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When someone asks me to ‘play something’

I tried playing air guitar to a Jean-Michel Jarre album. It turned out to be a waste of oxygene.

Being able to do this last weekend, biggest gig I've done! and people came to watch . .

Always wanted to try a Gretsch Broadkaster (MIJ around 10 years ago) and have finally snaffled one. Short scale thumpy with flats on and should work well in my country/blues tinged bands.

I’d say Robbie Shakespeare was the biggest inspiration to me after seeing him play live in the early 80s , I was playing blues at the time but after hearing the rhythm and drive of heavy reggae I just knew it was for me , and I haven’t stopped playing reggae since 🙂

I fell in love with bass from an early age. When I was just starting to get into music it was the very late seventies, and there was a lot of bass in the charts! Sting, Colin Moulding, Norman Watt Roy, Paul Simonon and all the 2-Tone guys like Horace Panter, Mark Bedford, David Steele... I loved it all and would listen specifically to those bass lines. I used to have a beat up old nylon strung acoustic guitar and I’d tune the E and A strings down as low as they’d go before they became too floppy and try to play along. I was 10 in 1979. For a while I learned to play guitar properly and played drums for a few years too. The first band I joined was as a drummer, when I was sixteen. When I left school and started earning money I bought myself a Squier Silver Series Precision bass (how I wish I’d kept that!) and forgot about drums. That was 1990, I was twenty one and I’ve played bass pretty much ever since. Good thread, by the way.

To get laid.

Hard to pick an ultimate moment but one right up there of my proudest bass moments was when I recorded my band's version of "I shot the Sheriff" for our album. It was a one take live recording at a concert we did and only my take on the bass ended up on the finished album, everyone else re-dubbed their parts in the studio. Then the icing came on the cake when the producer showed me a letter from Marley's publishers stating how they loved the bass on the track! As this was my first ever reggae track playing bass on a commercial album and Aston Barrett was my inspiration for taking up music it meant a heck of a lot to me.

The bass has arrived, I’ll take better photos when possible. First impressions: Well built for sure. The splittable neck pickup is a great addition to the P. and sounds great on its own. I do not have any recording equipment to make decent sound files though. One issue : The two coils at the neck tend to (not sure this is the right way to put this) pull the E string and notes have a slight vibrato. I have lowered the pickup quickly and the tremolo is lighter, but still can be heard. The thinner A, D & G strings don’t seem to be affected. No time to get into more details now.

One riff, one moment in time. John Deacon under pressure live at Wembley. I had to ask my dad what instruement was doing the "Dum dum dum da da dum dum" Dad. " I think its a Bass guitar" That was it for me.

I fancied being in a band and reckoned bass would be the easiest instrument

Hearing both Benji Webb and Paul Di’Anno take to the stage with their respective bands at the time (Dub War and Killers) after we had supported them say something like “F***ing hell I thought we were heavy, what about that lot”. Then subsequently seeing both gentlemen weeks later (Benji with Dub War at a European Festival and Paul D in a Walthamstow chippie) wearing my band’s beanie hats, I was stupidly chuffed.

Might that be because you're posting on your phone rather than playing?

Well it was Tuesday actually. I had been fancying a P bass for a while now so popped into Gear4music to check out a Player series P. However they didn't have any on display so I checked on their fancy screen thingy & spotted the Vintera range,mmmm had to check it out. To me it looks beautiful,seems to be very well made,plays & sounds excellent too.(it was also substantially cheaper than the classic 50's P bass they have in stock) Over all I am very happy with it,although I've yet to play it with the band but I'm sure it will be mint 🤣🤣

Now that I come to think of it, it did work for me. Once. More than 40 years ago. Hope shines eternal, maybe in another 40 years some other teenage beauty will be overcome by my (bass) fingering prowess! Sadly, I'll need digging up by then, but still...

