ricksterphil

I have a passive Bass Collection Power Bass which cost £95. It's very good and compares favourably with my more expensive basses. Try as many as you can before you buy and a good set up is critical

Wibble!

Our guitarist/vocalist Mel suffers from Fibro and it's very debilitating for her so I sympathise

Thanks for the page like Ray, and it would be great to see you at a gig of ours. I was so impressed with Bluesparky's positive attitude in the face of such a battle. It serves to remind us of the fragility of life! I'm not aware of The Achievers but will check 'em out

That's fantastic! Basschat is an excellent forum, anyone who followed bluesparky's posts about his battle with the big C (a fight he sadly lost) will attest to that. We're playing The Latch Lifter in Ilkeston on Oct 19th @Raymondo so drop in if you're not busy, I always like meeting up with fellow basschatters. My band

To be printed off and stuck on the wall in our kitchen...or maybe on the wardrobe door next to her shoe collection I've got 4 ('kin amateur eh!) Mike Lull M4V Bass Collection PBass Tanglewood Odyssey Acoustic Bass Maruszczyk Jake 4p 55 basement and 2 guitars

I get a bit of tendon pain in my plucking hand arm and when I go to my chiropractor for my neck and she sorts my arm out too. I had a tendon strain in my left arm from picking up a cab at the wrong angle which didn't self heal - she sorted that out and it hasn't returned. I've gone down the 'not hitting so hard and turning the amp up' route which helps. I now use a soft wooden pick on songs with fast runs (Panic in Detroit and Hang onto Yourself) which changes my arm and hand position so it doesn't affect or inflame the tendons in my arm. I might try the banana thing too - I usually eat 1 a day anyway, so might double the dose!

Never been as a punter, played one in my teens in Worcestershire. Alexis Korner was there (yes it was many moons ago) and said we we're crap (he was right).

...and there you have it. It really wouldn't do if we all liked the same stuff, and anyway Emma Bunton was/is proper fit imo

Spot on!

Finding the right mix of other musicians is key. The band I'm in at has it and it's pure gold!

Ashes to Ashes I struggled to do anything resembling slap until we did Ashes to Ashes, which is a mix of slap and fingerstyle. Having to get on top of it for this song I have managed to make a reasonable fist of it. Les Claypool I am not though!

Yup + 1 for AMPband

Bought a TC Electronics Sub n Up off Josh. Smooth easy transaction, recommended

We try to capture the 'essence' as we're a David Bowie Tribute with 2 guitars, no keys and no sax. For Pretty Things one of our guitarists plays her interpretation of the piano intro and outro....seems to work ...and our lead singer is female so we're capturing the essence for every song in reality

Played The New Barrack Tavern in Sheffield Saturday night, decent crowd and got £70 extra (on top of our fee) from a hat passed round the crowd. It was Stephanie the landlady's birthday too. Great night...we're back there in July

Big fan of the G man back in the day...still am but don't play his stuff much.....this has prompted me to get his albums out again. My first ever proper gig I went to was at the age of 14/15 was to see Rory at Birmingham Town Hall around 1972. I hadn't a clue who he was but my sister and her school mates were going and there was spare ticket. The support was Greenslade (remember them?) who were not my cup of tea, but even tho I hardly knew any of the songs, Rory blew me away with his passion and energy and of course his playing. He was on for ages, seemed like 3 hours and at the end, the stage manager kept coming out to get him to stop playing and Rory would play another song - talk about delivering value for money. I've seen him twice since, once at De Montfort hall in Leicester and the last time at the Hammersmith Odeon in about 1978. As always he played a blinding set and by this time I knew all the songs and all the words...a truly memorable experience. I've not read Gerry's book....I would imagine that Rory was hard work in the latter years when the alcohol abuse was ramping up. Some of the recordings I've listened to of gigs he did at Rockpalast, you can hear in his voice that he's out of his head....such a shame. I was so gutted when I heard he'd died, what a modest, unassuming and talented guitarist and songwriter he was.

We use a fabric banner, which is very light (its about the same as a tablecloth) which we got from here https://print24.com/uk/advertising-equipment/fabric-banners/ Easier to hang than a vinyl banner - you just need gorilla tape