peteb

No, I wouldn’t want to bet on when pub gigs will get back to normal, because frankly I haven’t got a clue when that will be. We are currently running at around 1,500 Covid deaths per day and Britain has the highest number of deaths per capita in Europe. This is expected to last well into February. The UK’s vaccination programme is running into serious logistical problems (like others in Europe), but British exceptionalism demands that we create a few headline figures so the UK is pressing ahead with maximising the number of people who get the first vaccine without the follow up dose. Of course, this will do little to stop the spread of the pandemic. The only gig I’ve got in the diary for this year is a club in May. Until a couple of months ago, I was relatively optimistic that this would go ahead. However, this has been overtaken by events and we will not be doing that gig (and I doubt that the club would consider going ahead with it). As it happens, this was double booked with a mate’s wedding (already postponed from a year ago). They will go ahead with a small ceremony, but the big wedding and reception was cancelled before Christmas. I suppose that it is possible that there might be some sort of outside gigs with a socially distanced audience in the summer, but I’m not expecting to play a proper gig until winter next year at the earliest, quite possibly early 2022. I hope that there the Govt learn their lesson and don’t cave in and allow live music / pubs to open without restrictions too soon, otherwise we will be in the same position this time next year, wondering if there will be in any gigs before January 2023…!

I've just seen a clip of he Last Leg, featuring mathematician Dr Hannah Fry talking about what to expect from 2021 and onwards. She says that she is 'optimistic' that live music will return in January 2022.

There's a thin line between blind optimism and stupidity

It's going to take time. We all need to get vaccinated (properly, not in a way to boost govt headline statistics) and then covid will mutate until it becomes just another flu like illness. It will be a long time before it disappears completely (if it ever does) and it will take a diligent vaccine programme before it stops killing people en masse. Welcome to the new normal...

Well let's be honest, the way that this governments is handling this crisis, then we very well may be...

Like I said, not something that I have ever personally come across. I would need about 30 seconds to work out that there were 4 sharps in the key of E...! Edit - also, out of interest, how do you distinguish between E major and C# minor??

Everyone that I’ve played with tends to use the same hand signals: · Raised index finger – turn up · Lowered index finger – turn down · Raised middle finger – I think that you may have made a mistake there · Open hand, palm upwards lifting gesture – speed up · Open hand, palm downwards patting gesture – slow down · Rotating index finger (vertically, like a wheel) – keep going / repeat section · Rotating index finger (horizontally, like a helicopter) – technical problem, carry on without me / roadcrew, please help · Lifting hand showing a number of fingers – signifying next chord change (a bit difficult if you want to change to the VI chord, as you need both hands) · Band leader / MD lifting hand (or guitar headstock) – end of the song coming up I have also heard of band leaders holding up a number of fingers before a song to show the number of sharps or flats and therefore the key (one hand for sharps, the other for flats), but that’s a bit above my pay scale. I always thought that these were universal, but who knows…

There's a campsite next door if you want to keep the cost down...

It always seems heavy handed when a major act treats a tribute in this way, but in this case you can see their point! I doubt that anyone is going to confuse this tribute with PJ, but just adding an extra ‘d’ to the name and using copyrighted images for their merch and just using the amending band name is pushing their luck. I play in a Magnum tribute and they have been very supportive (to a point), even getting one of their crew to come to an early rehearsal to check us out and offer advice. But there were concerns with anything that could be interpreted as a copyright issue, even down to negotiating what font we could use on posters, websites, merch, etc. And yes, you can sell merch – just not as much as you would like! As I said, Magnum have been quite helpful. I think that they take the view that we help to promote the band when they’re not on the road. Of course, with a band like Magnum that have a relatively small but fanatical fanbase, it’s not like we are making much money out of it. There are some bands (Iron Maiden especially comes to mind) that really go out of their way to help their tribute acts.

I haven't been on the bass building course, but I did do the one day maintenance course and have gone to Jon for work on basses many times. Jon is a lovely guy and the crew working with him (& dog) are great. He is situated in a very picturesque part of the country, so I would think that it would make an ideal break. I am sure that you will learn a lot and take home a unique P bass. If you are into cycling (especially mountain biking), it might be worth extending your stay by an extra day and taking a bike - lots of great trails around there...!

