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I liked it - Tina Weymouth had a far more humble approach to the subject than Stewart Copeland, I think she probably played bass for about 5% of the amount of time he played drums. There was a clear bias towards more mainstream, popular music - one hour is not enough time to get everything in! I was particularly touched by the Herbie Flowers segment, I'd say he was perfectly entitled to that pride 👍

A chap once asked if I could play "Amnesia" Cliff Burton's bass solo with Metallica (actually titled "Anesthesia"). I told him I'd forgotten it.

In the days when I still auditioned for covers bands I'd ask for the set list, the keys, which versions of songs (if applicable). I'd get the details, learn the songs, turn up and encounter exactly what the OP describes. So I started asking people in advance whether they did the songs as per the original arrangements or not. If 'as original', I'd learn the songs. If not, I'd tip up and busk the audition. The only problem was they'd all tell me they played the original versions when - in fact - they didn't. Because these people literally could not perceive any difference between the original and the half-arrsed racket they played. It wasn't that they'd deliberately rearranged the songs - they'd just never bothered to sit and listen to the songs from beginning to end, or to make notes and agree a structure and stick to it. This - along with the usual vortex of lies, madness and egotism - is why I f**king hate amateur bands.

We're a bunch of 50-something guys playing to a pub rammed with 20-somethings. Girl comes up to me and says, "Can you play something by Keith Moon?" Says I, "By Keith Moon?" "Yes", she says, "he was the lead drummer in a band called Who". We have always described our sticksman as the lead drummer ever since.

This arrived on my YouTube feed. I’m really not sure what to say!

Just worked out the 'CBA' being used in some the posts in this thread is not a chord sequence...

My experience of this is playing in an Americana outfit originally formed by a ukelele-playing music-in-the-community merchant. She was very enthusiastic and did a lot of good, but she was a very limited musician and either couldn't or CBA to learn the songs properly. Over a couple of years the band attracted some much better musicians because the song choices were a lot of fun, but each as they joined pretty much 'dumbed down' to her level. Finally their long-term bassist left and I was recruited, and I don't do dumbing down. If it's a 5-chord song then I play five chords ... I don't leave out the funny ones in the bridge because someone hasn't learned those chords on a uke. It didn't end well. She got her boyfriend (guitar & banjo) to sack me, which he did very apologetically, then it turned out the rest of the band didn't know until it was too late and within a month both she and her boyfriend were out of the band and they had split up too. I should stress that there are no villains in this piece. She wasn't evil, her boyfriend wasn't a silly billy, and I probably didn't help matters. But stinky poo happens.

Valves are voltage amplifiers, unlike transistors, that are current amplifiers. What this means in practice, that when you take a small signal of a bass and amplify it a lot with transistors, you end up with a low voltage and a hell of a lot of current, which is luckily what you need to put in a speaker. With valves on the other hand, you end up with not much current and a very high voltage, which is not what you can put in a speaker, so you need an output transformer to take it down to the sort of voltage and current you can put in a speaker, which obviously has to handle the full current of the output you want (and get rid of the heat). As you need a transformer to get the power for the amplifier in the first place it means you need two large transformers in a valve amp, which by their very nature are pretty heavy. And then you obviously are going to need a big bit of metal to mount them on.

Who ordered a pudding? Drummer! 😉 Set paused!!! 😣

Gig some years ago with a space-rock techno band, man approaches me from the crowd gurning like a bastid, huge grin on his face, brain quite obviously in a very happy place. "Oh Man.....what note are you playing right now ?" he bellows at me from a few feet away. "G" "I FECKIN' LOVE G !!!!" he screams /Dances off into the crowd/ Priceless

I've never done one of these before, but I'm just so delighted with this bass that I want to shout from the rooftops! It's incredibly versatile, with a really sensibly voiced preamp. The humbucker has a tonne of poke and there's no drastic volume difference when the preamp's bypassed. It's comfortable, with a lovely neck, excellent finishing and quality parts. If I had to find one quibble it would be the tuners - just not quite as solid-feeling as everything else...but that's pedantry. I know the marmite reputation of green basses, but green happens to be my favourite colour and I just love the styling of this instrument - just unconventional enough IMO. The icing on the cake was a fantastic deal from Sandy at The Great British Bass Lounge, who was a pleasure to deal with from start to finish. This one will be with me for a while. Cheers, Tobie

Played the Hard rock cafe in Glasgow last night. First time in there and the staff and the promoters, Shock city, looked after us very well. Free soft drinks, a meal, great sound guy and the place was full. Only drawback is it`s in the pedestrian part of the town and there is no back way in so we had to park the car and move the gear with hand barrows. And the parking is a nightmare. But you have to expect that in the middle of the city. Used my new Sandberg and was well impressed. This was our first gig for the promoters and they were so happy they payed us an extra £100!! And they will get us more and bigger gigs in the future.

