FinnDave

I'm depping with my old band in Swindon at a ticketed function. That's all I know about it.

Flats and a pick are where it's at - perfect combination.

I agree, when I was able to play finger style (from sometime in 1973/4 until December 2015) I always used rounds. But since then I have had to change to pick only due to a hand injury and prefer flats. Light weight LaBella flats on an active Jazz Bass played with a pick sound wonderful!

I am really struggling to think of a good reason to have a second (or more) account on a forum. I really can't think of anything that doesn't suggest it is an underhand way to create trouble.

Has anyone ended up buying a bass from themselves, and if so, how was the haggling conducted? Did you have to drive to a distant motorway service station in order to conduct the transaction in front of a mirror?

Round 'em up and ban them all. Both of all of them - or is it all of them both?

I'm fairly sure that we're not the same person.

Having more than one account so you can express different views seems a bit underhand to me. You might find you're arguing with yourself. No wonder there are frequent threads about mental health!

I won't be taking anything heavier than a Super Compact to the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge again - carrying a 2x12 up and down the slippery wet iron fire escape steps is not something I want to be doing too often! Great venue once you're in, though as usual, there is very little parking nearby. I managed to get one of the very spaces opposite the entrance last time we played there, we used to be able to park in the small car park nearby, but that's private now.

I decided it was better to measure them tonight, as my wife will be at work tomorrow and she knows a lot more about clothes and how to measure them than I do! The are all Gildan shirts, tie-dyed and screen printed for us by a company in Devon. Chest sizes in inches are: Small - 34" Medium - 38" Large - 42" Extra Large - 46" (standard bass player size - at least, that's what I wear!) XX Large is 53" The logo on the front is a bit bigger than the one in the photo I posted as they are from a more recent, revised batch. After carrying them downstairs, unpacking them measuring them and then re-packing them, I need a rest before I go to bed!

Thanks Dave - I'll run a tape over them in the morning.

We've got small, medium, large, extra large and xx large - all standard sizes. I could run a tape measure over them in the morning.

Here you go, Dave, £15.00 each and a couple quid for the post.

Too right you don't! I've got bags of Grateful Dudes T shirts upstairs getting in the way of my basses!

Anywhere in Reading is a bloody nightmare - nowhere to park and very closely monitored bus lanes all over the place. And once you've found somewhere to park that looks like it might be OK for the evening, it's still a bloody long way to schlepp amps and cabs to wherever you are unlucky enough to be playing. I've played gigs there where the band has collectively paid more in parking and bus lane fines than they have been paid. I refuse to go back there. Mind you, I've agreed to play in Oxford early in the New Year, parking is a nightmare there as well.

I played four string basses for well over 40 years before deciding to try an extended range bass. Five is an odd number so I skipped it and went straight to six. Played all my rehearsals and gigs this year up until October with the sixes, including festivals in the UK and Germany, but have now returned to four as I found them more natural under my fingers. Just force of habit. No problem adapting to six after the fours, and only a few switching back (I miss the top C more than the low B).

Damnit, got me bang to rights, guvnor. I'll leave the dosh in the usual place.

Wasn't me, honest! I worked mostly for TV News, with a few years 'on attachment' to Documentary Features, which was the unlikely home of the Clive James Unit. To be fair, some of his output was documentary, but not the bits I worked on. I was never involved in music at the beeb, though I did I play in a band made up mostly of BBC staffers at the time.

I'm surprised that no one has found a cure for that yet - a most unpleasant condition, far worse than tennis elbow.

We (The Grateful Dudes) often play for three hours, and people still want more - but the band we cover would do the same! People pay to come and se us, so we make sure they get their money's worth - plus we enjoy playing and only stop because the venues have curfews.

I miss my Alembic, even if it was just a lowly Epic, it was still so much better than anything else I've ever played. Finances dictated it leaving my care. I hope to get another Alembic before I get too old to know what to do with it!

Spot on. I reckon the Oxfordshire Bass Collective is united on this approach (well, at least two of us are!). I don't think I know any musicians around Banbury despite living half an hour or so away near Witney. I've played a few gigs there but can't even remember the names of the places I've played, which is strange.

I can only answer the first part as I don't often go to other people's gigs, but best gigs I've played in this year have been the three night run we played in Germany early in the summer, and the most recent one, our second time at the Fiddler's Elbow in Camden a week ago - everything fell into place, we weren't playing the music, the music was playing the band, and the energy coming off the audience was incredible, we were surfing this huge wave and barely noticed that we were playing. Can't really think of a worst gig, but probably the least best in 2019 was our second time at Cockfosters in the autumn, we had to bring the PA down from Leicester and the guy who was running it had never used the desk before, so the FoH sound was never very good, and there were moments of feedback so bad we couldn't play.

Just read this right through, I don't get the people saying 'do the gig, it looks good on your CV' - we're talking about a pub band here, not some corporate entity. I absolutely wouldn't play the gig in your position, nor would I communicate that to them - they've kicked you out, you don't them any consideration. If they haven't got a replacement lined up, then they're going to look pretty silly if they arrive at the gig without a bass player. Well, they should have thought of that before they did the dirty on you. Walk away and forget them. Some people aren't worth remembering.