blue

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1482005715' post='3196972'] Well said. Respect to Macca. [/quote] Agreed Blue

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1482254681' post='3198957'] Stuart and Moose are both MASSIVELY underrated bassists. [/quote] Nice rock guitar style. Blue

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1482353069' post='3199869'] That drumming is pretty special too. [/quote] Smokin! Blue

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1482314753' post='3199405'] We have actually had some cash tips this year from punters and from land lords. [/quote] Interesting Pete, I thought tips went against the grain in the UK. Blue

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1482258980' post='3199030'] I think we would have done it at the full price somehow but we won't be taken for a ride, you've taught me well blue [/quote] I'm sure the owner was on the up and up. However, business is business. And really if there's anytime of the year when even owners are generous to bands it's Christmas & New Year's Eve. If we have good crowds and liquor sales the owners always throw us an extra hundred bucks over our fee. Tips should be good too. Ooooops, you guys are sort of down on tips.😁 Blue

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1482268315' post='3199155'] You missed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac? [/quote] Also favs of mine. Blue

In many cases Ibanez guitars and bass copies are nicer than the Fender or Gibsons. Blue

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1482236433' post='3198664'] Saturday's gig got cancelled by us due to the tiny area they wanted us in and the pay cut to play a shorter set. NYE is a private golf club party, one set straight through for 1h 45 mins, no slow songs. Why is it cool? It's more than twice the pay we normally get [/quote] Good call. I can deal with performing in small spaces. But pay cuts are unacceptable under most circumstances. Blue

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1482232658' post='3198612'] So what your saying is, if say I, for example played 10 very different basses from a MM, to a Jazz bass, to an Alembic, to a Ricky, etc etc. all set flat with the same amp again set flat. they would all sound the same.? [/quote] I'm saying your only going to sound as good as you are as a bass player. Gear does not make any of us sound good, it's all about ability not gear. Blue

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1482195114' post='3198447'] We have a private booking on the 28th at a venue some 170miles away with a paid overnight stay. We head back home on the 29th for another gig that evening and that's us done for 2016. [/quote] Seems like a nice way to end the year. Blue

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1482191758' post='3198429'] Close for me, not so close for the rest of the band as they live in or near Swindon (25 miles west of me). But the last 6 weeks I have had to drive to or through Swindon, so it all evens out. [/quote] Dave, Last Saturday night we had our first snow storm. Took me 20 mins to get to the gig before the snow.An hour and a half drive home. Blue

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1482190588' post='3198419'] We had our Xmas gig on December 10th..... same saturday every year.... then we get a month off Back to the gigs on Jan 7th.... Skegby Scooter Club already sold out! [/quote] It's nice for bands to know they always have a steady anual booking for the holidays. Blue

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1482190959' post='3198421'] We had our pre-Christmas gig last Saturday in Crcopredy, next gig is New Year's Eve in my local pub, just mile down the road. Ten pm until everyone is too tired to carry on, which could be well into 2017! [/quote] Nice Sounds like fun and close to home. Blue

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1482190588' post='3198419'] We had our Xmas gig on December 10th..... same saturday every year.... then we get a month off Back to the gigs on Jan 7th.... Skegby Scooter Club already sold out! [/quote] Cool, January is a slow month for a lot of us in the bar band business. Blue

You might want to stay away from too much red & green. Blue

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1482189092' post='3198402'] I'm well aware of the importance and foundation the blues has in rock and other genres. I enjoy many of the genres that the blues had spawned, I'm just not keen on blues as a genre itself, and what it evolved into once it went electric. I do however enjoy very much the originators like Robert Johnson, and I dig the whole scratchy, time capsule experience of listening to those old hotel room recordings. Authenticity. [/quote] Well said. Cheers Blue