I once learned 30 songs in a week in preparation for auditioning with a Jam tribute outfit whose bassist was leaving. On the Saturday night before audition week I went to see them play in a bar just to check them out. The band's arrangements were spot on to the originals, no problem there Unfortunately the 'Weller' could neither sing in tune nor play anything beyond the most basic chords nor enthuse the audience. The only thing he got right was Weller's driven charmless-ness.

Yep. Pretty universal I think. Just last week I watched a pub band whose bass player just couldn't stop himself playing on the verse of All Right Now. Sounded pants to me. Maybe not to most of the audience though, I don't know. Are we being too picky?

I think you'll find that 2 + 67 =/= 67. 😁 No, not a fast song. She was pretty. 🙂

For tweaking the body shape, I find Inkscape a decent poor man's CAD package, but I do find it easier to start with pencil, set square and paper. Main reason is that the fundamental limits are very easy to get down - the design envelope, the neck dimensions, etc.. For the envelope, I traced round a P bass body I have hanging around (as you do), then marked against that the fretboard dimensions (including 12th fret relative position) using a Squier hanging on the wall and then overlaying the maximum dimensions of the walnut - which, at 320mm max is a touch narrower than a P. Using @fleabag 's photo as a guide, I drew a general outline that I will then transfer into Inkscape to do the aesthetic tweaking. But here's the rough pencil-drawn outline: Initial thoughts are that the leading edge of the top horn needs to be a touch steeper and the top waist maybe a tweaked a bit to match the offset of the tail. But I can tweak that to my and @fleabag 's hearts content on Inkscape. The other part at this stage is to look at the thicknesses of the various components at the neck joint: This is full scale, again using a Squier neck for dimensions - although when @fleabag 's arrives I'll double check it - and here we're in a bit of good luck. Because the walnut is relatively thin (we'll be using basically two tops rather than a top and thicker back) the plan is to have a central splice. And in a flash of inspiration I think I know what that should be! @fleabag wants a purpleheart pickup cover and the neck to be stained to match. So why not use the purpleheart neck splices that David Dyke sells as the body splice. These are the splices in my Swift Lite neck: And they are 6mm thick. And 6mm in between top and back walnut of 13mm each is 32mm - perfect! But there's another bit of good luck. Have another look at that drawing: See the (to scale) back wood. And the 6mm central layer (ie purpleheart) and look where the bottom of the neck heel sits! On top of the back assembly. Then add the depth of the neck - and the fretboard is EXACTLY where my Squier neck fits in relation to the top of the top. And the bridge that @fleabag is sending me is the Schaller low height roller unit - which is the within the adjustment range of a standard Fender P or J bridge I'm chuffed at that Next jobs are to draw the back and then load the drawings into Inkscape - and that's tomorrow's job.

Heroic

An idea? Wrap the neck in cling film then cast it in plaster. You can then take measurements, make cardboard templates, etc. from the positive form

Everyone that has flicked through an argos catalogue in the last 30 years knows what a P bass is, she wasn't trying to bore the audience to death, lol. You could make a ten part series with ten different hosts and still not please everyone, I'd watch a two hour special on John Deacon alone yet wouldn't care about Wooton, Marcus, pino, jaco....

Hey guys, first posting here from Seattle. Just received my ABM 115 compact cab from Reverb. Listing described it as used, but as far as I can tell it’s brand new... original box, even had the “keep fresh” golden sticker. Score! Even more surprising in a good way is that the cab is 500 watts (they originally said 300w). I really get into cliche territory when trying to describe any bass sound. So I won’t. Let’s just say, I’m a very happy customer. Haven’t owned a 15” cab since about 1993 (dating myself here), and, it was just the punch and bottom I’ve been missing all this time. I’m just happy to have paired it to my ABM head, as I tend to get distracted a bit and mix cabs and heads. Now I’ve got a full stack Ashdown, and this is where I excuse meself and zen out to some low end rumble in the bedroom. Gig tomorrow at the local dive, even setting up in front of the darts area, and now, we’re gonna shake that joint to the flippin’ ground! Cheers

Really?

