Happy Jack

Dat's da fella! 200 yards down from The Spinning Wheel restaurant, my favourite place in the mid-80s. That was before the whole Pie In The Sky thing, of course.

Well if you're interested to hear from those who "use solely fretless" there's not much point in asking "how often do you play fretted?". I play both, almost entirely according to the sort of band it is and the sort of music we're playing. To my ears, there are certain styles that just sound better on a fretless. YMMV. Almost entirely because there are two extra factors for me. Firstly, it's a lot easier to sing and play bass if you're playing a fretted bass. Secondly, much depends on the instrumentation in the band. My main covers band features a lot of slide guitar - that's really not a good pairing with fretless bass unless both musicians have very fine intonation.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1490189477' post='3263032'] Some pubs/venues are very specific about what they want though, and no matter how well your band plays the more "interesting" material, they will still insist on [b][i]their[/i][/b] favourites. [/quote] We were once offered a gig at a village pub near Slough, but they insisted that we HAD to play [i]Sweet Caroline[/i] by Neil Diamond. We assumed they were joking but they were deadly serious. We play mainly 70s stuff so it was no big deal to learn another hit from the 70s. On the night, we reached the point where we had [i]Sweet Caroline[/i] in the setlist. The entire pub erupted. Everyone stopped doing whatever they'd been doing and the whole pub started dancing and sang along with every word. Next song ... as you were.

Excellent! Looking forward to this ...

Not to play. It's already looking like it could be a great place to play though. Are you a local (it's 30 years since I lived in Hemel)? What sort of punters can we expect?

Buy a couple of well-chosen books (I'd recommend What Duck Dunn) and work your way through them. Choose a couple of songs where you reckon you might be able to sing and play bass at the same time and try them out. Take a Beginner's Course in drumming. Buy a cheap PA and learn how to improve live sound. That lot should keep you busy for a few weeks ...

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1490181613' post='3262893'] If it`s a cover that no-one knows then you may as well play an original song. [/quote] That's complete nonsense Lozz ... if you want to play an original song then first you have to write the bloody thing!

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1490178129' post='3262823'] Gigging is like moving house... [/quote]

Rather oddly, he's just re-listed it but with a new price of £145. Damfino. He's in Tufnell Park, not a million miles from me but I'm swamped at the moment - no time for this.

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1490176733' post='3262805'] I'd rather drink cold sick personally ... [/quote] Properly marketed, that could be a crowd-pleaser.

After years of wasting our time in the sticks (i.e. West London) we've finally made the big time: https://www.lemonrock.com/junkyarddogs?page=gigs

Gumtree always gives as a 'location' the geographical IP address of the computer used to post the advert. The guy who posted this was sitting at a PC in Twickenham at the time.

Mustang Sally? Don't know that one - how does it go?

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1490173475' post='3262759'] I play in a covers band on the pub circuit. The best part of any gig for me is when we play 'crowdpleasers', when everyone is up singing and dancing. (If I had my way every song we play would be a crowdpleaser but a sizeable chunk of our set is songs that the various band members like but are bordering on the obscure. I'm opposed to this but that's a different thread...) Very few of the crowdpleasers we play are songs that I would choose to listen to at home but if the punters like them that's good enough for me. Granted, Sex On Fire et al have been done to death but to see a crowd explode when the intro kicks in is priceless. Give me that any day over some album track that's everyone's cue to go out for a fag. Happy punters equals more beer sold equals more gigs. [/quote] Sounds like we play in the same band(s) mate! I started in covers bands by playing songs that we, the band, actually wanted to play. A fair number were crowd-pleasers but an equally large number were obscure songs that no one was going to recognise. After a year or two of struggling, we had a big internal debate about whether or not to play more crowd-pleasers, and would this somehow 'go against' our policy of playing stuff we liked. The solution was dead simple. Play crowd-pleasers that we all liked. Job done. If you have SIXTY YEARS of popular music to select from, how difficult can it be to identify three hours' worth of music that is (a) crowd-pleasing, and ( band-pleasing? We've all dealt with tougher problems than this.

IMHO you have to have your own transport. Even if you don't need it right now for your next band, sooner or later you will find yourself wondering why it's so hard for you to hold down a gig or get offered a place in the bands you audition for. The idea of turning up on the bus with your DI box in your gig bag may seem appealing, and it's certainly cheaper than buying and running a car, but you then have what's known as a "single point of failure". Get to the gig and find the PA is f***ed, and guess what - you're f***ed. Even if you get there and all is good, you still face the breakdown at 1am followed by trying to get a night bus home again at 2am. Maybe you're still young enough to find that a fun idea. Inevitably you'll start cadging lifts off your band mates, and at first they'll be happy to help. Until they realise that you are - quite literally - a passenger in the band. This is not a good place to be.

Just spotted this on Gumtree - nothing to do with me. https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-player-wanted/bass-player-needed-for-paid-gig-this-saturday-se-london/1225467593

Hmmmmm ... £150 is not to be sneezed at, but[list] [*]those knobs aren't original [*]that brass nut is not original [*]it looks like a very poor refin to me (rattle can job?) [*]the one thing I never rated the SGC Nanyo for was the low B [/list] [i]Caveat emptor[/i]. I'd want to have a very close look at that and play it for a while before making a decision.

It's really not the same on kazoo ...

I was going to say "+1 for the Snark" but Roger's point about the dampening effect is hard to argue with. In that case, the only answer that works for me is the Korg Pitchblack. That way I can keep an eye (literally) on my intonation even when playing badly-lit stages without adequate monitoring.

From the ripe old age of 60, I'd say that this is chiefly an age thing. I can still remember all the wannabees I spent time with 40 years ago, who seem to have been directly interchangeable with the 20-year-old wannabees who are around now. Only one of them ever amounted to anything, a guy I shared a bedroom floor with (we had no furniture) in a semi-squat in the East End. If I had anything new or original to say musically, I guess I'd have said it many years ago. Instead, I recycle other people's songs and other people's basslines, I have a lot of fun, and it's about as stress-free as being in a band ever gets ... i.e. there are still plenty of fantasists, wnakers, and irritating twats but it's all more-or-less harmless. Investing heavily in "being the next big thing" is strictly for the young folk of today. I still remember when all this were vinyl round 'ere. Oh yes, and that guy I shared a floor with - Bruce Dickinson.

As soon as I joined, they abandoned the idea. News like me soon gets around.

In fairness, I've been hearing that for a while. I really hope he doesn't stop. He's one of the finest in the country IMHO.

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1490003583' post='3261312'] I'm sure we all know why the prices jump (it shall not be named) [/quote]

A headless bass with a headstock? I don't know what you're smoking, Mick, but save some for me, yeh?

Just out of interest, why will he not ship to Guernsey? Is Jersey alright do you think? Or maybe Alderney, seeing as it's a bit closer.