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I think One FTV is without question my least-favourite so-called ‘classic’ Genesis track. I’ve never really liked it much.

I like Steven Wilson (I have a signed copy of The Raven Who..) but not within a million miles of Genesis or Yes. I saw Porcupine Tree live on the recommendation of a friend but didn’t really enjoy them much if I’m honest. Again, too rocky for my taste in prog. I want 12 strings, flutes and mellotrons. 😉 The Spock’s Beard I’ve heard was ok-ish, a bit meh.

+1 to Shergold, or poss Hayman. He loves his Genesis too, which would likely be the reason. ;-)

Play with the balance of the pickups and also try backing off the neck pickup volume a bit, which will give you more mids and lessen the scoop as both pickups on full naturally gives a more mid-scooped sound. You could even try just using the back pickup and eq that to taste. A lot of people just seem to try to plug in and play with Rics and they're not always at their best doing that. And with 2 tones and 2 volumes you've got a lot of scope. Have a look on Youtube at Joe Bonamassa explaining how to experiment with the tone & volume controls on a Les Paul and try and use that sort of mindset. FWIW I always had mid-issues with the BDDI and replaced mine with a VT Bass pedal, which I found way better. I also replaced my ABM with 2 x VT500s and there's no way I'd go back.

IME RHCP have been very inconsistent live, but that doesn't bother me at all. Saw them first at Leeds Festival (when John had just come back) and thought they were unbelievable. Caught them a couple of times at the MENA with John, once very good, once so-so, saw them at the Etihad when they weren't very good at all IMO, and also at Glasgow Green with QOTSA, the Foos, PJ Harvey etc (night after Slaine Castle?) when they were absolutely stellar, one of the best performances I've ever seen. One of my favourite bands and I'll happily listen to all their albums, although I don't currently have anything with Josh on. Favourite albums are BSSM and Californication, but favourite track is Venice Queen.

My favourite studio Genesis is early Phil-era (from TOTT up to and including ATTWT), and I actually prefer the Seconds Out versions of the classics to the studio or live Gabriel versions. However my problem with most modern Prog is I don't like it very much. For a start it tends to veer far too much towards the rock end of the spectrum for me (I love classic rock, but that & prog generally don't mix very well IMO), e.g. the dreadful Dream Theater. Unfortunately it may be 40 or 50 years ago but nothing has come close since IMO. I love Nick Beggs, but in Hackett's band he simply wasn't authentic enough for me, in note choice or sound. Would have loved to see Pomeroy in them.

I'd say they both are, except I love Bush and don't like Mitchell at all. KB apparently wrote The Man With The Child in His Eyes at 13. If that's not bloody genius I don't know what is.

Saw Hackett on the last (?) tour and have seen The Musical Box a few times. To be honest, I enjoyed Hackett but I enjoyed TMB a lot more. Unless you're going to take songs somewhere else entirely I favour sonic authenticity, and in spite of Hackett being an original band member, TMB have that over his band, who just seemed to do a looser version of pretty much everything. Plus the extended solo at the end of Supper's Ready really just felt surplus to requirements. And of course there is indeed Nad, who I was kind of hoping would fall off the back of the stage at some point. What was Steve thinking using him?

I've had 2, a Supernatural with Saturn inlays and tailpiece in Butterscotch and a MK in metallic white. Both weighed a ton. The Supernatural had a neck that had been shaved and moved if you looked at it (I suspect it was one of the rogue batch basses). It sounded great when I got it, but I sent it to John for a fretstone and he changed the pickups! He said the ones in it were on the way out, but I didn't like the sound anywhere near as much when it came back. I later spoke to the guy it had been made for & he told me the original bridge pickup had been custom wound and was different to the normal ones. My second bass was great (bought from Overwater & set up by Scott Devine, strangely enough) but by then my back had gone and the weight was too much so I returned it. I've played good ones, great ones and poor ones over the years; have probably played something like 30 of them. The most incredible setup I ever played was on quilt maple topped Jaydee (think it was a sort of trans tobacco colour IIRC) that was in the Gallery once; the action was even too low for me! I reckon I could've got used to it though. ;-) Incredible bass, but again, heavy. I'd love a scaled down (and lightweight) Starchild replica with 16.5mm spacing; I remember first seeing that bass on Whistle Test (first time I ever saw Mark King and first time I'd really seen anyone slapping) and it blew me away.

Chris Squire too, and Chris is my favourite bassist. I was a huge fan of the Beatles as a kid and I believe that subliminally influenced the way I played when I started playing bass. Stuff like Penny Lane would be my default setting for bass playing in a song. And if 'Something' is showing off, then count me a show off. Counter-melodies are where it's at for me.

Instrumentation aside it has a vaguely Soundgarden/Alice in chains or similar feel to it to me, a bit early 90s.

I think it depends how you play, and doubtless the musical situation you're playing in, because I've never managed to get a satisfactory sound out of a Ray in a band situation. Thing is, I actually really like how Rays can sound, but they just don't work for me at all, at least so far.

