casapete

Had a lifetime of shifting reasonably heavy bass stuff around, and now at 65 I’m amazingly not too bad in the back department. Getting a Barefaced Compact in 2009 has certainly helped with things as have class D heads, and for smaller gigs my Fender Rumble 100 combo has been a godsend too. Used my Precision Lyte on all my theatre gigs for more than a decade now, which at 7lbs hasn’t given me any trouble in my shoulder / back. I do struggle to put PA speakers on stands with my acoustic duo, but fortunately my guitarist mate is younger and fitter than me. I do take more care not to pile in and try to lift stuff that would be daft for a man of my years, and don’t do any stupid lifting round the house etc. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep gigging for many years to come, if other circumstances allow.

Just got tickets for Sheryl Crow next June. One of the few of my favourite people I’ve never seen , so really looking forward to it. Her band are just amazing, especially both guitarists - saw them on TV playing at Glastonbury and was blown away. Should be a great gig. 😊

I’ve used mainly Jim Dunlop plastic strap locks / retainers for over 30 years now, and never had any problems with them. They are secure, easy to use, don’t cost an arm and a leg, easily transferable to all my instruments and don’t need to change any of the fittings on any them either. ( Did have some red ones too which are a lot easier to find when you’ve dropped one on a darkened stage.) Personally I’ve never understood the whole thing with metal strap locks, just too much faff and expense. I’ve also used Grolsch swing top bottle washers occasionally, again with 100% positive results. These are still available in larger supermarkets, and I do like the beer too. Again, easy to find if you drop them. Not as easy to secure as the Dunlops, with larger strap buttons being sometimes difficult. Fender did some similar ones a while back , as did Basschat too.

Agreed, but bear in mind that the other half may be the bride & groom and their friends? A few good recent tunes can help please everybody. The real gift for wedding bands is when old songs become known by younger audiences, often when used in films etc. I’m thinking of all the Blues Brothers / Commitments stuff which made classic soul more popular, all the Glee stuff, Shrek (I’m a believer), Peter Kay ‘500 miles’ etc etc. These songs work on multi levels, ideal for weddings.

Double post, soz.

Being in a wedding band involves having a set list to cater for probably the widest audience demographic you’ll ever encounter! As you point out, the most often played stuff is in the safe zone of classic pop/ soul/rock which appeals to the widest section of the guests, but IMO you shouldn’t ignore some newer stuff for the younger people ( maybe even the bride and groom!) as well as having a few old tunes up your sleeve for the older folk or those guests who may want to show off their ‘Strictly’ moves. This is especially important when there isn’t a DJ to cater for these guests. In my old function band, we’d maybe start with a bit of Sinatra ( so the older guests could have a dance or two), then go into the pop stuff for the rest of the first set. Second set would be gradually getting more current as the younger guests would often be the only people left, and usually hammered by this time! We used to get a lot of wedding work because we catered for all ages, which many bands could not. It helped being an 8 piece with a brass section, enabling us to authentically cover most eras. For us the hardest stuff was often the most current, but done in the right way we managed to pull it off. With the majority of couples getting married (and their friends) being late 20’s to mid 30’s it would be foolish to ignore their preferences.

Wowsa - didn’t think it looked plastic! Any more details?

Nice pics - which one is the mad Russian plastic bass from the 80’s though?

Interesting stuff on Sky Arts this evening (Saturday 2nd Dec) 6pm - Jeff Beck: Live at Ronnie Scott’s 8pm - The Who: Classic Albums ‘Who’s Next’ 9pm onwards - The first 3 episodes of ‘Greatest Guitar Riffs’ series. 12.25am - Alice Cooper: Live at Montreux 2005

Although I disagree, I accept that the song is widely considered to be great! The same 4 chords throughout, and the trademark angst laden vocals which GM used on virtually everything make it a tedious listen for me. I think what we’re saying in a lot of these posts is that ‘great’ recordings are those which reach out and speak to the individual in any way. For me , it’s probably the lead vocal that is the main requirement - it needs to sound like they ‘mean it’ and is ‘from the heart’ for want of a better phrase. Something that just connects somehow and because we’re all different then we’re all going to react differently to stuff, hence my aversion to George Michael! That’s why I’m not great with angry / shouty/ miserable stuff, or virtuoso / widdly / 100mph solos played on anything. A few notes by someone like BB King speak more to me than any amount of frantic playing.

