Linus27

Age has no influence on if you should do something in life or not, only ability and if you want to do it or not. Being 42 is no age either, only half way through your years. I say stop thinking about it and go do it, you don't know the fun and enjoyment you are missing. As a tip for when you get started, don't pack your bass away in its case with the intention of getting it out to play each time. It won't happen I promise you. Leave it out somewhere where you see it or walk past it all the time. You'll then get the urge to play it more often, usually at weird times like before going to bed, waiting to go out as your other half gets ready, sitting waiting for a courier, waiting for the kettle to boil or the oven to warm up but it means you still get to play it. Pack it away and you'll never play it I promise. Second tip, play everything, literally everything, play along to your favourite advert, genre's you dont like, songs on the radio, literally everything. At this stage, be a sponge so be as open to everything you can and take everything in as there will always be something you can learn from. Final tip, there is no right or wrong, there is music and expression and how you play and express yourself is your choice. Don't be told you are doing something wrong but be open to learning a more efficient way of playing.

I've been using my Fender Jazz 75 American Vintage Reissue for the 30 or so gigs we've done this year and had my Fender FSR 70's Precision sitting on stage as back up. The last few gigs I have used the Precision and it seems pointless having such an amazing, expensive Jazz sitting doing nothing so I'm thinking of leaving it at home and buying a cheap Squire Precision as backup. The chances of me breaking a string is so small and the Squire will be good enough to use if I ever need to. I'm also not precious about my basses and more than happy if they get beaten up but the Jazz is mint and is a discontinued model so maybe I should look after it.

Pictures please 😁

Great news and all the best to you and your gorgeous family.

Good luck finding it. I know how you feel. I sold my Olympic White Precision on here a few years back and wished I hadn't. I know the serial so might start a thread like yours. Good luck.

I love your avatar, always have. I have GAS for a Fender American Original 60's Precision right now 😍

Stumbled across this and found it an interesting little read so thought I would share in case anyone else was interested. http://rumblinman-blog.tumblr.com/post/62650774540/the-bassist-within-elvis-presley

Fender Rumble is a good shout. Ashdown might be another to look at.

Wow, what a lovely gesture, sounds like he is one lucky guys to have such a loving partner. Just an idea that spring to mind, do you know what bass or basses he plays? You might be able to arrange a trip to Germany to have a tour of ths Warwick factory if those basses float his boat. Maybe see if there are any double bass master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Good luck.

Wow, what a question 😊 The sound I have always wanted in the early days was that clunky P-bass tone. Not twangy like punk but also not thumpy like Motown, somewhere in the middle so a nice rounded bottom end but with some of those lovely P-bass tones cutting through. I pretty much got it when I bought my '78 P-bass but in most cases I have never managed it and for the majority of my playing I have used Jazz basses which have always suited my playing and have been easier to great a great tone from. I'm currently playing an AVRI 75 Jazz through a LM3 and 2x NY112 cabs and the tone is lovely. Mellow, rounded with a nice mix of mids to give a bit of growl. Is it the sound I want, well not really, it sounds lovely but safe. I play in a 50's/60's rock n roll band and I am determined to get my Precision sounding great through my rig but I tend to always fall back on the safe but great sounding Jazz bass. Maybe one day 😊

Another no love for Rickenbacker here. Horrid sounding and felt terrible to play. I am biased though, I think they look fugly as well.

He does 😂 Plus he tends to put his amp right next to mine when he has about three feet of empty space the other side 😯

"Perception vs Reality Workshop" - How to look like you can play even though your really have no clue. "Tuning Workshop" - Busting the myth that playing in tune is necessary in this day and age.

Oh my god, our guitarist does this x100000.

I once played a white Spector that was for sale in Bass Direct some years back it wasn't anything fancy or mega expensive but it played and sounded gorgeous.

Wow, do tell us more.

I have a Fender Jazz American Vintage Re-issue 1975 Jazz bass and it gives me a very mellow, warm sound, even verging on muddy if I'm not too careful. I've played a few 60's Jazz basses and they have not been so mellow and have sounded more nasal, more defined but a little thinner sounding. Both have sounded amazing but certainly different tonally. I know the bridge pickup placement between a 60's and 70's jazz was different but I'm interested in if there is a considerable difference in the pickups from the 60's and then 70's. I also have a lovely 1970's Re-issue Fender Precision and again, I am wondering if there is any difference tonally between the pickups used in a 50's Precision, a 60's Precision and a 70's Precision and what those differences are tonally?

