FinnDave

So was I, lovely chap who I had the pleasure of meeting on several occasions. But his illness was well-documented, a dignified slow decline, so I can't say I was shocked when he died. Sad, but not shocked. The world was a better place for his presence, and that presence is still felt in his influence.

Just made my first music related purchase of the year - a set of strings for my back-up six string as it has been hard to keep in tune recently, which rather negates it's use as a back-up! As usual, the bass will be taken round to Dave Smart's for the string change and set up (it's not been looked at since I bought it last year, still has the original strings on as well!)

You suffer from a phobia of German sausages? (and also seem to have difficulty in spelling wurst!)

Rory Gallagher. I was working for BBC TV News and was asked to assembly material on him - they had to repeat the name as I didn't connect the request with one of my favourite musicians - that was part of the real world, not the strange world of television. I was also rather shocked when I read Kevin Ayers' obituary in the Times, while sitting in my local pub a few years ago. No one else in the place had heard of him, I was amazed to find.

Our next show is at the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge on May 26th. I've only just looked at the promo page the venue's put together, unfortunately it has the previous bass player in the pic! https://thetradesclub.com/events/the-grateful-dudes-2?fbclid=IwAR1WzBn7oSujcGMtMSsB9-qm44am21MjeSsog-2Vj2xeI8OycS6sFMkuYjw And the following weekend we're at the Playing in Band festival, Plauen, Germany.

I've decided not to buy any more basses now, it takes too long to teach them all the material I need to play!

No, in the real world. I've been playing for 45 years, over 40 finger style exclusively but had to change to a pick 3 years ago after a motorcycle accident damaged my right hand. I experimented with many different shapes and thicknesses, and found that thin picks messed up my timing, with a thick inflexible pick, I was in full control. Might not be the same the same for everyone, but don't dismiss my experience with a throwaway one liner. A moderator should know better!

I want zero flex from a plectrum, flex equals delay and f*cked up timing!

I use these too, but only the 3mm ones. Good for scaring guitarists if they ask fir a pick, too!

I think you need to define 'medium sized gig' before you will get a realistic answer. I was using an Ashdown Touring combo for pub gigs until injuries meant I couldn't lift it. I would call pub gigs 'small', though. Medium sized to me means music venues of 100-250 capacity. Anything larger and you'd almost certainly be going through the PA anyway, so the combo is just a stage monitor.

Great venue, we played there Good Friday.

And on mine as well! We're friends on Facebook but I am looking forward to meeting him face to face again, even though we'll both be about 40 years older than the last time we met!

I've found John to be very helpful, and generous with his time. I bought a uni pre from him, but my local guitar tech was unable to fit it into my Ibanez six string. I emailed John and he asked me to bring it over (he lives about 12 miles from me) and he spent a couple of hours with me on a Saturday afternoon just after Christmas talking bass, bands, and pre amps. He decided it was not possible to fit the pre amp into my bass, but was intrigued by the challenge. A truly genuine person. At one point he said to me 'Stanley Clarke was standing just where you are now only a week ago'. John East is a living legend.

I think the next band I'm going to see is Here & Now at the Summer of Love party in Kent in August. I followed them around the free festival circuit back in the 70s and got t know them a bit. Must be nearly 40 years since I saw them though! Weird part is that they are the second to last band at SoL, and we are the headliners - not going to be easy going on after a band I've admired for so long!

That's what roadies are for surely? (lifting cabs, that is, not sorting out your goolies - though if that's what floats your boat, then why not?)

I just tie my (bass's) neck to the strap on the side of the amp. Secure, quick and zero cost (assuming you own some string or velcro)

We thought we had it just right at 11 songs for the hour and half second set last saturday, but we ended up skipping three of them, and just scraped in before the 11pm curfew!

The gig was streamed, but the picture quality is rather poor. We recorded it, as always, and that will end up on our Bandcamp page. The keyboards' player's son(s) were there taking photographs, but I don't think he/they did any video this time. They made a good quality multi camera video of our slot at the last SoL (Summer of Love party, in Kent), though. That's on our You Tube channel, under the band's name. Not sure a video could completely capture last night, there were times when the entire room felt as if it had detached itself from the rest of Putney and hurtled off into space - and on several occasions I was aware of someone standing next to me on stage, who simply wasn't there when I turned to look. And that's with absolutely no drink or drugs, just the vibe and the music. One of those gigs where the band feeds off the energy of the audience, which gives them more energy and it grows rapidly until something magical happens. The Dead tradition lives on!

There is always the option of having the control cavity routed out so the uni pre will fit, but I'm holding off on irreversible surgery on the bass for now (and on myself, until that Alembic six comes up!)

Not sure how many paper rounds are left now, certainly in rural areas such as where I live. I loved my Alembic dearly, and it pained me to part with it, but I had too many 4 stringers, and storage plus insurance costs are a problem. That's the second gig I've played with the 1206 (we don't gig too often) and it feels quite a natural bass to play, and sounds great. Would be even greater with an East pre in it, but even John East had to admit defeat on that one. He told me that he has something in the pipeline that ought to fit, though.

Thank you - the last 15 or 16 months spent learning the material are finally starting to pay off!

Don't forget to remove the hockey mask before you eat though