Happy Jack

Which bit is it cracking?

Chris Squire or Bob Birch?

Honestly, using his thumb to fret with, the boy's a fool. I have to say, the basses he brought along to the studio were impressively filthy ...

I can remember genuine US-made Musicmasters being described to me as "cheap copies" of the Mustang ...

Steering away from Fenders is of course a matter of taste - I did the same for years but I still can't offer any advice since your taste is unlikely to be identical to mine. As to what 'lightweight' means, a typical Fender Precision comes in around 9.5 lbs. It's a bell curve, and you can find P-basses that weigh 11 lbs and P-basses that weigh less than 8 lbs, but IME that 9.5 figure is where the great majority of them sit. In my 20s I would have thought of that as a lightweight bass. Now in my 60s, that's pretty much the top end of my range. A typical Fender Jazz is substantially heavier than a Precision - that offset contoured body is way bigger. My feeling is that anything under 8 lbs can fairly be described as 'lightweight', but don't forget that balance is crucial to the equation, and that your choice of strap is also very important. You can often save weight by going hollow-bodied or semi-acoustic ... a genuine German-made Hofner will usually weigh around 6 lbs, a Fender Thinline or similar (e.g. the Grosmann Classic Semi-Acoustic currently in the For Sale section) will be around 7.5 lbs. You can also save by going futuristic and minimalist ... check out Steinberger and similar. Above all, never lose sight of the fact that bad posture does WAY more damage than the weight of your bass ever could do.

Outstanding, and such a great photo too. You're dressed for jazz, but the line-up implies something else?

Kinell Roger ... is that really you?

In the time it took you to type all this, you could have learned how to use it properly ...

When people ask about it, do tell them that you've installed a Brass WonderTone Hydraulic Boost Module which uses carbon dioxide pressurised at 80psi to enhance the signal above 1200Hz ...

The original 24-minute programme is on YouTube as a single file. Here it's been 'upgraded' but split into three ... play the first and it should link on automatically. Yes, this is Hemel Hempstead in 1971. Hemel Hempstead, this is Yes in 1971. https://youtu.be/Ztzx89NvzOM https://youtu.be/htqmstXBByo https://youtu.be/TzVjIOC5FhA

It's a bit runny ...

It's his decision to make, not mine, and I can't criticise him for it. On t'other hand, I'm not enough of a hypocrite to pretend that I'm not disappointed. He's well aware that this situation can't last and that sooner or later he will have to come off Shielding; he just didn't feel 4th July was the right date. Fair play.

Until Lockdown hit, any Fri or Sat night that we weren't gigging ourselves, @Silvia Bluejay and I would routinely go and check out the competition, or at least the venue.

Sad to relate, the third band member (who is vulnerable and has been Shielding) felt the risk was too great ... no gig.

Are you sure that's not just the postage?

Has it still got an hour to go?

I use the 3-finger plucking technique extensively with my longbow. Does that count?

For me, the sad thing is that I never really appreciated that Priest was actually a bass player. Sweet came to prominence when I was about 13 and as far as I was concerned Priest was the one playing the funny-looking guitar and delivering those wonderfully arch lyrics. Great band, loved them to bits, Priest was my favourite member (of course) but I knew nothing about bass guitars in those days.

Could someone please point me at the app which allows you to put silly drawn-on glasses on your photograph. I want to avoid it.