rushbo

As much as I love the Bassline to "Go Your Own Way" (I've played it for years in a covers band) I've never really considered it as an "emotional" line. It locks the drums with the chords in an interesting, melodic and supportive way, but it doesn't add to the poignancy of the song, IMO. I'm not a musicologist, but it seems to me that it's easier to convey emotion on a fretless instrument, or by bending notes, as they closer resemble the sound of the human voice. If there's a more mournful sound than the final note of Mark Bedford's Bassline on "Shipbuilding," I've yet to hear it.

Context is everything. The reason Jamerson's line on "What's Going On" works so well has so much to do with everything that surrounds it. Gaye's brilliant, emotional delivery, the gorgeous arrangement, the poignancy of the lyric and the strength of the song all highlight the nuances in what the Bassist is doing. As other contributors to this thread have already mentioned, the Bass is first and foremost a structural instrument. In a Rock context, it has a clear purpose - to bridge the gap between rhythm and melody - and it can be tricky to express an emotion when you're working within those parameters. If you're looking for some good examples of expressive playing, I'd recommend the "Hejira" album by Joni Mitchell. On this record, Jaco Pastorius manages to both support the song and play beautifully and lyrically. You could also listen to what Eberhard Weber is doing on Jan Garbarek's "It's OK to Listen to the Grey Voice" record. It's not rock or pop, but it's a masterclass in expressive musicianship that doesn't get in the way of the lead instrument.

When I was briefly under the illusion that a 5'9", mid-fifties, slightly chubby and balding bloke could get away with a Thunderbird, I had one of these to pop my Nikki Sixx signature bass on: ...and nice and sturdy it was too. Now I have a double Hercules "grab" stand which performs the same function for my age-appropriate Precision and Jazz basses.

This is great advice for somebody who might not have the confidence to join a band or play with other musicians yet. I remember spending between 30 mins and a hour a day, playing along to Radio 1 in the early 80's. It didn't matter what the song was, or even if you liked it. It was about reacting to music and finding the key and the structure purely by ear. A musician with " a good ear" is a valuable commodity indeed.

I picked up a slightly tatty, but generally intact Eros Mark II a few years ago, with a view to replacing pretty much everything except the body and neck. However, once I'd scraped off the filth and given it a very quick set-up, it seemed to play quite nicely. Pots were very scratchy and it had the weirdest fret buzz I had ever heard - a sort of fretless "mwah" noise, but just on three frets of the "D" string. A turn of the bridge height screw and bobs-yer-proverbial. A quick squirt of switch cleaner, followed by the dreary task of putting the thing back together (seriously... trying to put the pots back into a semi-acoustic is like trying to perform gynaecology through a letterbox) and it sounded way better than it has a right to. It took quite a bit of cleaning and there were some nasty, but shallow scratches to deal with. Out came the rubbing compound and some elbow grease and it looks the business. Well, I think so. These things are hard to date, but the venerable Bassassassin reckons it's "early seventies" so that's good enough for me.

Would a silver-grey pop filter work?

I've found all this to be true. As for upgrades - I'm in no hurry to change a thing. Anyone who enjoys picking up and tweaking cheapo instruments will tell you that there's a "honeymoon period" where you're basking in the glory of making an inexpensive bass sound half-decent. This can subside when you finally realise that the bass you bought for £100 and spent hours fettling and bodging now sounds like a bass that's worth about £!20. I've had my Aria for about three weeks now and I've played it for hours at home and on stage. It's still very much a love thang.

Roxy Magic played at The Tropic in Ruislip on Friday night. A good time was had by all. Most of the band was travelling down from the Midlands, so it's always fun trying to work out how late everyone will be to the gig after negotiating the M50/rush hour/general Greater London madness. I'd taken the precaution of getting to London the day before, which meant I was able to go the spectacular Big Star "Radio City" gig in Hackney on Thursday night. Incredibly, we were all at the venue bang on time for a 6pm soundcheck. The gig was a stormer - the Tropic was full of ladies and gentlemen of a certain vintage who rocked their socks off. The band came off stage sweaty and satisfied. I could have done without the obligatory motorway closure on the way home, which sent me down county lanes and housing estates somewhere near Oxford. Oh, the joys of being a Weekend Warrior. I used my "B" rig - which is rapidly becoming my "A" rig - TC Electronic BG250 combo, Aria Jazz bass (£40!), Zoom B3 and a Lekato wireless bug system. I did give my faithful PJ Bitsa a run out in the second set though... I was delighted with my onstage sound and if my quick wander out front at the soundcheck was anything to go by, it was great through the PA, too. A nice lady down the front took some lovely pics of the band. Here's our hero modelling his new suit and his old hat. Yes, I am playing with a plectrum, wanna fight about it..?

I've recently picked up one of these: Cobra padded equipment bag. I use a small pedalboard which fits in the main area at the front. It comes with a detachable divider which is meant to go across the middle of the bag, attached with velcro. I added some extra velcro closer to the front of the bag, so my board fits snugly in its own space and I have a large area for leads etc behind it. I briefly used a multi-compartment bag, which had cleverly designed spaces for every doohicky you could imagine. I hated it, as I kept forgetting where I'd stashed everything! A single big space is the way forward for me, so I can happily chuck all my doodads into it (from a distance occasionally...) at the end of a gig. I've only used it a few times, but it seems pretty sturdy and the zips are nice and smooth - also, the handles are just about long enough for you to have it on your shoulder if you need to.