Well, that would explain it. Can't stand liquorice either and here's how much: As a child I would buy a Barratts' Sherbet Dab, throw away the hated liquorice tube and then commence to neck the sherbet straight from the packet. In the aftermath I would be covered from head to foot in white powder, resembling no one so much as Mr Tony Montana after a serious night on the Charlie. Tony discovers sherbet dabs

Mum and dad said no to drums.

Johann Sebastian Bach. He didn't play the bass guitar AFAIK, but he did write bass parts that defined the harmonic drive of the piece. I concluded that if you had a melody and a good bass part, then you essentially had all you needed. Then one Chris Squire appeared in my world...

Saw a monochrome pic on the front of an early Motörhead EP. Someone told me that one of the band members was playing a bass guitar. It had four fat strings, massive tuners and produced really low, deep notes. I just thought that looked like the coolest instrument ever and I just knew I had to have one. Still think that, too.

Let's give 'Turn the Page' a shout out too, eh? What a smasher of a tune.

Had it a few times, and my reaction varies depending on the circumstances. Most of the time the bass is going through the PA so I don't lose any sleep - I won't have been in control of how loud the bass is, and if the soundman thinks it's just fine then that's OK with me. And if anyone disagrees then I'll point them towards the mixing desk. I did a couple of gigs with an old band where everybody thought the bass levels were fine at the soundcheck, no complaints during or immediately after the gig, then on dissecting what could have gone better/had gone wrong afterwards (what had gone wrong always being the lead guitarist making mistakes and then doing his best to blame everybody else) the lead guitarist picked on the level of the bass, always reporting back what people in the crowd (usually his wife) had said to him afterwards. This being a guitarist who would routinely stand in front of the bass amp and complain that he couldn't hear his guitar properly. After one multi band gig where we went through the same amps as everybody else and the bass DI'd into the PA, when challenged about his wife's comments that the bass was too loud he backed down when it was pointed out that I had no control over the bass levels that the audience was hearing, and given that the bass was fine for all the other bands it seemed unlikely that my bass would have been any different. But he insisted that while it may not have been too loud after all, it had been too loud (as reported by his wife) at a previous gig so clearly it's a problem that I needed to address. By then the band was noticing a pattern of everybody else getting the blame when he'd done a poor gig. Last big gig I played there weren't enough monitors on stage so rather than share with the keyboard player I volunteered to use the backline as my monitor - the DI being taken before the signal hits the amp. I'd left the amp at the same settings as the gig the previous night, but that was on a much bigger stage. Mid gig I switch basses and it gets noticeably louder, so the singer politely requested that I turn down a bit. he had a point, and the singer is the one person who gets to complain about the on stage sound

New arrival and my god it’s lush! I know Fender Custom Shop sometimes gets bad press for their prices and stuff but this is a beauty. Same spec and build (bar head stock colour) to Scott Divine P Bass of Doom! 1959 heavy relic finish in Oly White over Candy Apple Red 😍 I know relic can be marmite but man, it’s a beaut! Even got Fender to send me the Shop Floor Traveler. Sounds bloody lush too! Welcome to come and try it if you’re local to me 😁 Bought on EBay but I believe it belonged to @Atomic dustbin on here. Lovely fella 🤘 Few sexy bass pics for you all.

Ye- ha! 🤠

Listening to Jah Wobble with PiL or Steve Harris with Iron Maiden. Two very different approaches, they both sounded like the most important and interesting sonic situations going on in their bands. And, obviously, Lemmy.

Been watching the daily reruns of The Sweeney have we?

When I was a young lad there was a song in the charts (Seasons in The Sun, by Terry Jacks) that had this sound that I liked, didn’t know what the sound was but listened out for it in other songs. Fast forward a few years I found out it was the bass, and at that time, when punk was at its height, the cooled - imo - people in the bands were the bassists. So the sound I liked was played by the cool people, good enough for me.

This thread is useless without 'that' Partridge clip...

Sitting in a guitar shop about to start trying out that nice bass and realising I have suddenly forgotten every single bassline I’ve learned in the last 30 years except for Money by Pink Floyd and The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. Every. Single. Time!

