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I would have said "pedantic git" personally.

after playing in a cover band for over thirty years I’m gutted to find out I don’t have what it takes to be in a cover band!

Singer: Right, we need to pick a setlist for Friday night. It's my sister's birthday and there's a few tunes she'd like us to do. Guitarist: Cool! Singer: She'd like to do Mr Blue Sky.. Drummer: Love that tune. Bass: Yeah, er.. No. Too complex. Bass solo, loads of complexity. Can't learn that in just one listen through. Sorry. Singer: Er.... okaaaay. How about All Right Now? Guitarist: Need to work on the riffs, but cool Bass: Er.. nope. Bass is a bit complex there as well, specially rhythmically. Nope. Again, more than one listen through there. Singer: Hhhhh. Right. Okay, so what exactly do you think we should do? Bass: Zombie? Singer: I'm a 44 year old male who's smoked more than Hilda Ogden and you expect me to sing that?? Bass: Creep? Singer: Oh come on! Bass: Comfortably Numb. That's dead easy. One listen through and I'm sorted. Singer: Fine. I'll take one listen through and any lyrics I don't remember I'll just "umm", "aaah" and "ooh" Guitarist: Yeah, and those two solos will take more than one listen through so I'll just strum chords then Bass: I'm not sure being in a covers band is really for you guys....

The other lads must be disappointed? They probably... can't stand losing you?

Hi Team, Belated (and double) NBD to myself! It's been a week that I've received my fancy custom Limelight P bass in light relic with purple metallic. Specs below: 1968 Precision Bass Specs Metallic Purple over white - colour guide as per picture sent Matching headstock Alder body ultra light relic as per Limelight 00218 Hand rolled finger board edges Tusq nut Black dots Maple P width neck Anodised gold scratchplate All metal work just lightly tarnished Gotoh Vintage Reverse Resolite tuners Vintage wiring Switchcraft Jack Big TV Fender Precision Bass logo Thumb rest below strings Cover Ashtrays Reference starting point: I ordered this on the 9th of July after some emails with Mark - I wanted my own P bass, letting go of my first Limelight experience below, my reason to let this guy go being that I just don't gel with Jazz pickups! Beautiful, and now that I know the vintage hum noise could've been fixed with some good shielding it may be a regret to having let go of it! I wanted the bass to be as light as possible and Mark did his best to select the parts that were lightest - he also recommended getting Gotoh Resolites, a great upgrade. This bass came in at a super manageable 8.2lbs/3.7kg! One thing to discuss was how Mark at Limelight managed to reproduce the purple metalic colour that he hadn't done before (closest thing being a pastel purple); he had a chat with suppliers and resolved with a white undercoat that looks stunning. I was also particular that I wanted that orangey aged maple look and I think it came out perfect! It took Mark 100 emails for updates checks etc etc to deliver this beauty - I commend his patience and his good work! Installed a Nordy P Blade I had laying around: It is quite difficult to capture the colour, but the next picture shows the contrast depending on the light compared to the previous one: It plays beautiful, great adjustment and spot on with the 'wear and tear' I wanted - not a lot, little to no 'face damage' and weather checking on the nitro finish that is definitely there and everywhere although hard to capture: And even on the headstock! also the level of detail is surreal, please check this out: Still, I remember hearing in this chat that 'Limelight basses are like buses; you may be waiting a long while for one but then two of them turn up at the same time'.... and that was the case! I needed a backup as I'm now in 2 bands, and jazz neck'd P basses are the perfect tool for my punk rock band.... I seduced a member into letting go of his backup, and here it is! The following spec came home barely three days later: 1963 Precision Olympic White medium relic Jazz width neck Tortoiseshell guard Period correct Fender logo plus the usual Limelight specs such as CTS pots, switchcraft jack etc This one coming at 8.0lbs/3.6kg They would sound similar and still different, you can definitely tell the warmer rosewood board vs the snappier/punchier maple board, even unplugged. This one has been modified to a Bare Knuckle '58 pickup, both basses will have KiOgon looms for different cap values, bypass/kill etc. I may reverse the pickups to make the purple more '57/'58 spec as if it was resprayed in purple at some point or something, but that's not a problem when you have such cool solderless electronics! I'm a very happy man - oh, and of course, full family picture!

Doubling down I see. Who appointed you the arbiter of my progress? You're telling me what level I should be playing at now? Seriously, just stop.

What is this nonsense? I have had to learn songs I've never listened to before, songs I've heard once or twice and ones I'm intimately famiilar with. All three take more intense study than you suggest to get them to a standard I'd be happy exhibiting in public. I frankly don't care if you think being in a covers band "isn't really for" me on this basis. You just sound condescending here.

I’m gutted that I’m only allowed to read it once to be honest.

Prophetic thread this... just had a WhatsApp from our BL. They're firing me because I needed more than one listen to nail Jerry Was A Race Car Driver. Gutted 😭😭😭😭😭

Yeah but you'll have to read it more than once to nail the timing of the turn!