Brilliant programme. Nice discussion of bass as a key part of music, rather than just dragging the usual suspects in front of a camera. Obviously a few were featured, but more to give some context to the increased importance and prominence of bass in music since the invention of the bass guitar... and then continuing into electronic bass Catch it on iPlayer if you missed it

To be fair, it's one of the better notes.

Hello, I'm planning on building my very own custom pedal-board and -case. I'm (loosely) basing my design on this pieces of German pro engineering: https://www.schmidtarray.com/ A friend of mine studies product-design and he was willing to help me make a solid-works design, of which I will include a picture. On the picture the top of the case is rendered as glass just to make the image a bit more clear but it will all be made of wood. The board has a small level plane in front for my loopswitcher, 2 tilted planes for my pedals with nice cable slots, a level plane on the right for my VariPhase expression pedal. The tilted planes will have hinges to make the space beneath them accessible. Outer dimensions will be 674mm x 424mm x 184mm. All wood will be 12mm (hardwood)multiplex. I'm putting quite some plugs in the side of the case: 1 power connection on the left, and on the right I will build my own 'patchbay: 1 bass input, 2 amp outputs, a connection for the channel-switch of my amp, and a XLR out because I'm planning on putting a nice DI inside so I have my own choice of DI when playing live. All these connections will be a plug on the outside soldered to a plug on the inside so I can just use a patch-cable in the belly of my case instead of having to plug my bass directly into a pedal. This way when I'm gigging it's just plugging some cables in the side of the case and rockin' away. Progress right now: - Design is made - Jack-connections etc. are on the way - Extra cables are on the way - I finally found a decent website for 'flight-case-supplies', so I can order ball-corners (is this the right English word for that?), detachable hinges, a lock and some handles. What I still need to decide (and input on this is really appreciated): - Is 12mm (hardwood)multiplex the right choice of wood? - Handles: I'm thinking about one in the front on the lid of the case and two on either side on the bottom of the case. Not really sure though. - I can have the wood cnc'd and have it perfect, or I can do it myself with the help of a friend of mine who is a bit of a woodworker. Pro's for cnc are the quality, pro's for doing it myself/with a friend are the lesser cost and the pleasure/satisfaction of building it myself. It might be a week or two before I decide on the latter matter because I'm having exams and I'll have to wait for a reaction on the pricing of cnc'ing a some plate material... So until then, please give me all the input you can think of greetings from Belgium

This is one very cool lady, and she never once mentions neck dive.

@arthurhenry Looking at that lot,there's no way I'd let you near a jukebox 😃

He was great! Also it was about 'Bass', not the 'Bass Guitar'! That's it didn't focus on nerdy model-specifics but covered voice, synth and D&B...

Just one question; Will you two be tweaking each other in private or are we forced to watch you both? I have a bucket of cold water on standby just in case. Nah. This is the bit where the magic happens; when Andy and client riff off of each other to get the design passed off. You're in good hands Fleabag.

I couldn't play in a band that doesn't learn the song properly or as near as possible. At the very least they should know the structure. I'll accept small insignificant things that really aren't noticed in the big scheme of things and i include myself in that. In some bands i've adapted the bassline to suit what i feel is right in a live band. I can get away with playing more or with more aggression than the original recording. A lot depends on the band i'm playing with. If they want the exact note for note version then that's what they get. I def like a little freedom tho and my current band allows me to do that. I can't play with guys that turn up at a rehearsal and try to ad-lib or wing it thru the songs especialy when i've spent hours learning the bass line spot on. I find guitarists are the worst for that IME Dave

It is a constant trickle of irritation in my little band. Drummer and I take pains to get note/beat perfect if practicable or necessary (although not always). Guitarist (who else?) is an exceptionally capable and talented player but always tries to shoehorn in 'doing our own version' because I believe his memory is failing - he prefers to busk things. Sometimes, as a result, we end up doing some very good alternative versions but, sometimes, it all sounds much the same. One tune in particular irritates the tits off me - no idea why particularly - we do Roachford's 'Cuddly Toy'. He insists on playing over the breakdown where there should be no guitar. Kills the song stone dead by taking away the light and shade. There, unloaded that, feels much better [/rant]

Perhaps the band simply have a relaxed attitude to covers, perhaps its how they get the flavor of a song but do it their own way. Its rock and roll, there are no rules.

