dmccombe7

Liked that, cracking band image going on between you and the singer. Nice one. Dave

I play a couple of songs where i need crib notes for keys. One i drop D (Into the Valley by Skids) and once had it in my head that it was D# rather than D and if you know the song you play the riff between open D and D on A string (5th fret) so that was fun but i honestly don't think anyone even noticed incl the band. Other songs i have the key next to the song in set list as we've done it in different keys over the yrs and can never remember what one we now do. Dave

Ooohh i do like a kebab after a gig but usually too late to get one. Did manage a McDonalds at last gig before driving home (drummer was driving that night as we were using another bands PA and drums) Have to say i quite enjoyed sitting in car at McD's having a burger and coke before driving home. All very civilised Quite a few of my gigs i have to travel up the A9 and its a bit poor the fact we don't have services like motorways that open all night. Probably not enough traffic thru the night to justify it but it would be nice to stop for a coffee after a couple of hrs driving and the prospect of another few before home. Got a bike rally in Tomintoul next month. Not looking forward to the 4hr drive each way but my wife will share some of the driving on that one. Dave

That's one very long gig 10am in morning to 1am in morning. Sounds like you enjoyed it Dave

Enjoyed that. Well done. Dave

100% with you on that. Its a sore point with me in both bands. Dave

Drummers, !!!!! Whereabouts in Queensferry were you ? Dave

Yep saw them a coupe of times with Gary and they were brilliant. In fact my wife even got a pic with him altho she was a bit terrified as he is a bit scary when standing next to him. Dave

I guess i'm in an odd situation here as i play in a tribute to the 70's Glam era but not any one specific band. We do dress with outfits from that era altho we have some twists to it but the effect is there. (see my avatar). I don't use the same basses as that would mean using different basses for different bands and songs plus some bassists like Steve Priest used various basses incl his Jazz, Ric and i believe an Ampeg perspex thing if i remember right so i use my polar white Sandberg VM4 which looks fairly traditional but being active i can get various tones from the one bass that are similar to the originals. I don;t want to be holding things up while i change basses every other song. From memory the bands we cover used Fender Jazz, Precision, custom Jazz for Alice Cooper, Ric, Telecaster, Gibson, Yamaha, Shergold, just to name a few. If i go to see a Floyd tribute i like to see some lighting effects etc and if the band have a similar stage set up with backing singers it all adds to the experience provided they sound like the original Floyd. I'm never gonna get to see Genesis as they were in their hey day again so hearing covers of classic Prog songs is great for me and i don't care what the band actually looks like if the songs sound good. Its nice if they can look like the originals if they are a tribute to one band but you need to be practical about it. As Cetera mentioned earlier if you go to see a band like a Kiss tribute you would expect the outfits and make up and the guitars and basses are part of that image. Image played a large part of the Kiss thing. Not so much an Eagles tribute where all i'm interested in there is that they sound like the Eagles. Dave

Never used Bass Bros. Site looks good with some very tasty basses plus some nice T-shirts too. Dave

Agree. its a better response than nothing and totally ignoring the request. I've always replied to any messages even on our FB pages for both bands i always like to be polite and give a short reply. Dave

I did come across a pic of Trevor with a jazz style bass and now wondering if that was it. I'll have another look and zoom in for the 4 dots on the plate. Cheers for that Cuzzie. Dave

I was reading something on line recently about Trevor Bolder and it mentioned he had used Seymour Duncan pick ups for the last 25 yrs. It also mentioned they were even fitted to his custom Sandberg bass. Anyone know anything about it ? I've searched Sandberg website and don't see any mention of it and can't find any pics on line anywhere. Dave

But is it worth having half your brain removed ? Dave

Yes i was wondering about the wording of that too. Dave

Well just home and having a coffee and biccies after a wee gig in The Cave in Paisley near Glasgow. 1hr motorway drive so an easy one plus a 6-9pm spot makes an early home time afterwards. Its a regular for Emergency Exit punk covers band and when we sound checked we had approx 10-15 peoples in. Within a few songs it was busy. Lots of applause and people bopping away around the pub and lots of people staring at us (i'm hoping in awe but maybe disgust ) Went down well, we played well and a few good comments at the end about my bass playing. "f***ing brilliant bass playing mate" . Used the Sandberg MarloweDK tonight into my Handbox WB-100 and Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Was sounding pretty good. Dave

Oooh that is a nice looking bass. Dave

I've had various band break up scenarios from amicable to bitter break ups. One band i left was down to the BL who only wanted to rehearse. I was angry about that one as i had made it clear from outset the travelling of 80 mile round trip over winter conditions and country roads i wanted to recoup my costs thru gigs otherwise there was no point joining. He assured me of plenty of gig opportunities in the area. Had one band that had got together to play classic rock like Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Sabbath, Metallica etc and we had worked hard on the set list when the weaker of the guitarists with the least experience asked if we could do his local event in his village. We all agreed and after it being confirmed he comes back and says we need to change the set and drop half of the heavier songs for pop rock songs and chart hits. WTF was my response and said "Not for me" I said i would play the gig but i'm not staying in a band that wants to change 50-60% of its set list to accommodate a venue. They managed to get someone else. I didn't really fall out over it but it was an odd one where the least experienced guy was all of a sudden making the decisions on what the band should be doing. Not sure why the others just seemed to go along with it. And last but not least this is more of an audition thing but thought i would share as its funny. I went for an audition with a Celtic Rock band. When i was setting up my bass gear the two female violinists told me the previous guy was a perfect fit for the band. It thru me a bit but the guitarist and myself got on really well during the audition and i think i had won him over. Anyways i didn't get the job and it went to the guy the girls "liked". Now the funny bit is that approx a year later they contacted me to see if i was still interested in joining and the job was mine. I had a good laugh at them and said NO and explained about what the girls had said when i was setting up and i found that extremely rude and i wouldn't work with people like that. I also had my current Glam band just started so was sorted for bands. Anyway that's my best ones.

TBH i hadn't considered the bar side of it but yep that all makes a lot of sense. What i have found is that when doing long sets and 2 or 3 nights in a row my fingers struggle. Not so much mobility but more blisters and fingertips. When we do get told by the venue that they want 2 x 60min sets its a revelation and i have no issues at all. The more i gig tho the less my fingers notice any aches or pains but it only takes a month OFF for peoples hols and i'm back to square one again (maybe not quite LOL) Dave Dave

Bargain !!! Dave

I always did 2 x 45min sets back in 80's with encores of course. I've given up trying to convince both bands that two 1hr sets is perfect. Dave

We still do the bingo break or raffle as well in most clubs we do. Normally the club wants between 9:30 and 10pm for their functions Dave

That was the original selling point, to vary the set but now they just include them and you are back where you started with "we need to learn some new songs as a back up" Annoys me a lot. Dave

Its annoying when we learn a new song we just add it to the set rather than drop one out and keeping the sets approx 1hr each. Both my bands suffer from this issue. In a few yrs i'll be doing 4hr sets if things don't change. I've always thought 2 off 1hr sets is ideal. It leaves an audience wanting more. Too long they get bored. Dave