mangotango

I tried one of these when I was looking to upgrade my 5'ers. I actually played this better and managed to achieve more tonal variation than with the Fender-style Sires, but I wanted a fretless as well and there wasn't one around.

….Born To Be Mild....

Report follows..... Got there late and only saw the last two numbers by the support, Emma-Jean Thackray and her band. She played vocals/trumpet/electronics; band included keys, a v. good drummer...and the bass was played on a Sousaphone, which from my seat in the rear stalls, sounded like a whale gargling. Shame really, some interesting musical ideas going on overall. Won't be adding one of those to the instruments of Bass Destruction any time soon...ever. Marcus....last time I saw him at this venue, there were real sound problems and the band sounded out of time with one another, particularly the trumpeter. This time started off exactly the same, and everything sounded a bit quiet and polite. Things got much better by the second number, though the trumpet still sounded out of time occasionally.....weird. Anyway, loads of stuff from the new album, none of it bad; plus, since it would have been Miles Davis' birthday, he played 3 Davis tunes, beaches Brew, Amandla and of course Tutu, the last two of which he composed for Miles. Dramatic rearrangements of all 3. Usual signature bass played, plus a sunburst fretless that sounded good. Wasn't sure from way back in the rear stalls, but it might have be one of his Sire basses? And despite what you might think, with a walking bass-line on Tutu, much old-school pluckage on the Davis numbers and the fretless included, it wasn't just a non-stop slapfest. Yes, this was Marcus Miller, so of course there was still a load of gank bass going on, but there was more to it than that. Marcus also brought on a young English saxophonist, Sam Healey from Beats'n'Pieces, to play on a few numbers and he absolutely stormed it!! There's a really bright future for him I think.

"Punch" being the right word; loads of it from that p'up. Absolute bargain.

D'you know what, if I were going to buy a P, or any similar bass...that's pretty much exactly how I would want it to look. Nicely done, sir!

At least The Waves comprised UK muso's. Canadian Celine Dion won for Switzerland in 1988:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest_1988#At_Eurovision

I have the Entwistle Neo P & J pickups in my Bass Collection 4-string. Great sound, huge improvement over the original pickups. Punchier, louder, very responsive when I dig in. And for the cost.....an absolute bargain.

Mrs. Mango and myself have just been added to a group going to see Marcus Miller on Sunday 26th. Massively excited about that. Report to follow......

Exactly this. Gig bag with the Genz-Benz head and all leads in the pocket, Barefaced One10, all music charst on an iPad with its specific stand = gig ready bassist. I did a jazz trio gig at Xmas using exactly that set-up.

Errr yeh, that was kind of my point in mashing the two quotes into one.....

Birthday soon - I hit 61 next week. And starting to feel my age. I invested in new gear just a little while back, but I did think twice, on the grounds of "Is this a bit of a luxury? - how much longer am I going to be doing this?" However, I had a bit of change of heart this week. About 6 weeks ago, I was asked to dep for a rehearsal big band. Show tunes, Miller, Basie, etc. Went OK, though if I'm honest I'm not a good enough sight-reader for that gig. Age-wise, I fit in pretty well, maybe even a bit younger than some of 'em. Afterwards, I passed over my card to the leader for future use and he noted that I also play guitar. Since their regular guitarist had done the off, I've been sitting in on guitar since then. This week, the regular bassist was once again absent, but I was asked to stay on the guitar as they'd sorted out another bassist. And this guy turned up - smashing old gent he was, name of Ray. Had a Fender Modern Player Jazz, Polytone Amp and got the closest sound to an upright that I've ever heard emerge from a bass guitar. I had a chat with him at the break and when he realised that I too was a bassist, we talked about that and I complimented him on his sound. He said that he wasn't all that happy with bass guitar - he'd played string bass (i.e. upright) for 50 years! Clearly I had a "Well how old are you then?" expression on my face, because he told me he's 88!!!!! Eighty - flippin' - eight!! So, still playing , sight-reading like a boss, driving to the gig, all at nearly 90 years old!....Ray, you are my new inspiration, sir. And I hope I'm still above ground and playing that well in nearly 30 years time!!!

"....he just smells funny". Zappa again....

John Lennon. I grew up in Liverpool in the '60's, the Beatles were the first band I ever saw (at age 7 - me, that is, not them!) and they'd always been part of the world in which I'd lived, as a band or as individual musicians. The fact that somebody could, or even might want to, kill a Beatle just made no sense in my worldview of the time. Still doesn't, actually.

Does the Buddha head get taken to gigs? "And the beat goes Om.…."

Of late, I have had an issue a couple of times, when I have been playing a lot, with the fingers on my left hand - principally my index finger - cramping up and refusing to work for a short while. It happened most recently on Saturday at an outdoor gig - where, thanks to European Windstorm Hannah, it was very cold, very windy (gusting up to 42mph, according to MetCheck) and damp (according to me, who was getting somewhat wet). The gig was by the Southend Jazz Co-operative, a workshop band, at the Priory Park Bandstand in Southend On Sea, Essex. I'm at the back right of the picture, visible just behind the singer and one of the saxophonists, and in some seriously dodgy headgear, though clearly I'm not alone in that, at least. You can see that everybody is wrapped up against the cold. We'd already done a normal Saturday morning session (10am to 1pm) which I thought would exempt me from further warm-up, though I did use the old Jim Hall trick of going to the bathroom just before the gig and running my hand under the hot water tap so my hands wouldn't be too cold. Didn't help much. Anyway, the gig was due to start at 3pm; 2 x 45 minute sets. Two-thirds of the way into the first set, my left index finger seized up totally, followed shortly by my second finger (which was clearly complaining about the extra workload). I finished "Watermelon Man" with only two working fingers - two fingers roughly summing up my mood at the time. Managed to shake it out before the next tune and took great care after that; hands in pockets between tunes, rubbing fingers together immediately before playing. The gig was called after the first set (which included the first number of the second set) and I was able to retire hurt - my pride more than anything else. SO.…..has anyone else had experience of this kind of cramping up of digits? I've had it once before, but that lasted only a few moments - it was at an indoor gig and caused no real issue. If you HAVE had this, what do you do to a) cure it at the time? b) prevent it recurring? Do you do any specific warm-up exercises or routines to stave off this kind of thing? And could this have been mostly down to the weather, or might there be some other underlying issue? Appreciate your thoughts, people.

Jaco & Pete Erskine Norman Watt-Roy & Charlie Charles and later on in Talking Heads' existence, but defo in TomTom Club - Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz

5-string through a Streamliner and Barefaced cab? Nick, you're talking my language!! Welcome on board, feller.

...just don't expect your guitarist to be doin' any of that Heavy Liftin' stuff!!

...and even better if you can get someone else to carry it round for you

Though hopefully not going to clash with the LBGS? Some of us would like to do both - greedy, I know. Having enough available funding to make both feasible/worthwhile might be an issue, true, but...…...

Won't be Russian to follow you...

If you were going to Sarf Essix, you could call in and try my Aria, which is completely different from the Stagg.

I'd better warm up the Bluesmobile, then.....