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Played a Studio 8 session for RTE 2fm today. Got t cplay in the legendary studio 8! Sounded unbelievable. Beautiful EBS Neogorm combo

I'm proud and excited to share that I will shortly be heading off on an extensive 22 date, 5 week, European tour, playing bass for US blues rock sensation Dudley Taft! Hugely looking forward to it... and to catching up with some of my European friends!

That sounds like the old Tommy Cooper joke Doctor, my arm hurts in two places. Well, don't go to those places then.

I have the onset of OA in the fingers of both hands and have found fingerless compression gloves help when it starts to flare up. Can still play with them on. I do find the ladle gets in the way sometimes.

If the band are good its a foot in the door for that area. "Build it and they will come". Played a gig in Methil Scotland about a 2 hr drive for me each way so nowhere near as horrendous as @cheddatom but first time was around 50-60 people in a club that holds approx 180-200. 2nd time was sold out so its all about getting in the door and showing how good you are. That was just after pandemic and that had a big effect on how many people wanted to socialise. Not so sure i'd drive 5 hrs each way tho. That's a long haul especially on way home after a gig. Dave

Played with The 77s at Market House in Maidstone last night. It was our last gig with our outgoing drummer, I thought it might be a bit awkward but it turned out fine. The place was packed, and we had a really good gig. It’s my favourite place to play locally, I have been playing at the weekly jam night that is held there, but it was nice to play a full gig there. There were a couple of the other “big” local covers bands playing at other pubs in town, but it didn’t seem to affect our attendance. we have a dep lined up for our next gig in March, and then nothing currently booked until June whilst we sort out a new drummer. The only downside was having to load out in torrential rain.

Started the first 2 gigs ( of 4 in Eastern England*) at Norwich Theatre Royal on Thursday. Due to a number of reasons we hadn’t played this wonderful venue for a number of years, so was great to return here. Lovely crew and facilities, and a great sell out crowd of 1,300. Gig went really well although I was feeling a tad under the weather - dropped a couple of silly mistakes but styled them out ( I think!). Friday saw us drive up to The Cresset Theatre in Peterborough. One of our regular gigs, about 3/4 full and a nice crowd again. Decent 2 hour drive home too, so in around 1am. * The other two gigs are this coming Friday 23rd in Newark, and Saturday 24th in Kings Lynn.

I once owned a lovely metallic purple Music Man Silhouette Special, that I unfortunately had to sell when money was short after my car needed replacing. It was a lovely workhorse with a fantastic neck and a huge range of sounds thanks to some interesting wiring on the 5-way switch, but at the time I often favoured my (much cheaper) Squier MIJ E-series Strat so it made sense to let it go. It was shipped off to Finland, never to be seen again. But a certain level of seller's remorse always lingered... 10 years went by, and then suddenly a whole collection of high end guitars appeared for sale at the same time from a single seller: PRS, Gibson, Fender, Taylor, Godin, and several Music Man guitars - including a metallic purple Silhouette Special. The asking price was quite high, so I didn't bother inquiring but I did follow the ad. All the guitars gradually got sold, except for that Silhouette Special and a modded Fender USA Strat... I have been following that ad for 1.5 years, and it remained unsold for all this time! Finally, last week, I couldn't bear it anymore and sent an inquiry. I got chatting to the seller, asked for some better pics (which showed a pretty concave neck) and made an offer - under the condition that the neck would adjust well at the turning of the truss rod - and the seller accepted. So to cut a long story short: Turned out the seller was a widow, selling off her deceased husband's collection. She'd had many lowball offers, and was happy to finally see it go to someone who appreciated it and she loved my story of The One That Got Away. It's a late 90s model, just like my old one, with the only differences being the rosewood fingerboard and hardtail bridge (my previous one had birdseye maple and a trem). The neck responded well to my adjustments (almost a full turn of the truss rod) and plays like a dream. I hope this one will be a keeper for a much longer time than the previous one!

