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My blues rock trio Toredown finished off the evening at the Ipswich Weekender last night, set in the wonderful old docks at the heart of Ipswich. Big stage, lights, sound all supplied, marvellous. Parked just round the back of the stage, too. The band before us over ran slightly, we didn't get to do our fiull hour set but played well to a decent and appreciative crowd. Nice to have more space than our usual pub gigs! First outing for my newly acquired Gibson SG - loved it. Link to some vid recorded on an iPad and put of FB this morning, a Lonnie Mack song called Ride The Blinds, and a rare picture of me looking rather serious. https://fb.watch/nfKGl0iQC3/

25th birthday of our local theatre tonight, we were the after party in the bar. The main event overran which was great as a) gave us more time to set up and soundcheck and b) we didn’t have to play as long afterwards! Crowd arrived eventually so we launched into them and kept them on the dance floor. A good one tonight, enjoyed it.

We supported 80s Goth legends Ghost Dance last night at the fantastic Chapter 22 Roots and Records. I've been a fan of GD since Sixth Form and was looking forward to this. The venue is a record shop that also sells plants and I spent the evening of my 50th there. We had the call a couple of weeks ago and jumped at the chance. A beautiful, intimate setting. The soundman was really on it. The venue made us feel most welcome and even presented us with a Black Succulent afterwards and everyone was so welcoming and friendly. Our set was pretty slick - it didn't feel it at the time but watching back footage afterwards, we were really on it! A near perfect night. I rock the mic like a vandal! Our band with Ghost Dance and the promoters. I might be the first person to post on this thread to get a plant as a bonus for playing!

Awesome. A relatively last-minute booking for Katy Hurt at Buck’n’Bull London - essentially they put on Country/Americana themed nights and forgot they needed a band! A sold out show at Phantom Peaks in Surrey Quays (what an absolute pig to get to!) and an amazing crowd. The only spoilers were me messing up a couple of tunes (I blame jet lag) and my rig cutting out during our encore. Some investigation needed today - I think it’s a dodgy input socket to my pedalboard. Bur other than that, what an immense night it was. We have footage from at least 3 angles and hopefully we can get a live video of a song or two from it 🤓

Played the Terrace in Uplands Swansea depping with Up To Eleven, dep guitarist too. Three long flights of stairs and small stage (so keyboard player was semi-detached to the side!) Basschatter @Franticsmurf came along and made some generous comments about my sound. Here's a piick of my head to prove how low I had my master volume! Was not packed for the first two set (American style gig!) but numbers went up and down and they were noisy and at least some of a very youthful audience danced and sang to most numbers. We played a ragged and rapturously received version of 500 miles, followed by Don't Stop Believing-which we thought we nailed but got no reaction at all! One very drunk girl wanted a Miley Cyrus song and spent ages trying to get the guitarist and singer to agree to doing a song they hadn't heard of. Then spent two songs holding her phone up in front of them, presimably exoecting them to learn the lyrics while playing someting else...1 Third,late set it filled right up and we had a big bunch of very amicable but wrecked lads dancing in front of us. Minor stage invader dealt with by his mates! So an entertaining night even if I didn’t get home until 2am, very stiff... Pics courtesy of @Franticsmurf 👍

Chaos. Have you ever tried to play bass, sing and catch PA cabs at the same time? Drunk women everywhere. Falling all over the place. Talking borax, flirting with remnants of slaver and sick on their chins and generally acting like they’d had a blow to the back of the head. One particular woman kept on falling into the PA and into the singer/guitarists pedals. She had to be picked up and steadied countless times. In the end between songs, my brother who was in the audience and fed up with having to sort her out and asking her to behave, shouted at her in full view of the audience“ “Look, if you don’t fekin sort yourself out, I’m going to fondle your bottom”. 😂😂 She looked at him hiccuped and said “ I beg your pardon?” He shouted back “You heard”. She about turned and cleared off and stood at the bar. Much to the relief of everyone else. You could see the look of relief in folks faces. My brother got a few smiles and pats on the back too 😂😂 Some folk will probably think he shouldn’t have said that but believe me, he saved her from getting punched and kicked as she’d upset a good number of folk by that time. Anyway, we’re playing there again next year but we intend to take a barricade. Seriously!

Played rhythm guitar with a rock’n’roll band at a social club. It was the bass player’s last gig with them following some unspecified falling-out with the BL and you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. When it came time to load out I had to dodge the pavement pizzas in the car park - how delightful!