I've had a good year for gear with no regrettable purchases. The highlights: An Aria STB jazz bass. £40 from FaceBook Marketplace. I bought it purely as a mod platform, but apart from some cosmetic changes (new pickguard, headstock reshape) I'm keeping it stock - including the old strings. It's ace. Another Zoom B3 for my small board for gigs where space is tight. I love Zoom B3s... A Cobra equipment bag. Big enough for all my bits and pieces (and the aforementioned mini-board) with room to spare.

A music teacher colleague of mine said something to me many years ago, that has stuck with me ever since. "Lots of people can play something until they get it right - a musician plays it until they can't get it wrong."

After watching an old Led Zeppelin documentary on TV recently, I got terrible GAS for a sunburst Jazz Bass. I've had a Fender Jazz in the past - a lovely Mexi model, purchased from this very forum, but I never really clicked with it. The GAS would not go away and when I saw a beat up Aria STB Jazz bass on FaceBook Marketplace for £40, I thought that would cure it. My initial plan was to replace practically everything with shiny new bits and hope for the best. I tested it briefly and all was good, so I set about removing the many layers of stickers and filth and cleaned it up. It soon became apparent that it didn't need much in the way of upgrading... I'm not a fan of the Aria headstock shape, so out came the jigsaw and once it was reshaped and oiled, I applied my oh-so-funny trademark decals. After it was cleaned and set up, I cranked it up through my gigging rig and it sounded fantastic! Funky and articulate, just like I wish I was. Just to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I took it to both my gigs last weekend to try it out in the wild. I received no scowls from the sound engineers at the sound checks, so it got a run out. Again, it delivered the goods. Hardware is good, solid and accurate, the pickups are more than adequate and even the stock strings are great. I took them off, boiled them and put them back on as I didn't want to risk a brand new set. This thing is great. And brand new, they're only £209! For an investment of £40, plus £13 for the replacement plate and a few hours of my spare time (and an old tugbar), I've got a great sounding, cool looking instrument. If anyone is looking for a cheapo bass for whatever reason you could do a lot worse than one of these. Here's a few before and after pics:

Changing the volume of each pickup quickly at a gig must be quite challenging, although removing that fourth pot must have made things considerably easier: Can you imagine what you might find if you removed the "pickguard"? It would be the luthery equivalemt of an autopsy.

Cheers BRX

I was in a Nuggets-inspired Garage Rock band a few years ago and spent ages looking for the right Bass. I'd have been all over that in a heartbeat. What does it say on the headstock?

Welcome to God's Country, Mike! I'm a displaced Brummie who's lived in Halesowen since 2001. I'm about 10 miles south of Wolvo, so my advice might not all be applicable but here you go... Venues: Some great ones - The Wulfrun Hall, The Civic Hall, KKs Steel Mill, Newhampton Arts Centre, Bilston Robin 2. Rehearsal Rooms - I've only used Base Studios in Stourbridge which was very good. Open Mics: Sunday Shenanigans in Stourbridge is good. Its based at Claptrap which is occasionally used for gigs. I've seen some great bands there. You're a 21 minute train ride from Brum, which opens up loads more possibilities.

Great driving bassline from an excellent, overlooked record.

I've got a comparatively busy few weeks coming up - I'm playing six gigs with Roxy Magic before the end of the year, but I'm hoping to squeeze these shows in as well: Oct 9: 10cc Oct 12: Redd Kross Oct 20: High Llamas Oct 31: Big Star ‘Radio City’ 50th Anniversary Show Dec 6: We Are Not Devo!

REM: Gardening at Night

XTC: Senses Working Overtime

Here's our drummer, about a quarter of the way down the steps, on his way to pick up a bit more of his kit. Every time we've played there, it's rained. Apart from the time when it snowed. It's a fantastic venue and great fun to play, but the load in is ...challenging.

Here's the enormous slab of boutique gizmos I'll be schlepping around to my next few gigs... My band have got a few gigs coming up where space is tight, or the load in/out is horrible.* With that in mind, I found a cheapo Zoom B3 on FB Marketplace which matches the one on my regular board and scooped up a cheap-but-decent tuner. The Zoom has a tuner, but you have to "long press" the middle switch and who's got time for that? As my wireless receiver is on my regular board, I've gone with the Lekato WS 70 bug system. The footprint is about the size of a sheet of A4 and everything sits on an offcut of MDF wrapped in black gaffa tape, making it more PedalTram than PedalTrain. I'll miss the immediacy of being able to scroll through patches quickly which I can do on the modified Zoom B3 on my regular board, but this mini setup fits neatly into my "odds 'n sods" bag. I'll also be using my lovely old, lightweight TC Electronic BG250 combo and leaving my Hercules double instrument stand at home. * Tight space: Acapela, Pentyrch Scary load in/out: Theatre on the Steps, Bridgnorth. They're both lovely venues, but a bit of forward planning is required.

The singer in my band has used a music stand for the last twenty years - it's more of a prop now and he theatrically flips over each page at the end of every song. I'm not a huge fan, but it doesn't get in the way and he's very good at getting his cheat sheets in the right order, so no endless searching through a massive wad of tatty papers. I use an iPad, clipped to my mic stand. I rarely, if ever need to look at it, but there's something about it being there that makes me more confident about my performance. It's very discreet and I use it with a page-turn dealio on my pedal board which makes life a bit easier. As for clip on tuners - I don't understand the hate. And if they're good enough for Leland...