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1482162742' post='3198135'] Flea - partly for the unedifying images of him playing on stage in his shreddies, partly because many RHCP fans seem to think he invented slap bass, and partly because I can't stand his band. Geddy Lee - no doubting his chops but I cant get my head around his band's music to ever be able to appreciate them fully Vic Wootten - aye, a Steve Vai of the bass if you will with some incredibly impressive double thumbing going on and all that jazz but it's like with some beautiful looking women. It all looks great on the surface but you know there's something that doesn't hit the mark but you're not quite sure what. [/quote] You and I are the same page. Totally agree. Blue

We're at Pillars on 12/23. It's an old church converted into a high end club. Just a great looking room, lots of wood work, stained glass and antique chandiliers. Small but beautiful stage and balcony.And 5 minutes from my West Bend condo. 12/31 Ariba's, it like our bands home. Lots of friends and family. It's our 5th year playing New Year's Eve there. And get this, it's a 2:00 - 6:00 gig. So we have the rest of the evening to do whatever we want. A 25 minute commute. Blue

Who has cool holiday gigs coming up for the holidays? Where is your band playing and why is it cool? Blue

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1482147632' post='3197954'] [color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif] Just had this through and sounds pretty decent all things considered (see below), so thought I’d share.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif] When I’m not playing silly math-rock instrumental music with Corybantic (new single soon), I play for a soul type singer called JoCee. We did a Sofar Sounds session in London a little while ago. I hadn’t heard of these guys before, but it seems they put on ‘secret' pop-up gigs all over the world. People don’t know where the venue is until the day, or who’s playing…….and the place was packed. People were sat on the floor, and were silent the whole way through the set. Amazing.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif] Anyway, the gig was vocally acoustic, in that there was no PA, the singers were simply singing acoustically to the room, the mics were just present to record. As such the band, drums & backline had to play incredibly sensitively (read quietly) to that, a good exercise in volume if ever there was one:[/font][/color] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_XyTkynOrI Cheers Si [/quote] Nice, as a matter of fact really nice. Clean high quality professional footage. I wish I could convince my band to do something pro like this. I'm not sure if it's they have no interest or that we really don't have the resources to pull it together. We have the talent. All we do is gig, and I'm not going to complain about that. Oh well Blue

[quote name='juliusmonk' timestamp='1481792717' post='3195122'] Digging in works for 'popping', not so much for 'slapping' (i.e. the thumb thing). But you can do what Doug Wimbish does, which is slapping the strings with your index finger straight on top of the fretboard - that gets a very similar sound, and you keep the hand more in the fingerstyle position. [/quote] I still say Wimbush would have been a better fit for The Stones. I'm not sure if he was ever considered and if he was, what happened. I always talk to Doug when he's in Milwaukee, never asked him anything about it. Blue

[quote name='bigd1' timestamp='1481820581' post='3195461'] I think the main thing is to mute with your fretting fingers. If you use a pick you can mute by resting your hand on the strings near the bridge. I find the best way to get the sort of thing I think you are after (sound wise) is to kind of kill the sound with your fretting hand the best eg in the videos above is Entwistle look what he does to stop the sound. Not sure if this will help, but you never know [/quote] Palm muting sounds cool as hell in it's proper space. I use it sparingly. It fits our rendition of "Stand By Me". Blue

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1482185353' post='3198346'] I'm not much of a Stones fan, and I don't really like blues. Not much for me here. Sorry to be negative [/quote] At some level you might, all genres outside of classical evolved from blues. Certainly all rock & country genres including metal. The roots of blues are there, but you might not recognize them. I'm not a huge blues fan, however I'm aware of the history and value. The blues gave me the foundation to build my improvising skills. It's still odd for me to run up against cats that can't improvise. Blue

I should retract my post. I dropped my 1951 MIJ reissue Fender P Bass face down onto asphalt while standing in front of the case. No damage, a few small scratches. A set up and new strings and all is good. I was lucky. Blue

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1482095381' post='3197640'] Hey Blue. I have to disagree here, I think different basses have a baked in tone, what you do with that tone comes from the fingers. [/quote] We'll you have a point, to a degree. I gig around 9 different basses, the only one with a distinct sound of it's own is my German made Hofner Club bass. Blue