peteb

I've just checked, my hands are exactly the same size as yours! My little fingers are quite short, so when I play a run I will often (but not always) move my hand position up and down the fretboard rather than play vertically. It depends on what feels comfortable. I actually prefer 70s style P bass necks (is that about 41mm at the nut), but I'm not too fussed and have a couple of jazz basses with narrow necks that I'm quite comfortable with. You just adapt to the bass you're playing really.

Jim Rodford always played a full size P bass, and he wasn't a big guy!

What are those GR cabs like (how do they compare to Bergs, etc) and exactly how robust are they on a gig?

I think that the thing with doing a tribute to someone like Adam Clayton is that he isn't really associated with a particular bass, giving you licence to use any bass he might credibly have used. The guys I have known in U2 tributes have generally used a P bass of some sort, and they always looked and sounded right. If you like that red Precision, then I would use that - it will work just fine.

Not so much at the time. As I said, the band I was in were doing very well and playing loads of bike rallies and such like, including a brief and rather bizarre run of playing high-end functions. I wouldn't have minded being part of the U2 thing a few years later, when they were playing to large crowds on outdoors stages in Cyprus and coming back with stories of staying at and playing in luxury hotels in Dubai...!

I reckon that even the songs you think you don't know on that list, you will actually know...!

That is a great set! I could never understand the negativity from some musos / media figures to U2, a truly great band loved in all corners of the globe. So The Edge can't play like Alan Holdsworth - he's still one of the most influential guitarists ever, copied by every 80s / 90s session guitar player on countless hit records! I was once asked to join a U2 tribute many years ago. I turned them down as I was in a pretty successful cover band at the time and couldn't do both. They went on do really well, playing all over Europe and beyond. They're still going (same singer, but with their fifth or sixth different line-up) and still really entertaining!

I doubt that you would turn down the Queen gig though! 🙂

Just to be clear, I don't think that he needed to read to get the job with Queen. That was for picking up more mundane, everyday gigs that help a pro to keep earning.

Actually, I wouldn't be that surprised at all. A couple of friends of mine used to be promoters, primarily on the blues circuit, and used to run a major blues festival in the north. I used to help out as part of the stagecrew on the main stages (apart from a couple of occasions when I played at the festival myself). A lot of the acts had British backing bands made up of pro players and I noticed that there seemed to be two types of musicians in these bands (remember that this was nearly ten years ago). The 'old school' guys were forty plus and had come up playing the clubs and the rock and/or blues circuits. They came from a variety of backgrounds, with some having gone to music college but most hadn't. The 'new school' were in their thirties or younger and virtually all of them had been to music college. They all seemed to come from pretty affluent backgrounds with supportive families. I mentioned Cliff Williams before. When AC/DC started to hit the real big time, they brought in Cliff who is as 'old school' as it gets and went on to become one of the biggest rock bands ever. Now that Cliff has retired (again), they have Chris Chaney covering his spot on the latest tour, who went to Berklee.

I'm not sure that's really the point. I think that what he's trying to get at is that by learning to play more complicated music you will develop more knowledge of harmony and possibly more faculty on the instrument that might make it easier to play simpler forms of music. On the flip side, many guys who come through the jazz route struggle to sound convincing when playing genres like rock. And after all, who the hell cares what Cliff Williams jazz chops are like!

Always the best way of getting good...!

You do realise that statement makes you sound a bit moronic and leads people to disregard everything that you say?

I have very limited reading skills, but a few years ago I did learn a Bach cello piece by reading the dots, just to see if I could do it. I didn't listen to it until after I had worked out the part from the notation and when I did, I had it down pretty well. However, it did take me several days to learn quite a simple piece. I always thought that developing your ear and learning to play that way was far more important. Reading seemed to be something you needed to be able to do to get gigs on cruise ships or play in a pit, and since I wasn't interested in doing that I didn't bother! I once had a lesson with the excellent Neil Fairclough (bass player with post John Deacon Queen projects) and he told me that he learnt to play by ear and that he didn't learn to read until after he had been trying to make a living as a pro for a while, as he thought that it would help him to pick up extra work.

Nothing that simple I'm afraid. I used the Nux the next day with the Xotic and it still had plenty of charge. The Stingray seems fine with a lead and with the Shure, so the only difference seems to be the second rehearsal room (that is a bit of a s***hole to be honest), but I can't imagine how the room could affect a wireless system! I'm not too bothered, the Nux has worked fine in every other situation and I think it seems to be OK with the Ray in the house. I will investigate further when we next rehearse in that room (probably after Xmas now).

It doesn't really matter that much, even if they are 'out of your league'. If nothing else, it gives you the opportunity to learn from, or at least to observe at close quarters what they are about and legitimately gives you the right to say that you have played with them. If you have done a rehearsal with someone who either is, or goes onto be, a big name then it always looks good on your CV. You don't have to claim that you have toured with them or anything, but just to have sat in for a rehearsal will do it...! And as you say, networking and developing contacts is essential.

You sometimes see those KSD (budget Ken Smith line) jazz basses go secondhand pretty cheaply. They're supposed to be good, so maybe worth looking out for?

It's all a bit odd...! The Nux is definitely working fine with my Xotic active jazz. I've now tried the Stingray with it through my home amp (PJB double four) and it seems to be working, but I'm not sure if it is at full volume! I will investigate further when I get the time, but I am at a loss why it wouldn't work at all in a rehearsal room with the Stingray (that was fine with a lead).

So then, had the Nux for nearly a couple of weeks now and have done three rehearsals with it (obviously used the Shure for the gig in that time). Last Thursday, I had two rehearsals with two different bands - the first one I took a passive P bass and it worked really well (as it had done for a previous rehearsal); the second rehearsal took a Stingray and it didn't work at all so I had to use a lead. So I'm wondering, does the Nux system just not work with active bases? Does anyone else have problems with the Nux and active basses?

The curse of double post strikes again...!

That's a shame - one of those mid-size venues that people have heard of, even if they're not local. Always wanted to play there, and now I probably never will...!

I think that Northern Guitars has been going in one form of another for longer than 30 years. I haven't seen Dusty for many years, but he is indeed, a bit of a character!

Saturday's gig was a Zep tribute at a civic hall in Cottingham, a pretty posh suburb of Hull (no, I didn't know that there's a posh part of Hull either)! About 200 or so punters there, with 170 tickets sold a week before the show @ £17, a few more between then and the the gig and a handful of walk-ins on the night @ £20. Unfortunately, we were on a fixed fee, but still a decent payday. Fortunately, we played pretty well and all-in-all a good show. There was a very decent PA with a married couple running sound who knew what they were doing, which always helps. Bass sounded great as well - usual rig for the Zep band of a Fender Am Std Jazz, into a Caveman pre, into the Handbox R-400 and a Berg CN212.

I've currently got a 91 3eq Stingray, but have previously had two 3eq models (another 91 and a 95), two 00s SR5s (sounded great, but I could never get on with the string spacing and the 'g' string) and a US Sterling (that I didn't like as much as the Stingrays). I did briefly consider selling the current ray as I'm not gigging it and I knew that I could get more than twice what I paid for it, but what's the point if I'm only going to start looking for another one! You're right about the pickup position - I found it a bit uncomfortable trying to anchor my thumb on the pickup. I've now got a 'ThumbRocker' thumb rest installed just in front of the pickup, which solves any issues in that respect.

I always used to think that at one time secondhand Stingrays were really undervalued, perhaps not so much these days. I have a strange relationship with Stingrays, in that I like them but never get round to gigging with them, I always seem to pick up a Fender or an active jazz! But whenever I sell one, I always regret it and end up buying another!