Nicko

Ouch! If I can offer any advice it would be to make sure you get a proper amount of physio when it is healed enough to start. I had an operation on my shoulder where they effectively cut the collar bone away at the joint. I didn't get any physio, and it has never worked properly since. Shoulders are very complicated and you need to get it working properly not just working. Good luck.

Impressive, especially if you can actually use those foot pedals while it's on the table.

As long as you are wearing Spandex anything is possible. In answer to the question my first experience of playing bass in a band was pretty much classic rock - my first gig was using a borrowed bass 2 weeks after joining the band and we did a 2 hour slot. Never really struggled to play something that fits even if I can't actually play the song properly. I'm not actually sure what constitutes classic rock these days - in my head it's the 60s/70s/80s stuff but the average pub set list these days is playing 30 year old songs which surely must be classic by now.

Playing anything by Nickleback is extremely depressing but we did Rockstar anyway. The punters clearly enjoyed it more than I did. When September Ends by Green Day is pretty slow, as is Boulevard of Broken Dreams, but both went down well until I managed to convince the band to switch to When I come Around which went down better. Hedonism by Skunk Anansie is slow and a pretty depressing song if you listen to the lyrics but used to get a good reaction - our singist did sing it particularly well though. Under the Bridge? Don't Look Back in Anger. None of them killed the set. We always thought it was nice to hit them with something quite hard, then soften it up a bit before going all out at the end.

The instrument I've owned longest is a 1994 Patrick Eggle NY, bought new from Project Music on the A4. I still play it every now and then. Bass wise I don't get the same attachment as I do with guitars (sorry for the heresy) and have turned then over more frequently. I only have the one bass and it's a Squier CV70s P Bass. I guess I bought it around 2016 at Wunjo as a backup for my Fender P - I traded in a Indonesian Peavey Cirrus which was my first ever bass purchase for the Squier. The US PB went a few years ago through BC Marketplace.

I only watched the first ten minutes and in that time he didn't really say anything worthwhile. I think it's always been incredibly difficult to be a professional musician, and no doubt many of us here do it for fun only. Once we get good enough we might join a covers band doing pub gigs but the money you get for that will barely cover the costs to hiring rehearsal spaces, buying consumables and transport. You might just make a bit of money in a functions band. As for originals bands I think it probably is harder now as the streaming services pay f*** all to the artist, there are less venues and I'm not entirely sure the yoof of today really want to listen to "performance music" in the way they used to. I don't know whether the originals bands of the 80s and 90s found that touring generated income but at least they were able to make money from selling records and the tour was more for publicity. The moment someone mentions "not accessible to working class" really gets my goat though. Pretty much everyone needs to work for a living. I only know a few people in originals bands and they all have day jobs but that's nothing new.

I think my point was that many musicians would just love a large collection of instruments, but few can afford it.

Really?

You have misunderstood me. I'm a P Bass fan, but they are not beautiful. Yes, they have an elegant simplicity. The shape is odd, flat topped and just a bit dull, the headstock is ugly and the position markers (either block or dot) aren't much to write home about. I also play 6 string guitars. I have a Telecaster which again is elegant in it's simplicity, a Patrick Eggle NY Stage (which is everything a guitar needs and nothing it doesn't) and an Epiphone 339 which is beautiful.

It doesn't matter how much you spend on a P type bass, it will always be a tool and will never be beautiful. That is essentially the ethos of the design. I had exactly the same experience at Wunjo a few years back. Loved the colour of the Mendel but ended up buying a Squier 70s CV. I'm not sure that there is much skill in the general assembly of a production line guitar, and it all boils down to the QC department at the end of the day. I vaguely remember adverts for guitars in guitar magazines stating that Fenders are shipped without having the final setup and that it's left to the merchant to do that. Don't know if that is a) true or b) still the case c) applicable to other manufacturers. Chinese QA/QC on industrial equipment is definitely not as good as most industrialised places. When I was working we would insist on resident inspectors, up the non destructive testing and the like if we were buying from China

The £ is weak against the us$ and the Euro, but not that weak against the Japanese Yen, Korean Won or Vietnamese Dong. If you are looking at Far Eastern manufactured instruments there really isn't an excuse for rises in the last 5 years aside from "market forces". Similarly the £ vs the Mexican Peso IS down significantly in the last 5 years. But - and it's a big but, the exchange rate is roughly what it was in the 90s with the £ having rallied against it 10 years ago and then losing the gains in the last 5 of years. I do not recall Mexican made instruments becoming cheaper between 2014 and 2020 so it seems when the £ is strong the importers are ripping us off and when it's weak they use it as excuse to up prices. The big F of course has a habit of moving production somewhere cheaper and maintaining prices - so a Standard P Bass used to be MIA, and is now MIM, the Squier brand used to be MIJ and is now MIC.Indonesia but they never reduce the prices.

I fail to understand why anyone would value a 90s Squier Korean P Bass more than a new Chinese one. Some vintage instruments get better with age but I'm not sure that's true for the vast majority and certainly not for cheap mass produced items.

Oh man, where to start with that? You may have noticed that EV is quite a thing for the LGBTQ+ community who are hardly known for being shy about going out and having a good time in their own special way. The whole point of EV is that it's supposed to be an inclusive event that is worth watching. You won't get more people in pubs by putting ever worse stuff on TV, and let's not forget that we actually pay a license fee not only for the Beeb to screen this nonsense but to fund it to the extent that Olly Alexander's excuse of an entry goes straight (if that isn't an oxymoron) to the final. FWIW I normally go to the pub on a Saturday but I don't like eating early so generally I go early evening and I'm home by 8.30. Unless there is a band on the pub is normally almost empty by 10pm. Bands are generally on Friday and I'm out doing other things on a Friday but when I get home I can normally hear the end of their set when I'm in my living room anyway.

Are middle aged straight men incapable of listening to interesting music then? I assume they make up the sizeable chunk of the audience at most of the gigs people here play.

Are middle aged straight white men incapable of an exciting song then? As for Eurovision this year I didn't bother, possibly the first time in years I haven't seen any of it. From what I've read I didn't miss much.