TrevorR

If I didn't already have two Snarks (brilliant) I'd probably have bought a Polytune by now...

Yeah, the two things which struck me were it's not clear if you're looking for a replacement or a temporary dep. And dial down the "hey we're a bit zany and kooky". I guess that they're intended to show that you both take the music seriously and look to enjoy it. However in an ad they com across as a bit naff. I'd have said... [size="1"]"This means we are looking to find someone to front the band and sing occasional male/female twin vocal songs/duets, we’ve..." "[size="1"]We're all working professionals aged from 30 to 40."[/size][/size] Having "childish" members will be an immediate turn off for any applicant. This will read as "[i]One member of the band is an utter dick. Probably the drummer. And you'll need to sing with him.[/i]"

Mo Foster plays some lovely fretless on his solo albums... http://youtu.be/ribitQEUA3A http://youtu.be/xGKilB2xalE http://youtu.be/pZpx-rswKiA

There are no wrong notes, there is only "Jazz"! Gordon Giltrap tells an anecdote that when he was an up and coming guitarist he was chatting to Hank Marvin who said to him, "If you ever play a bum note then always play it again the next couple of times that bit of the song comes up. That way people will think it's not a wrong note but an arrangement and assume that they're not musically advanced enough to understand." Apparently, many years later, when he was playing in Sir Cliff's Heathcliffe musical doing acoustic interludes between the scenes as "The Troubadour" one night he dropped a bit of a clanger in one tune. He dutifully incorporated it for the rest of the tune. Apparently Sir Cliff sidled up to him afterwards and said... "I noticed that a little bit of, ahem... Jazz... crept into that tune tonight." Gordon nods sheepishly, "I noticed that you deliberately repeated it a few times." Gordon nods sheepishly. Sir Cliff looks him straight in the eye and asks "Have you been talking to Hank?" before bursting into laughter.

Played a few nice ones when I was in a function/wedding band too... a lovely old brick cellar with suprisingly good acoustics near Waltham Abbey, on the grand marble staircase in hte entrance hall at a public school in Surrey, in a converted barn in deepest darkest Surrey which had been beautifully done, similar venue in Oxfordshire/Bedfordshire (next door to Ozzy and Sharon's gaff - which was ironically the reason for the super strict 11pm curfew!!!), The Pump Rooms and the Guildhall in Bath (both sumptuously Georgian in their decor), a gorgeous riverside hotel near Henley where our function room opened up onto the lawns which rolled down to the river, Ascot Racecourse... But also some lovely venues where I've seen music too... Ginglik - a nightclub under Shepherds Bush Green which is a converted Victorian Gentlemen's lavatory complex - the sort where you would have had a barber, a cobbler, a tailor etc all in the same place underground. Used to have the very best acoustic showcase night in London (The Big Secret), sadly not any more. They used to have an artist live illustrating the music which was then projected up onto the wall... Sooooooooo cool! Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush - lovely venue. Riverboar on the Thames - saw British Sea Power doing a renewable energy corporate event... Soho Revue Bar (formally the Raymond Revue Bar), London - saw Paul Carrack doing an album launch show case gig there. More alcoves with poles and red velvet wall coverings than you could shake a... I'll stop there... Regent's Park Open Air Theatre - saw Nerina Pallot there supported by Jon Allen many moons ago on a balmy summer's evening. Totally magical. St John's Church, Farncombe - venue of Farncombe Music Club. Always a lovely place to see acoustic based music (and noisy stuff too). Green Note, Camden - teeny tiny venue cum veggie restaurant in Camben. Wonderful place. Fave ever venue. Red Sky July - couldn't get far away to get a full band shot with my 50mm low f-stop lens... too intimite! Minack Theatre on the cliffside in Cornwall... say no more! Eden Project in Cornwall... also say no more. My back room - when we used to do "house gigs". Here's (this year's Grammy winning) singer songwriter Amy Wadge from about 6 or 7 years ago doing a gig at our place...

Well, 15 years ago! And priced to the "current market value" price quoted in an article in The Guitar Magazine... So, yeah Both my Wals for about 500 quid each (many moons ago)... "Engaging 'Smug mode', Mr Rimmer, Sir!" Full stories here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/my-basses-1978-wal-pro-series-bass.html And here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/my-basses-1985-wal-custom-4-string-bass.html

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1456234270' post='2986846'] I've never seen Phil play a Blazer... He did play a Roadster for a time, the active single pickup model with an aftermarket scratchplate IIRC. [/quote] Hmmm...Roadster? Blazer? It was still just a P Bass copy with an ugly wrong way round headstock curve to me at the time... brain made/advancing age/memory going.

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1456316312' post='2987689'] Check out Paul Rodgers - Muddy Water Blues. There's some quite heavy interpretations of some classic blues numbers on there. [/quote] He also did a live album called Live: The Loreley Tapes whic has some top stuff on it. Geoff Whitehorn on guitar duties.

