TrevorR

A chum of mine runs The School of Drumming in Woking and is organising a drum clinic on Thursday 24th November. The line up will feature Mark Fletcher the long time house drummer at Ronnie Scott’s but he will be accompanied by the fabulous jazz guitarist Carl Orr (who also MCs the weekly Jam Night in Woking) and the fabulous bass player, Laurence (Lol) Cottle. Lol has played with EVERYONE - from Mike Oldfield and Alan Parsons to Gary Moore and Black Sabbath, and everyone in between. It promises to be a great night with some truly stunning playing! If you’re interested in toddling along then you can get tickets at the following link… https://www.theschoolofdrumming.com/clinics Maybe see you there!

I know several folks in the States who use Dingwall in contemporary Christian worship bands - not much mathcore metal going on in those sets!! The reference to Lee Sklar above is a good one. Recently rocking his Dingwall in Loudon Wainwright’s Big Band and with piano led singer songwriter Judith Owens (Mrs Derek Smalls).

Yes, and good thing I wasn’t there as it turns out that I don’t have an infectious case of tonsillitis… rather I’ve got an even more infectious case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease so currently my extremities are all covered with painful blisters. Definitely not something that my fellow bassists with gigs coming up would want! Yuck. Fully expect a Defra van to pull up outside the house any moment and blokes in hazmat suits to drag me off to be incinerated…

You’ll be thinking of Scott Devine from Scott’s Bass Lessons… nothing whatsoever to do with this. He wears it to help with a neurological condition that makes his hands shake - Focal Dystonia. The glove sends lots of signals to his nervous system from all the nerves in the skin in his hand and somehow fools the brain into not trembling his hand.

Gutted… I’m now looking very dubious for Sunday. Our little fella has been off school the last three days with a lurgy and it looks like me and the other half have come down with it too! ☹️🤒🤧🤢🤕 I probably could struggle along but you really don’t want me to.