Gig was actually Friday night, but hey ho. Butchers Arms in Inverurie, and it was a decent night. Started off slow, but we were grateful to a couple of lassies who were determined to dance and make the most of their evening. It got busier in the second half and ended up being a decent show - decent enough for me to do some audience bass machine gun strafing at the end of a couple of songs. We did have one guy at the bar indicate that the singer needed turning up - right at the start of a song and continued to signal as such and get annoyed that we weren't doing anything abotu it. Sure, man, I'll just get right on that with my third hand 🙄 G&L Tribute LB-100 was the weapon of choice. Amp behaved itself.

Not parasites but symbiotes. Including the poor suckers that run open mics. I've never really understood the world in which some musicians look down upon others, I've generally found it rare amongst musicians, most of the ones I know are supportive of everyone who gives it a go from encouraging a 12 year old with a mobile phone singing Karaoke through to my opera singing friend who encourages my appalling backing vocals. I have a friend who runs an open mic dedicated to people who write their own songs. Thanks to his enthusiasm I've heard the first stumblings of a teenager singing to two chords and seen him take them through to BBC introducing, is that a parasite? I've run my own open mic and given bands their first chance to try out in front of an audience or to use a decent PA, encouraged people who gave up with stage fright to give it another go in later life. Does it worry me that most of the songs were written by people who are absent and don't even know we exist? The unusual state of affairs is the monetisation of music, copyright, ownership and monopoly. Music was passed on orally for centuries in written history and for millennia before writing existed in all probability. My mother and her sister used to buy sheet music from Tin-Pan Alley and sing round a piano. All covers. Music has given people pleasure and served a social function throughout history and it arises out of a community. Everyone starts somewhere with almost zero skills, some fly and others just manage but the impulse to share or just join in is strong and it is what keeps music alive. I'll bet most people here started to learn bass by copying someone else's songs. No original music is born of ignorance, at the very least it is inspired by absorbing all the music around us. There would have been no Rolling Stones or Beatles without Rock and Roll covers, no rock and roll without the blues and gospel musicians and no blues without the African slaves. Can you imagine the cost of instruments if only a few elite musicians bought them? Would there have been a Fender or Gibson and electric pickups without the amateur enthusiasm for playing Hawaiian guitar? A network of studio's and rehearsal rooms without amateurs and semi pro's paying for them. Music is deeply embedded in our society and is the better for it and the broader the base the better for all of us. The world is a better place for having covers bands and for people making up playlists for others to have a good party and I'm in awe of anyone who attempts to make s song for other people. Luckily there aren't many here looking down their noses at other peoples music, there is room for all of us.

So just got back from recording our 2nd album (I wasn’t on the 1st). I’ve no tracks to put up hence putting here rather than in the other section. We were fortunate enough to do the recording in Portugal at Boz Boorers (of Polecats/Morrisey fame to name a couple of the many things he’s done). We didn’t take any instruments, just used what he had at the studio - for me a rather nice 1969 Fender Precision which played & sounded great. We set off Monday morning, got there early afternoon after Boz had picked us up and driven us to the studio which is at his place way up in the mountains. We set up the equipment and did one test track Monday evening to get the feel of the place. Work then commenced Tuesday at 11am and went through to 2:30am on Weds to break the back of the tracks, getting bass/drums/1 rhythm guitar down for all 12 songs. From there we completed the 12 songs by midday Friday, then headed to the airport for or flight home. Which was cancelled! So it was rescheduled for today and have just got home, exhausted but buzzing after such a great week. I can’t wait to hear the fully mixed & mastered album.

The Place Theatre Bedford

Played a Small stage in the local entertainment complex. Moving crowd that ebbed and flowed, was a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours. I walked from my house in ten minutes with just a bass and multi fx and used the small ashdown combo that was provided for on stage monitoring. It was fine. Made me quite fancy owning an amp again. All in all…it was fine

Early evening gig at the local Billy Bootleggers bar. In-house PA and engineer (who knew what he was doing). This is normally a strange gig as it’s mainly passing trade, with the bar located in an up and coming suburb of Newcastle with several alternative venues all within a stones throw. Yesterday we had several groups of live music followers in from beginning to end which made us feel right at home. We played really well even if I say so myself, one of those tight loose kind of gigs and we all enjoyed ourselves. Just about to load the van for gig #2 of the weekend with my other band.

