Happy Jack

Blues jams are really great fun, Lardy. My advice would be to forget tabs and charts ... just play along to a bunch of 12-bar stuff until it becomes second nature. I'm not talking months and months of work here, weeks would be nearer the mark. Crossroads is pretty simple even as played by Jack Bruce, especially the Live! version.If you learn to play it with the octave bounce in the main riff, then you can always drop that bounce to simplify it when playing live if it gets a bit too much.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-musicians-wanted/bassist-bass-player-wanted-any-age-or-ability/1163703676

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1460190492' post='3023345'] Yeh, but imagine a book by a celebrity chauffeur who drives movie stars, politicuans etc that centred on the cars, druving etc? [/quote] OK, imagine that book by that driver, only it doesn't actually centre on the cars and the driving ... it centres on the car he learned to drive in, and the driving instructor, and the different types of cars that existed when he was a teenager, and the amount he was drinking while driving celebrities around. The only reason that you know he was actually the actual guy who drove Les Dawson to his epochal meeting with Ronald Reagan is because you read about it somewhere else ...

I tried buying my overload drummer some lighter-weight sticks. We still laugh about it. Occasionally.

I made my peace with Jerry a long time ago. He's a genuinely lovely guy, and we had a few very constructive email exchanges about my comments, then Silvie (bluejay) and I went up and met him a couple of times when he was playing the rock'n'roll Mecca that is ... erm ... Stourbridge. In fairness, my problem was always with the description of the book on the cover, which implied that the book was going to be about playing bass with Elvis, The Doors and Bob Dylan. It wasn't. I still reckon Jerry has another book inside him.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1460108477' post='3022595'] I complained to the manager on the way out, but he said 'that's how they like it'. [/quote] Are you sure he didn't say, "that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, they like it, uh-huh uh-huh"?

I'm here to help, sir.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1460101725' post='3022507'] The PA cabs we had were heavy and big. Something like 1m X 0.5m on the front and just as deep, made from pretty heavy chipboard or 3/4" ply. That was for 50w a side, but they were fairly loud. [/quote] But on t'other hand, all this were fields back then ...

Apropos of nothing at all, one of my favourite reads is Mo Foster's book "17 Watts?". If you've not read it, just go find a copy. Superb. The title comes from the moment when his first band upgraded their one, shared combo to a WEM Dominator, rated at 17 watts. They weren't sure what they were going to do with all that power ...

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1460066413' post='3022380'] Will persevere with the technique. [/quote] And there's the core (pun intended) of it. As I say in one of those presentations, if you do these exercises once then it's just "meh ... so what?". Do them routinely and regularly and the effect is cumulative. The absolutely key thing, though, which is an instant win, is A-framing. Works immediately and works every time.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Bob, I'll see if I can sort something out tomorrow!

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1459957567' post='3021277'] if i want to play "teenage kicks" on a £40,000 diamond encrusted bass made of compressed unicorn hair I will [/quote] Well it's not very 'punk' is it? Couldn't your diamond-encrusted bass be made instead out of compressed gob?

It's OK, no one is going to steal it.

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1459954318' post='3021225'] Besides...image is far more important than tone. [/quote] Especially when you're widdling.

[quote name='Deedee' timestamp='1459952432' post='3021196'] I have however just taken delivery of an old valve head sent through Parcelforce from deepest, darkest Devon that appears to have made it in one piece. This was mainly due to the valves being protected inside with bubble wrap and the fact that it's in a SKB case! [/quote] I once shipped a Selmer T&B 50 (1968) to a guy in Sarajevo. Before packing it, I took the back off and removed all the pre-amp and power valves, wrapped each valve individually in an old (but clean!) sock, and then folded all the valve-socks into an old (but clean) T-shirt. The entire T-shirt bundle was then wedged back into the casing alongside the transformer before the back went back on. The buyer was delighted, and everything worked first time.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1459952804' post='3021204'] Weren't El Greco's cheap knock offs of Rickenbacker paintings? [/quote]

The first Barefaced cab I ever bought was the first-ever production Big One, many years ago. The reception ladies at my office watched as a large lorry pulled up outside, the cab was manoeuvred to the back of the lorry, and then simply dropped four feet onto the road. The bottom was crushed in one corner, the internal crossover was ripped off its mounting, and the whole thing had to go straight back to Alex in Brighton.

Anyway, how is any of this a [i]non sequitur[/i]? Or has that phrase changed its meaning recently?

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1459948655' post='3021140'] I don't drink, smoke or take drugs. [/quote] It's not too late to start Mick. Just because you're a bit older than the other guys hanging out by the swings in the playground at midnight, that shouldn't stop you from doing what you want in life.

I've played one, in the Warwick Custom Shop in NYC - now sadly gone. It was OK, but nothing more than OK. Better than the Aria EUB jobbies, nowhere near as good (or as "real") as my KK Baby Bass.

I'm at work ... people might look askance if I sat here wearing headphones! I saw Talkbass and he looked American to me.

In truth, you don't actually need an American accent to do these videos. Here's one I prepared earlier (August 2014): http://youtu.be/bakDMyALGt0 And here's the extended version I did three months later: http://youtu.be/XqBRxu21oZc

Don't they still make these?

[quote name='linear' timestamp='1459875714' post='3020508'] 'pretentious music for 30-somethings who like expensive coffee and vegetable boxes, played by people who don't practice enough' [/quote] It's trending on Twitter as I write ...

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1459867950' post='3020395'] I can imagine "an alternative/pop/folk/punk band" quite easily ... [/quote] I'm thinking James playing [i]Hot Love[/i] on a fiddle while shouting "Oi!!!" occasionally.