Genius!

Now I have lute gas...

By popular music standards... covering Motown, Beatles, Disco hits is covering the bases (not basses) enjoyed by many, many millions over the last 50 years. John Myung is practically invisible on these terms - no matter how good he may be. This was all about pop music...

Yeah lots missing , but hey. Weymouth was utterly charming, and i've invited her round for tea and biccies. So so laid back and no BS. I had to giggle at Bootsy explaining about the enormous bass line ( and one of my fave bass lines of all time ) he came up with on Brown's ' Sex Machine ' and Brown stating " Great bass line, and i'm glad i thought of it " And that green suit he was told by Brown take off Some good stuff in there, not comprehensive, but you couldnt get enough to please everyone in 60 mins. Just impossible

I sometimes capitulate if they're becoming awkward. At the moment I do they always turn to their mate that's egged them on for a thumbs-up, which is a great time to knock a couple of strings out of tune. That weeds 'em out! Anyone with enough sense to step on the tuner and tweak them back in can play as much as they like. (I'm keeping the money, though!)

For me a lot of the pleasure using (especially gigging) cheaper stuff is being relaxed about it getting scratched/broken/lost/stolen.

Thanks for the laughs folks. I'm sure none of you really experience such strong emotions about the look of an amplifier or a guitar. Being serious for a moment, I like everything about the MB gear I have except for the fact that I can't buy bits or schematic to repair my broken amp myself. That stinks. Anyway sorry for hijacking a fun thread. Let me try to join in: Um, phwoooar I love how that bass looks/think it's horrid. (Delete as applicable)

Strings Direct sell single strings.

I thought TW was great and there were some good contributions, but given that BBC4 describe the series as "An exploration of the contribution of key instruments to modern popular music" and that the trailer gave the impression that it would focus almost exclusively on electric bass guitar, I was disappointed at the amount of time given to examining bass as a frequency and its artificial creation in electronic music. That would have made an interesting programme in its own right. There was no mention of the P-bass, Jaco, or any one other than Bruce from the British rock players of the late 60s/early 70s, or any of the British new wave/post punk players. Instead we got Chic's bass player demonstrating BE's "chucking" technique by playing the same part over and over again. With better editing, a lot more could have been fitted in.

In a programme about bass players I don’t think I heard one note of slap bass. Given I hate it with an unreserved passion I think that’s great, but in view of the BBC’s impartiality I think it was remiss not to include it. Almost without fail someone will do some Seinfeld-esque slapping and popping when I take a bass into my office. They have no idea how hideous that would sound...

Got asked for Duelling Banjos once. I explained it was tricky to do without a banjo player. Punter said "Just play it anyway".

We were playing a typical pub covers set and there was hen night in. They kept hassling us to let their mate sing - "She's really good!" Eventually we relented and asked what did she think she could sing? She looked down at our setlist taped to the monitor. Pointed to Lady Marmalade. "I could do that." We exchanged looks and started the song.... And she was ace. Yes, really. She belted out the lead with a great soul voice and also fitted in to the harmonies with our singer. Turned out she sang that song in her own band. It meant the hen-nighters ended up our best friends and the whole evening was a hoot. It's never happened like that again... Cheers, Graham

...look on the bright side. You‘d have been gutted if he‘d then ripped it up though, wouldn’t you?

Agreed, performance nerves are an awful thing. I have always struggled with white coat syndrome ie doctors, hospitals etc,to the extent I put off a minor op 3 times over the last 10 years through sheer terror. I had the op three weeks ago and coped very well with it and I put it down to reading "The Chimp Paradox" by Prof Steve Peters, the psychologist who helped the British track cycling team win so many medals. It really did help me to put things in perspective and concentrate on the process rather than the outcome of a situation. Give it a try its now on library shelves so you don't even need to buy it.

A woman came up to me in the middle of a song with a wad of cash and shouted in my ear 'Can you give this to the DJ?' In the MIDDLE of a song! What am I going to do? Put it in my mouth?!