thebrig

After going through many different basses over the years, its the precision tone I like and settled on, I've owned a few jazzes as well, but to me, they sounded thin, and I guess I just didn't like the tone, but on a whim, I recently purchased a road worn jazz from a fellow B/C'er, and I'm blown away at the playability and tone, it certainly isn't lacking in depth, and the output is comparable with all my P's, I've gigged it and the drummer complimented me on how great it sounded throughout the set which was mainly classic rock. Maybe as others have suggested, could it be down to dodgy wiring/pots etc?

I’ve tried almost every bass out there over the years, and my favourite is definitely a Precision bass, but I feel so much more comfortable with a Jazz width nut, but not too keen on the Jazz sound, so I always go for a Precision and put a Jazz neck on it. So it made me wonder why are we all so different when it comes to nut width preference, even a standard P bass nut of 41.3mm is a bit too wide for me, and the thought of getting to grips with some of the older P basses that have a 44.5mm scares me rigid, but is it all in my mind, could I eventually get used to a wider nut width? because if I could, then I wouldn’t be so restricted when I’m gassing for a new Precision. And why I’m on this subject, why don’t Fender give you the option to choose the neck width? there must be loads of people out there who would like a Precision with a 38mm nut, and there must be many people out there who would like a Jazz with a 41.3mm nut, considering that these basses are mass produced, surely the choice of nut width could be offered as a option. I know there are some P’s that come with a 38mm nut, but why can’t it cover the whole range? Anyway, my main point is, why do some of you guys prefer a wider nut, and others prefer a narrower nut?

Which is why it is a great ad Blue, it's told you quite clearly that it's not for you. If for some reason you left your band and they placed an ad stating that they want a bass player who is prepared to do 4 hour gigs, three or four times a week, I would not apply for it because I don't want to do 4 hour gigs three or four times a week. The ad is perfect as far as I'm concerned, and this is one of their requirements I particularly like, "Do your homework before practice (obvious but I had to say it)", nothing winds me up more than people turning up for rehearsals having not learn't the songs.

I just don't get why you would have an issue the the requirements Blue, they want to play FIVE gigs a year to a good standard, so therefore, they want someone who is a decent musician and who is happy to rehearse, and play, just FIVE gigs a year with them. If I saw an ad like that locally I would apply straight away because the criteria exactly fits my needs, if it didn't, then I would NOT apply. An upfront ad like this saves a lot of wasted time on both sides.

This hits the nail right on the head! It's upfront, to the point, saves wasting everybody's time if it's not for you, and you are not for them

I know of four Swedish guys who gig no more than 5/6 times a year, they all have very good jobs in Sweden which take up a lot of their time, they come over to England once a year to play a couple of local pubs for the same fees that all the other bands get, they are far too busy to play more gigs but when they do, they have so much fun, they have beaming smiles on their faces, have a good drink (after the gig), but the bottom line here is, they are "top top" musicians, I try to catch up with them every time they come over and I can honestly say that they are the best band that I've ever seen playing in a pub, what they do suits them, and if one of them was to leave, I guess that they would have to put out an ad stating that they "require someone who is happy to gig just 5/6 times a year, be a decent quality musician, someone who is prepared to put the work in to get the set tight enough to put on decent shows when they do gig" personally, I don't see what's wrong with being totally up front with their requirements. I also used to go to regular jam nights where quite a few ex-named players from the past would turn up and play a couple of songs, when I got to know them better, I found out that they were perfectly happy just doing a bit here and there after many years of full on gigging/touring and recording etc.. There are lots of reasons for people wanting to only gig a few times a years, just like there are lots of reasons why people want to gig as often as they can. We are all different folks

They are exactly the type of people I would want to play with because, especially if 5 gigs a years is what I'm looking for

You still don't get it Blue, there a loads of top muso's out there who only want to gig 5/6 times a year for various reasons

That's your choice Blue, we all know you play for living and I respect you for it, but for a lot of us, that ad is really appealing

Trusty old P bass is the one, the Squier VM has a dark tone and can often be had on here for around £200, and you should be able to find a Mexican one for well under £500, and if you are really lucky, maybe an American model for around £500/600. A Jazz is often used in ska bands as well, and the same criteria as above applies too.

I was around 15/16 when Substitute was released in 1966, and in those days a large percentage of the older generation were still racist, or would make racist comments about black people. But at this time, young white people were starting to ignore the ignorant older generation and started to see through the colour thing, this was the original "mod" era in which the Who were a big part of, and whenever you look back at old footage of groups of mods, you will see quite a lot of black youngsters in amongst them, and when we heard that particular line, we just thought it was mean't to say, "so what? if my dad was black", we certainly didn't care, including our black friends. The music of the sixties really helped to bring us all together imo, with Ska, Reggae, Soul, Motown, Blues, etc, being listened to by all of us black or white.

Yes, he played many of the local venues/pubs around St Albans, and the last time I saw him play was in The Bull in London Colney which is just outside St Albans, and if I remember correctly, he had his sons Pete and Steve on drums and guitar, great music on what was then my local doorstep.

Brilliant musicianship, but I have to agree, it does nothing for me.. I certainly wouldn't want to listen to it again

Most of the organising and gig getting is usually down to me, and trying to get the songs up to gigging standard is also down to me, I'd rather not do it because I know that band members less committed, think that I'm getting on their case all the time, and I'm wary of booking gigs until I'm happy that we are ready because if it all goes pear shaped, then its me who has to cancel them.

For the third time in as many years, the band that myself and the guitarist who I’ve been with for a number of years has imploded due to a lack of commitment, so we are now in the process of getting yet another band together. Give us a set of songs to learn and we will get on and learn them, but it seems that most of the musicians that we’ve played with over the past few years just don’t seem to have the drive and commitment to get the songs sorted, I find it so frustrating and wonder if we are ever going to find a bunch of muso’s who all want the same thing as us, all we want is to get a set of songs tight enough to go out and play live on a regular basis. My question is: Is this a common thing with start-up bands, or are we just unlucky? And how long did it take your band to start gigging? Edited to add: we are both experienced musicians who have played in bands and gigged for a number of years, its just these last few years where we've had problems finding committed people who are prepared to get a band off the ground.