peteb

I loved Koss, not sure that I could make a case for GOAT but a unique player. Along with EVH, I reckon that SRV might be the best guitar player I've ever heard, but not innovative like Hendrix (for example). I know a lot of people won't like this, but if you ignore songwriting ability and his annoying personality, then Yngwie is one of the very best there has ever been. Obviously a great technical player, but also very musical (much more than people would like to give him credit for) and generally astounding. It's a shame that his original records are so cr*p, but great on the various covers he has recorded!

I remember having a chat with Phil Nixon (the guy who used to run Bass Gear) when he first started carrying Fodera basses. He said that loads of guys slagged Fodera off as just being boutique basses and being no better than basses costing a fraction of the price. He just used to get them to plug one in for fifteen minutes and it was remarkable how many changed their minds; indeed several of them started making plans to sell all of their basses to buy one Fodera. As Phil said, if there is something that you can nearly play on a cheaper bass, the chances are you can play it easily on the Fodera! As far as I’m concerned, if you have ambitions to be a proper player, you should get the best bass that you can afford and that suits you as soon as you can. You don’t need a collection of basses (although a spare comes in useful), but something that works for the gigs / genre you play. When I got my first job, working backstage in a theatre part time for the equivalent of minimum wage, I saved up to buy an American Fender P bass. I still have the same bass now (admittedly I did sell it, then buy it back)! If you can play like Jaco, then you will be a great bass player on any playable bass! But then again, you will be even better on a better bass! But if you can’t play like Jaco, then a decent bass (preferable with a credible provenance) will help you to play and sound better, as well as impress prospective band leaders (who do like people turning up with guitars that they are impressed / familiar with, like it or not)! But what do I know, I’ve only been gigging for more than 40 years and never had to pretend to be a musician!

Dave Murray - Greatest guitarist of all time?? Not sure about that one mate...

For me Eddie Van Halen was the GOAT rock and roll guitar player. One of the great innovators of the electric guitar, he had the lot - technique, flash, power, musicality and above all, feel (a great rhythm player - no one swings like the King). As far as I'm concerned, his real peers were Hendrix (another of the great innovators who reimagined what the electric guitar could do) and SRV (not innovative at all, but a truly jaw-dropping guitar player). Prince was a great musician, writer, multi-instrumentalist and guitar player - but nowhere near the the GOAT guitarist...

A quick search shows the guy with the red P (Fernando Rosa) tends to more usually play fingerstyle, on a variety of old Fender basses and is a very nice player. In fact, his bass playing is very nearly as impressive as his beard...! 🙂

For me, Coverdale's vocals in DP Mk3 and his first two solo albums released just after, make him my all-time favourite vocalist! I'm not so keen on his higher pitched vocals of later years. I'm not sure where you are going with your point on 'dynamic range'. Surely you have been arguing that Glenn Hughes et al are using an inappropriate amount of dynamic range, just for the sake of it? Or are you saying that you prefer singers who sing in two different registers (like Axl Rose, Staley, etc) rather than the white soul stylings of Hughes, Coverversion, etc??

It was the (early) 70s...!

Pretty much like that...

AS much as I love hearing great singers, they are a bit of a luxury in a way. You don't have to be have a Steve Perry in the band to produce some of the best rock and roll; sometimes being a stylist and an ace frontman can top being a great singer. Plenty of examples - off the top of my head: Joe Strummer, Mick Jagger, Dave Lee Roth, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon and many, many others...!

I've just bought that album, but haven't had chance to listen to it yet. I love Kotzen's singing, but I do know what you mean about Glenn Hughes - a great singer but really does over-sing (annoyingly so) at times. To me it's a bit like like comparing Mariah (Hughes) to Whitney (Kotzen). To me Carey, as great a voice as she undoubtedly has, just over-sings the life out of just about everything whereas Whitney was just one of the great soul divas, possibly the best ever! Not sure where you are going with Geoff Tate and Dio - they are / were just great, powerful, semi-operatic rock vocalists. No over-singing and nothing like the white soul warbling of Kotzen and Hughes et al. But the real question is, do you really want everybody to sound like Joe Strummer? Personally, I love hearing great singers - but there is a line...!

I've got a few OBBM speakon leads and a couple that I picked up from Bass Direct, which are really good...

When I joined the band I was best known for in the 80s, the guitar player / band leader literally stood over me and taught me how to coil cables correctly (as he did to everybody he played with). He now runs one of the biggest pro audio / PA companies around!

I've played with quite a few guys who work for PA companies. There is a few of us (who have all played in the same circles) that all say that we actually feel vaguely uncomfortable seeing people not coiling leads up correctly!

Personally, I want a bass to do one thing (or maybe two) really well. I don't want to be searching for the right sound. If I get a Fender, I want it to sound and look like a Fender. A Fender P bass is a reference sound (and look for that matter) and if I've got one in my hands that is what I want it to sound like. The same goes for other iconic basses with 'reference' sounds, be it a jazz or a stingray, etc. If I want a different sound and feel, I will use a different type of bass.

My information on Beth Hart is based on an interview that she gave about her old issues. She also said that she was diagnosed with a bi-polar disorder later in life. No mention (as I remember) of the anorexia, but I'm sure that was a big factor as well. It is good to see someone recovering from such a serious condition. It is also good to see her getting to a position where she can enjoy some of the success that her undoubted talent deserves.

The girl in the video is the excellent Beth Hart. At the time she had a bad heroin habit, which I think was her primary issue rather than anorexia. She seems to have been clean for a long time and has gone on to be pretty successful (a couple of biggish albums with Joe Bonamassa among others). This is a more recent photo (a few years ago). As you can see, she looks a lot healthier.

https://www.independent.com/2014/11/19/dating-musician-i-recommend-bass-players/

This is a rough mix of a track off the new album from a band that my mate BSD has recently hooked up with. A bit progtastic, but none the worse for that. Nice in a mid period Genesis kinda way and a strong vocal performance. Dave was a member on here at one point, but didn't stick around for too long. https://www.facebook.com/thiswintermachine/videos/521674288802869

I’m not so sure about this. Of all the musos that I’ve known in bands over the years; of the three biggest womanisers, two were drummers and one a bass player. It may be that some people drawn to bass are by nature the type to hide at the back and not seek the attention (see some of the replies in the ‘Are You a Boring Bass Player?’ thread from a few weeks ago), but that was never me. I think that it is more down to what you look like and how comfortable you are talking to women.

Mr Brightside is a really good anthemic pop rock tune that has engaged many punters. Whether it is to your taste is neither here nor there, but you should be able to appreciate it for what it is. In a world of formulaic manufactured pop cr*p that has dominated the charts for the past 20 plus years, I actually find it quite encouraging that a genuine rock song heads that list. I think that is well known that Sinatra wasn’t a big fan of rock and roll in general, but to be honest I doubt that he would have been too bothered about heavy metal in particular. It is likely that HM wasn’t considered to be really the kind of entertainment that would appeal for the general clientele in Palm Springs, although times are starting to change as the old Vegas clientele die off and the late boomers rock and roll generation get older and start seeing big stage classic rock events in Vegas hotels as more appealing!

I knew four out of the top five, but only one out of the bottom five.

Sorry, but that’s complete b0110cks, just 1980s NME-esque pop music snobbery that dismisses anything that has sold more them 100,000 copies as ‘elevator music’. Mr Brightside is a half-decent pop rock anthem that people who love music (but don’t obsess about it) can sing along to. There are so many urban legends about Sinatra that it’s hard to keep track. Who knows, some of them might even be true, but it is unlikely to be this one!

Wasn't Civil War a re-write of a UK Subs song?? Great tune...