This Saturday in Devizes, Wiltshire - our 50th show!

Ooh Aah... Just a Little Brit - Gina G

Around the turn of the millennium, I was in a 70's disco themed band. We were successful weekend warriors doing 2 to 3 gigs a month and had build up a good reputation locally. We were a 7 piece outfit with one male and two female singers. The male lead singer wanted to bring his girlfriend in on backing vocals and the band just said No - so he left. We then replaced him with a far better male vocalist who took us up by several levels. He started getting us a few more gigs - but further afield. We were doing gigs alongside fully pro show bands, and putting on better shows than them. He kept telling us that we could be fully pro and eventually it came to a band vote on whether to pursue this option. I had a good, well paid job, mortgage, kids etc and although I wanted to go for it in my heart, my head (and wife) said No. The keyboard player also had to leave. It was a real shame as we were the longest serving members of the band. It had been pointed out to us at the band meeting that we would all have to have our equipment, stage clothes etc in the backs of our cars in case we got a call saying we had a gig that night in any given part of the country. The rest of the band did try but it didn't work out. The drummer who was only in his mid 20's ended up having a nervous breakdown. He would sometimes get home at 4,00 am and be expected at his day job at 6.00 am. People seem to overlook the gap between performing one, maybe two gigs a week, and getting up to five a week, regularly. You need to maintain the day job whilst building up the reputation and demand. The band broke up shortly afterwards, and I still feel a gap as no subsequent band that I've been in has given me the buzz that this one did. Looking back, not going pro was one of the best decisions that I made.

Mr Phillips has done for luthiery what square wheels did for transportation.

We drove from Stoke to Margate on Saturday. 5 hours with a couple of stops. Olby's Soul Cafe is a brilliant venue! Great PA and the engineer was brilliant too. Unfortunately the choice of some unknown band from Stoke to headline a night in Margate didn't work out so well. The old story of a local support band bringing most of the crowd, then taking them with them after the set. All that way, writing off two full days, to play to less than 50 people... still, at least we got paid and had a laugh

@SimonK I am definitely guilty of letting off steam in this thread because as church musicians, we all know that playing in church can be equally rewarding and frustrating. Yesterday I led the sung worship, I was on bass and lead vocals, we played I SPEAK JESUS and whilst we have played it countless times before, for some reason it really resonated in the hearts of the congregation. There was a huge and very vocal outpouring of love for Christ and it made the hairs on my arms stand up, it was a honor to be a part of it and it made me love what I do even more. I'm still buzzing this morning. Yes, I moan about playing in church but, I love it too 😁

I tried! I failed! But I failed well, and will try again. I managed to strum the songs at home, and plugged into an amp via a tuner and chorus pedal, to get used to the sound and work out how to set up the kit. On the day during the practice, we couldn't find a channel to plug into, and I couldn't hear myself in the foldback. Sound levels were painfully loud as the band played on, and it was easier to step down from that morning's service. However..... I learnt that I could still play guitar; that it was fun; that it was hard work and very physical - and my fingertips hurt! I will play again with the guitarist and his tame pianist and am comfortable that I will hold my own. But for now, I remain a bassist.

Now the core has replaced a number of pedals my boards looking a little lite. Probably gonna take the Ricochet off the core has pitch bend and once I get the midi adaptor from Source Audio will get the C4 on there too and need a dual foot switch for the core too

Another morning after the night before post for you My mob Yellowhouse played the Essex Riviera with a dep singer. She's done a couple of gigs with us over the last few months with us and it's getting better each time. I think this is the best bit of video I've ever seen of my lot. The sound is great and the vocals are immense. It's an old Skunk Anansie song which I've always wanted to play and Susie blows the doors off here.... (Cort A4, Orange 4 Stroke, Laney Digbeth pre on the tube setting and a couple of Barefaced Big Baby cabs for the geeks)

Try this- 😎

I can’t take any credit for this but it did make me chuckle and I thought it was rude not to share 😆

Nice! (and just realised my auto type changed 'Truth and Rights' to 'Truth wave Rights' for some reason 🤨 babylon getting to it!

