peteb

What a moronic attitude! I doubt that I would care to spend much time in your company at any time, but now I would literally avoid you like the plague. A guy I’ve done a string of gigs with (50 something, very friendly chap, pro guitar player) died from it. Apparently, he had diabetes, although I never knew until after he passed away. Now I’m never going see him play again, have a chat with him or grab a quick beer at the end of the night. You might think that you might survive catching it (although at your age you should worry more), but it’s also who you are in contact with at a gig and who they are going to be in contact with later. Obviously, otherwise healthy people who have had higher levels of exposure (from medics to bus drivers) have died. I’m sure that I can manage without gigging for a few months given the current situation.

Guy is back with a couple of Pink Floyd licks. The more eagle-eyed may notice that his flies are undone in the second piece...! He did put something on Facebook asking if he should re-shoot it, which would take time to do, or just upload it anyway. He has obviously gone with the prevailing view to just put it out in all its glory as it is...

I’ve been playing this type of stuff for 40+ years, from pubs to much bigger stages. I think that you can overthink how to approach this, so keep it simple and get a valve or hybrid amp (you’re probably right to avoid Class D amps) and run the gain relatively high and use the master just to control the volume. Ideally you would want an SVT or a Mesa Boogie or Aguilar 750 or similar. Assuming that you don’t want to spend that much, then pick up a secondhand Hartke 3500 or something like that (quite a lot of pros playing this type of music use Hartke as they are loud, reliable and work). I’m not a big fan of Ashdown, but a lot of people are, and I’m sure that one of their hybrid heads will be fine for what you want.

And he's back again with a story of being mistaken for Santa and making new friends on the road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5eylRjVJ0

But is that necessarily an issue? I once got a bass in an eBay auction for not much more than half of what I was expecting to pay for it, gigged it for the best part of ten years then sold it on for between three to four times what I paid for it. I certainly don’t think that there was anything wrong with that. Sometimes that is the way the market works. The main thing is that sellers are honest in their description of the item and not trying to mislead potential buyers.

I think that he said that it's a Boss ME-50. His pedalboard with the OC-2 was with the band's gear ready to go out on tour. Edit. Oopsdabassist beat me to it...! 🙂

More infamous really…! Jamie and his brother JP are reasonably well known local players that float between being sort of pro and semi pro. They used to be in a function band that played a lot of corporate events a bit ago, but you will also see them playing in pub bands and in Jamie’s case, the odd metal tribute and very occasionally depping in all sorts of other bands (such as touring Europe with Chantel McGregor, etc). You will have met Jamie, so I’m sure that you will be aware that he is not the least eccentric character around. One of the very few people who can act daft and still be funny…

All the gear that Jamie owns has a hard life, but will always play perfectly. I remember that he once resprayed it in a rather horrible black finish that his then missus restored back to CAR to cheer him up! That bass has done a lot of gigs, toured round Europe and met a few celebrities in its time…! I originally got a Shuker 5 string for what I thought was a bargain, but then ended up losing quite a bit on it – note to self, handmade basses by British luthiers do not hold their value. Then I was asked to play on an album by a keys based rock band that needed a 5 string. I borrowed a SR5 for the recording (another bass that I owned for about 5 minutes and then stupidly moved on), but I was then recruited into the band and they intend to tune down a whole step live. I ended up getting a 35” scale Spector Euro that looks the part and will handle being tuned down, but the Lakland would certainly have been my first choice…! Like you, I'm really a four string player at heart, but some gigs just need a fiver. It's useful to have one hanging around for when you need it...

Ray Jackson - credited on the album as "The mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne. The name slips my mind." Rod wasn't getting on with Ronnie Lane by the time Every Picture Tells A Story was recorded, so his big mate Ronnie Wood played bass.

Just seen this. I’m guessing that you got this from my mate Jamie? He offered it to me, but unfortunately, I had just bought not one but two five strings and was already trying to sell one of them. If he had decided to move it on six weeks earlier, I would definitely have taken the Lakland instead of the one I bought, decide that it wasn’t for me and then its replacement. It’s a shame really, as I always liked that bass but glad that it’s worked out for you. I believe that the original idea of the Lakland was to cover both the Jazz and Musicman sounds. Rather like Roger Sadowsky started building basses for his New York customers who wanted a 'Fender jazz on steroids', a lot of guys from Chicago were taking both Stingrays and Jazz basses to gigs and wanted one that could do both.