Must be an 83AVRI, i.e. an accurate reissue of a 1983 Fender

My five string is bang on 10lbs, the four is just over 9.5lbs. To be fair, that's not a problem for me and probably not for Travis (who is a big lad). I did once have a Fender jazz that was over 12lbs, which was a bit much and got moved on.

I think what you both are saying is that pros generally know what they want and go for that. I know a lot of pros and the only one that is anything like a collector (and he would deny that he is a collector) is the most successful. I'm sure that he would say that they are tools to do a job, just he has the money and opportunity to pick up guitars when he's on tour that you don't always see in the UK.

Not going to argue with that. As I said, it's all about your attitude to musical instruments, being a musician, gigging, etc.

It's all about attitude. Are you a collector, a hobbyist or a player? All are fine, but make a choice...

I would prefer the word 'professional' (or even 'semi professional')! Listen, I've just bought a Stingray that I have always fancied from a mate. The truth is that I don't really need it and may or may not gig it, but I have no intention to sell. I've always liked stingrays (even though I tend not to gig them and have sold them on in the past) and I always thought that his was a particularly nice one. Now I can afford to keep it and will play around the house and gig occasionally when the opportunity arises. However, I have plenty of other basses that I could use instead. My attitude has always been if you you like cars, then buy the best one that you can afford. But FFS use it regularly or it's just taking up room on your drive!

Absolutely! I always buy secondhand.

At that price point (about £2k) these days, there is a lot of choice for jazz type basses and most of them are pretty good.

That’s nonsense, people are more than welcome to use their hard earned money in whatever way that makes them happy. I am just speaking subjectively as someone who has gigged for more than forty years at a reasonable standard. I don’t want to be too dogmatic about this, we’ve all got a sentimental attachment to various musical instruments. All that I am saying is that my opinion as a long term gigging musician is that you primarily look at basses as tools to do a job!

The Xotic just sounds like a very nice active Fender, nothing more or nothing less! The thread has just started to explore interesting tangents and come up with some interesting contributions, just as you would hope that any normal conversation would.

I don't think so. If people enjoy having a top bass and just playing it around the house then good for them, but if you are a gigging musician then it just seems an unnecessary indulgence. Are you really treasuring it if you prefer to gig a cheaper Yamaha? I used to have a Ken Smith, one of the cheaper original Burner series. It was a lovely bass, still one of my favourites of all the basses that I have owned. However, I stopped gigging it as it couldn’t really handle the abuse that I was giving it every gig. Then I needed a decent Precision for a blues gig, so I traded the KS in for an Fender AVRI that served me well for several years, before that got sold to get the P bass that I have now. The Central Europe thing is just something that I intend to do, but it could be a week in the Bahamas or even just reducing the mortgage. There is more to life than just owning nice bases...

To me, the Xotic just has got a classic jazz bass tone. The clip you have there is more of an exaggerated Jaco tone , I tend to favour the neck pickup more (edit to say that I originally just listened to the first 20 seconds of the clip). Showing a clip of Carmine Rojas or Jorgen Carlsson would probably sound better to Dave. I reckon that the nicest sounding passive jazz that I have played was a s/h US Lakland that was in Bass Direct a couple of years ago. I was very much tempted, but I had just bought a really nice Fender Am std jazz a few months before, which had in turn replaced a perfectly good CIJ Fender jazz.

Not for me! The bass I play at home tends to be the one with the oldest strings. I would never buy an expensive bass that I wasn’t prepared to gig. My question for you is that if you have a Ken Smith, which I believe that you said you had, then why keep it if you prefer to gig a much cheaper Yamaha? That’s a lot of money sitting around there, so if you’re not using it then why not move it on and find a high end bass that you will bond with and use. Or alternatively, go and travel round central Europe for a few weeks (a personal one there) or whatever??

The bass player in the other band of a singer and drummer that I play with, has got an Alembic. A really beautiful bass. He saw it secondhand about 20 years ago and paid (I think) about £3k for it. He says that is the best bass that he has ever played and has used it on every gig he's done ever since (and he used to regularly play the WMC circuit, so that’s a lot of gigs). I would say that he got a bargain! Funnily enough, I was watching him with a drummer that I was playing with at the time and he thought that the Xotic sounded better.

If you do go and buy an Alembic, then I hope that you take it out of the house and gig it...!