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I have vivid and fond memories of watching my (South African) mate giving an excellent and very well received impromptu version of "We Will Rock You" on the highland pipes while dressed in full Scottish regalia, accompanied by a German oompah band, also wearing their traditional costumes, late at night at an open-air riverside café in Turku, Finland in the summer of 2017 during the Europeade (European folk dance) festival. Pick the cultural bones out of that one!

I've only ever depped a few times and only for people I know. Last time was a young girl who occasionally songs with my band gave me about 48hrs notice that her bassist couldn't do a festival gig. She got her band moved to be on just before mine so I'd be there and sent me the set list of covers... i got introduced as a last minute cover and got through the first few songs including an improv section I wasn't prior warned about and all went well. Then Seven Nation Army was up next. I just stood there. Singer says "it's you". I had ear plugs in. "It's you. Now, it's you" I'm just standing there. "It's you" "what?" "Play the riff" "what riff?" This went on for ages until she basically spoke like to an elderly relative who thinks he's escaping from the nursing home "seven nation army. It starts with the bass riff. You need to start playing it"

I'm looking forward to going down my next blues jam night to check passports, and I'll be requiring written proof that the singer's dog has actually died, his woman did indeed done him wrong, etc. 😁 I used to go to the Bier Keller in Manchester when standing on tables and hurling steinfuls of lager around the place was a big night out, and the house band there (definitely Oompah) covered Like A Virgin...it was a life-changing experience... 😁

"Music eh...shit business int'it?"

Two things: first, Bob Marley's dad was a white guy from Liverpool. Second: you live in a flipping colony!!!

@The59Sound do you need to take a break?! How about it, or do you think you can behave like a grown up for a bit? Calm down.

Been in the news a bit this week following Michelle Obama’s speech. How many of you guys have been in this situation? I did a dep gig on Saturday night. Was sent the set list, had a brief look through it, met the guitarist and ran through a few numbers. Didn’t seem anything too complex. Turned up to the gig unloaded and set up and then realised I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Not practiced any of the tunes at home, didn’t know the structure to half the tunes, no ideas of intros or endings. I was screwed. Anyway, felt my way through the gig by using my eyes and ears and smiling a lot. The band thought I was great, the audience thought we were great. We got paid and the band leader was asked for cards. I suppose really that’s what musicians do when they play properly and all this endless rehearsals and preparation with semi-pro bands is mainly just to stoke the singer/guitarists ego. Quite honestly I’d prefer to dep all gigs. Keeps it fresh and reminds me of what a real musician is.

This. When I started, I was the worst musician in the room, but - I was a musician! Our om community was truly appreciative of the people who came every week just to listen, but as soon as I crossed that line it became completely different. I'm usually still the worst musician in the room, but that's because I keep pushing myself, and trying to play with better musicians, because it's the only way I'll get better myself. Many years ago a sprinter who came last in the Olympic 100m final was asked how he felt about coming last. His answer: "Being the 8th fastest man in the world ain't bad."

Flight cased in ears porn.

Remember , unlike my generation, I'm 65, no longer is every kid in the neighborhood buying a guitar and starting a band. There aren't that many guys in their 20s & 30s interested in bands or gigging. But there's a ton of us older guys not willing to give up our rock & roll spot light quite yet I'm not Blue

I had some trouble with Twist and Shout once I realised I was a different colour than the people who first sang it. Or is it a different nationality? Or religion? The Isley Brothers (who were the first to chart with it) were Seventh Day Adventists...

He's currently on a hiatus. God knows what he's going to be like when he finally decides he loves playing bass again.

It's a good thing to be helpful, right? Apparently the cry has gone out that the 2nd market is slowing (see that other thread). How could what we are signing up to do here (led by our pied piper moderator @Sibob) be described in any shape or form as being "helpful" on that score? 😄

My current fretless squeeze... OLP Ray body, Jaydee neck with mostly-unlined ebony board, EMG-HZ pickup, as yet passive electrics. Future plans are to squeeze some sort of 3-band eq in there. For the moment, I'm loving it just as it is. It plays beautifully and sounds better.