Just sold my GK MB800 which would probably have been great for you Smanth. 500 watts into 8 ohms, 2 very quiet fans and great eq, and only 2.22kg. Worth checking out, and within your budget s/h.

Yup, she was a right pizza work….

I actually copped for 2 tickets to the USA using the Hoover promotion. Bought a Hoover vacuum cleaner on New Years Eve in 1992, and after a lot of hassle finally got the tickets to Florida in September 93. Me and a mate went on a 2 week road trip, had an amazing time. Vacuum cleaner wasn’t bad too. 😆

Our monthly residency with the acoustic duo at a pub in a Hull suburb. Regular faces in the crowd, and plenty of requests to get through. Most challenging one was ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire! My guitarist mate actually made a pretty good job of it, leaving me to try and remember the bass lines and backing vocals! The evening ( for me anyway) was slightly marred by just two people - one guy on his own at the back who seemed gone on more than alcohol shouting out stuff in between and during the songs. He actually came up at the end to thank us too, very strange. The other was a woman in her 30’s sitting right in front of us who had the loudest voice I’ve heard in a long time. Really off putting especially during the quieter songs, and annoying some of the audience too. I think she’s a friend of the landlord’s wife ( who was away on holiday) so difficult knowing what to do. She sang along and clapped out of time, making it difficult for us. When she left before our third and last set we breathed a sigh of relief, only for her to reappear ten minutes later with a pizza from the takeaway over the road! Just hope she’s not in on our gig in December.

I’ve used WD40 Specialist Elecrical Contact cleaner with good results. Currently £7.99 at Halfords.

Not sure about the graphics on this one but hey ho….😆

Played this old Brenda Lee tune on a gig last night, wonderful version here by Alison Krauss.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/fender-rumble-100w-bass-amp/1470106897 One of these for sale in Hartlepool on Gumtree (see link above) for £225, and it looks mint!

We (Milestone acoustic duo) played another gig last night at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough. Capacity audience in this small venue meant I had to sit alongside my Rumble 100 combo instead of having it behind me. It surprisingly worked out fine, another myth debunked! Some great requests from the audience, including ‘Mack the Knife’ and some Buddy Holly right through to ‘Wichita Lineman’ and Chasing cars’. Best audience response yet, wouldn’t let us finish before doing a couple more tunes. Probably my favourite ever regular gig, despite a slow 50 mile drive home last night due to icy conditions. We are there in a couple of weeks for their Christmas party which should be brilliant, and then a couple of Sundays every month starting January 2024.

Ah, okay. Doesn’t seem great business practice to me then. I’ve seen this before with some clothing companies where the price difference has been small, but £367 is crazy.

Hard to think that PMT would do this - could have been a genuine oversight maybe?

Me too. Don’t like storing my basses and guitars on stands or hung on walls by their necks, just have them in their cases standing vertically using a rack type arrangement I made. One or two are in gig bags, but they’re the ones that are either next to get moved on or cheapies that probably stand me to less than the price of a case! I use a luggage label tied round the handle of each case to show what’s in it, less messy than gaffa tape which can leave a sticky residue. Hiscox cases are great, I only have one though as generally prefer oblong cases for storage. Had mine for well over 20 years and it’s been superb.

Thank you all for your interest. Band leader has the details of people who have replied, so hopefully it will be one of our own who end up with the band! Cheers, Pete.

Dupytrens Contracture sufferer here! Had it in my left hand for over 10 years now. This is a condition where nodules appear in the palm which gradually pull the fingers down into a contracted state. Once it gets worse then movement of the fingers gets restricted, with surgery or recently injections the only solution. Fortunately mine has not progressed over the last few years, and although it can sometimes give me gyp, it hasn't impacted upon my playing / earning a living. Apparently it is common with string players generally, and the operations to rectify it can be very painful.