So I picked up my VM5 a week and a half ago, then immediately had to go away for a week so had no chance to play it! It's a 2004 model in natural ash and a pau ferro fingerboard. It plays nicely (following a quick tweak to the truss rod) and the pickups and preamp sound awesome. Waiting on some new strings and hope to do a final setup this week. Definitely a step up from my Cort which I might have to sell now.. Anyway, here's a couple of pics:

Come on you lot, I was able to play the entire bass solo output of Oscar Pistorius after one listen. Granted I was off my mash on Cricklewood bazookas at the time but there we are.

You can read it more than once if you want but if you do your name will be mud and you won’t be able to call yourself a real forum poster!

If you can't nail a song after zero listens by looking at the guitarist's fingers, then an open mic house band bassist's job isn't for you. Try something easy, like juggling chainsaws.

The attitude expressed would explain why I’ve heard some utterly shocking performances in pubs and clubs over the years though…..

Indeed. I think most of us have rather higher standards than one listen being good enough. No way would I perform something in public on bass unless I'd nailed it, just like I wouldn't do it on keys, violin, trumpet, voice or any of the other instruments I've played over the years.

He should be telling them.

Are we not in the DOI? Crumbs, no wonder i don't feel safe.

I’m comfortable in my self awareness that I’m a talentless, soulless waste of time. I struggle to play bass lines I’ve written after one listen.

The best thread in a long while 😁

I find your lack of talent disturbing….

😄

Well, I am. So are all the other Basschatters I've met. Haven't met you, though.

Actually, on a serious note, a flippant “one listen through is enough” is disrespectful to the other musicians in the band, and to the audience. In any band I’ve been in this would be a reason for sacking. I make a point of not joining bands where a level of mutual respect isn’t shown.

Listening to a song once and being told by the guitarist that it's A-E and G, then the verse is A-E-B and F isn't learning a song. You would only be playing root notes with your own connecting runs. If you want to learn a song properly you need to spend more time than that. Boys and Girls by Blur, Rio by Duran Duran. No one could play them purely on one listen. Same with Cake By The ocean. All do-able pop covers.

This. His definition of "learned" is what I would call "be able to recognise it on the radio again and play along to it badly" - nowhere near actually being able to duplicate it let alone perform it to an acceptable standard.

Grandparent duties done and it's back to the other little beauty I got a lovely piece of ebony from Luthierwood.com. We are going for a 'standard' 12" radius at 24 3/4" scale. First out was the excellent radius router jig from G&W: It makes quick and accurate work of getting the basic radius, ready for a final 20 mins or so sanding with a block to remove the router-bit step lines. Good time to top up my stash of ebony dust too : Next, the equally excellent G&W mitre-block to cut the fret slots: All done - actually 24 done although it will probably be cut off after the 22nd to make sure the neck pickup is in the right place. I will leave the fretboard double-sided-taped on the template to keep it flat until I've done the swift inlays at the 12th. All being well, the treble-side top (just placed on top here) will be able to be glued, trimmed and carved later this week:

Due to necessity (remote part of the world) found myself in a covers band the other year where every song we played I genuinely hated. Not a problem though as the audience didn't and it was great fun. Even learnt some great bass lines I wouldn't have otherwise.

Yeah and he can do it in one pass. 😉

One thing that grieves me is how many modern pop songs have the same chord progression all the way through, chorus, verse, the same, just adding and subtracting instruments, changing the vocal melody. Seriously, though, it's not really possible to properly 'learn' a song in one pass and I kind of reject the suggestion that the ability to do so is some sort of prerequisite for being in a covers band. Mind you, anyone who can't play My Boy Lollipop after one hearing should really take up stamp collecting instead.

We have been having fun tonight commenting on the fact that "we should all be able to play most songs on one hearing" and although on first glance this appears to give credence to that opinion in fact twice during the video he cites occasions where that may not be so true. " the Beatles had 27 number 1's but only used the "common chord progression on one of them ... The guy that's wrote all the hit songs lately( never heard of him and can't be bothered to watch it again) wrote 22 number 1's and only one of them used the famous chords.... That's 47 very popular songs that don't follow a standard pattern! He also tells us to look out for the chord progression in the choruses of many songs ...what about the verses? I believe it's possible to play a semblance of a lot of pop songs on one hearing, but that's a long way from having "learned to play them," and I think it's disingenuous to dismiss people on here as not right for a covers band if they can't play it after one hearing. (Although I quoted your post Skank, my latter statement here is in fact aimed at Tim who espoused the opinion referred to).

Grandmaster eh? How very flash 😂

Daves right, two things going on here, 1 i already do the music i like cus i write it for my funk band, but it does not put steak on the table, sometimes only just about sausages. 2, to pay for this self indulgent passion i need some income, so i play cabaret as well ( covers band) in that, i dont care what i play, its not for me to like its for the people paying me, i will go with whats needed. so, if it pays me i will stick a hoop in my pants ware size 30 boots and a red nose on my face as long as the people are dancing i dont care al play any old sh!te cus im just a music for cash slag. 🙂 sorry i will rephrase that... im just a skint music for cash slag, out come = cash needed for funk.................. and sausages.