I fully understand. I just wish that big events like this weren't always so London-centric.

How did the Hipster burn his hand? He changed the light bulb before it was cool.

Next time I gig my Super Twin, I'll have to take an umph meter and see what is lacking

all brands of IPA available in the UK for a Yule long tasting session 🍻

A bit of peace and quiet hopefully.

Have you planted the Helix Stomp seed yet? I love how you have named your P2s too. I'm going to call mine Stan.

You can download them yes. Click on the 3 dots at the side of the video, that should give you the option to download. I've attached a photo of one of mine.

Unless you have a Mark King complex, you'll probably find that 4kHz isn't much of a limitation at all.

@Paul S Good luck. They won’t be expecting too much. Have fun.

I play in a ska band. I thought I was a bass player. I never realised I was a thief, coloniser and oppressor too. Thanks for the heads up.

You really are an over opinionated racist fool aren't you i grew up in Tottenham listening to reggae [both uk and Jamaican] and have played it for most of my fifty years i play with a band that consists of Jamaican, Indian ,Polish, Bermudan, mixed heritage and uk born some of the white members of the band have played with some of the biggest names in reggae without any problem i play the music from the streets i grew up in but reggae music is loved the world over ,and its message of unity and love is open to all.

I started in live music by playing at one of the better jams in West London (the Drayton Arms, Ealing, formerly the King's Head, Acton jam). Quite literally everybody in the room was a better musician than me, and the great majority (including the guitarists) were better bass players than me. So? You have to start somewhere. If I could get in a time machine and go back those years - taking my bass with me, natch - there would still be plenty of better musicians there. There will always be better musicians than yourself somewhere, if you look hard enough. So stop looking and enjoy what you do.

Good luck with your endeavours. If anyone, of whatever colour, tries to tell you that you shouldn't be playing a particular type of music because of your ethnic background, then they are being racist, and should be ignored, however much they may try to conceal their racism behind such fatuous pc terms as "cultural appropriation". It's no different from someone telling a black person that they shouldn't be performing opera or playing in a string quartet. Music is music, and has always benefitted from cross-cultural fertilization, without which much of the music we enjoy, and which has enriched our lives, simply would not exist. Enjoy!

Why are you being rude? What an odd reply. Literally an opinion, a point of view - my 2p. The concept of a cheaper (‘kiddy’) Flea bass in itself was acknowledged by Flea when he brought out the “fleabass” range of instruments and further addressed by the introduction of a lower price point Fleabass (street bass). I was just pointing out that Fender may have missed a trick by only having the one price point which would be out of reach for younger/less affluent fans when they’ve done broader attempts to previously... Mike Dirnt has/had a Fender and a Squier model simultaneously BB King had a Gibson and Epiphone version of Lucille (there are plenty more examples) It just broadens their buying audience somewhat and more buyers means more money. Makes more business sense. And having left the guitar/bass retail industry after 12 years in 2015 - I might have an idea of what people buy into. As a point, the cheap fleabass instruments weren’t that great - but we sold 100’s of them because people bought into the Flea name/image. But what would I know, I’m only a child.

Went along to a start-up originals audition once. The band were pretty good and (along with myself) had largely done their homework - except for the potential singer/guitarist/front man, who clearly was unable to fulfil any of those roles. It became obvious that he had made no effort to listen to any of the material, but this turned out to be irrelevant as he just plain couldn't sing, sounded as if he'd never ever picked up a guitar before and had all the charisma and personality of a canoe. BUT he thought he was great! The band played the songs while he made a terrible howling noise like an aphasic drunk falling down an escalator with a cutlery drawer, gurning horribly and throwing weird stunted shapes like an arthritic gnome with terminal hemarroids. The band immediately avoided each other's gaze. Rarely have I been so embarrassed yet so wanted to laugh as never before. No-one stepped in to stop it, we just kept going on and on through the set. It was absolutely interminable. We never met again, but later I heard he had persistently phoned the band leader pleading for the job, claiming he was obviously the best choice! And in the end actually got weird and threatening. Steps had to be taken. I've met some deluded flakes in my time - comes with the territory - but I won't forget this one in a hurry.

