bassbiscuits

A bad gig is a paid rehearsal at the very least, and if you're part of a band, then a night out with your mates. A good gig is a cool experience as a musician, and if its a paid gig so much the better. Both are better than not doing it.

I've always thought it's worth spending vast amounts on a piece of gear if you can appreciate the difference it has over cheaper stuff, and that makes you happy. Sometimes I've found this to be the case, but other times not. I regularly gig with a £200 s/h Yamaha BB604 which sounds as good to me as numerous more expensive basses I've owned and sold. I appreciate that isn't the case for everyone, and people have different reasons for owning what they own.

Band members who borrow items of your gear once or twice, and then assume thats the norm instead of bringing/fixing/using their own.

I’ve got no idea to be honest! It was one of those “seemed a good idea at the time” things which then languished in a cupboard after the fleeting initial enthusiasm wore off (which took about half an hour). In hindsight Quilly you may well be on to something there...!

Yikes

Played once in a marquee in a garden into the pouring rain and howling wind. The marquee carpet was so soaking and muddy I ended up grabbing a rubber car mat to put my plugboard on. Nearly froze to death during the gig itself. Went back to the car and realised I had a flat tyre. And then realised a dog had done a massive poo right next to the same tyre right where I was gonna kneel to replace it. Great night all round.

An EBow. I couldn’t make head or tail of it and off to the parts draw it went until I sold it.

First concert - Dio, Newport Centre, 1987 Last concert - Ginger Wildheart, Y Theatre Leicester 2019 Best concert - Stereophonics at Morfa Stadium, Swansea, 1999. (Followed closely by Rage Against The Machine, Download 2010) Worst concert - Ryan Adams, De Montfort Hall, Leicester 2015 Loudest concert - Motörhead, De Montfort Hall Leicester 2005 ish. Seen the most - Karine Polwart Most surprising - David Ford at The Donkey, Leicester Next concert - Michael Kiwanuka, March 2020 Wish I would have seen - the Kiss tour that Alive ll was recorded on

I’ve done the band with married members in it, and yes it did all go a bit ABBA and fell apart. Which was a shame cos it was a really good band.

I cut right back on my playing and consequently my amount of gear three years ago when my youngest lad was a baby. The idea was to sell anything that wasn’t essential, so out went some good instruments. A few years on and I’m gigging lots more but I’ve realised I can still do it all on the limited range of mostly pretty modest gear I’ve got. I guess I’ve worked out what I need.

My Fender P was playing up last year at a rehearsal (some pickup soldering had come loose) so my mate dug out a cheapo Squier P he’d been using for teaching. It sounded absolutely fine - plenty of bassy noises and perfectly good to play too. I’ll be borrowing that as a spare in future.

Band members who like bluegrass.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-51402225 Just spotted this on the BBC website.

Don't forget the sublime Justin Currie, sideburned frontman of Del Amitri (very underrated band if you ask me).

Oxwich is lovely - I’m originally from Swansea so I’m biased tho. Wasn’t me this time, but glad you found a fellow bassist.

Judean People’s Front?

I’d stick him in the annoying category now, but when I was starting out I was hugely inspired by Gene Simmons of Kiss.

I started using lightweight stuff about 10 years ago and swapped my full fat ABM and GK heads for a Markbass LM2 and LM3. For me the Markbass heads had much more usable volume than the Ashdown or the GK head, thru old school heavy cabs (an Aguilar GS410 and a Schroeder 1210r). I used the Markbass/Aguilar combination live on outdoor gigs on big stages and it was terrifyingly loud. Ive sold the Aguilar and just replaced it with a BF Big Twin 2, which is super light and hellishly loud with the LM head. I love big valve heads and 8x10s where they’ve been provided as festival stage backline etc. But I wouldn’t dream of owning one as a jobbing bassist having to load and unload his own kit each time.

Ah sound! I'll try that. These ones at WD Music but they cost about £65.

An in addition to the lack of gig bags, I don't understand why Fender don't seem to make replacement Mustang scratchplates either. I love my MIJ Mustang bass, and would love a pearl white plate to go on it, but genuine Fender replacement scratchplates seem impossible to come by despite a pretty extensive range of 'correct' style Mustangs (MIJ/CIJ, JMJ, Vintera series, Classic Vibes and American Performer series).

It's a great bass part. I became aware of it after playing a gig and the venue put it this on thru a big sound system and the bass was just delightful. Its possibly Will Lee on bass but I don't know for sure. It's a proper ear worm of a tune too!