peteb

Not much of a shock as I knew he was desperately ill, but still very sad news Me and a couple of mates met him a few years ago after a Y&T gig and a couple of things stuck in my mind: 1. He always looked huge on stage but that was more of a perspective thing – the rest of Y&T are dwarves! 2. He was indeed a lovely bloke – we drank and chatted with him for quite a bit (until they closed the bar in fact) and talked about everything from music to travel to how most Yanks just can’t get British humour (the rest of Y&T for a start) I remember him laughing that he had been reduced to drinking Southern Comfort as he had already drank all of the rest of the dark spirits behind the bar! Great guy…………

For what it’s worth…. I played for quite a few years without any idea about tone and was happy with anything that sounded half decent! I then saw an article by a guy called Jimmy Bain where he gave examples of amp settings that he said provided the 4 basic bass guitar sounds. I tried out all four, decided which one I liked best and that has basically been ‘my sound’ ever since! If I can use any amp with a bit of thump, a cab with 10” speakers and a (preferably active) bass with roundwound strings, I can generally sound like me! I can’t agree that there is no such thing as tone, but I would say that many people waste too much time and money chasing something that they will never find…..

Local gig tonight for the Blue Angels bike club xmas party in Leeds then a drive to Cumbria (from Bradford) tomorrow for a gig in Cockermouth!

[quote name='Sibob' post='1053166' date='Dec 9 2010, 06:22 PM']This thread reminds me of Jeff Berlin's reply to a readers letter in the back of this months BGM......has anyone read it?[/quote] Nope - would you care to enlighten us??

For me it would be the gig with someone like Whitesnake - great players, big gigs, touring & getting to see the world in a certain amount of style and a touch of fame without the intrusion. Not sure if the money would be as good as you might hope, but it would raise your profile in the business that would pay off in the long term! The new bass player, Michael Devin, used to play in in Kenny Wayne Shepherd's touring band - another gig that I wouldn't mind!

Kinda like a superior Saturday afternoon in the bass section of a music shop in the 80s!

[quote name='arthurhenry' post='1036875' date='Nov 25 2010, 08:19 PM']Who needs tab? You can look up just about any song you'd need to learn on youtube and learn it by ear. Probably quicker than using tab too.[/quote] Very true - looking at a decent tab first just makes it a bit quicker!

I will sometimes use tabs off the net to save time if I want to learn a cover quickly, but the problem with sites like these is the accuracy of the transcriptions (this is the same with tab or squiggles)! I quickly looked up a few tabs on this site – some were quite good, some were overly simplified and some were just plain wrong! On the other hand, where would you find such a wide selection of transcriptions in standard notation on the net for free??

I bought a very nice Mayones jazz 4 string off Mark recently using this scheme I was going to save up some money from gigs towards such a bass but I saw the right guitar and because of the scheme I could get it straight away when I needed it and it is now paying for itself thru the gigs I use it on! You have to take responsibility and work out if you can actually afford anything you buy on credit, but if you can (especially if you were going to save up for it anyway) why would you not take advantage of interest free credit? It's giving you free use of the money in effect and therefore daft not to........... By the way, Mark is a great guy to deal with & really knows his stuff - even if he will disagree with virtually everything you currently do, he will make you think about things you take for granted and give you different ideas!!

No one has said the obvious - in the 60s & 70s there was limited choice (only ricks, gibson & hofner - all pretty flawed basses) & Fender was the industry standard bass guitar Then in the 70s, Leo put the MM stingray on the market and people became aware of Alembic and a different take on quality and then come the 80s there were so many companies that just started making much superior quality basses! The Fenders of the era were not too great & suffered badly by comparison Fenders still retain a certain charm & are the reference bass guitar sound for many, but you can buy so many much better sounding & put together basses!

It is the bog standard pub that seems to have been hit the hardest! Most established music venues seem to have held up recently well as have the better run real ale pubs, etc. Punters seem to be happy to make the effort to go out for anything that seems to be a bit of an event but will stay in & drink at home rather than go to see a band they don't know playing in a corner of a small pub!