Brexit is a complete and utter disaster, it was always going to be and has proved to be exactly that, it was brought about by the voice of fools and xenophobes that believed the utter swill that was fed to them. A foolish government leading a foolish population with a result that has basically knee-capped the country, made everything worse and demoted us to the international 'kids table'. *Runs away and hides under the stairs while the mods now lock this thread* 🫣

It WoRkS!!!! ...just tried this (strings only, of course, Gasman!) It's totally transformed my black nylon flats into shiny new metal rounds... (and I've got a completely new Teflon-like layer on the oven-floor: win - win!)

I'll just leave this here:

If Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham, Jack Bruce, Duane Allman, John Lennon etc etc all fancy coming back from the dead and playing two 45s at Fogherty's this Friday night for their share of £200, I'll gladly step aside. Otherwise, the punters will just have to make do.

I’m in a covers duo that also DJ’s in-between sets. We don’t mix vinyl live but we do all of the above to make sure the night’s a corker. So, I’m an ultra parasite… But, I’ll take that as it means I can play music for a living rather than when I used to turn my nose up at covers bands as I worked 40 hours a week and gigged on the weekends chasing ‘the dream’ I still write a bit of music for my hobby now but my 21 year old self would be disgusted in me for selling out… But sod-im! He used to have bleached hair and wore his jeans too low.

Jolly good; slightly fuller review posted in another place ...

Definitely not! ...would have to move the bodies first!

Didn’t know sorry mods. The problem no speaks of. But yeah get it. It’s a bass forum but it’s stopping us getting basses from across the channel. ok will never say the word again. Like Macbeth is called the Scottish Play. I’ll just refer to it as the Shittish Play.

I couldn’t play music as a teenager (though I loved going to gigs). Hit my 40’s and I learned guitar and could hold a reasonable backing vocal… a pub covers band is pretty much the pinnacle of my abilities… during covid, I did write, record, produce and release a song and I have written a few others but more as a vanity/self-challenge project than any serious attempt at hitting “The slightly bigger time”… I’m now learning bass for a new covers band (first gig tomorrow) I can honestly say, I had great evenings in the audience at stadiums and festivals; I’ve discovered great original bands I’ve never heard of… And I have sung my heart out and danced to pub covers bands too! it really doesn’t matter, as long as the music has some passion and connects with the audience. You are the sound track to their well earned time off… You want to get them foot tapping, hand clapping, stood up and dancing, closed-eyed-hands-raised singing at the top of their voices… I don’t hugely care if Adele wrote the song originally, or who played/produced/released it for her… just that the lads who build houses, girls that teach in schools, carers in hospitals, postmen etc can stand together in groups having an awesome night! How am I being the parasite?

Can't fool me, that's just a rework of Roll Over Beethoven.

It's actually a new cultivar, Echeveria agothavoides that is always black and only comes out after dark...

They are worth exploring, Lozz. Like you, I had always been a dyed in the wool P bass type of fellow and these feel and sound very different to a Precision - they sit in a different place. In the context of my particular blues rock band the Gibson sound fits in the very best of all basses I have tried. Which is, sadly, quite a few In addition to this SG I have a 70s Eros EB-3 shorty plus a Gibson Les Paul Jnr DC and there is very little to choose between them. Possibly this SG is a bit ruder. I think the 2 pickup ones are better for the sound I am looking for as you can dial in some bridge which gives more bite - compared to the flabbier EB-0. That said the LP Jnr DC has only the one pickup but it is nearer the bridge so you get that anyway. I can imagine a lot of bands where they get lost, though, and you'd probably only find out by trying one for a while. Two off-putting things. They can be prone to a bit of neck dive. A grippy strap and/or lightweight tuners is all that is needed. The dreaded 3 point bridge. Some models don't have it - there was a period when they came with a Hipshot as standard but I think they are back to the 3 point again. It is an easy, if not cheap, swap - I changed the LP Jnr DC bridge to a Hipshot, I might change the SG, not sure. I can live with the 3 point but prefer the Hipshot (or Babicz). Top strap button position can also be an issue (Ok that makes three things) but there are ways around that. If you are going to the SE bash, if I end up going, and if there's room in my lift, I'll bring it along if you like.