Completely forgot to add me and my stuff here… 1. MacDaddy - Custom Shukers / Rob Allen Mouse / Peavey Vypyr VIP III 2. Binky Bass - Binky 10 string, USA Conklin 8 string, ACG 9 string, 3 x ACG 6 strings, Reiver 7 string (geeeetar), GR Bass Dual 1400 & GR Bass AT410+, Helix LT, Pinegrove straps, Richter straps etc. 3. Cetera - Spector (USA NS2 & NS2X, Euro Classic, Euro LX (w/Haz),Euro 'Rachel Bolan', Pulse II ) Wal Mk1 'Geddy Lee', Fender FSR PJ with East pre, Hamer Impact, Pedulla Buzz 4 fretless and maybe Jackson TBird, GK400RB, GK Legacy 800 & Tech21 VT500 Heads, Genz Benz Neox212 cab. 4. Frank Blank - Jabba short scale fretted, ACG SS Recurve, Ibanez SRC6, QSC K12.2. 5. Merton - various ACGs, Zoots, Conway Instruments basses, Glockenklang Blue Rock, Barefaced Two10/One10 6. Eude - ACG Finn SC Classic 6 string, ACG RetroB 5, ACG TKO Modern 4, ACG ChubstRR Mikro 6 string, 2 X ACG Mule 4 strings (on loan from ACG), GK Legacy 500, 1 or 2 Barefaced One10 Cabs, Dod 250(r) modded with @Sibob 7. Stingray5 - MusicMan Stingray5, Tune TWB6, Tune SWV4-BB, Boss GT-6B, Eden EC15 combo OR Trace Elliot GP12SMX combo. 8. NancyJohnson - NS Design NXT5a EUB, Lull JAXT4, Darkglass A/O900, Darkglass 112 cab, Tech 21 dUg. 9. prowla: Obligatory Rickenbackers, a Warwick or two, maybe a Kramer aluminium necked bass, some pedals, Ampeg & Tech 21 preamps (subject to change), maybe the Minitaur & MIDI bass pedals. 10. Lozz196: US Precision, Ashdown ABM600 & Ashdown ABM PRO NEO 210s x2 Ampeg SCR-DI, Sansamp BDDI v2 11. Silverfoxnik: G&L SB1, BC Rich Eagle, Godin Shifter Classic 5, Sprackenbacker Ricky copy, Mesa Walkabout 15 combo, or Handbox R400 + Vanderkley 1156 MT. 12. Happy Jack: an assortment of weird 5h1t that I can guarantee nobody else will bring 13. WalMan (hopefully!): Wal, Status S1 & S2 & Zon Legacy Elite. One of the rigs (probably Mesa D800 & BF One10 or BBII as there's already One10's on the list) or Helix & Headrush. SkarBassOne pedal. May have an old case & 2U rack to sell/raffle 14. Steve Browning: Mesa TT-800 and Mesa Subway 1x15 cabs. SVL basses. Greco Pbass and Tokai Jazz. 15. OrangeFriday: Latest homebuild items - Tubular Bass and Basscape effects plus maybe Jellybean Bass (the one with a few LEDs in the neck) 16. BillyBass: Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas V (J) and IV (reverse PJ) , Balaguer select series Goliath (HH), Tech21 GED 2112 pre amp, Barefaced Midget, maybe a super compact too. Not sure about which head yet. Jam pedals Lucy dreamer, Hamstead Subspace, Jam Pedals Ripply Fall. 17. Wolverinebass: Aside from bringing sideburns and sarcasm, not sure what I might bring. 18. Mudpup: Zon Sonus Std, Cort A4plus, Mesa Big Block 750, Mesa MPulse 600, Quilter BB800, Barefaced Big Baby cab 19. Simon C : G&L L2000 Tribute, Sire V7 Fretless, Ibanez EHB1000S Headless Shortscale. Various pedals (switch, tuner, Hypergravity compressor, Laney 85 Bass Octave, Bass Clone Chorus, Spectradrive) 20. Rumblefish: Reverend Rumblefish,Bernie Goodfellow bass, EBS HD 350,Vanderkley 112 MNT. 21. bass_dinger - Two Washburn 500s and a step-fronted SWR Workingman 12 with a three digit serial number. And maybe the Boulder Creek 5 string in my avatar. 22. Smanth - Harley Benton B-550FL, Kala UBASS, Roland Microcube Bass RX, TC-Electronics BG250-208, Line 6 Wireless, Some Zoom Pedals, Stompz if it is working, Bits for Phoenix. 23. Andyjr1515: Camphor Single Cut (see also For Sale listing); AJR's "Same woods and proportions as a Thumb but, wisely, a different shape" fretless; passing across the completed pink lightweight to Happy Jack 24. TrevorR - Wal Mk 1, Wal Pro 2E, Aria SB700, Frankenjazz, MarkBass LMII & Traveler 2x10, Pedalboard…

Alan is certainly on the High Road live album and numerous Frèjus videos on YouTube… what a groove to lead into a classic Johnny Gus bassline!

Can I have TWO letters, just this once? All About Steve

The Them

Proxy Music …actually that would be a decent Roxy Music Tribute Band name…

I don’t want to go to Chelsea - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

My top 5 have all been mentioned… Davey Paton Herbie Flowers Neil Murray Lee Sklar and Abraham Laboriel Sr …but there are several vying for a place - Alan Spenner, Tony Levin, Mo Foster, Chuck Rainey, Willie Weeks. Though a few other faves haven’t been namechecked yet… John G Perry (ex Caravan, Giltrap etc) John Gustafson (ex Roxy Music, Giltrap Gillan Band etc) Jimmy Johnson (James Taylor et al) Laurence Cottle (Alan Parsons, Sabbath etc) Bob Daisley (Gary Moore and others) Well, that’s another “Five” list.

