making' and leave it there. Drybrough's finest (or at least Heaviest) appears to have snuck up on him somewhat. We take an arm each, and without getting too close at any point, give him a cursory rinse under the outside tap before depositing him damply in the back with the gear. And so it's down to me to drive us all home, dispirited, unadored and possibly even more tragically, un-Groupie'd. I've been awake for twenty hours so far, have participated in loading up, out, setup, played, and loaded it all back again. With added Comatose Proper Soggy Roadie. And now another six or seven hours before bed. Showing splendid soldarity in the face of adversity, everyone is snoring by the end of the road, and only my lung-busting coughing is keeping me awake. Somewhere in the Borders and the Wee Small Hours I succumb into the arms of Morpheus and we have a refreshingly exciting 150-yard off-road excursion up an embankment of a dual carriageway, eventually thumping back onto the road with miraculously little damage, although Proper Roadie in the back sounds like he might have to have a stand removed from a body cavity when we finally get back home. I pull over at the next layby and kill the engine. Some more tense negotiation reveals the fact that the drummer has a Provisional license, and is willing to consider a spot of Deserted Dual Carriageway Driving. We convince him it'll be good practice. As his de facto supervising license holder and guiding presence, I immediately get into the back bench seat and go to sleep, albeit in a supervisory and possibly guidey manner. We got home just after lunch the next day. Proper Roadie never roadied for us again. We never did find out why Stirling was deserted on a Saturday night. Oh, and I've just rememberd the Battle Of The Bands thing we did at the (then kinda big) Willows Variety Centre in Salford, hosted by none other than the brother of Johnny 'What's Another Year' Logan, erstwhile Eurovision Song Contest winner (where's the Hobnobbing With The Stars thread?), who made a point of telling us he was wearing the very jacket that Johnny won in...his breathless pause for gasps of awe came and went without remark, which seemed to disappoint him. We came third to a children's steel band and a vent act. That wasn't a great afternoon but, like facing a firing squad, at least it didn't take long. * For the Caledonian Quaffing Cognescenti, this'll date it a treat, given that Google tells me Drybough & Co were Borg'd and shut down by Allied in 1987...

I'd be interested in whether these people who say things are better than the original have just read this somewhere or even been in the same room as one.

With @fretmeister on this seems to be one of those irrational hatreds. Aged finish bad, a bass looking exactly the same but 30yrs old and been in a few shows - mojo. An innocent chip in the paint of a bass and apparently it’s not cared for and may not play well and needs £500 off the asking price. I can’t stand turdburst, think Warwick’s look like a bass which a child has drawn with a chubby crayon of a still life melted wax candle, but some people love em. Markbass look like a swarm of bumblebees have plopped in a daffodil. What do we think about Sandblasting leaving tactile cavities? Fender done this and Fender do custom shop ageing, they don’t seem to get hammered as much for it? I tend not to slam them, horses for courses

Great gig last night - the sort that makes sit all worthwhile. A street party in Brighton - road closed for the day, all the residents and their kids having a lovely time. Set up a bit tricky - the road slopes and has quite a camber so had to keep the PA stands very low. No stage - we just set up across the road! Love to have a photo but didn't think to take one. Two sets with an hour in between so they can have their raffle: 7-8 and then 9-10 so a relatively early night although I had agreed to keep the PA up until 11 so they could play music through it (and I knew it would finish then because that was the curfew and time to reopen the road). One guy has asked to sit in on a couple of songs on keys ( we knew in advance and had OK'd it) so he brings out a very nice Fender electric piano. He turned out to be surprisingly good! We were well looked after, everyone was very nice and we had a lovely time: harmonica player brought his Fender Bassman and was like a dog with two doodahs as he got to turn it above above 2 for a change. People were dancing from moment one including a very nice lady right in front of me who had her shoes off dancing barefoot in the road within the first bar of the first song. A wonderful night, we played well even with a dep drummer (who is, to be fair, a great player and thoroughly nice guy) And we got paid. Great evening on all levels.

Retired trumpet player learning to play the bass. I am studying with one of your guy's, Joe Hubbard via Skype. Bass Collection_Jive 4 string bass "Joe Hubbard design". Hartke amp and cabs Check out my pedal board. I will answer any question about the board except this one. "Why does a bass player have so many pedals?"

I personally prefer Gladys Knight voice to Aretha, it’s more soulful, Aretha at times was very shrieky.