I got the juice - janelle monae

I won’t be trying this, it’s taken me 20 years to get my flats sounding worn in 😁

No, put the whole bass in and it has the added affect of giving you a lovely roasted neck at the end. An extra tip: Chuck it in while cooking your Sunday roast for that baked in delicious chickeny aroma!

Do you need to remove them from the bass first?

Cover bands are musicians and entertainers. That's a tradition that goes back thousands of years. There's nothing wrong in entertaining others.

Cheers all. I should’ve checked it properly before parting with £900. Anyways 3 hour trip later. I got my money back and very apologetic dude. He might’ve been playing me but felt genuine- I think he got ripped off first thanks everyone- kebab and wine waiting. Now on look out for genuine RW or might go 60th anniversary but don’t like pau ferro if anyone has a bass like this - talk to me I’ve got some cash!! love BCers are the best

Friday night saw Rascallion providing the entertainment at a 30th Anniversary party for one of the committee members and his wife at a local village hall we've played a few times before. The evening didn't get off to a particularly good start when my trusty Ashdown Five Fifteen minirig started buzzing horribly, and nothing we tried would get rid of it completely. When I realised it was at its worst and most obvious when I rolled the tone above about 20% (or added treble on the Ampeg Scrambler), we decided to just crack on, and I'd keep the tone rolled back. Then we realised it wasn't just my amp that was buzzing, Mr Lead Guitar's was too, particularly when he kicked in his boost pedal. We've had buzzing amp issues at this venue before, but we always just put it down to Mr Singer's crappy old amp playing up as that seemed to be the only one affected. Long story slightly shorter, another local muso who runs an open mic at the same hall and was attending the event confirmed that he had the same problem here all the time, so we came to the conclusion it must be an issue with the mains - oddly, neither Mr Singer's nor Mr Rhythm Guitar's amps seemed to be affected on this occasion, nor were Mr Drums's electronic kit or the powered main PA speakers, so... 🤷‍♂️ Anyway, we fired up at 8pm, trying to forget about the odd buzz here and there. First set went well, and neatly on the dot of 45 minutes (with four tunes still left to do - we really must sort our set timings out!), Mr Anniversary came up to say the buffet was now being served, so we took a break for food (very nice it was too). Once everyone had finished troughing, we kicked off again at 9:30pm, running through the remaining four numbers from the first set, then continuing through the second, dropping a couple of numbers here and there. Think we may have inadvertently hit upon a new closing number for the first set / opening four numbers for the second set going forward, as it seemed to work really well this way! After we reached the end of the planned set, we got Mr Anniversary up to join us on the Kenny Rogers cover he'd requested (well, sort of - he'd wanted to do "Lady", but we'd decided it was too orchestrated for our meagre talents so opted for "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" instead), which went OK apart from Mr Singer (and thus also Mr Anniversary who was following him) getting the phrasing wrong in verse 3 (yet again). Mr Anniversary then treated us all to an a capella, solo version of "Lady", despite the fact his beloved lady had already gone home as she wasn't feeling well (nothing to do with us, apparently). After we'd churned out "Bad Moon Rising" in response to loud requests for one more song, Mr Anniversary then came forward again, this time asking for just one more, possibly romantic number - I'd already suggested we should perhaps play "You Do Something To Me" given the nature of the event, so despite not having played it for months (even in rehearsal) we did something to them, and then rounded things off with a final "Stand By Me" to send everybody singing and swaying into the night. After a near-as-dammit faultless first set, there were few miscues in the second set (my major flamingo-up being total brain- and finger-freeze on the opening run in "Long Train Running", though I did nail it the second time round!), but on the plus side, the two numbers getting their first public airings ("Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Listen To The Music") both went well and were well-received. We only had a couple of our regular friends from another village hall up and dancing, but then we didn't really think it was likely to be that sort of a do anyway given our previous experiences at this hall, with this crowd. So, that was that. Our final planned gig for this year, the intention being to now take four weeks off completely (mainly to prevent Mr Drums properly losing his temper with Mr Lead Guitar during yet another disagreement about timings, particularly on intros - Mr Drums can actually count well, Mr Lead Guitar apparently less so... ), then spend the rest of the year re-jigging the sets and nailing down a few new numbers, plus some we've dabbled with in the past, but which have never made it to gig-ready. At least, that was the plan. Then last night's parting shot from Mr Anniversary and his colleague on the hall committee was...... could we do New Year's Eve at the hall? And would twice our usual rate be OK? Well, it's sort of next year really, isn't it... 🙃

Had this setup a while now. I've used a lot of amps and basses over the years but this combination really works well. Mono bridge the Ampeg Pro 4. MIM 50s Classic P basses, USA Ampeg SVT Pro 4 and a Aguilar GS410 4 ohms 700w. Chrome's Flat wounds on the basses.