We do 50's and 60's rock and roll and always go down a storm with groups up singing and dancing. We always get repeat bookings.

Love it, gave me goose bumps. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks everyone for your inputs appreciate the info.

I have a quick question about the Fender Mike Dirnt Precision and pickups that comes with the bass. From what I can tell, the original 51 Precision or later Telecaster bass didnt ever come with the more traditional split Precision pickups. So whats the story behind the pickups on Mike Dirnt's bass as it looks as though the body and neck are from a 51 Bass although the body is contoured. Are the pickups a modification that Mike did to his original bass or was it a custom option from Fender back in the day or is it just a sales gimmick?

Ah cool, thank you, certainly an amazing experience and yes, incredibly happy about the whole thing. Even better you have heard of us. If you fancy a listen to the album then just go here 😊 https://m.soundcloud.com/michael-boylan/sets/inter-got-my-nine

The band I was in, Inter managed to get a record deal. We were part of the post brit-pop scene and worked our rears off playing as much as humanly possible to build up a following. Started to get a name for ourselves and released a song on the Pet Sounds label and then later on our first single, Happy Ending in 1997. This got noticed by John Peel who said it was his favourite single of 1997 and gave us our first John Peel Session. This promoted us even further and it got to the point where Virgin were trying to decide to sign either us or The Stereophonics. They chose the Stereophonics in the end but we still managed to get a half decent record deal. We were all about 28 and got about £36k advance each for 3 years plus £5k to buy gear and then royalties from merchandise, sales etc. Going to the Bass Centre with £5k to go buy whatever I wanted was the best feeling in the world. I bought a Stingray, a Status and a massive top of the range Hartke rig 😊 We recorded our debut album at Loco Studios in South Wales which was where Oasis, The Manics, Stereophonics and many others had recorded stuff. The studio was also owned by Geoff Downes of Buggles fame and John Payne of Asia who both played on the album. We lived at the studio for three months in our own cottage and even had our own chef 😊 Our producer was Mark Wallis who has recorded with everyone but is most famous for recording the IT Bites album, The Primatives album, The Smiths, The Travis album and was the engineer on U2's Joshua Tree. Prior to choosing this producer we came very close to going to Seatle and recording the album with Rick Parasher who recorded Pearl Jam's Ten album but we told the record company no as we wanted to sound English still and not end up sounding like an American band. The album, titled Got My Nine sold 7k copies in the first week and we released 3 singles, National Paranoia, Speed Racer and Radio Finland. All got mainstream radio airplay and led on to a second John Peel Session, a live Virgin Radio Session and an XFM session. Also one of our tracks was used to advertise Casio G Shock watches in an advert for Spanish cinemas. We also did other TV stuff with tracks being used on Eurosport and Rebel TV. Q Magazine gave the album 4 out of 5. We continued to tour which was amazing with our own crew etc. and were doing really well but then things started to go wrong. We were getting offered some big things like going on tour with Feeder in Germany, film soundtracks, gigs in the States but the record company was saying no to it all. To cut a long story short, we found out we were being ran as a tax loss so initially the record company were happy to pump money in to us (the album alone cost £120k to record etc.) but as we started to get more successful they put the brakes on. We were literally being hung out to dry and missing out on great opportunities which at the time made no sense. Anyway, they breached contracts so we sued them and won and that was the end of it. It was incredibly hard work, constantly recording, touring, song writing, promoting, photo shoots, interviews etc. but I have no regrets as I lived my dream for 4 years, the best time of my life with the most amazing experiences. Plus I still get the odd royalty payment now and again 😊 More details below. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_(band) Other things I've done is go on tour with Paul Weller in another band, supporting him for 4 nights at the Roundhouse in Camden and recorded an album at his studio in Ripley. He also played on the album and I had to teach him to play this piano part that we wanted. I've been the Bass player in a video for a charity song that ELO were recording. Played at Brixton Academy using The Levellers back line. Supported Cactus World News and Let Loose and best of all chatted to Andrea Corr whilst making a cup of tea 😍😍 Now I play in an amazing 50s and 60s cover band, doing about 100 gigs a year and totally loving it.

Interesting, as my experience has been the total opposite for clubs. We play a lot of clubs, the punters love us, always ask us to join in for the raffle and bingo, always up dancing and singing in the first set and always get a repeat booking. We love playing clubs equally as much as playing pubs although we do more clubs than pubs.