4000

Ah well, best of luck when the time comes.

Original. 😉😂 Seriously, difficult to say, other than apart from me everything is acoustic instruments, with a cajon instead of drums. For that reason we get thrown in with folk but we’re really not folk, although we do dip our toes in that direction occasionally. It’s fairly eclectic, with the main constant being harmony vocals. The acoustic thing has made such a difference, opened so many doors for us. I’m not entirely sure I’d ever want to be in a full blown all-electric band again.

11lbs? Blimey. My real Rics are under 9!

And here is the problem; you think it doesn’t really matter. But to some people (Paul S obviously, and certainly others) it obviously does matter. And mocking somebody because what matters to them just doesn’t matter to you seems, well, “ridiculous…..laughable”. 😉

And this is the most important sentence in the whole thread for me….

Oh of course you have to. But the trick is to be on the same page as much as possible, which may not be possible for ever, hence why bands split up. But surely you’d at least try to start on the same page? And yes, of course a lot of people writing original material aren’t necessarily good, or don’t write accessible material. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to write original material that’s good or accessible. But the point is, if someone’s writing what they like and that’s making them happy, even if it isn’t either good or accessible, then that’s up to them. Of course they may have to suffer the consequences of that, which is probably struggling to get gigs, but again, that’s up to them. 😉

I’m not in a city. And I’ve had the same problem with past originals bands as anyone in the provinces or any other musical backwater. For us, we simply happened to come across a band format that people seem to like, whilst writing songs that people also seem to like. We’ve been gigging regularly - and occasionally but not often in cities - since 2012 and have never once been told to “play something we know” (although someone did once ask if we knew any Johnny Cash - we didn’t 😂). Usually people are surprised that the material we’re playing was actually written by us.😉 FWIW, everyone I’ve ever played with has been involved in writing to a greater or lesser degree, and I’ve written since the day I started playing (it never occurred to me that I couldn’t!), so maybe I’m lucky in that respect.

It really depends. Some of the older, more accurate Japanese copies (Ibanez etc) can be very good indeed. As a dyed-in-the-wool Rick player, all of the recent Chinese (?) “copies” I’ve played I’ve thought were horrible, but YMMV. Indeed you may find you prefer them to the real thing, as they are actually very different instruments and you might not actually like the real thing as they can be a bit marmite. You’d need to play some and make up your own mind.

But if they did want to walk out, it’s their prerogative isn’t it? You don’t have to play anything you don’t want to, as long as you understand what the consequences of that might be.

As usual, there seems to be a lot of not understanding that people play for different reasons going on here. Some play for the buzz, the roar of the crowd, all that stuff. Some play for their own enjoyment. Some just enjoy the act of playing, for its own sake. Some need to play things they like, to feel like they can relate to what they’re playing. Some play for the money. For many -but not all - it may be a mixture of these things. Just because it might not match your personal outlook doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Speaking personally, I like creating and playing original music. It’s the creativity part that interests me most. If I’m playing live, obviously it’s nice if the audience enjoys it, and in my current band they seem to far more often than not. But that’s not why I play. If they didn’t like it, it makes no difference to me, other than that it would then become more difficult to get gigs. But then gigging isn’t the be all and end all either for me. As long as I’m writing songs, recording and playing (which could just as easily simply be rehearsing) I’d be happy. The only person I’m actively trying to please is me. Of course YMMV, and that’s fine too. If I was playing in a covers band I would hope to reach an agreement as to what songs we were happy playing. If I couldn’t do so, I’d probably find another band where I could, or indeed form one with like-minded people. As others have said, there are millions of popular songs out there. Surely you can choose enough songs that are both popular and that you like to make up a set? Of course in a scenario where you’re joining someone else’s cover band and having to fit in with them that may not be feasible, but that’s your choice to accept that or not.

If you’re playing for enjoyment, rather than treating it as a job, and you don’t like what you’re playing, then don’t do it. If it’s a job, then you’ll likely have to compromise. If there’s just a percentage of what you’re playing that you don’t like, then it’s up to you (and you alone) to weigh up whether or not you are happy to make those compromises. Personally I’m not really interested in playing covers, which is why I’ve never been in a full covers band in 40 years of playing, but that’s another story. 😉

Depends on the bass….

That’s your prerogative. I’m glad I didn’t leave it.

Indeed. But seeing as they’ve been in pretty close contact, there’s a reasonable chance of that. ☹️

Oh ‘eck……☹️

What a shame. Hope they’re all ok.

So is Lee doing the whole Caravan tour? I love Caravan and Lee’s great. I hadn’t actually realised they were touring but I might look for tickets.

Oh he played the parts fine, but his sound and feel were a little different IMO and the band just wasn’t the same.

Full size. I love the early Thumbs, although I struggle somewhat with the small body, which aggravates my nerve issues.

Didn’t know that. Had tickets for Hackett but it was the same night as Genesis so missed it. Not that I’m regretting it!

That Thumb…❤️

Loved them Zender-era. I tried to get tickets to see them on what turned out to be the last tour SZ played on, but the only ones left were restricted view, so I passed, thinking I’d see them next time. 🤦‍♂️ I did see eventually see them with Nick Fyffe but it wasn’t the same, no disrespect to Nick, who is a great player. The whole band vibe had changed.

For you. 😉 I use very stiff, rigid picks and don’t like thin, flexible ones at all. I play very, very lightly and more like a guitarist. You have to find the picks that work for you, and to assume everyone will like the same picks makes no more sense than assuming everyone will like the same basses.

The above is Paul Gray. Plays Rics and TBirds. Nice bloke, chatted to him once. As per other posts, The Damned have had a few bassists, including Captain Sensible. The guy with the P was indeed Algy Ward, who went on to form Tank, who I saw supporting Motorhead a couple of times.

I started in 1980 and although my first bass (a new Rick) came with flats - soon replaced - I didn’t know anyone else who used flats. I used the Superwounds for quite a while, they were nice strings.