solo4652

A friend of mine has asked me to recommend a good bass-building kit. He has access to a full school craft workshop and wants to take advantage of the facilities to build his own bass. He has a budget of up to £200. He doesn't play any musical instruments - I think it's the build process rather than the sound of the end product that's attracting him. Any suggestions I can pass on, please?

I used to play with a band based 45 mins drive from my house. The drive home after a gig, in virtually no traffic with some J J Cale (Shades or Naturally) was a real pleasure.

If you can sing at all - BV's or lead - make sure you put that in your ad.

I have ads on all the usual muso websites. The site that has produced most responses is Gumtree.

Yeah - you're right. I hadn't realised he has been with Chic for as long as he has. Different style to Mr Edwards - perhaps a little too slap-happy for my personal tastes.

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_VIub6YZ-0Jerry"]https://www.youtube...._VIub6YZ-0Jerry[/url]

... or, even better, the chance to play groovy/riffy basslines with a good (ideally, female-fronted) covers band. Joss Stone, The Primitives, Fleetwood Mac, Garbage, Average White Band, Duffy, Cher, ZZ Top, Coldplay, Blondie, Cardigans, REM, Miles Kane, Black Crowes, Sheryl Crowe, Morcheeba, Pink, T Rex, Laura Vane, J J Cale, Clapton, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, Rolling Stones, Black Lace (no - just kidding). Me? - Approachable, friendly, helpful (will help lug drum kits), mature, reliable, punctual, organised, learns songs before rehearsals, very available for rehearsals and gigs, driver, good basses and backline, recent gig experience, dead keen, can't sing, can't read music, not concerned about money, not looking for record deals, don't want a world tour, not really interested in originals, not star-struck, not 18 (or, indeed 28. Not 38, actually...) PM with anything you may have for me. Thanks! Steve

I immediately thought of you, Stuart, and I know that you know the band well. I can tick most of their boxes, apart from BV's, occasional lead vox, and slap bass. I have tried singing, but I sound like a pig stuck in machinery. My slap bass sounds like that too. Other than that, I'm their man!

I've been writing poetry on and off for years. Lately I've been having a bash at song lyrics. Lots of good advice here: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec00/articles/lyric.asp

Yes - difficult to know how to respond, really, apart from "No, Yes, No, Yes, Yes, Yes."

I have a "bassist available" ad out. Just got this reply; "Interested in joining a psychedelic rock band? do you have hair? do you wear baggy or skinny jeans? Do you have good equipment? Are you good? Reliable?"

Perhaps the thread you read was mine; http://basschat.co.uk/topic/256734-3-years-4-bands-10-gigs-what-now/ Might be worth reading through it because there is some sound advice there. Sounds like you and I are thinking about more or less the same issues. For what it's worth, over the weekend I decided that I'd continue as turn-up-and-play bassist with my current band, but not as band Organiser. I told them that, and they've agreed. I've had a gutsfull sorting out rehearsal rooms, band members, songs, gigs, posters - everything, really. With the extra time this frees up, I'm going to play with another local covers band that has 2 gigs a month booked in for the rest of the year already. The only trouble is the setlist is pretty cheesy and predictable, but I'll be happy to get out gigging. I hope that's helpful, Steve

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1425113729' post='2704015'] In the last few years I've tried to become less friendly with band members in bands that are at least out there to earn something, the jam nights and little trio thing are more for fun with a few quid now and again, trying to keep a happy ship etc I now stay out of if I can,I get messages saying "the singer is too busy with her family to learn new songs" cool lets get another one then rather than organising her life like we have in the past. Even though it's for fun keeping it business like to some extent seams to work better, turn up rehearse or play the gig, have a beer and a chat, go home, text dates and repeat. [/quote] Aha! Think I've worked out how to use the Quote button. AWOL singer has just emailed guitarist with a vague "...I'm getting there.....was going to email...probably sort something out with the band sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks..." That's no good to me but, there again, I'm hopeless at dealing with ambiguity. I've said to the band that we should crack on with finding a new singer and tell AWOL singer that. If it turns out that's not OK with the band, I'm out of there. Steve

