Bilbo

My recent efforts to read guitar dots and treble clef have resulted in me rediscovering/reactivating dozens if not hundreds of books I have bought over the last three or four decades which have become increasingly viable as source material for me. It's such a massively useful tool aside from whether you read on a gig or not.

I think it is worth asking whether people make this kind of money by being bass players or by being songwriters? The money isn't in the playing and performing, it is in the composing and publishing.

It is the BZ. I don't find it heavy at all but I play a Wal which apparently is although I have never found it to be a problem.

I went 4 to 7 (although I had owned a 5 and 6 years ago). The funny thing was, I have played four string fretless with my fingers for years. When I went to a 7 string (just to see what it was all about), I IMMEDIATELY tuned in BEADGBE (i.e. as a octave down guitar with a low B) and played with a pick. This was literally the second time I have played it out of the box.

I discovered these guys later in life when someone played me the Two Against Nature DVD. Great grooves, great songs, great sounds, great harmonies. Katy Lied was my favourite.

I can't offer anything meaningful in terms of advice but would just add that the qualification you end up with may allow you to teach at colleges or schools later in life which may be some thing vitally important to sustaining yourself financially when 'stardom' fails to materialise. It will also look good on your CV if you teach privately. I play with loads of musicians who have and who have not attended universities etc. Are they better than me? Mostly. Am I, nevertheless, sharing the stage with them? Yes. I find that a conservatory education doesn't guarantee anything in terms of your potential and I have played with plenty of people with music degrees who I would never book on a gig. I do, however, think there is a lot to be said for the total immersion in music that the opportunity would bring. I would love to have had the opportunity when I was younger. In the end, it's your call.

My 'packages' has been as follows Hondo II Precision copy Aria SB600 & Hondo II (which I had ripped the frets out of by now) Aria SB600 and Wal Custom Fretless four string Wal Custom Fretless Wal Custom Fretless and Washburn Status copy Wal Custom Fretless Wal Custom Fretless and Status Energy 6 string Wal Custom Fretless and Status Energy 5 string (swapped on here) Wal Custom Fretless Wal Custom Fretless and Harley Benton 7 string Wal Custom Fretless, Harley Benton 7 string and Harley Benton acoustic bass The truth is, however, that, since buying the Wal in 1986, everything else has been a toy that I have played with to 'try' something rather than contributing anything substantive to my 'arsenal'. The Wal has been 'the' bass for 33 years and I have no intention of changing it. My only 'GAS' is for a decent 5-string fretted bass. A Wal would be perfect but is financially unjustifiable for me. I can do almost anything on the fretless and the only thing I cannot do is get a decent slap or tapping sound and the truth is that, whilst I see the players mastering these techniques and think I should deal with them, once I am past the wow factor, I actually don't like much of the music played using those techniques. There are loads of recordings I have done with the Wal in loads of different genres and people only know it is a fretless if they are told or if I consciously whip out the 'mwah' for a moment.

Apparently this is currently being mastered for release early in the New Year and my sole contribution is going to be the first track on the album.

It is not fair to compare a fretless you play regularly with a fretted you don't. They both have challenges and both have strengths. The more time you spend with each instrument the better.

Lots of Jazz protest material which, because it has no lyrics, works on a different level. This one references the Killing of young children following the racist bombing of an Alabama Church by White Supremacists.

Walk away on the day of the gig 😃

It stays at the venue but is packed away and stored (i.e. not left set up).

I am looking at the Yamaha 400 and 600 which both have things going for them. Thanks, guys. This has been really helpful.

Thanks, Pete. have you heard that kit in the flesh? It looks good and the youtube reviews seem ok. I basically need to mic up singers and horn players pretty much one at a time so I don't need a 3K rig with crossovers!

I run a weekly Jazz gig called Jazz East at the Alex in Felixstowe (www.jazzeast.vpweb.co.uk). We need a PA for announcements, front line and singers (i.e. usually front line OR singers and not miking up the full band) and currently have a limited budget of around £500. I am not at all adverse to buying secondhand. Has anyone got any ideas for what we reasonably expect to get for that kind of money?

Steve Hackett: Genesis Revisited doing the Seconds Out LPs: Cardiff 2/11/20. I am hoping that I will get the bass gig before the tour starts so can do the gig rather than watch it.

Have you ever shaved collies in the Outer Hebrides?

Plus one for making sure you are properly hydrated. I do find that, after double bass gigs, I am often 'sore' but I have always put this down to basic fatigue and not being particularly match fit. It is always less of a problem when I gig regularly but I am finding, as I get older, that I am not playing as much and so get increased problems of this kind when I do gig. The hydration thing is often spoken about on double bass forums.

As a 12 year old, I was given a guitar by an older cousin who I looked up to but who, with hindsight, I now realise had no idea what he was talking about (he cannot play anything). It was a piece of crap (strung with nylon AND steel strings). He lived a long way away and I rarely saw him or his brothers so I was on my own and had to figure the thing out myself. As a had no-one to help me, I found could not figure out guitar chords but could figure out bass parts. The earliest bassline I can recall playing (on the low strings on the nasty guitar I had) is a children's tv theme that I cannot name (although I can still play it). By the time I had control of my own destiny, I wanted a bass guitar and, when I started work in September 1980, bought a Hondo II Precision copy from my Mum's catalogue (I remember it being £125) and the rest is history. I was playing in a NWOBHM band and recording a Friday Rock Show session for Radio One in March 1981 so I must have taken to it reasonably quickly! After that, my first bass heroes were Squire and Steve Harris and then, in quick succession and as I became more 'woke', Jaco, Jeff Berlin, Jimmy Johnson and Percy Jones. The double bass players came later and their influence was less all-consuming. I do remember early efforts at transcribing lines by Roger Glover, Geezer Butler, Phil Lynott, Geddy Lee and others I cannot recall. I miss that period of discovery, when our lack of experience means that everything is new and exciting.

Sometimes, we try too hard. With faster passages, we need muscle memory not knowledge. When we think about it, we fail. When we just 'do', we just do.

Interesting microphone placement, Bassace. I put mine in front of the strings but your approach give better access to the strings. I will try that next time I do a gig (Gypsy Jazz quartet next Sunday) and let you know how I get on. I would imagine that, in theory, I would get a stronger signal and have more to work with. We shall see.

He was a game changer. Redefined the rubric. Pushed the envelope. One of the greatest.

I use an Audio Technica ATM 350 for exactly the scenario you are describing. It sounds great and no feedback issues. I blend it with a David Gage Realist through my Acoustic Image Clarus https://www.amazon.co.uk/ATM350U-Universal-Mounting-Cardioid-Condenser/dp/B01K1WU2H2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=audio+technica+atm350&qid=1573406534&sr=8-1

Where are you working, BB?

I recorded the bass part for this in my home studio (Bag End). I roadied and did the lights for this band in the 1980s and always wanted the gig but it never happened (the bass player they had was perfectly competent and I moved on long before he did ;)). In these days of email and home recording, it became a possibility. An old dream come true. It is off Multi Story's forthcoming album CBF10 (I am only on this one track). The whole track is recorded on my Wal Custon Fretless 4 string.