Len_derby

Yes. Provided that it’s been looked-after you probably can’t go wrong. I’ve had several Yamaha basses and guitars and they’ve all punched above their price in terms of quality. Good luck on your bass journey.

I found the book ‘How to write one song’ by Jeff Tweedy inspiring for composition. Tweedy is the leader of the American band Wilco but you don’t need to know anything about them for the book to be meaningful.

Hollow-bodied bass? Quite a few choices; Epiphone Jack Casady, Yamaha Bex, Hofner, etc.

Last night was the first proper run-out for my new acoustic duo. The vocalist and myself, from our covers band, have got to the point where we want to gig a lot more than the rest of them. We are both retired with no childcare responsibilities, the rest of the band are younger than us and have either one, or both, of those things to manage. So, we’ve put together a duo for those weeks we have no full band gigs. The plan is to tap unto the micro pub and café market locally. We’ve already got a few in the diary, including an Indian restaurant that Mick, the singer, goes to every week. I’ll be happy to be paid in-kind for that one ☺️. For now, we are just plugging straight into the PA with no monitoring. We will review that as we go along. Our set is unashamedly sing-along covers.

I’m going to guess that many organs, specially those in churches, are increasingly unplayed and therefore not maintained properly. That’s a great shame, although Anna Lapwood is doing her best to increase enthusiasm. I worked in The Netherlands for a while and was able to hear some recitals on the famous Muller organ in the Haarlem Grote Kerk. Immense!

Thanks for the tip! Getting ready for another cover band pub gig tonight.

Thank you! I need to find out, now, if the current filters are compatible with the plugs I had made in 2005.

Has anyone bought replacement or alternative filters for their ACS plugs? If so, where did you source them from?

Bad luck Jack, and all the very best for a speedy recovery. It puts into perspective the blisters I’ve got tonight after digging out a fire pit for a local youth project. As for the road back, I’ve no personal experience but are you familiar with Django Reinhardt? Amazing gypsy jazz guitarist. He lost the use of some of his left hand after a being in a caravan fire. You’d never know listening to his recordings. Good luck.

After last weekend’s fun with the originals band it was back to the covers band, Top Deck. This time at The Gate Inn, Loscoe In Derbyshire. We were expecting to start at 9pm but the pub was very quiet. So, with the agreement of the landlady we delayed the start time until 9.30. This paid off, as the place eventually filled up.

It’s not just Jazz festivals that get up to this. I’ve been to folk festivals where there’s been very little music that could really be termed folk. However, I did once go to a festival where there was country and western.

For the pubs we play at it’s 2x45. They generally want us to start at 9 and finish around 11, with a break in between. There can be a bit more variety for the Sunday afternoon pub gigs, which have become more common in the last 10 years.

My bucket list has become local venues I can get to for free using my OAP bus pass. With one bass, a Barefaced One 10 and Trace Elliot Elf I’ve become, in the immortal words of Jasper Carrot, the nutter on the bus. 🤓

My originals band, Diamond Bridges, played a set at yesterday’s Nailed It festival in Belper. It’s a great little one-day event with music in eight pubs across the town. All within 15 minutes walk of each other. The ethos of the festival is very much original music only. Consequently, there’s a lot of solo performers and duos but all of the larger pubs had at least a couple of bands. We had the 9pm slot at The Cross Keys. Slightly shonky shared drum kit and back line but a good Bose PA and a sound man who was on the ball. Hectic turnaround and no soundcheck, but such is the life of a small-time originals act out in the provinces. Very busy pub and appreciative audience. We even managed to come home with fewer cds than we took!

Hiya, sorry I’m late to the party on this one. I live 15 minutes drive away from Spondon. If it helps at all, I can collect and hold on to it until such time as you visit. Alternatively, I’m making a trip down to Brighton on the 25th August to visit the mother-in-law. We usually drive M1, M25, M23.

Last Saturday.

Lovely looking bass. It has a slight vibe of the Warwick Jack Bruce Signature bass about it, too. To my eyes anyway. 😊

A two gig weekend for me in the covers band Top Deck. Both not-for-profit outdoor community events. Friday was the South Normanton Gala, an annual event for the small town close to Junction 29 of the M1. There was a good, covered stage and a decent PA and sound crew. Back line not supplied, so I took my Markbass LM3 and Barefaced Midget T. Plenty loud enough on stage and the soundman miced it up for ‘out there’ on the field. I played my Mustang PJ. As far as I could tell, everyone before us had sang to backing tracks, so an hour of a full band changed the atmosphere and we had a loud and appreciative audience. No pay for anyone, but drink and food tokens. I was driving, so put my efforts into eating chips. Saturday was Folk in the Woods* , an annual mini-festival at the Waingroves Community Woodland. The woodland area had a coal mine until the 1980’s and has been revived into a nature reserve and community asset. Top Deck were top of the bill and by the time we went on stage England had won the football and people were streaming back from the nearby village and pub. All good fun and a couple of encores. No money, but drink and food tokens again. There was back line supplied, so I took the opportunity to use the bus, just taking my Mustang and a few bits. Guess how I spent my tokens. 🍻 Sunday I mostly spent sitting in the garden. *Not folk music, folk as in people.

In addition to @BigRedX’s excellent summary I’ll add; think about how you’ll store and keep the stuff between gigs and who has responsibility for transporting it back and forth. When I was in a band that shifted a lot of t-shirts we kept them in an old-style suitcase bought at a charity shop. It kept them clean and neat and when opened up on table looked good, and a little “spivvy”. A bit Private Walker from Dad’s Army.

Slight aside. I am currently sitting in the atrium of Derby University campus. It’s an open day, intended to entice youngsters to come as students. I’m here to buy my daughter a coffee as she’s working (student finance advisor). The music pumping through the sound system is a nonstop stream of 80s and 90s hits with a few noughties here and there. At first I was bemused, and then it dawned on me. It’s the accompanying parents they’re trying to butter-up. 🤣

We do Locked out of Heaven by Bruno Mars. Always goes down well. oops, just spotted you already do that.

Looking good. Is this your second one? Or perhaps a replacement.

On Saturday night I was out with the covers band, Top Deck, at The Holly Bush, Marehay, Derbyshire. It was only our second gig with Elliott (on Flying-V) as our second guitarist . He’s the third we’ve had in two years. The previous one had to retire through ill-health, the one before that we sacked because of his persistent drink-driving. Fingers crossed we can keep Elliott for a while. It all went well although we were nearly upstaged by the bar manager parading her pet chicken (not sexy slang). I used a Mustang PJ through a Markbass LMIII and Barefaced Midget T.