I once spent five minutes frantically faffing with my amp, bass etc (with the sound guy) to try and work out why I had no signal (having been fine in the sound check). It was at the start of a short set on a multi-band night. The rest of the guys had to wait for me, whilst offering the audience some terribly awkward banter (as you do when you’re 15). After the full five minutes someone in the audience politely enquired as to whether the absence of a cable between my bass and amp may be the issue... 😐 That was pretty embarrassing... 😐

Finally I finished the bass:

I'll just park this here on a Sunday morning. Enjoy. 😊

I sang in choirs a lot as a kid but when my voice broke I discovered that I really loved singing the bass lines. Fast forward a year or so and my brother, who was in his 20s, played drums in a local covers band. Somehow I managed to convince him to let me come along to one of their practices (so long as I just sat in a corner and didn’t say anything). The bass player had a black, checkerboard binding Ricky and it was the most amazing looking and sounding thing I had ever seen or heard. It looked like it had fallen out of an episode of Flash Gordon. I fell in love with it and knew from that moment on that bass was the instrument for me. It took 3 years of badgering my mum and dad until they bought me a bass and amp - my 18th birthday present (not a Ricky but an Aria SB which I still own). I still love the look and sound of Ricky basses. Sadly I soon found out that I hate pretty much everything about actually playing them!

Through playing the instrument I have made some amazing friends, toured all over the UK & Europe, played on records, done session work & played some iconic venues. All of which has been offset with failed relationships & not being as well off or high up the career ladder as I could be. So on balance I'm proud I have no regrets 😹

Oh my word that's handsome. Double sided adhesive tape under the bridge once you've set the intonation and you'll be in deep blues heaven. I remember playing an original when I worked at Roger Jenkins Sound Centre in St John's Square in Cardiff in 1971. Huge bass sound from the humbucking PUPs. Intonation was the only issue, but once setup correctly it was such a lovely bass to play.

But why did you keep playing it? Because that doesn't work (erm, so I've heard…)

But now you're older and wiser, you realise you are (and were) actually the coolest 👍

I played guitar for years (not very well). I was working abroad, living in a portacabin on a construction camp in the middle of a desert and there wsn't much to do other than go to the bar. I was having a smoke with one of the big wigs and he mentioned his band was looking for a bass player. I said I could probably fill in for a while as they had a bass and an amp and I had loads of time on my hands. I played a 2 hour gig two weeks later. It turns out I'm actally quite good at playing bass. Five bands later I'm still doing it. My guitar playing has improved too.

I’m quite proud of this thread. Normally my contributions elicit two responses at most.

Being complimented on my playing by a bass player I had long admired - after we finished our set. He and his band had been on immediately before us so I was slightly uneasy about following in his footsteps.

Forgetting to stomp back on the Tuner/Mute Pedal when your hear the 4 count into the next song 😅

Superb! I loved it. Really tasteful improv IMO, plus great tone!

I have the breaking strain of a lettuce leaf where bass gear is concerned.... 😮

I can understand the jukebox thing but if you don't expect the crowd to like your music choice what hope have you got when you start playing?

Being replaced on a track by Pino Palladino.

You need to hire some stooges at your next few gigs to keep on complaining that the guitar’s way, way too loud!

Have some lessons. Learn some lyrics. Start a sideline band. Tell the bass player what notes he should play. Get slagged off here. Revel in the irony.

I was once asked to turn down by a punter as the bass was affecting their pacemaker. They were sat about 3 feet away from the PA! I simply adjusted the 'producer switch', and they seemed happy. Fortunately they didn't die during the gig.

I was once told to turn down because my bass was causing feedback through the vocal PA. My bass was at 2 on the master, so utter and total bollocks. The amateur sound engineer was the husband of the singer and had not the faintest idea how to operate his very, expensive PA. I'm the end, in a huff, I turned my amp off completely and mimed. He still complained the bass was too loud.