In a market economy, we must conclude that that’s the price at which the demand for Marcus Miller matches the supply of Marcus Miller.

Agreed. I got dragged into using Ableton for years as it was the DAW of choice amongst my friends and we used it to collaborate. I ended up hating it. Each to their own of course, but as a general-use DAW, almost anything else I've used has been more straightforward. I use Reaper, I paid for it - it's a steal for what it can for.

I played in Frome a couple of years ago, at the festival. For some festivally reason the audience was full of people dressed in strange outfits like Star Wars storm troopers and stuff. Anyway, I had a bit of stage banter about the trip to Frome being a bit of a pilgrimmage for me, as one of the main reasons I took up double bass was because of a bassist from Frome who played in an 80s psychobilly band called Frenzy. (Yeah, and the Sharks, I know...). 'Anyone heard of Steve Whitehouse?' I asked the audience, to a ripple of applause from a few people in the know. Then one of the storm troopers in the front row took his helmet off ... and there was Mr Whitehouse beaming away at me. 'Shit, there he is!' I said. It was a cool moment. I had a great chat with him afterwards. Very friendly chap. Slap bass legend.

Play with other people. If you know any guitarists, see if you can join them for a jam. Maybe try a jam night or an open mic night.

Yeh we definitely won some new fans. It would have made sense if we'd picked up another gig in London, which was on the cards, but didn't happen in the end

See if you can borrow a short-scale bass to see if that helps. If movement is the issue then less movement than usual might be beneficial.

Sorry to hear that. We have exactly the same problem. We can get a fairly decent crowd locally, but outside of our "area" we're pretty much unknown. Still, at least those 50 people will have enjoyed it and hopefully will get some interest coming your way in future.

I have pretty much given up bass playing after 50 plus years because of osteoarthritis in the fingers of my fretting hand. I have been (still am) taking turmeric & black pepper capsules, and calcium with vitamin D, but it is impossible to know whether it's doing any good or not. I still can't play, but it's possible that the arthritis would be worse with the capsules or not - there is no way of cloning myself and not allowing the clone to take anything for it, and see what happens. I have resigned myself to selling up all the gear and fading into the background. I hope that your situation is better than mine, life is not the same without bandmates and gigs.

I knew I would like this community, and hopefully it is a bit more "English" than all the Americans on Talkbass who can't help mixing politics into their discussions (and for the record I only want to talk about music here - I can get the politics/theology elsewhere!). Here was this week's rather abnormal setup for me. Next week will be back to bass duties on the rather lovely Trace in the background (I can tell you the story of how I rescued it from certain death at another time!):

Plug the hole with some suitable sized wood (cocktail stick?) glued into the hole. Wait for glue to dry then drill new pilot hole for screw.

The Hulla band rehearsed for a gig I can't make last night. The dep bassist (from within the band) took on the bass role so I stepped behind the mixing desk. We use an X32 and our regular sound man (on holiday at the moment) has set it up using the scene option so that all I had to do was press the correct button. And yes, I did successfully press the correct button! 😃 It was good to hear the band from a different perspective. I've taken to using IEM simply because in such a large band (13 assorted instruments) the monitor speakers are competing with the live instruments. From the front I could see how everything worked and how much work our sound man has done to get everything mixed nicely. Rather worryingly, the dep bassist (a gifted multi-instrumentalist at only 16 years old) was good. She may have to go.... 😂

Hi all - just joined this forum as for some reason I had been on the US centred talkbass for years without twigging there was a UK one! However, the US one does have tons of church musicians to chat to, which is one of my main musical outlets at the moment. Last two weeks we've been without a drummer so somehow they convinced me to play Cajon instead, which this morning was with just keys plus a bunch of singers. Worked fine during the four or five songs until they threw in the classic Welsh "Guide me o thou great redeemer" at the end of the service when our keyboard player suddenly went all organist on me. There were so many pauses between, and even within, verses that after one or two practices before the service I just gave up on this one and joined the congregation! Next week back to full band and playing bass again!