Generally yes... a bit! The recession has generally hit all gigs over the past couple of years (not to mention the smoking ban) and there have been poorer turnouts as a rule, thru not at the gigs that we have always done well at, they seem to have held up OK! My rock band hasn't played as much as usual due to guitar players work commitments & the singer's problems with his voice, so we've tended to stick to places where we know we are going to do OK - the new blues rock band has played to a few pretty empty pubs but the bigger gigs seem to have pretty well attended....! How have yours been - I imagine that you will generally play the bigger curcuit gigs??

[quote name='JTUK' post='1021366' date='Nov 12 2010, 01:20 PM']We can ( collectively ) get a tad too anal... [/quote] That is certainly true!

I'm afraid that women rarely have the stamina to maintain the long term geek factor required for prolonged posting on an Internet forum!

[quote name='Conan' post='1021308' date='Nov 12 2010, 12:44 PM']Without going over old ground, is it just a teensy-weensy bit possible that their disappearance coincided with a sudden increase in avatars featuring semi-naked women? Naaah. Couldn't be that.[/quote] To be honest I very much doubt that would be the case with Sarah

Just a thought, but I would guess that Dood is one of the most technically accomplished players on here and is a professional musician. I have no idea whether he can read or not but I wonder how often he is called upon to read a score?? I’m guessing that he doesn’t do many orchestra pit gigs so I wonder how often he uses any reading skills he may have?

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1015924' date='Nov 8 2010, 01:04 AM']Jeff Berlin, theory master, was able to write out and perform Chris' parts with just a few days preparation. I would wager Chris would not be able to do the same for Jeff's parts on the Bruford albums.[/quote] That's hardly the point - whether you like it or not Chris Suire has created memorable and influential music and sold million of records without making a great deal of compromise to do so! Jeff Berlin is known as a technician, appeared occasionally as a sidemen when the original artist was unavailable and appeared on niche jazz albums of questionable merit and some bleedin awful solo ones...!

[quote name='skej21' post='1016729' date='Nov 8 2010, 06:57 PM']Just because you can find a different permutation of the three power chords you know, doesn't make it original or interesting.[/quote] Come on - that's rubbish mate! If you can find something genuinely new or fresh with those three chords, then that CAN make it very interesting indeed That is where the real talent is my friend....

New Mayones jazz bass [attachment=63071:mayones.JPG]

I would have thought that being able to play fifteen billion notes a second with your fingers would be a very worthwhile technical exercise - you don't have to actually use it in a song!

Jacket has now gone to Hit&Run (Andrew)...!

[quote name='silddx' post='1004502' date='Oct 28 2010, 10:39 PM']Guys, guys, GUYS! I am NOT knocking sight reading, no sir. I am saying you have to have priorities. It looks to me like this guy wants to be in a band and he's a relative beginner. He's asking if it is necessary for a rock and blues band. It IS NOT! At this moment he has other priorities, like developing his ear and technique and other necessaries required of him in a band situation, yet you persist in saying that he should learn to sight read now, while he's young and at the beginning of his bass career. Is this when YOU learned? You are putting the OP in situations he is not going to come across for years. Trashing a trumpet solo, in a well rehearsed amateur rock blues band? Give this guy a bloody chance to get started. He's not even played in a band yet and you are wondering what his career chances are when he f***s up backing a trumpet solo at Ronnie Scott's. Stroll on sunbeam. I find it incredibly galling that some of you think I am trying [b]discourage [/b]anyone from sight-reading. THAT is bullshit. I think that reading music is one of the the best things a musician can do. But get this, you learn it when you need to. We are constantly told how easy it is with practice, so learn it when you foresee a NEED to. I can read a bit of music, I know the basics, I will step that sh*t up if, and when, I need to, and book ten lessons with Jake. Until then my limited theory, my ears and my attitude will serve me. Please stop thinking everyone wants to be a pro session musician or a pit head. Some people just want to have fun playing in a band and have a day job. They don't need to be like YOU. Christ, it's like being in the military for some of you isn't it. I can't believe some of this regimented attitude to the arts.[/quote] BTW - good post!