Happy Jack

In one band I'm in we have two guitarists, one of whom seems incapable of staying in tune for two consecutive songs (so that's a 60-second tuning break inserted into every gap between songs, making the gaps longer), and the other takes five minutes to tune his guitar before each set with the volume on his combo turned up so that the whole pub can wince in unison. I'm sure they know what they're doing, and we often get compliments on the way that we've built the tuning process into our performance. OK, I made that last bit up.

What is this "down-sizing" of which you speak? [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/General%20View%203_zpsnemdrfq5.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/General%20View%203_zpsnemdrfq5.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-musicians-wanted/double-bass-player-wanted-for-paid-gigs/1171789713 I can't work out if this is a huge Basic English failure, or a very witty piece of copy-writing ...

No such thing as 'not being in a band' for me ... at worst, I'm just between bands. In which case it makes perfect sense to use the extra time available to improve as a bass player. If that means playing in my bedroom then so be it. It's a lot warmer in there than in the woodshed.

Most of the advice here seems to be pre-Internet vintage. IME very little of this stuff still works. CDs? Don't make me laugh ... no LL is interested in settling down at 1am after cleaning up the pub to listen to your studio recording of Long Train Running. Phone calls? Good luck with ever getting through to a decision maker in the first place, let alone convincing them to offer you a paid gig over the phone. My approach? 1. LEGWORK: Find out which pubs actually do music, target the ones you really, really want to play, then go and spend time and money in that pub. Go there to see other bands. Go there for Sunday lunch. Pop in at funny times. Talk to the bar staff. Find out who controls the music. Don't forget to spend money in his pub - bizarrely, most people are more prepared to make time to talk to you if you put money in their pocket, can't imagine why. 2. SHOWTIME: Set up a website, make it look like you're a serious band, put some LIVE mp3 recordings on there - not studio stuff, LLs aren't as stupid as many musicians seem to want to paint them, get a competent person to video the band playing some live numbers and stick them on YouTube. Give the LL an honest representation of what you play, how you sound, how you look. Treat the LL like a grown-up and maybe he'll do the same to you ...

http://youtu.be/30zO31Xwud8

So is this for Charlie Brown or Snoopy?

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1464514676' post='3059935'] No, D&B [/quote] That's better, but did you clear this with JTUK first?

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1464514655' post='3059934'] DB [/quote] Short. To the point. Incomprehensible.

PA equipment is pretty cheap these days, I own several rigs which get used in different ways depending on which band I'm playing in. For King Ralph - a semi acoustic originals outfit - the whole band goes through a Fishman Performer vertical stick PA. For the Junkyard Dogs the vocals go through a Behringer mixer into a Powersoft Digam into a pair of McGregor 1x12s, sometimes with a feed from the electric drumkit if we think it necessary. For my main band (Junkyard Dogs) Silvie and I do pretty much all the gig-getting. As part of our duties we take the trouble to go and check out the competition; there can't be many decent pub rock bands in West London that we haven't seen. Very, very few put anything through the PA other than vocals. Exceptions would be Prezence (keyboard heavy) and B-Sharp (where the very excellent drummer gets to gigs an hour earlier than the others so as to set up a kit slightly smaller than Surrey and then mics up everything). Sad to relate, I am insufficiently geeky to remember what PA systems those bands use.

I have a split coil Precision pickup on one shoulder. Only fair to point out that it's a Seymour Duncan.

Of course! I've often seen cars advertised as having detachable wheels ...

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1464350469' post='3058716'] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EB2-BASS-GUITAR-CHERRY-RED-CLASSIC-SIXTIES-STYLE-BASS-/252325341188"]http://www.ebay.co.u...S-/252325341188[/url] Slightly more honest ad, more revealing pics, and considerably more reasonable price! J. [/quote] [font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif][color=#000000][size=4]"The Grantson had a [/size][/color][color=#ff0000][size=4][b]detachable neck[/b][/size][/color][color=#000000][size=4] and rosewood fingerboard."[/size][/color][/font] [font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif][color=#000000][size=4]WTF???[/size][/color][/font]

Liking those licks on [i][b]Let's Dance[/b][/i] ... mind if I nick a couple?

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1464350475' post='3058717'] I was in there on Monday, Tom's a lovely chap. [/quote] Well that leaves the field wide open, doesn't it? Which Tom? Well?

[color=#000000][font=Verdana, Verdana, sans-serif][size=3]It's the sound level the bin lid makes when dropped shut from an angle of 90 degrees.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Verdana, Verdana, sans-serif][size=3]It's covered by an EU directive (what isn't?) and designed to minimise noise disruption for early morning collections.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Verdana, Verdana, sans-serif][size=3]The bins are designed in such a way that when the lid falls, it creates a cushion of air just before it shuts, minimising the noise though this rarely works.[/size][/font][/color]

They're forming a Basement Jaxx tribute act, to be called Basement Tomz ...

I'm now picturing a photo of Jamerson standing next to Marvin Gaye with the description "this guy plays bass for Marvin Gaye ... anyone know his name?".

Intellitune. But in general terms, for a Low B you should always tune against the 12th fret harmonic - you'll get much better results.

I know that basement well ... I bloody hope they've done something to make the external stairs a bit safer!

Rather a nice-looking Grantson: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grantson-semi-acoustic-bass-guitar-early-70s-made-in-Japan-fabulous-/291752186912?hash=item43edc91420:g:96EAAOSwZAtXJOia It's our old friend priscillasnake which perhaps explains the ballistic price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GUITAR-PEDDLE-/252397859421?hash=item3ac415b25d:g:v3gAAOSw9etXQGV6

[quote name='Si600' timestamp='1464333433' post='3058452'] Are they any good? I got the feeling that PMT weren't that interested, musical items are a commodity to sell rather than something to be interested in if that makes sense. [/quote] Were you planning to ask for their opinion, or will your guitarist be able to make up his own mind about what he likes?

I notice that neither advert mentioned beards ...