Georgia Satiliates - first and second album (especially the first)

I don’t know enough about Fenders of that period to comment. However, I can say that a friend of mine has an 83 jazz, which is an awful bass. I’ve never played a Fullerton model (to the best of my knowledge), but I’ve heard other people say that and I’m sure that you’re right. However, there was obviously a demand in the late 70s for Roger to improve stock Fenders and then to produce his own ‘Fenders on steroids’ basses. He seems to have created a market for high quality Fender type basses (Lakland, etc) that continues to this day.

I’ve been watching a couple of interviews with Roger recently and he said that he started building basses that sounded like ‘Fenders on steroids’ and he reckoned that the big difference was the original Sadowsky preamp. Remember that he first made his name modding Fenders and that at this time, you couldn’t get booked for a session in New York unless you turned up to the studio with a bass that looked and sounded like a Fender. The same is possibly true to an extent today; a Fender jazz or P still seems to be the reference sound for many producers. Also, the QC at Fender was very hit and miss in that period. The higher production standards and innovations that Sadowsky introduced must have made a big difference.

My go-to bass for the past six years of so has been an Xotic jazz, bought secondhand from here. Currently tuned down a half-step to cover all the rock (i.e. most) gigs that I do.

I’m afraid that I have to disagree. Once you learn how to set up a semi parametric EQ, it is relatively easy to sweep for / adjust one troublesome frequency on a gig compared to having to deal with just four fixed controls. I virtually never touch the EQ section on my Mesa mpulse, except to adjust the frequency centre of the low mids if there is an issue with the room. If I am using an amp without a semi parametric then its much more difficult to isolate a troublesome frequency or to boost if you need to cut through.

To me, the circle of fifths seems to more about how you write down a key signature on notation. I have never understood what it's practical application is beyond that. I can understand what it is, just not how to use it (if that makes sense)?

Cheers mate. I did find it actually - this is pretty cool as well, Sklar reminiscing with John Patitucci Fascinating stuff...

I don't suppose that you have a link for that?? Cheers

Signed and I would urge everyone to do likewise. What they are doing to the entertainment industry, pub trade etc. is disgraceful.

Early eighties – I was living in a student hall of residence in Islington with Ezee Studios on one side and a big old-fashioned boozer on the other. We all became quite blasé with the number of superstars we would be propping the bar up with on any given night of the week. One Saturday, me and a friend were looking for a mate before setting off for a big night out after a few early beers and a couple of other, ahem, liveners. I was leading the way and headed into the back room, bumping into a short haired bloke playing pool who had then fell into his fellow equally shorthaired, short-arsed pool players. The bloke I had bumped into looked up at me angrily, causing me to look down and laugh before heading off to try and find our missing drinking partner. I enquired as to what my mate found so amusing? He said ‘you’ve just played skittles with various members of Madness’ (Suggs wasn’t there, so I just didn’t recognise them) …!

There are a lot of Americans (and guys from other countries) who want to play the UK because this is where the Beatles, Stones & Led Zep, etc came from. In the same way, British blues musos all want to play Chicago or in Texas. In reality, the music scene in the UK has declined and there are better countries to play in (both in terms of the audience and the money). If you do come over, I'm sure that there are guys on here who would be happy for you to sit in for a few tunes on their gigs...!

Hi Daryl I'm afraid that it is vastly different, in fact the fair and festival market that you know doesn't really exist over here. And as Dave says, I'm afraid that you are unlikely to cover the costs of your plane ticket. I do know some Americans who occasionally come over and do it, mainly doing the blues circuit. They are generally visiting muso mates over here who will lend them gear and book a string of club dates on their behalf. If they have a bit of a profile and have the right contacts, they may get on the bill of a blues festival. If they have a much higher profile, they may do it legit and get the right permits and play a European club tour. There are certainly more opportunities if you have some contacts in mainland Europe. They also have more small-scale music festivals than we do in the UK. Pete

Quite a lot of money, not to mention getting work permits etc. Remember you are only likely to pull £250 - £300 (less than 350 USD) for a pub gig and you are unlikely to get any festivals unless you have some sort of a name in a specific genre. If you have any contacts to book gigs, you might have better luck in northern Europe.

I must admit, I find it difficult to take him seriously after reading his autobiography. As talented as he is, it was fascinating (in all the wrong ways) to see how someone who has been lucky enough to have had such a fortunate life could whinge so much about virtually everything and everybody...!

You mean the more they invest in you, the more they feel that they have to look after their investment! Who would have thought...