peteb

What was the standard 41mm P bass nut width then? Was that a B or a C??

One of the big reasons for the decline of rock music discussed by Rick Beato and one of his mates, a former record company exec / A&R man / producer:

If we're not going to get political, at least actually get the economics right. The current 'cost of living crisis' in the UK is primarily down to political decisions made following the fall-out of the crash in 2008. Over countries have recovered from the Covid lockdown much quicker than the UK. The conditions for the current state of the UK economy pre-date the invasion of the Ukraine. This is all getting unnecessarily political. Essentially, the answer to the OP is that the cost of living is a factor that is making it difficult for today's young musicians, but the main issue is the changing nature of the music business, changes in demand for popular music, other entertainment options becoming more prominent, etc.

I'm afraid that I haven't read the whole thread, but I am a long time mpulse user. When I have had any problems with the mpulse, it was when I have changed the preamp valve. It doesn't seem to like anything other than a standard JJ 12ax7 for some reason. Good luck in sorting it out.

Exactly. The difficulties of making a living as a musician are not just because of effects of the cost of living (although that still does have an effect, for both the would-be musician and the punter), but because of the changes in demand for popular music. This is because of new things apart from music that have got the attention of the potential market (video games, social media, etc), as well as new types of music that don't require the traditional bands that most people here are used to. The last British band to become massive after slogging around the clubs and small venues was probably Oasis, which was 25 plus years ago! Don't get me wrong, there is still a demand for bands playing music in this country (and certainly throughout Europe), but this demand is nothing like it used to be. I was talking to a couple of twenty somethings at a party over the weekend and they still love music made by guitar led bands, but they are not in the majority anymore. Rock music is going the way of jazz, appealing to a smaller niche of followers. I think that rock will maintain more appeal than jazz did, but it won't be the dominant force in the mainstream anymore.

But how many kids from modest backgrounds go to music college?

It is funny how a thread about the difficulties of being a musician these days has been de-railed into quite an informed debate about the housing market! It just goes to show how significant the issue of housing is to virtually every aspect of life in the UK! The short answer to the OP is that, yes, the cost of living is having a negative impact on music (or at least people wanting to ‘make it’ in bands) in this country. I used to work backstage at a big blues festival with a lot of pro musicians playing in the various acts over the weekend. It became increasingly obvious that the younger pros were rich kids who had been to music college, whereas the older ones came from all kinds of backgrounds. This is nothing against the younger guys, who were generally good players and nice people, but it seems that the middle class or poorer kids are being frozen out / discouraged from becoming a pro muso. However, the main problem is the change in demand for popular music. When I was a kid, entertainment was movies, football or rock/pop music. These days, there is a lot more choice and of course, music’s place in society has changed. Streaming has led to less income for musicians and the emphasis away from producing albums in favour of more disposable single tracks. Celebrity culture has meant that people now strive to be famous for it’s own sake, rather than fame being a side product of being a musician / actor, etc.

I used to work in housing policy and still am involved in the sector (domestic energy). I think that between the two of you, you have accurately summarised most of the issues affecting, what I would say is, a dysfunctional housing market in the UK.

I'm spending about £2.6k on running the car (this is an 'all in' figure for normal mileage - not counting additional diesel costs for long haul gigs, but including Green Flag cover) plus maybe about a grand or so on servicing / MOT / repairs.

I've just been to a friend's birthday last night and was talking to his and his mate's 20 something sons (one of whom is working on tours with household name acts as a lighting engineer). They both prefer the music that I grew up with - If anything, the younger one seems like music that was a little bit before my time...!

Unfortunately, this is true. Gone are the days when you could pop on the ferry to Holland or Belgium (or even Spain) at a moments notice to play a weekend / week of club and / or bar gigs and come back with a few grand in your pocket. The visa is the least of your problems. The carnet, taking merch across borders and other restrictions all add up and generally make it untenable.

No one is doubting (assuming that they have a clue about the world) that it is much more difficult for kids these days compared to when I was young.

I don't dispute what you say, yet I am running a 2l diesel estate for not much more than half your £5k figure. The main difference is the depreciation - I tend to buy highish mileage cars in good condition for around £5k, run them for ten years or so and then sell them for a grand. These days, it is perfectly possible to run an OK car reasonably cheaply.

I think that you're seeing the world through your own rather singular life experience again. One of the few positives about the past few decades for the average working person is that the cost of motoring is much more affordable than it used to be when I was young and you can buy a perfectly decent secondhand car for a few grand. I run a perfectly good car (an old hi-spec Volvo V50 estate) that gets me to gigs up and down the country for a lot less than £5k a year.

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...