Maude

@Marvin We're South Devon/East Cornwall based. Those prices are pretty much all along the South from Helston and Falmouth up through Plymouth to Exeter and Exmouth, places don't seem to flinch at £300—350. Surely places like The Red Barn in Woolacombe must be paying that sort of money, aren't they? I couldn't give up gigging, it's too big a part of me, but I do want it to be worth my while monetarily so I know where you're coming from.

How far is it to the next village? Three miles, but if you run you can do it in two.

Devon and Cornwall, rural and city pubs/clubs, £300-£350.

I actually had to have a think myself when you said four 🤔🙂

I think HKH's comment was more about 5's having an extra five low notes. 😉

Hi Chris, I made the same transition 6 or 7 years ago, so whilst not being a lifer with a font of knowledge these are a few things I've realised since starting. They might not be right, it's just my opinion. Firstly, as long as you're prepared to give doublebass a proper chance it's brilliant. Completely different to electric bass yet similar enough to not feel out of your depth. It's easy to think a lot of bass lines would just be easier with an electric bass but I like the way a DB makes you play differently. 1. A second hand bass will almost definitely give better value for money, but I bought a new one (Gedo) because I knew nothing about DB and while used represents better value for money, a couple of repairs that weren't spotted could be costly. That said a new bass will benefit massively from a proper set up which will cost and you will need a decent set of strings as the ones that come on any budget bass will be horribly off putting, Innovation do a fantastic range of strings at excellent prices, sub £100, strings can get eyewateringly expensive but second hand is also an option as they can last years. If the option is available then an adjustable bridge is helpful for a beginner as you can experiment to find a height that you like. String height preferences on DB can vary wildly. If you are amplifying then a cheaper ply bass can be better than a lovely fully carved bass as it'll (usually) be less resonant so will have less tendancy to feed back. Obviously the tone will probably suffer but what good is incredible tone if it's howling with feedback? Also a ply bass will probably stand up to a bit more abuse if dragging it around venues. Now I have a little bit more knowledge I would definitely buy second hand over new, unless money really wasn't an issue. 2. I think any online resource that you can get along with is fine. No point trying to follow something that you can't get on with because someone said it was better than something else, use what works for you. I know it's frowned upon but I stuck some side dots on mine to start with, for reassurance mainly when on a loud stage. Ignored them mainly but a quick check every now and then helped I found. 3. The thing that was hardest to comprehend was why hadn't I done this sooner. It can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be and I threw myself in at the deep end by gigging almost immediately. There's a bit of a story I'll spare you from but I just played simple lines to start with and as confidence built I expanded the complexity of the lines, essentially learning how to play on stage. 4. I haven't got one for sale 😁 As I said at the top of this post, these points are what I, being in your situation, have discovered in the fist few years of playing and are by no means 'right', and will probably change as I progress but hopefully will be of some help. Good luck with the new avenue of music 👍

Our drummer's son works in the producing side of music and uses lots of strange stuff to get the sounds he wants, which reminded me of an old drum machine I had years ago that I used as a metronome to practice with when I started out. I said it was still in the loft and if it works he can have it. I've just dug it out and it's an early 70s Eko Rhythm Maker, plugged it in and it still works fine. Did a quick Google and it turns out OMD used to use one, namely on 'International'. This isn't mine but its the same one. Probably not quite what this thread is about but, hey, it's a drum machine 🙂

Surely the main point of a 5 is to change how you play, not what you play? But if you want songs that use notes below the bottom E then, from memory of doing them a long time ago, Frankies 'Two Tribes' and QOTSAs 'No One Knows' need a lower note.

How do you tune it? I don't know which is more mad, this or the bass balalaika our mandolinist keeps trying to make buy

D'addario ENR72 half rounds (50 - 105) are my string of choice. I like the strong fundamental of flats, the punch and bite of rounds but don't like the sparkle of new rounds, I also like reasonably high tension, these tick all the boxes. Due to my, let's say brutish agricultural technique, I can generate quite a lot of string noise and fret clatter with rounds but not with these. I'd say they're closer to used rounds in sound but with that lovely solid bottom end of your average flat, you can still get a good grind going on with a pick but back off the tone and you've got a great Motown vibe. I'd also say they feel closer to rounds than flats as well. If flats are 0 and rounds are 10 then these are around the 7 mark rather than a mid way 5.

Couldn't agree more! Where's the Susa.... Souza.... Soosa.... Souza.... Tuba section?

I think the drums are perfect as they are. They totally drive the song in a Ministry or Therapy? kind of way. Not comparing it to either of those bands though, I don't much care for comparisons, "ooh it sounds just like so and so", f**k off, we spent ages making it sound like us. Even better on further listens.

I like that 👍 Some decent energy to it.

How unfair of them, don't worry though they're all a*******s b******s f*****g c***s and p****s.

Similar to the one I've got. They're so cheap and at least you know that the plug you're going to use is wired properly and has an earth.

We had one of those unexpected turnarounds last night. We were booked to play a comrades club and I'm usually a bit wary of members clubs like this as, rightly or wrongly, they're normally a bit sh!t. Last night was packed, with everyone up dancing and we found out afterwards that this was triple their usual crowd size which is great. I only recognised two faces from the 'scene' when we play that area but quite a few others were clearly into the same scene and transpired were down on holiday and heard about us somewhere. The rest were just locals who'd come along to see us. Got some great feedback at the end with loads of people coming up to thank us and say how much they enjoyed it, including the staff. It was far from the best gig but after preparing for a let down it was a really fun gig. It's nights like these that make it all worthwhile.

Whilst never having played to anything like those crowds (yes I am jealous 😁) I've found that the fun factor goes up with crowd size, but the biggest crowd I've ever played to was 1500 and you can really feed off the energy.

I get the whole signature guitar/bass thing but they're kind of a different kettle of fish and rarely four to five times the value of an equivalent spec'd instrument. I was more thinking the gear that was around for a normal price and then went through the roof because a 'sleb' played/used one. I'm not a big gear nerd so some interesting replies, thanks 👍

Ooh a year of birth thumb rest, not something you see for sale everyday. Now where's that £200 I didn't want.

I still don't know it even after you've told us 😂

I think my only concern with your set up would be, what hearing protection is the keyboard player using? 🙂

Wait, what? We're not? Ummmm........... [slides slowly out the room to get changed]

Yep, I love gigging too. I enjoy all aspects, writing, rehearsing, even the load in and out (it's sociable) but gigging is where it's at. I've never not enjoyed a gig, the worst ones are enjoyable, the best ones are fantastic.

Yes I've just had a quick search and drew a blank. There's some bass covers of it on YouTube, that would be my first port of call, you can at least see hand/finger positions. J.E. favours a lot of pentatonic scales so you should be able to get somewhere close. It's a great bassline isn't it 👍

Absolutely brilliant. I would sooooo love to do a gig like some of those. I would probably poop my pants leading up to it but I'd still love to do experience it. Well done 👍