Maude

Thanks to this thread I've just seen they are playing just down the road me in March next year, thank you. 🙂

Don't care about the guitar, but 22.75" annoys me. Yes, I am a grumpy fart!

I have two Harley Benton uke basses, one with Pahohoes and one with the Thunderguts it came with. The Pahohoes seem stiffer and more stable to me. I much prefer them to the Thunderguts, slightly stiffer and not so grippy so don't do that rolling under the plucking fingers thing as much.

To be fair I have tried to buy an Aerodyne Precision, Aria 4001 copy, Yamaha Bex4 and a Takemine TB10 but for one reason or another none have worked out. It's not been my year at all. I did buy a cheap 'Ritter' (no not that one) gigbag for my uke bass which for £15 is actually really good. If anyone needs a uke bass gigbag then here's the link. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F333246012660 They've gone up since I bought mine but a little searching may find one cheaper, it's the 1/2 size classical you want.

I love lyrics. There's a few Ian Dury songs where I don't much care for the music but the lyrics are fantastic so the track doesn't get skipped. Mark Knopflers lyrics absolutely make Dire Straits the band they are. Yes the music is good but the storytelling on songs like Romeo and Juliet and Sultans of Swing lift it to another level, I struggle not to be reduced to tears whenever I hear Brothers in Arms. The throwaway pop of Bronski Beat can stand the test of time if the lyrics are as strong as Smalltown Boy. I love The Cure for the imagery Robert Smiths lyrics conjure up. Tori Amos can tell a story over simple piano tune and it's beautiful. Hell I even like Stan Ridgeways Camouflage for the storytelling. Without the lyrics these songs wouldn't be held in the regard that they are IMO.

One of these was my first 'real' bass. I had a terrible cheap SG copy when we got our first gig, only problem was we didn't actually have a band so I was dispatched to Mansons to buy a proper bass, I returned with one of these beauties. The gig was awesome, much mayhem ensued and we were told we'd never be allowed to play there again. 😂 I traded it in after a couple of years for a brand new BBG5s which I still have. To this day a Yammy feels like coming home. Back on topic I've just realised that I haven't bought anything this year at all............ I've got six weeks to remedy this. 😁

I like this, it reminds me of Tanya Donnelly in Belly, which is no bad thing. 👍

I only know his playing with The Small Faces and the popular Faces tunes that get airplay, but was happy enough to be told out of the blue by a punter after we debuted our latest original tune, that it sounds like a bassline that Ronnie Lane would've written.

Fantastic! That alone would make me feel so happy and proud. 😎

I'll just link this post from the 'How was your gig last night' thread that I posted a couple of weeks ago, it fits in with this topic I think. Another one was back in the summer, we played a Commrades Club and I wasn't expecting much as they are hit and miss but we had a really good night. Being a Mod band we usually recognise people from the scooter scene but there was a group up dancing that we didn't recognise anyone from. Speaking to them afterwards it turned out they were from Slough and had heard some of our stuff on a Mod radio show, they were down in Cornwall on holiday and saw the gig advertised so came to see us. Really made me feel quite pleased about our little band. 🙂

We get this as well, signing setlists and CD's and having photos taken with people. All very strange if you ask me but enjoyable all the same.

"Has no bum notes"? Hand it over pal, I'll find 'em.

🎵His name was Rudi, he was a skanker. With polished loafer shoes, and "Ska'd for life" tattoos. He wore sharp mohair suits, and claimed he played with Toots, but we all know he's mates with Ricky and a real fruit loop. At the Copa, blah blah blah! 🎵

That was you, just now! 😆

The Mod covers band I'm in also have an albums worth of original music, we usually throw in a handful at each gig and they go down well. If we're supporting a name band then it'll be all originals with maybe a cover thrown in. The best of both worlds. I'm happy to play the simple ones if they go down well. Can't Explain by The Who is painfully simple but always goes down well, I don't mind playing ones like that because then I get to have fun with stuff like The Real Me, Substitute, Nite Club, Tin Soldier, There's a Ghost in my House, etc. As long as everyone's having fun I'm happy.

Same with the band diary. We just use Google calendars and you book out any unavailable days. If we get offered a gig and the diary's free then it's booked. No cancelling unless it's something drastic.

Ham fingered ducks? Is that something Iceland are selling for Christmas?

I know I'm upping the price a bit here, but in a world of expensive basses the Yamaha Bex4 punches well above it's price tag. You should be able to pick one up around the £300 mark. I'll admit it was vanity that made me want one to start with, the tobacco burst is one of the nicest looking basses made IMO. I'd always got on well with Yamaha basses so bought one without having ever played one and wasn't disappointed, they sound better than they look, and they look amazing. In the same way a Precision does, it's just 'there' in every mix, the P placed soapbar gives it masses of P mid punch and the bridge piezo gives a bit of acoustic air if needed, along with a very good three band EQ the Bex4 is a very capable bass. Fit and finish is up there with, and beyond some, four figure basses. Something very, very drastic will have to happen in my life to make me sell mine.

I saw this the other day and it's crazy. The expression at three minutes in says it all.

Another cheap option if you want to try flats.

It's not just 'what sounds great' but what sort of tension you like. Some flats are very stiff, others aren't.

And yet people here still claim they can't play a Precision because they've got small hands

Here's another couple of great simple lines.

I've just made a great little mash up without really realising what's going on, good old insomnia. If you start the Savages one and then bang on four seconds start The Screaming Blues Messiahs one, the first minute is great.

We had a great gig last night. We hadn't gigged for 6 weeks and the end of this band may be looming due to a few factors, so I had been thinking maybe life without this band wouldn't be so bad. Wrong! We had a brilliant night, great atmosphere, everyone up dancing and a good showing from a couple of the local scooter clubs. I was buzzing but my knees aren't thanking me today from all the dancing. Another thing that made it great was the new PA speakers we tried. We pay our own soundman who provides all the PA, we normally use subs, with tops and four floor monitors, all powered. Our soundman is getting on and has expressed his need to pack it all in soon, he has given us a deadline next year, one of the reasons the band may end. The subs are just too heavy. He bought some powered Yamaha speakers, I don't know which ones, and we tried them last night. He gets panicky about new stuff so I said I'd bring my amp in case they didn't put out enough bottom end and he ended up bringing the subs and it was all wired up just in case, and it put him at ease. He's a brilliant bloke, just gets a bit on edge sometimes. Well they were fantastic, incredible bottom end and clear mids and treble, so we now know we can gig with just a pair of tops with everything, including bass and drums, through them easily, obviously we'll still need floor monitors, but this has hopefully got him reconsidering jacking it in, as he's as much as part of the band as the rest. Someone in the crowd who was in another band came up to him to complement him on the sound and said it was the best sound from a band he'd heard in a long time. When our soundman told him my bass amp and and the subs weren't even on the chap had to come over and see as he couldn't believe it. To our soundman that's like someone coming up to me and complimenting me on my playing so hopefully he's back in the game. Our drummer who has arthritis issues in his shoulders said he may call it a day when John (soundman) quits as it hurts him to play now even didn't mention the arthritis last night and was quite positive about the future. So from trudging to a gig convincing myself the end was near and I'd be OK with it, to finishing the encores with everyone buzzing and looking to the future of the band in the space of three hours. Gigging is definitely a lifeblood and I need it 👍