Would you?

Just bought @theplumber Godin Classic Shifter 4 tonight. One of two he owns. I was offered the black burst with rosewood neck version. The other had the creme brulee finish with maple neck and that actually felt better to play but not much in it. Both are pretty impressive tho. Known Stevie for a good few yrs now as i took over his duties on bass when he left the punk covers band Emergency Exit. He even delivered the bass to the house for me but i reckon he just wanted to play with the toys in the bass cave. Bass is in perfect condition as i would expect from Stevie. It just needs a little tweak of the P pick up height to balance the volumes across the P and J pick ups and its good to go. I'll fit a new set of Elixir nickels ASAP and ready to gig. Neck on these basses is pretty impressive and i'd compare to the Sandberg MarloweDK that i have. Very Jazz neck feel to it. No rough fret edges and no fret buzz at all even with quite a decent low action already set up Tones are quite different from the 4-position selector switch and the tone knob has quite a wide change to it. (1. bridge, 2. both series, 3. both parallel, 4. neck ) Controls and tuners all feel pretty good quality and sturdy with smooth actions all round. Got a rehearsal on Sunday with Glam band which will give it a good trial run pre-gigging. It will either be a back up to my Sandberg VM4 or possibly a main bass in the Glam band as its passive there's no batteries to worry about. All in all a good day. Dave

Crossover dividers on most modeller pedals seem to make interesting design choices like why not give a full frequencies range although at least the boss one goes down to 100hz I think the line 6 one only went down at 250. Again a control of the slopes on the crossover and HP/LPF on the end would be great. This is where the 4 EQ blocks on the boss do really come into their own. I found the crossover on the divider has a steeper slope than the equivalent LPF and so ended up using them together, I have some pretty drastic eq going on lows, boosting 40hz by 20db with mid q, High passing at 80hz and cutting 20db on high q at 120 and low passing at 100hz then running into the compressor. I find that gives a good solid low end that I then combine with other side high passed at 100hz going into the drive sections, out to one of the effects loopers and then into the preamp, another EQ blocks and then hitting the IR section before it hits the mix block. I have another divide that splits off before all of that high passed at 2khz and a bit of EQ boosting 10khz for a just a little clean signal blend they then mixes back before I then have any full range effects. so far I'm pretty pleased with how it's all sounding. The amp modelling might not be the best out there but it far supersedes the Behringer BDI I was using before, I haven't given it a listen through a big PA yet but I'm confident it'll be a solid pleasing sound for live.

Spacewasters gig at The Trinity Bar, Harrow last night, as part of a Shake Some Acton event with four bands on the bill. Very small stage that, now we’re a 5 piece was cramped to say the least. Being so small onstage sound was poor but having heard the other bands we knew sound out front was good - kudos to the sound man, he was attentive to all the bands all night and didn’t blast the volume to max or make bass drums sound like explosions. Went very well, lots of applause and cheering, which is always nice, and was home before midnight. Forgot to mention, the rig I used was a Hartke HA3500 into a Trace Elliot 4x10, was easy to get a very decent sound from it.

So today (yesterday) I played two gigs with two different bands. First gig was a local bar with in-house PA & engineer. You play on a small corner stage and the acoustics arn’t brilliant with the drums dominating the on stage sound. Result was we made a lot of mistakes and we were well off our best. Anyway, dashed off from that gig to my second gig 30 mins later. Threw our PA and lights into an already packed pub, quick sound check, and on we went. Great gig, great on stage sound, and the punters seemed happy with my FOH mix. Thank god for the Behringer XR18 as the ability to recall saved scenes make setting up on gigs like this a breeze. Oh and we must have done something right as the landlady gave us a little extra in the pay packet 😎

Figure it out - Royal Blood We're doing it with guitars, so a slightly different arrangement, but I've still got to learn it all.

