JapanAxe

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? Yes - (a) big band gigs, and accompanying a choir - however my Rat music stand also gave me the option of standing; (b) when I had pulled a muscle in my back. 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Frequently on skinny-string guitar. 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? No. 04 Any fan ever had a tattoo of your band's logo? Never had a band logo, so no. 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? Possibly. On the country music club circuit, the audience is somewhat elderly, and a surprising number still have adult offspring with learning disabilities living with them. It is not unknown for said offspring to want autographs and phots with the band, but usually this takes place at the front of the stage. 06 Ever cried on stage? No, but I have cried unashamed tears of joy at a couple of concerts I have attended. 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? Frequently - cowboy hat at most country gigs. However I do not subscribe to the apparently common belief that a pork pie hat (or similar) instantly transforms a middle-aged male band member into a paragon of cool. 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? Yes, a few times. 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? No. 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? Yes. 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? No. Well not that I know of. 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? Yes. Backing up to the venue to unload, took out the offside rear of my car on a stone wall, despite having parking sensors. 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? No. 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? No. 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? Rarely been the 'headliner', consequently no. 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? Yes. Went down with a fever on a dep gig once, spent the breaks hugging the radiator. Also have sneezed so hard from hay-fever that that I whacked my headstock on the top of my amp. 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Yes, but it was a 3-piece, which doesn't say much for the drummer. 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? Yes, a few times in my function bad days. 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? A couple of months ago I badly pinched my RH pinky in my guitar stand whilst setting up. No sticking plasters, so had to gaffer-tape my finger. The tape then kept catching on my scratch-plate when I played. On that particular gig, that was actually the least of my worries! The other day I found some of the dried blood on my guitar neck and scraped it off. 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Yes, about as often as I have been told it was too lud.

For me it wasn’t long between installing Reaper and deciding it was well worth paying for. It costs way less than a lot of other DAW programs anyway.

Thanks for doing this @Zoltan Dekany I reckon to know my scales but I'm finding your position shift options really useful. Thanks also for not promoting 1-finger-per-fret - that's a recipe for tendonitis! (EDIT - I meant particularly at the headstock end of the fretboard.)

Er, no!

A guy I know has an SVL Brent-Mason-ish 3-pickup Tele. It’s pretty darned fine.

Ooh I didn’t know Simon was making basses now! Given that all my bass guitars are basically Precisions (see signature) I’ll happily grab any of them. Having said that, my ‘73 P has that ‘comfortable old pair of shoes’ thing going, so that’s my nomination.

I heartily recommend Reaper DAW software. Free for as long as you like, cheap when you buy it, less than 20MB download, massively customisable - Mac or Windows, 32-bit or 64-bit. You can even carry a working copy round on a memory stick.

No shredding of coating from fret wear? Do you still make electrical contact with the strings and thus provide RF screening?

Ooh I was only aware of them as flats. Yes, I've tried half-rounds.

Cheers @Lozz196 I’ve recently changed all my skinny-string guitars over to Elixir Optiweb and they are excellent, but they don’t seem to do an Optiweb bass set.

For at least the last 5 years I have used flat-wound strings exclusively on all my bass guitars. Specifically I favour D’Addario Chromes and Ernie Ball Cobalts for a relatively bright flats sound. There is a certain attack at the start of each note that I think rounds can do but flats don’t. Consequently I am thinking of fitting one of my Precisions with a set of rounds - but which to get? I would probably favour consistency of sound over the life of the strings - they don’t need to be super bright to start with. I have tried half-rounds but didn’t much care for them. What can the BC posse recommend?

It would work as a humbucker in the same way as a Precision pickup or one of those weird-looking staggered G&L guitar pickups.

I like that the 802 has its treble (sorry, ‘Snap’) centred at 2kHz - many such controls are set at frequencies that have little effect on flatwound strings through non-tweeter cabs.

Still some standing tickets left for my gig tonight at the Old Court Arts Centre, Windsor:

The closest I’ve come to touring is the odd double-header where we’ve stayed in a Travel Tavern in between rather than coming home the same night as would normally happen. These have generally been relaxed affairs involving seeking out shops selling musical instruments, used kit, or CDs, and eating chips at the beach. It’s the late nights driving home from remote venues that take their toll on me. And trying to get other band members’ big/heavy kit past drunken eejits in pub doorways...

Love: Demeter VTBP M- 800D Liked a lot: Genz Benz Streamliner 900, TC Classic 450 OK, keep mainly as a backup: Markbass Nano 300 I surprised myself there, I thought I'd had more than that!

The bloke in Music Bay (Herne Bay) suggested we try the Rock Lodge in Whitstable, so after a cheeky ‘Spoons we headed over the road for the first set of the Miles Kingman Band.

Mrs Axe likes the seaside. But I’m not keen on Jazz basses!

Cheers! Just arrived in Whistable, going to spend the afternoon here and in Herne Bay I think.

Anyone playing in the Canterbury area tonight? Mrs Axe and I are having a little city break.

OK here's the poster art from the previous gig instead:

Back by popular demand, and with yours truly once again on bass guitar, Rebel Heroes are at The Old Court, Windsor on Saturday 7th March. Over 2 hours of solid Bowie material, from Space Oddity to Blackstar. We don't do the lookalike thing, we concentrate on reproducing the original recordings to a high level of accuracy. Get your tickets here. We nearly sold out the venue last time we played there (see above) - I'm after filling it this time!