I saw him too (he was a big fave of mine prior to me starting playing), and met him and the band once, when I was probably about 19 or 20, at a motorway service station. I was sat eating with my parents and my mum said "who's Rory Gallagher?" pointing to a guy wearing a RG t-shirt. Turned out it was the band. What a lovely man he was. I still have his autograph and went to see him that night in Manchester.

"Greeny" is my favourite-looking guitar. I love a beat up Les Paul, far more than a shiny new one. Gotta be VOS at least!

I bought a new Fender Roadworn Jazz a little while after they came out. When I got it home I tried to straighten the neck only to find the trussrod was maxed out. Thankfully Dawson's (big up for Andy) were extremely helpful and replaced the neck immediately and without fuss. Sold it a short while after though.

Looks are incredibly important to me, and to most of the musicians I know, whether their preference is relic-d or not. The thing I've found with many relic-d ( or genuinely worn) instruments is they simply feel better. Of course YMMV. And as Bassbiscuits said, something like a Fender to me just looks far better worn. I just don't like the look of a shiny new Fender. I remember when I first saw a picture of Jaco and the Bass of Doom, back in 1980 or so, I just thought the bass looked fabulous. Same with Rory's Strat. If I was to buy another Fender-type it would be a Limelight or Roadworn, unless I could stretch to real vintage. An Alembic on the other hand probably looks better to me reasonably pristine. However I don't generally like owning pristine instruments; the gigs we play, there is no way they'd ever stay that way.

It most certainly is, on both counts. Gates in particular is just incredible.

He's said in numerous interviews that he started using stereo for two reasons; one was to bring the level of his notoriously weedy original horseshoe treble pickup up to something like the level of the neck pickup (his bass was originally mono), and one was so that he could use different effects on each pickup (for instance he said the fuzz sounded terrible on his treble pickup). He didn't bi-amp as such, i.e. splitting the frequencies. The Rick-O-Sound was also available pre-Chris, he just wasn't aware of it. John Hall does credit him with having made the most of using stereo though.

It'll come as no surprise to most that Yes are arguably my favourite band and Chris is without doubt my favourite bassist, but I also came to him late and in a rather Roundabout (sorry) way. I'd heard some of Relayer - as low level background music - when in my mid teens at a friend's one night, and remember I initially struggled to get my head round (a) Jon's voice and accent (in spite of me also being Northern) and (b) Sound Chaser, although I was aware that they were the favourite band of the cool set (yes, really) of 6th formers. At that point Chris didn't really register; I hadn't started playing yet. When I started playing bass I bought a Ric because of Lemmy, Geddy, Roger and Glenn; oh, and Gaye Advert, and Martin Roach, who was at the time bassist in the Blackpool Jazz Orchestra, who my dad played with. At the first gig I played, which was at my old school 6th form (I'd left by then but the rest of the band were still there), at the end of the gig one of the cool set said "bet you wish you could play like Chris Squire". I answered "I can" (I couldn't), with youthful ignorance and stupidity, not having any idea what he actually played like. Then a couple of years down the line I read in The Rickenbacker Book that Chris was famous for using Rickenbackers, so I thought I better check him out. I bought Classic Yes and that was it. Fave band, fave bassist. I was lucky enough to see him with Yes 5 or 6 times, and met him twice. The first time I told him that I had been playing bass for 30-odd years and that in my opinion he was the best there was. He said a very heartfelt thank you, which is a memory I'll always cherish. Thankfully I've also got the signed programmes to remind me. When he died I was in a pretty bad place anyway and also was still shellshocked from the number of other heroes who we'd recently lost, and it didn't really sink in. At the tail end of last year I was watching Yes at Glasto on Youtube and it suddenly registered with me that I'd never be able to see him again and I finally broke down. I miss you Chris, as I'm sure do thousands of others. R.I.P. As an aside, I also got to see Entwistle twice with The Who, although annoyingly I only heard him when they raised his level for solos. If he'd known how low he was in the mix, I'm sure he'd have gone bananas.

My Sei Flamboyant 6 headless had the best B I've ever played.

And this is probably my all-time favourite track, although I never thought the live versions were quite as good as the album version, largely due to the size of Rick's organ. 😉😂 Here's a fabulous version which isn't even Yes, bar Jon:

And another, by arguably my favourite band...

1 of my all-time favourite tracks right there, although (and I know this will be blasphemy to some) I prefer the Seconds Out version, which I heard first.

I remember playing that, assuming it was the same one. I was at Maidstone College of Art around that time and used to go down on the weekend, also later when I was playing in a London band. As others have said, I used to play everything. I remember the first Warwicks appearing (couldn't get my head round the oil finish at the time), and playing a Carl Thompson and a Steinberger back to back. Great shop. Think I only ever bought one bass there though, a Warwick Dolphin Pro II that I later sold to a friend, who still has it. Although I did order my custom Alembic from them after they moved.

Crikey, that'd be most of my lines out the window! Nice though.