Norris

Out. They are pubs ffs, not arenas. Keep the volume to sensible levels & LISTEN TO EACH OTHER.

As a kid I started out on trumpet but then migrated to larger and larger instruments, eventually ending up on bass trombone. In my first school band I was supposed to be the keyboard player as I also learned to play the piano. However we had no bass player and decided that was more important than keys. 30 years later it's still my main instrument. I dabble with other instruments, but it's only ever dabbling. So I suppose yes. I was drawn to deep notes and have spent many years happily producing them!

No pay = no play as far as I'm concerned. You can't eat hope, you can't fill your petrol tank with promises, you can't clothe yourself with 'exposure'. We have a target price and a bottom price. As a result we don't play at half of the pubs in our local area. The ones we do play at are the pubs who regularly put on good quality bands, and are usually full of punters who go there for the decent music. The places we don't play at tend to be the 'transition' pubs who can't hold a crowd because they just go in there to get tanked up cheaply before going on to somewhere else. The general principle being if you pay peanuts expect monkeys, and we 'ain't no monkeys

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1408980133' post='2535169'] Looks like we have a potential new Stagg bass owner? [/quote] ^ This ^ For the money you can't got wrong. 99.9% of the audience will not be able to tell the difference between a Stagg and a 'real' DB, and the Stagg takes up a lot less room. It even has dot markers on the side of the neck

I'm the youngest in our band at 48 and have been playing regularly since I was about 18. Yes, kit seems to get heavier, the nights get later and my knees hurt when I bend down to put my bass away. But I believe that I am playing better than I ever have done and there is still plenty of room for improvement. The other night a youth called me "a sick bass player" - which is apparently a good thing nowadays

For months I've had GAS for a 'ray. Having tried one that my mate lent me, after only 5 minutes I was cured. Nice enough bass, but not my thing

WD-40 isn't the best stuff for penetrating rusty threads. Something like [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Abrasives-809-10-Plusgas-250ml/dp/B0001P02S4/ref=sr_1_3?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1408362329&sr=1-3&keywords=plusgas"]PlusGas[/url] would be better or [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-40-Specialist-44709-Release-Penetrant/dp/B00KPUBO28/ref=sr_1_2?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-2&keywords=wd40+penetrating"]WD-40 Penerating Spray[/url].

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1408308658' post='2528917'] Anyone playing in Leicester soon? Not Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday. [/quote] We're at the Nag's Head in Glenfield on Sunday evening. It was originally going to be a 5pm start, but I think it's been moved to a little later now. On Friday we're at the Lady Jane in Whitwick - but that's no good to you

My GOR covers trio have been reasonably busy around the local pubs. We've been out most weekends except for planned holiday. We seem to have a spate of birthdays & weddings coming up too.

Buy this [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peavey-Databass-450W-Bass-Combo-Amplifier-/221516069526?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item339362fa96"]Peavey Databass on ebay[/url] Under £200 and it's a compact monster! It comfortably fits in my car boot, yet can deliver a LOUD 450W on stage. I've had one for over 10 years. I've replaced the speaker cone twice in that time - which isn't too expensive now that black widow speakers have a bolt-on magnet (simple task to swap it onto the new cone). Peavey will still service the amp at a very reasonable cost & spares are still available.

Erm... Red Red Wine I console my shame with the fact I also got PAID for playing it

Keep your backline volumes reasonable. The sound guy will make sure it sounds good out front if you give him some headroom to work with. If you're blasting out from the back you're effectively removing yourself from his control

So we already had a nice Sunday afternoon gig booked, playing from 4-6pm. I do like a Sunday afternoon gig*, especially if you have a day job to go to the next day. You can get home in plenty of time, unload your gear without waking the neighbours, put your feet up and relax before work the next day. Just before lunch we got a message - the headline act at one of the three venues in a local village music festival had dropped out - could we step in? Funnily enough we'd been asked to play at the festival 6 months ago... for free! Needless to say we told them where to go at the time. After all, you don't ask a plumber to fix your boiler "for the exposure" and a free pint of shandy, do you?! They were now offering money - albeit for about 2/3 of our normal rate, but close enough seeing as we didn't have to set up any kit. Anyway, having done the first gig, packed up and dropped off the main kit, we managed to arrive about 20 minutes before we were due to go on at 9pm. We played for 10 minutes... or so it seemed to us. It turns out we did a 2 hour set! I've now had a little over 4 hours sleep, just eaten lunch and now want to snooze! * Sunday afternoon gigs seem to be getting quite popular. We've had quite a few enquiries about them. I think pubs are catching on that people don't really want a late night just before work, and it's nice for people to chill out & take the young family members along for a bit of entertainment.

+1 for Comfort Strapp - wouldn't use anything else

Would it be possible to fit a pet tracker chip somewhere? If they are small enough to insert into your pet they should be relatively easy to hide in your equipment. Not much of a deterrent though, but should assist recovery. The best deterrent is probably a big wheel clamp type of thing. Or drill a big hole through it so you can use a bike lock

Any RHCP

Never wear a waistcoat. That ship sailed decades ago. A hat is optional, but wear with caution. Most people look like a prat in a hat. Never, ever, ever let anyone place a drink on top of your amplifier Try to look like you're enjoying yourself, and it's ok to move around a bit

Lovely bass. I still miss my old 4001 - the 4003 just isn't quite the same

+1 for Fast Fret - it can be quite soothing on sore fingers and reduces the friction that causes soreness. If possible wait a day or two until the soreness has died down, then try to play more frequently to help build up some callouses.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1405897034' post='2506357'] Do both and the rest of the band will think you're awesome. [/quote] +1 I like to dig in. I also like to play very softly. It's great if you can get both into the same song (e.g. Radar Love, great crescendo from pp to ff after the drum solo) Dynamics = interest

Chill out and accept that there's always someone faster, more creative, better looking, etc., etc. On the flip side, you can *always* improve your playing with practice no matter how good you are.

You already know the answer. If the Ric is just hanging on the wall and is only ever likely to do so, then it's a very expensive piece of artwork. Sell it. Whether you buy the Limelight or not is then up to you & your family.

If someone pisses you about badly ... leave feedback!

I am GASing for a Stingray. Another bass player I know is GASing for a Jazz. I have a Jazz, he has a Stingray. So we are going to lend to each other, hopefully cure the GAS, and not lose any money doing it. Time to set up a BC GAS-aholics lending service I think...

£1000 is more than enough to get a quality bass. In fact it's probably enough to buy your amp/cab/combo too! The exception would be if you are after something specific. The last bass I bought was a second hand Ric 4003, which almost without exception cannot be found for less than £1k. Is it 6 times better than my £150 Squier? Definitely not... but it's a Ric, and that's what I wanted. It's the only time I've ever spent 4 figures on a bass, and I probably won't ever do it again.