4000

I think the thing that keeps it manageable - just - for me is gigging as frequently as possible. Time away is the worst thing possible, IMO, but of course YMMV.

Horses for courses really. I’ve never played one that I’ve thought was anything special.

One’s not enough. You need to drink at least a couple. 😉

It is indeed why she stopped. Ozzy suffers terribly too apparently. I know it’s very common; stands to reason really. I mean, how many folk like standing up and speaking in front of people? It’s essentially the same thing, and most people are terrified of doing that. I remember doing a presentation at school once, and 95% of the class were petrified, and yet all we were really doing was reading our notes out loud. Same with a best man speech I once did, and yet I was paralysed with fear. Being a musician and being a natural performer aren’t necessarily the same thing, and why should they be? I’ve found that neither meditation nor preparation helps one jot in my case. I might be able to play a set backwards and upside down in my sleep at rehearsal, but in front of people it is always, always different, and I’ve been dealing with it for not far off 40 years now. Of course watching us you might never notice as I usually cover it reasonably well. 😉 I’ve also found that alcohol helps no end, but I tend not to drink hardly at all these days - I was never a big drinker anyway - and one of the band is a recovering alcoholic, so I usually opt to remain completely sober to show solidarity and provide support. In all those years though, I’ve never found alcohol affects me like in your example; past a certain point it will make playing sloppier, but it’s never made me more nervous/anxious.

Food for thought. I shall look into it.

I covered the preparation bit above, so I won’t repeat that bit. In my case, a few reasons. One, because on the odd occasion where I do enjoy it, it just about makes up for the rest. Two, because I’m masochistic enough to want to put my songs out there, although why, I’m not sure. Three, and probably most importantly, gigs fund everything else the band does, particularly recording. If we didn’t earn money from gigs we’d be struggling to afford to record and put out music, which is my main aim. So it’s kind of a necessary evil. Plus of course, nerves or no, it’s part of the creative process in many ways. Also, as I suggested before, stopping doing it would probably fold the band, and then what I would be left with would be a miserable - but likely pretty short😉 - life doing a job I hate 8 hrs a day and hating myself for the rest. Unfortunately, for some of us, in order to keep moving forward in life we sometimes have to do things that we find difficult, otherwise we have no life at all.

I had to go for a pee mid gig once. But as I’ve seen John Frusciante do the same thing at Leeds Festival I didn’t feel too bad about it.

Chronic anxiety and depression means you never feel confident or in control. People have said to me in the past that it’s about being prepared, but it doesn’t matter how prepared I am, the anxiety kicks in anyway. If it was that easy I’d just chuck my meds in the bin, scrap the counselling and samba my way through life, instead of spending most days wishing I was dead.😉

Currently 4. 2 Rics, 1, er, "Ric", 1 Warwick Alien 4.

I suffer from anxiety, depression and ptsd. Whether because of this or simply because the universe likes to kick a man when he's down, I always get nervous before gigs, even if no-one is there. Always have done (started gigging at 17 and am now 55 and it's made no difference whatsoever). The degree varies; sometimes it lasts a few numbers, sometimes the first set, sometimes pretty much all evening. Recently it's been especially bad as it's been a terrible year, for various reasons, and my nerves are shots to bits. But still, I plod on because the option is to not plod on, and I've seen first hand where that leads. We played a couple of numbers at the start of the year at a fairly large local event event that was being filmed by the BBC. Amazingly, we got through it without a hitch (I've seen the footage and we were spot on), but to say I was nervous would be a huge understatement. Frozen to the spot is more accurate. 😉Typically of course, they didn't show our bit, so it was a complete waste of nervous energy. I think the most nervous I've been in recent years was playing to a packed (and very large) tent at the Acoustic Festival of Britain the other year, going on immediately before Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash (something of a legend in my eyes) and on the same bill as Fairport Convention, Howard Jones etc. It was by far the most prestigious gig we'd done, and one where we were very aware of the possibility that we might not be up to it. Thankfully I wasn't alone as the rest of the band (well, bar one) were absolutely crapping it too. I was so terrified I could barely move my fingers. Once again, we actually played fine and went down really well, even getting a great review in Acoustic magazine (as I stated in another thread). I have to say that occasionally when I haven't been so nervous the band performance generally has been terrible, so there's always that. 😂 It would be nice to play one of these gigs completely (or even vaguely) relaxed though, as I'm always firing on about 3 out of 6 cylinders and it would be lovely to play with the full compliment. I think I've only ever been in one band where I was hardly ever nervous, but I was generally very drunk at gigs in those days, which helped a great deal. 😉

I think most people end up playing harder at gigs, even if only a bit. It’s all about consciously trying to control it and not letting it run away with you. It does sound more of an adrenaline issue (fear, as I experience it!); adrenaline is not always your friend (indeed if you’re me it never is). If you can’t learn to control it (correct breathing for starters), an alternative is to have a bass with lower action for everything but live, and another with higher action for live, saves you messing about with it. One thing to bear in mind, Flea likes very low action and he absolutely hammers it, so it can work.

It’s almost essential on a pizza! 😉

No worries, not the first time I’ve been 2 steps behind. 😁

Ah, apologies. Tough when there’s a running gag you don’t know about. Just like being in my first band.

My jack socket - not the lead - failed mid gig as a headlining band, and it wasn’t fixable. Luckily I had a spare. I’ve had a couple of actives where the actives (not the battery) have gone down mid gig too.

There’s a Ric right behind his head, looks like a CS. Who is this BTW?

My missus would have dumped me long ago if I had that many instruments!

Ah, been a while. Have a real soft spot for old Heep, although D&W and MBirthday are my faves. I’m still on Sandy Denny, working my way through The Collected Fotheringay. Got her solo albums arriving this week, then it’s obtaining the rest of the collections that I don’t have, minus the 19 cd The Complete Sandy Denny, which I can’t remotely afford.

I was once in a really loud pub and Ace of Spades came on, barely audible over the din. I knew who & what it was from the first note, even though I could barely hear it.

I love festivals. We did a festival the other year, the Acoustic Festival of Britain, and I got chatting to the legend that is Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash backstage (well, kind of backstage as we were playing in a massive tent). He was playing a ‘72 Ric (I have 2) and we discussed basses, amongst other things. As we were going onstage I asked our singer when and where at the festival Martin was playing and he said “on this stage, immediately after us”! We absolutely sh*t ourselves, but the gig was actually great. Martin’s set was fantastic (I helped him onstage with his gear) and what a lovely, warm, funny bloke. The evening turned out to be one of the best musical experiences of my entire life. And we got a great write up in Acoustic magazine too!

I would too if I had about £6k more than I have!

That’s a beautiful bit of topwood.

I do tend to favour all-maple basses (Rics and Pedulla MVP spring to mind) so there may be something about maple that I like. Or it could just be coincidence. Difficult to say without a proper scientific test!

They sound very different to me too. Unfortunately it doesn’t really mean anything. In my time playing Rickenbackers (I’ve had about 20 now) no two have ever really sounded the same. I’ve switched pickups, wiring etc, and the sound hasn’t transferred, although it has changed to a degree, obviously. They’ve all essentially sounded like amplified versions of their acoustic sound, which has been different in every instance. But they’ve all been maple. I even recently had a bass made which is essentially a replica of my main bass, partly as an experiment to see how it came out. Result? Sounds nothing like it. 😉

I’ve had a jack socket fail on me once, mid gig, so don’t count on being saved by having 2 pickups!