Norris

Rautia is apparently the more authentic replacement of the two (and what I put in my SB1000, but only because the original pickup stopped working). The Armstrong is a soapbar in the right sized cover Lovely bass btw

37 years of cover band service and counting...

I can't believe no-one has mentioned Terry Scott's My Brother. Frequently played on Ed Stuart's Family Favourites

A punter said tonight "It's so nice to hear some different music: not Mr Brightside, etc." Our work here is done 👌

When you've just finished playing a song in drop-D tuning, remember to disengage the Hipshot before playing the next song in E. ...far too many times!

For your first ever gig, if you got to the end of it without being paid off, that's a result! Don't beat yourself up, but take some glory out of the fact that you did it. Well done! Save the self critique for later

Squier pickups -> SD QPs Knackered original pots -> KiOgon loom with series/parallel switch Original tuner -> Hipshot drop D tuner All upgrades imho Don't get upset though, 'cos it's never going to appear in an advert until someone prises it from my cold, dead, rigor-mortised hands 😀

Life is short. Enjoy yourself and try not to fosters anyone else off while doing so. Any disaster that befalls you will be an amusing anecdote given enough time. That's about it.

XTC are/were fabulous wordsmiths, and many of their songs make me smile

One night after downing a few sherberts, I was packing the kit in the trailer. Loading my Traynor head, which was heavy enough to have it's own gravitational field, I didn't quite take the usual care and managed to squash my finger. That spilt a fair bit of claret, caused a night in casualty and three stitches in the tip of my main plucking finger. It took months before I was able to use it again and I still have a scar 30 odd years later

If you're really of that persuasion to have to try to conceal such things, the conversation goes thusly... "This old thing? This is the one that I've been saying I need to upgrade to a better bass for years. I thought I'd give it just one more try. You mean to say you've not been listening to me all this time?"

Recent Discogs purchases include Liquid Tension Experiment, John Martyn and Prodigy albums. They all get ripped and go into the iPod mega-shuffle

I stopped coming on here for a while. I'm back to lurking and the very occasional post now

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There's a mono / line out 1/4" jack on the back, so just plug your guitar lead into that and then into your combo. That's how mine is set up at home for playing around on. There are other connections if you want to hook it up to your computer for recording, but you'll only need that one for playing live Oh, and the keyboard probably starts on C because most DJ mix music is in C. You can always transpose it if you want

Bloke says something that makes him look like a knob Roll eyes, carry on, nobody died Seriously? Seven pages?

A few years ago my band was playing and had a fairly long break between sets. A chap we knew quite well was playing just down the road so we went down there to check him out. We lasted about 1 1/2 songs before going outside, to join the majority of the audience, most of whom were talking about the excessive volume. It's not big and it's not clever, and it will drive away any punters that have an ounce of sense. It doesn't matter what ear protection YOU have, the audience probably won't have any at all

Alternatively turn any "gaps" into a mega slap-fest to showboat your skills (I'm joking of course!)

Most songs don't need filling out that much. I play a precision mostly, and never scoop the sound - which does help. On some songs I play the rhythm guitar riff rather than the bass line (e.g. Witch Queen by Redbone), roll off the treble and play up near the neck to let the guitar really take centre stage (Black Magic Woman by Peter Green/Santana), wind up the overdrive to create a wall of sound behind the guitar (All Along The Watchtower by Hendrix), or occasionally play 5th chords where it definitely needs filling out (a couple of accents in Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy). Mostly, just be in balance with the guitar and don't be a shrinking violet

No. They really don't have to be. There are a lot of egotistical knobs out there, but there are also nice people too. You just have to find them

My Fender Rumble v3 500 can easily fill a room. Any louder and you'd be wanting the PA involved anyway Oh, and it's an easy one hand lift

You've broken the ice, now dive in

Walk No, run!

Ebay. I must have had half a dozen today

I'm not the most confident singer, and not a particularly good voice either. However in my experience it's better to "go for it" rather than doing it half-heartedly. Keep projecting, but back off the mic a bit to get the vocals in balance. Certainly hearing yourself is a lot better than NOT hearing yourself. If your band(s) are keen for you to do backing vocals, have a vocal session. Put down your instruments, get the guitarist to play along quietly and practice just the vocals together without mics. If you have difficulty pitching, sing your starting note off mic for a bit before you come in