peteb

Seriously, I doubt that there will be a problem in the next year or two - if nothing else, Russia has pressing issues elsewhere. We can only hope that it will remain so in the long-term. I'm not normally interested in these type of events, but this looks pretty good for the money and in the town looks great. We have already booked a couple of trips this year, but we really liked Estonia and have thought about going back - I reckon I could even sell this to the missus...! Who knows, maybe next year...

I went to Tallin about ten years ago and it was very reasonable, both to get there and spending whilst out there. An interesting place. Also, the Russian border is only a 40 minute drive away from the venue for the event, which could be interesting in the current climate...!

Ain't that the truth...!

An underestimated, yet vitally important requirement for anyone playing in a band...!

For some reason, all too often the advice on here is to threaten to walk every time there is an issue. If the the other guy is a founder member and the OP is by his own admission 'not the greatest bassist the world', there is only going to be one winner and the band will be looking for a new bass player. A better idea would be after playing a song in rehearsal where he particularly struggles with the BVs, say to the singer or BL (NOT the guy you have an issue with) that you're not sure whether the harmonies in a particular section of the song are working and get them to go over and over the vocals that he is struggling with. At no time are you having a go at the founding member, you are just trying to work on the vocal arrangement. Once you have gone repeatedly over a section that he is not singing properly (preferably a cappella, i.e. just the vocals), then see if he is so keen on calling out every minor mistake that you make?

I had been playing Warwick basses for many years up until about 15 years ago, when I started getting more blues type gigs and decided that I wanted a 'super jazz' that would work better with that genre. Of course, what I wanted was a Sadowsky, but I couldn't afford one at the time. I bought and sold a few different basses until I got an Xotic active jazz. This rather cured me of the Sadowsky itch, because as great as I am sure they are, I couldn't see how much better they could be than an Xotic or a US Lakland, etc.

What pedaltrain is that?

There is quite a big jump up in technique required for those on the Grade 8 list compared with Grade 7.

Out of interest, do you know what songs make the list for Grade 8?

Keys player from Little Angels?

Indeed! I was umming and ahing about getting one before my next run of gigs in February and then I noticed that Bass Direct seemed to be selling out of the things. I wondered when they would be back in stock and how much they would cost, so I pulled the trigger. I rang up and apparently, I got the last one they had in at the time (Marcus said that there had been a bit of a run on them)! However, I noticed that they immediately re-stocked and have them back on sale at the same price...

Just bringing my bigger board back again to use my new Caveman BP1 Compact (as well as my not so new Xotic BB pedal)!

Sub Mars Cowling then! 😃

Why, did Rutger claim to have played on loads of hits with famous performances by other well known bass players?

I was joking, three of the more famous bass players I could think of who have a reputation of not being very good (rightly or wrongly)! I was actually trying to support your point that if you can only have thirty players on the list, then you can't include everyone's individual favourite.

What I want to know is why Gene Simmons, Adam Clayton and Sid Vicious are not on the list?

It seems pretty solid.

Just to mention that I have fitted the Thumb Rocker to my Stingray and it works great, exactly what I was looking for. So, thanks to @Greg Edwards69 for the suggestion. I might even start taking the Ray out on gigs now!

No one is doubting that PA gear is better these days. But it was possible to get a decent sound in most venues in the 80s if you had the gear and knew what you were doing. I'm not at all sure that I would say the same about the 70s and before. @TimR makes a good point about audience expectations though. How many people saw magical performances in the 70s, etc without a care that what was coming out of the PA wasn't perfect, whereas now everyone would just complain about the sound!

Speak for yourself bud! The big difference now is that you can get the same results from a PA that you can easily fit into a small hatchback, whereas before you were packing a transit to the roof. Everyone from that era can remember lugging huge amp racks and Martin bass bins up fire escapes, etc. It all sounded great, but today's gear is so much better in terms of efficiency, size and weight.

Can you be a bit more specific?

Absolutely, but I don't that it is necessarily that people can whistle it or remember the words (although that might be part of the reason). A track can be great for many different reasons, which along with the subjective issue, makes it difficult to precisely define what is 'great' or not. That doesn't mean that there are great songs though. The other thing is what is the bar for 'great'? Are people throwing the term 'great' around for tracks that are merely 'very good'?

Which is probably part of the unquantifiable factor that makes it 'great'?

Iconic track, which is very well written with great lyrics that seem to tell a story (although people can argue about exactly what it means), interesting tune with some slightly unusual influences (i.e. latin and reggae, which is not what you would necessarily have expected). This is all well played by a musically good band, with a strong lead vocal (not to mention great harmonies). At the end of the track, you have an iconic two minute guitar solo (duet!) that people from the mid-west (you know, places like Wolverhampton) and indeed, anywhere else, can sing along to every note.