peteb

The thing to remember is that most pro bass players are not ‘musical and creative geniuses’, just very good players. But they are still just human beings who have the time to develop the skills they need and ensure that they can get things right in a number of different musical situations very quickly and with a minimum of hassle / rehearsal time. I would say that the main difference between guys like this and very good amateurs / semi-pros will be consistency and nuance. You may be able to play pretty much what they play; they will just pay it that little bit better. Also, they will have better contacts and not have the issues with availability that most guys with day jobs will have. It is true that many basslines are very easy to play. There are many bass players who can play AC/DC bass parts well enough, but how many can play them as well as Cliff Williams? Being able to play simple stuff really well is a skill that pros will need.

Funnily enough, I looked him up after seeing your post and he did the following interview with advice for how to make it as a jobbing pro bass player: https://www.musicradar.com/news/session-ace-derek-franks-top-tips-for-bassists-you-dont-get-gigs-by-staying-in-your-bedroom-posting-instagram-and-youtube-videos Worth reading for anyone interested in this thread.

I think that people can be overly referential about the Fab 4 (except Quincy). They weren't the greatest musicians of the pop era at all and when they did things that didn't really work, fanboys fall over themselves to try and justify even the not so good stuff as proof of their genius! However, they are certainly the most important pop group of all time and left a catalogue of many terrific songs.

Dunno, Quincy Jones once called McCartney “the worst bass player I ever heard” and described the Beatles as “no-playing motherf—-rs”...! I'm not saying that I necessarily agree and QJ did backtrack a little when they inevitably came for him with torches and pitchforks, but I think it's safe to say Quincy has at least some doubts about Macca's abilities...

The other side of that is I’ve played in a couple of popular covers band that very intentionally didn’t do the songs that the punters really wanted, but ones we knew they would like but didn’t hear whenever they went out to see a band. For example, we didn’t play Sweet Child O’Mine or Welcome to the Jungle but did Nightrain and You Could Be Mine instead (rock covers band obviously, but the same will apply to other genres). You can always get a good response playing the most obvious setlist, but as much as punters will enjoy it at the time when they think back to the gig you could have been any random band. They will remember the band that did something slightly different, rather than the old same old. Another thing is that we would drop in a couple of songs that were a bit obscure, but not too many. If you pick carefully, you can be sure that one of these will be the favourite song of someone in the audience and you have made a fan for life. You probably can’t get away with doing this if you’re playing wedding gigs, but it is one way to stand out if you are playing the music pub circuit.

I should also add that I also have an active Xotic Jazz that has Lindy Fralin pickups, which sound ace and are well worth looking into.

I've got a couple of Fender Jazzes. One has got Barts (the original 'darker' sounding version) and the other is a 2015 US Std with the Custom Shop p/ups, the first Fender bass that I've had where I haven't felt the need to change the p/ups. Both are passive. I like both of them.

People from the neighbouring towns of Middlesbrough and Hartlepool respectively

Cas Vegas and Pontecarlo spring to mind...

I've recently got a sunburst 2015 US Std with the CS p/ups for a particular project. Playing it yesterday I was struck by how good it sounds. Probably the only Fender I have ever owned that I have left completely stock. I've also got a 2009 US Std (with Bart p/ups), a really nice Xotic active 4 string Jazz, a matching 5 string Xotic, not to mention a 70s P bass (Bart p/up & Badass bridge). I suppose that you could say that I have gone full circle and gone back to Fender / Fender type basses, whereas for many years I was using a succession of different active basses (basically, anything that didn't look like a Fender).

So why post on a very specific thread about Fender Jazz basses??

I've always loved playing Newcastle - Trillians, The Cluny, the Tyne Bar and a few others - always a great night with an audience who love their music and are looking to enjoy themselves. Also, a good night out and the locals are almost all really friendly. However, it can take a couple of pints before you start to pick up the rhythm of how they speak so that you can understand them. There is a lot of local pride and they seem to think that anything from Newcastle is innately superior, even though they are still friendly to outsiders. There is also an intense rivalry with neighbouring towns that can be difficult to understand if you're not from there. On holiday once, I was talking to a guy from Middlesbrough who described Geordies as the 'Cockneys of the north', which actually makes sense if you know both London and Newcastle. Probably the best place to live in the north of England (arguably the whole country). @Bluewine, like someone above, I'm intrigued as to why you ask??