Nice one earbrass ,that’s from the Sly and Robbie rare footage collection in Jamaica, imo Robbie and family man are the best reggae bassists , I saw Robbie when he played with black uhuru, 😀

Sunburst it should be sunburst, split pickup, jack on the front, maple fingerboard, with LaBella 760F-MUS strings. Why they don't make these anymore I don't know, it's my go-to bass now.

Shuttle 3 is great, so is the 6 👍. Simple enough 😄

Just read this. I'm in! I'll probably get some strings. I have one of them thar new Boss WL-50 wireless gizmobobs arriving in Jan but as l've paid on pre-order that doesn't count.

I've bought 7 basses this year, and sold 7, but not necessarily the same ones I bought! One more is due to be taken away next week, so I will have at least one bass fewer in 2019. Sold one amp, bought one amp. Other than strings, I think that's about it.

Nothing I hate more than playing those cliquey pubs where the audience is half full of other musicians looking for fault. Fortunately the band I'm in now is Fun/Party style and doesn't attract that clientele.

Similar procedure for the photos. by clicking on Options:

If you own the page, this is what should be appearing:

I know Lee fairly well, it sounds like it was his ‘66 Jazz that he bought recently which is his birth year

Or much better wait to list until eBay are doing their regular max £3 or max £1 fees offer and then you just have the PayPal costs on top which are about 3%. My tip: NEVER list a big item when you are paying the full 10% eBay commission.

Thanks Mr Reggaebass so if you sell for £500 and use Paypal you end up with about £432 or thereabouts, does that sound about right ? A work colleague is about to sell some gear on behalf of the parents of a recently deceased family member. And I couldn't answer the question cos I've only ever bought stuff and never sold Thanks for your help

I think that we make it hard for ourselves - we study great bass players on TV, YouTube, Spotify etc, we chat with other great bass players on this here site, and so as a result we can have a tendency to take a harsh view of our own abilities, because we set ourselves such difficult standards to meet up to. But then once you're up on stage, you have to remember that you're probably the best bass player in the room, and you're doing things that, to the majority of the crowd, is like witchcraft. I don't think that we should get too complacent though. I like being well prepared, I like knowing that I've done the best that I can do. But I also agree that some of my most memorable gigs were the ones where things went wrong, but the band held it together by sheer musical intuition. S.P.

These short days. I emerged from the cellar after doing the Jazz rout and it's dark! Ignore the artificial light but that's both pickups routed. That might be the last scariest bit. Pleasingly, there's no daylight showing through the back ...although that might be because it's night now...

Quickly. That went quickly. Please remember the suffix on adverbs.

Every little helps - another tick off the To Do list. Magnets on the truss rod cover: I know it's tempting fate but, from a build point of view rather than the additional wait time for the finish to fully harden (probably a further week), this should be finished this week

I used to run the compressor last in the chain for that reason but only found it useful that way for controlling wayward envelopes/filters But that’s another age old question. Compressor first or last

Why would anyone do that ? I'd let my missus audtion as a singer for any band she wanted to. The fact that she can't sing a note and her voice would hospitalise small children is neither here nor there. My only wish is that it was a band full of Millwall fans and they'd suffer irrevocable ear damage in the process.

I love my gear. It sounds great Yeah! I have no GAS! I read Basschat and check the classifieds and accidentally buy something 9 days pass I love my gear. It sounds great Yeah! I really now don't have ANY GAS I read Basschat and check the classifieds. Bugger, that purchase was definitely deliberate... 9 days pass 😄