Just a weird mish mash of style with no coherence to me. Why the pick-up cover but not a bridge one? Why the modern hi mass bridge but 60s rest? Why the lollipop tuners? Weird.

I was lucky to be one of the few who has been pro and I say lucky as for me, I was living my dream so I look back with absolutely zero regrets. It is incredibly hard work, absolutely no doubt about it and the band have all fallen out and no longer speak to each other, arguments with the record company resulting in us suing them and winning, arguments with producers, managers and A&R guys, we've had it all. Plus its incredibly tiring both mentally and physically and even go as far as stressful and a pressure cooker environment at times. However, I loved absolutely every second of it because I was living my dream. From the many years of playing hundreds of gigs, travelling up and down the country, building a buzz and a following to then get the offer of a record deal and that moment where you go into work, stick two fingers up and say to all the doubters, you've done it and you're out of here, see ya. Then putting pen to paper and actually signing your record deal. Getting an advance and heading down to the Bass Centre in Wapping, picking out your dream bass, a huge rig, a spare bass and other bits and pieces and saying, the record company will pay just felt so good. Spending 6 months living in a studio with a top producer recording the album and b-sides while having our own chef, cottage and being able to focus 100% on music and being creative was incredible. Then going on tours to promote the album with our own crew, tour bus, tour manager was to me awesome. I loved going on tour, travelling, seeing new places, staying in hotels, meeting new people, playing new venues and being fed and watered was amazing but the rest of the band didn't seem to enjoy it as much and found it tiring, boring and a bit of a slog. Plus, playing two John Peel session, a Virgin session, Radio 1 roadshows, advert music, songs on the radio, CD and records in shops, interviews, photoshoots which I did hate, and then all the fan mail, gifts, being spotted and the attention. What's not to like but as I say it was hard work. Being locked in the studio was hard as you'd have periods of doing nothing for days and its no 9 to 5 type schedule either. For example, it's 2am and we need you to lay some vocals down or let's start recording the bass for this song at 9pm and after trying lots other ideas, its 4am and you are mentally drained. You then go to bed to then get called back 2 hours later for something else. Then, being locked in a studio for weeks or months, not seeing anyone but the same few people can do things to you. Just going out to the shops feels odd and all of the band had periods of paranoia thinking people are staring at them. Plus you don't see girlfriends or family and you do kind of get used to that so it can cause tension when you do to the point of feeling like you don't want to be there and you can't wait to leave again. Then the pressure of writing new material, maintaining an image, not just from gig to gig but photo shoots, interviews, TV etc. Keeping relationships among the band and crew can also be challenging and maintaining a positive attitude to keep selling the band and yourself to fans, promoters, radio stations, pluggers etc. can also be draining. You do live in a bubble and you can be so isolated from the real world but also living in a pressure cooker and not actually realise until it explodes. However, we were pretty smart, we knew we were all young so we negotiated with the record company to not give us our advance in one hit to last us 3 years as certain band members would spunk it all on various alcohol and substances within a year but instead, pay it to us monthly. We also set a routine which was Sunday and Monday is our day off, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we'd either stay at the rehearsal studio to write songs and rehearse from 10am till 7pm and then spend the evening having dinner and then Friday and Saturday we'd gig. If we weren't at the rehearsal studio, then me and the singer would stay at mine to write songs and the other two in the band would do band admin, promotion, tax forms etc. It actually worked and we stayed on the straight and narrow and did quite well and actually became quite savvy. So as I say no regrets. This is the moment I'm actually signing the record deal with the lawyers in London 😁 My bass corner at ths rehearsal studio.