Oh, I can see that many people do that and adopt a stage persona. But how does that work when you've got two hours to kill between the soundcheck and the gig or when it's 2am and you're sharing a travelodge room and the rest of the band want to hang out??

When I worked as a stagehand for a professional theatre production when I was a teenager, virtually everybody backstage was loud and pretty over the top. Quite an eye-opener for a kid! s far as bands go, yes there are people who are perfectly sociable with the band but pretty quiet at home. A guitarist I played with in London was one of the biggest personalities I've ever met (when we went to a pub we would save him two seats while he went to the bar - one for him and won for his ego), but he once told me it was his way of dealing with being shy by nature, so he developed an over the top personality to (over)compensate. Someone like you might find it a bit difficult doing road gigs, where there is no 'normal life' to go back to for a few days / weeks. Then again, I'm sure that you would probably learn to adapt.

I've worked in theatre and played in bands for 45 years or so. There are a few exceptions, but I would say that generally isn't the case at all...!

It is a moot point indeed. It always amazes me when people who say they want to be in bands also claim to be painfully introverted...

Harvey Vinson seems to ring a bell and I'm pretty sure it's the same book, but mine had a different cover and a flexi-disc instead of a CD...!

Welcome! Where n the Costa Del Sol are you?

No need to apologise and I would certainly recommend learning the basics. How you do so is another thing and as we have seen from this thread, some of those who set themselves up as teachers are not necessarily the best people to do so. Obviously, things have changed since we were kids. There was no YouTube, Basschat or Scott's Bass Lessons but there were more gigs and opportunities to play in bands. I don't know about you, but from the age of thirteen to my mid-thirties I used to regularly just hang out in music shops, talking to friends, staff and more experienced musicians. Unfortunately you don't really get that anymore. A lot of the stuff I learnt was from impromptu lessons in music shops, not to mention pretty useful advice from guys who been playing a lot longer than me!

The thing is that isn't quite what I said. I got a cheap bass for my 14th birthday, along with a book with loads of photos of a smiling dude with an afro playing a P bass to illustrate the various exercise. About two years later I had four lessons with a guy who was really a keys player, who taught me a bit of theory and told me I ought to learn to read and go to music college! But how I really learnt was listening to Free & Thin Lizzy records (constantly dropping the needle back to repeat sections over and over), then playing in bands and talking to guys who had more experience than me who would show me things. But most of the technique I learnt (at least initially), was from the dude with the afro and the P bass! In all, I've probably had less than ten lessons in 45 years, but I have learnt from other sources. JPJ is indeed a very impressive player, but no one is going to call me for a Weather Report tribute! You need a different level of knowledge of harmony and technique to be able to play Jaco's version of Donna Lee than JPJ's brilliant version of the Lemon Song / Killing Floor. Both are astounding in their own way and I appreciate both, but my interest in jazz is limited and I'm much more of a rock guy and that is what I have learnt as a bass player.

Give it up Dad. He's kinda got a point here. It's Christmas, let him have this one...

Actually, it wasn't! From what I recall, it was Einstein (or whoever) saying that if you keep on doing something that doesn't work, it is ridiculous to think that it will work if you keep doing the same thing again (a point I have often made at work)! To be honest, it is more an example of stupidity than a definition of insanity. I think that is exactly what whoever actually said it was trying to get at...!

The thing is that these are examples of the symptoms of insanity, rather than an actual definition of insanity. People can be very literal when they feel like it...

To be fair, there is a bit of a difference there - Fodera are based in NYC (one of the most expensive places in the US), while Overwater are based in Cumbria (one of cheapest areas in the UK)