That’s OK. Just put Basingstoke. Same thing…

Off to the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow evening to see Public Service Broadcasting doing a new album length piece with the BBC Symphony Orchestra celebrating the Centenary of the BBC. Should be an interesting show. Their 2019 Prom celebrating Apollo moon landings was fabulous. My fave PSB tune… The complete 2019 “Race For Space” Proms performance…

…and I learned a new acronym today. Courtesy of @Stub Mandrel http://www.stubmandrel.co.uk/workshop/18-reference-information/246-what-is-a-tlrt

That anecdote puts me in mind of an incident with a former worship leader who, how shall we put it, could have done well brushing up his person management, team leading and tech skills… We were rehearsing for a service and our usual very very good sound tech (as in ‘having engineered for artists like Queen, Steve’s Hackett & Howe, Gary Moore and OMD’ good) was away. The very junior sound guy was running sound. Anyway, we started having this huge low end resonance on certain songs and chords. The WL turned to me and said, “Trevor, your bass is way too loud. Can you turn it down.” I said, “I don’t think it’s the bass is the issue, I think it’s the acoustic guitar getting close to feeding back.” “Just turn it down!” “OK.” So I turned down my amp a bit even though I knew it was nothing to do with the problem. Next song… huge blooming notes. He turned round. “Trevor, I said turn down.” “I really think you should check out if the guitar monitors and check they’re not too loud.” He watched me turn down and then it happened again. He turned back round visibly annoyed now and hissed “I said turn your amp down!!!” I could barely hear the bass now and knew what would happen next so while he fussed with his keyboard and grumbled to the singers I very calmly and quietly switched off my amp, unplugged the amp from the extension socket, unplugged my bass, put it on the stand, coiled up my lead and put it on the floor in front of the bass. All the time the drummer was looking at me like “What on earth’s going on?” I just smiled back, put my hands in my pockets and stepped away from my gear. The song resumed. Lo and behold, big low end bloom… the WL spun round, furious, and yelled, “FOR GOODNESS SAKE TREVOR WILL YOU JUST TURN DOWN LIKE I TOL…” I smiled sweetly at him and said, “You really want to check that the acoustic guitar monitor isn’t too loud, that there isn’t too much gain on the channel input and that the EQ isn’t messed up…” I was in no way sad when he moved on a number of months later to inflict his manifold talents to another church!

I enjoyed the video as a whole but was disappointed that they stuck squarely with discussing flame top vintage burst Les Pauls from ‘59 etc… chances are they will be still be mega bucks in the future. Your question is the much more interesting question. Will your ‘78 Jazz or Strat still be pulling in 4 figures (equivalent adjusted for inflation) in 20 years time. Back in the 80s when I was starting out these were universally scorned and characterised as rubbish instruments with poor QC, over heavy bodies, shonky 3 screw neck joints, weak electronics, over thick varnish… and barely worth throwing away when you could get a nice 80s Japanese instrument instead… …now they’re “vintage” and “highly desirable”. Will that last? THAT’S the conversation I’d love to hear those guys having!

Oooh, you’re starting a Terraplane covers/tribute band, then? Sorry… 🙁

@BlueMoon @Piers_Williamson Chap called Vic Young…

And then continuing treading the boards playing jazz… http://www.deirdrecartwright.com

Ben Miller on drums and Ron Weasley’s dad on keys (great outfit, suits you sir!).

That is very pleasing as you say!

Maybe your browser just really hates reggae? 🤔🙄 #dadjoke

Well, of my top whatever of bassists Chris Squire, Geddy, ‘Nard and a few others have been namechecked already so I’ll nominate the leader of my joint fave band ever. Philip Lynott.

Yours for just shy of £12k! So John ‘Rhino’ Edward’s from Status Quo is selling off a load of his bass collection. Including his Wal. Quite a special Wal… Wal MK1 (ex-Rhino) Live AID bass: https://thebassgallery.com/collections/all/products/wal-mk1-ex-rhino-live-aids-bass Why special? It’s the Wal played on the Band Aid “Do They Know It’s Christmas” video by John Taylor of Duran Duran!!! A quick look at the distinctive flaming on the upper horn pretty much seals it! Wow!! Just WOW!!!