I am having exactly the same problem, listening back to several bass lines that I recorded over lockdown and can’t play one of them, not a one. Mind you, I am smashed out of my gourd on elastic spasm cakes so who knows?

Anyone want to form an 80s tribute act? I've just listened to Now That's What I Call Music! Volumes 1 through to 15 and can play all the songs on them now. Wish I hadn't, the 80s were shyte.

As thread derails go, this one is a doozy.

I don't know what you're talking about, but I can play it without knowing what it is, having never heard it before, and with no chord sheet or instruction of any kind. But then, I'm speshul.

Yeah! Why don't you all naff off to the Areyoureallyabassistchat forum? Enjoy the replies coming your way, Tim.

My old keyboard player has perfect pitch and an amazing memory, he’s savant like. He can play anything after a listen. However, to get the feel and nuance correct and to play it with others, he’ll work it up until he’s personally happy and he has very high standards (not surprising really). However, to blow my own trumpet and laud it over mere proles, I’ve nailed Prince’s When Doves Cry, with just one listen and without even placing my hands on my bass. What do you mean there’s no bass on that track? Ah, this is embarrassing and I fear the jig is up. Ooh, look over there, it’s an elephant!* * Ezbass has it way on his heels while everyone is distracted by the large, grey pachyderm.

Rispek. I've managed something similar with Heaven by the Psychedelic Furs. But that's a dead simple three-chord job with straight-eighth root notes all the way through. Two or three listens to get the shape of it, a few more to work out the passing notes and job done. But - there's a big difference between cracking something simple on a few listens and nailing songs like Atomic, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Roxanne or For Whom The Bell Tolls, which is why the assertion that one listen is enough strikes me as fatuous.

You’ve obviously heard me play then bridgy 😁

Be kind. Ask him to tell the others within say, a week, or you will have to because it's getting in the way of making arrangements. He might actually want to back out but finds it easier to tell you as the new guy than his long standing mates. He might even be expecting you to tell them and might be surprised you haven't. Doesn't have to be an aggressive conversation - ask him in a way that doesn't close any doors in the future.

Well, I was kidding a bit; tame luthier…. feral luthier…. It was funny in my head, anyway. Nevertheless, I’m happy to weigh in on your situation. Truss rods don’t have a whole lot of effect on neck relief past the 12th fret. They affect it a little bit, but it’s negligible. That’s why I measure neck relief between the 1st and 12th frets rather than the first and last; those first 12 frets are where truss rod adjustments really count. Furthermore, if you do have a “ski jump” and you measure relief between the 1st and last, the ski jump can fool you into believing that your neck relief is greater than it really is. With this in mind, let’s think about your symptoms: Your buzzing doesn’t occur until after the 12th fret so it’s safe to assume (for now) that your nut height is fine and your neck relief is, at least, okay. That leaves two possibilities: a ski jump or a high fret. A high fret is best found using fret rockers - short pieces of straightedge that will span three frets and will ‘rock’ on the middle fret if it’s high. If you don’t have anything to use as fret rockers, the less precise method is just to play the instrument and see if the buzzing stops past a certain fret. If it does, that’s the high fret. If you have a high fret and you’re able to identify it, you then need to determine if it was simply never dressed correctly or if it is raising up out of the fret slot. Once that’s determined, you can either reseat the fret or file and redress it. A ski jump is fairly easy to spot with a straightedge. Because the truss rod has little effect upon the neck past the 12th fret you can just lay a straightedge between the 12th and last fret and see where you stand. A healthy board should be pretty flat regardless of how the truss rod is adjusted. If there’s a ski jump you’ll see it immediately. Addressing a ski jump depends upon several different factors. If a bass has a lot of meat on the frets and the ski jump is very slight, I will first try just leveling some of the height off of the last 5 frets. It’s the least invasive fix and it risks nothing to try since any other fix will sacrifice the last 5 frets anyway. Sometimes there’s enough material on those frets to enable this simple fix to be sufficient for years, if not forever. If the ski jump is too big to “dress out” of the frets, the last several frets will need to be removed, the fingerboard re-leveled, the fret slots deepened and the high frets replaced and dressed. In particularly bad cases, the entire fingerboard might need to be defretted, leveled and refretted but that would be a pretty extreme case and would indicate other, more serious neck issues at play. Once the issue, either a high fret or ski jump, is addressed you’ll need to go back and re-check your setup top-to-bottom and make sure everything is still where you want it. In most cases, you’ll be able to improve it. Hopefully this will help you diagnose your issue and give you an idea of what you’re up against.

Ooh, thank you.

Loads of options. Almost every tune can be covered in a way that makes it fun.