Thank you. That's the sort of thoughtful, considered advice I was asking for. For me, this has been a difficult period. I'm the band organiser - I'm getting emails from the rest of the band asking what's happening with our AWOL singer, understandably. I'm trying to balance being sympathetic towards her against the desires of everybody else to push on and find a replacement. I'm also asking myself some questions about whether I can be bothered to do this any more. Another 30 minutes-worth of emails from drummer, guitarist and keys player tonight to deal with. Ok - maybe I'm being a bit too intense about all this, but I do try to respect bandmates' concerns and do what I can to keep a happy ship. Maybe I'm naïve. Maybe it's time for me to change direction, simply concentrate on playing bass and leave band management to somebody else. I genuinely asked Basschat members for some help, and I thank those who have been kind enough to offer advice. Right here, right now, that's what I need. There's a time and a place for everything and, right now, for all the above reasons, I'm not feeling especially jolly or devil-may-care. Just saying. Steve

Yes.

@TimR, post 57. Exactly.

@Huge Hands Band 1; Singer sacked by band leader (not me) for using drugs and being unreliable. Band 2; Drummer grew frustrated with singer and left. So did I. Band 3; Singer not pulling in the same direction as rest of band. She left to do what she wanted, and I genuinely wished her well. Band 4; All going well until singer's domestic situation unravelled suddenly, sadly. Sure, I'm upset about some of the "humorous" personal comments within this thread, yours included, because I think they're ill-informed and needlessly personal. I asked for help and many people have offered it, and that's great. Not everybody has been so inclined. Steve

Yes - I agree with your comments about singers, and I think you're right about band 5. We've put a lot of work into bands 3 and 4, and I'm loathe to walk away from that accumulated effort to start from scratch. I'm scouring JMB, Partysounds, Gumtree etc for possible singers. They're thin on the ground, but being able to offer a keen, reliable, mature, experienced and musically open-minded (within reason - no spandex, gore-rock, "post-industrial hardcore", gangsta rap) band may give us the edge when recruiting.

@ Roland Rock, post 39. (Sorry - I can't seem to get the quote button to work) OK - Obviously, I don't know you, either and so, given that you wouldn't dare speculate on those topics, it's only fair that I'll certainly not speculate about you saying things for effect or lacking sensitivity. Let's move on, shall we?

What's going on here? I started this thread because I am genuinely dazed and confused about what to do next with my bass-playing, not because I wanted to engage in a public debate about whether I'm "an insufferable ballache". Yeah, I saw Roland Rock's ( ) but still wasn't sure how to take his remark. Then, Discreet says "[devilsavocado] Well... it may be true!" FFS.

@ Roland Rock, post no. 2 Can't work out whether that's a serious comment or not. Either way, it's not very helpful, is it?

Band 1; I joined an existing pub covers band. Two rehearsals a week, three gigs, singer sacked, band split. Band 2; I joined a start-up wedding band. One rehearsal a week, three gigs. I left because the singer was not very good. Band subsequently split. Band 3; Put together by me. Pub-covers band. One rehearsal a week, four gigs. Singer left to concentrate on lounge/jazz stuff. Band 4; My current band, which is band 3 with a new singer. After two months, singer's gone AWOL to sort out her marriage. Me; - Utterly frustrated. - I have learned hundreds of songs. I have notes for all of them. I can only play 30 of them from memory, but could dust most of the others off fairly quickly. - Fed up with putting in all the hours, hard work and commitment only to see a band fail. - Very reluctant to start up another band myself. - Wary of joining an existing band with all the existing politics. - Not confident enough to dep What on earth do I do now? Steve

OK - thanks for your patient and informative reply. Looks like fans will be needed then, no matter how clever the box architecture is. Back to the drawing board.

£259 at Thomann; http://www.thomann.de/gb/ashdown_toneman_600_evo_iii.htm