Yeah, like, er man, I only play originals. I mean, I've got integrity. I don't copy or rip off uvver musicians. My latest song goes C, Am, D, G. Nobody's ever dun nuffink like that before. Move over Mozart. Etc, etc, etc. Ain't nothing new under the sun.

I find it very easy to play. The upper strap button is on the heel of the neck and, being graced with a generous middle region, I find it does tilt the bass a bit forward but not terminally. Slight neck dive on this one but the strap takes care of that. I find the neck and short scale very much to my liking. Weighs 7lbs on the nose. Sound - if you do FB here is a link to a song where the bass comes though. Nice and growly. EQ has a bass and treble 11 o'clock, upper mids 1 o'clock, low mids 2 o'clock, all with a slight push from a mild drive. This is on a TC Spectradrive straight into the desk. Strings are TI Flats https://www.facebook.com/Octaneblues/videos/841825534314028

Ooh! Can I have lessons please? I've heard of people who can do that, they sometimes call it "Grace" I think. Nice setup, any good for metal?

Good to see a classic Gibson being used. Dave

"...new Teflon-like layer..." but, in general, never let reality stand in the way of off-the-wall humour 😉

Why, then, was he playing the drums..? ...

To use @BigRedX's headings: As a musician: I've been gigging since I've been sixteen and the thing is that I like to play live. When I was a kid it was all about being in original bands, but since I turned 30 or so (a long time ago) I've played in original bands (recording a few albums), many covers bands and more recently, a couple of really good tributes. I the band is good, playing decent music and there is an audience then I don't really care what category the band is. The one exception is that I wouldn't rehearse up an original band to play pubs or other small gigs. You have to appreciate that it isn't the 80s / 90s anymore and you are not going to fill a club unless you have really made a big splash, whereas 30 years ago you would have done. I've been on albums that have had licensing / distribution deals (mainly with German labels for some reason) and sold a few copies, but there was no suggestion that the band was going to rehearse and play live unless it was offered a genre specific festival or support. As an audience member: I will go and support live music and go and see bands whenever possible. My expectations are different depending on the type of band. If I go and see an original band, I'm happy to travel and pay for a ticket, but I expect them to offer a good package and be good live - expectations are high. When you go to see a tribute band, you know that you will like the music and you expect to pay and the band to be of a good standard. Watching a covers band in a pub is a different thing, where they are part of a night out when you are meeting friends and you're probably going to have a few beers. I still expect them to be decent and hear songs that I know, ideally with just a few that I'm not so familiar with. As a composer: I'm not really a composer, although I have co-written a fair few songs in the past. It doesn't bother me if I haven't written the material, I'm just the bass player and I want to play decent material live.

I started playing in my early-mid teens. Originals only, because that was what music was about. Making your own material and putting it out there. Hoping to make it. I put my heart and soul into a couple of bands in the hope of being the next big thing. That generally took the form of playing gigs to anywhere between a dozen and two hundred people, for barely any money, and a lot of sunk hours in writing and rehearsal, not to mention studio time and money. Now I’m a lot older (43) and accept that I’m never going to tour round the world and have platinum albums. So what can I do to enjoy my music? Play in a covers band. The crowds are bigger, the money is better, and the gigs are more fun and far less stress.

No, the parasites are often the guys that run the open mic nights. They go into a local venue that has had live music on for years and offer to run nights for a third (or less) of the usual fee. For a time they make it work, taking half of the money for their ‘expenses’ and giving out a tenner here or there to cover ‘fuel for the featured artist’. After three or four months they’ve exhausted every connection they have locally, the landlord calls time on it and the open mic guy moves on to do the same in another local venue. However, the landlord now knows he can get an evening’s entertainment for a fraction of the prior cost so lowers what he is willing to pay accordingly. Local music scene dries up. Cue open mic guy ranting on social media that nobody will pay for live music anymore when nobody will book him and his band. Seen it a few too many times now.

That’s poly paint, not nitro