For that rock/blues thing also definintely check out some of Gary Moore's blues albums.. Still Got the Blues, After Hours and his "Scars" band album spring most readily to mind. You might also check out BBM (Bruce, Baker, Moore) for some Cream-alike renderings...

As others have said, the real answer is because I could afford them and I like them (nay, love them)! But for the purposes of craic... Aria SB700 - my first ever bass. Not played much now but great sentimental value (18th birthday pressie from mum and dad). Too lovely ever to sell. Wal Mk1 Custom - fell in love with the Wal sound watching Robbie Burns demo some Marshall amps at the London Music Show in 1988 and thought, "I'd love one but could never justify the price". Bought mine second hand in 1993 for £500. Been my main bass ever since. Will never sell. Wal Pro II E - thought it would be cool to own one since they are lovely basses and sound great. Found a second hand one in a local shop and after a haggling session that lasted 18 months (it really was stupidly over priced) bought it in 2001 or 2002 for £550. Has been my second bass ever since - always took two basses to the gigs when I was in a function/covers band and used both across the set. Will never sell. Frankenjazz - bought cheap off eBay as a project bass. Turned out properly lovely and got used regularly for many years until I loaned it to a producer chum. It now earns its keep in his studio and I suspect I may never ever get it back... Tony Revell Custom acoustic bass - bought as an indulgence from my share of the band recording fund when the folk band I played in split up. Lovely, unique. Paid dividends when I was effectively housebound with ME for two years in the mid 90s. Faith Titan Neptune Bass - bought a couple of years ago because we started doing acoustic nights at church and the TRevell has no pickup and is too delicate to drag around. Markbass LMII, Traveler 2x10 and Traveler 1x15 - a really great sounding flexible rig which has seen me right in a myriad of different contexts and venues... Back line only gigs, clubs with PAs, marquees, hotel function rooms, church, prison gigs, local festivals, wine bar gigs... Polytune pedal - essential piece of kit Tech 21 Sansamp VT DI - because we've now gone amp free at church Ancient Boss CE2B chorus, EHX Pulsar tremolo (a gift from a friend), Morely Bass Dual Wah - all I need for additional textures and more. Lehle 3@1 - for switching basses when I was in the band and used two on stage

Lozz, don't sell yourself short. Since this hypothetical person is hypothetically saying "Money no option" at the very least treat yourself to a Masterbuilt Custom Shop P bass...

Scott Devine is giving his top 10 tips for flying with a bass in this week's Scott's Bass Lessons video blog... http://youtu.be/_7zbE8bpkyM

Easy, two choices for me... A Wal MkIII Custom series bass... Probably an olive ash top, maybe in trans blue... 4 or 5... Not fussy... A 64 YOB Jazz Bass (or maybe a Hofner... Nah, deffo a Jazz)... For no other reason than that would be cool. PS Happy Birthday!

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1456004028' post='2984528'] Is that John Sykes on guitar as well? [/quote] Yes, from the farewell / Thunder and Lightning tour in 1893. Saw them on that tour and the Renegade tour in the summer of 81. On that tour Phil was playing an Ibanez Blazer bass with a mirror scratch plate.

I ended up ditching Bose ear buds after a few years. The performance of the buds was a fine but the cable at the mini Jack went far too easily and quickly for gear in that price range. And of course, the earbuds were hard wired so that was a terminal case. Complained and sent them back on a couple of occasions but even when replacements came back with a redesigned style of plug and cable they still didn't last nearly as long as I would have expected gear of that quality. And I'm pretty gentle and anal about looking after that type of thing. Between use they lived in their own little case, not tightly wound around my iPod. Moral, if you're going for expensI've ear buds splash out on a brand with replaceable cables. Not used them but the Shure in ears look pretty good for the price. Now for the iPod I just use cheap as chips Sennheiser CX3000 buds which, don't sound appreciably different for iPod use and have lasted three times as long. Anything more esoteric and I'll use my in moulded ears...

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1455876336' post='2983119'] The TE website doesn't appear to have been updated for some considerable time. It's won't be long until TE is no more I imagine. [/quote] ...again... A sad piece of deja vu for a great, badly mistreated brand.

Isn't the Ashdown VU for input gain not output? What you're seeing isn't the amp struggling, it's the fact that playing live you put more energy into the strings than practising at home. Therefore in rehearsal your bass is giving the amp more level than at home. Just turn the inpUt gain down a tad to reduce the peaking and increase the master vol a tad to compensate... And yes, if you do need more volume try adding an extension speaker first.

Great band. Did you know that Archive.com has a load of their shows for free legal download? Including the Electrif Lycanthrope shows... https://archive.org/details/LittleFeat?and[]=year%3A%221974%22

Sigh... Just a straightforward way of saying actually only a few are at one extreme or another but most are in the middle. Therefore a few bands (covers or original) are rubbish, a few are absolutely amazing, most are, to one degree or another, OK to quite good... Sigh...

For me the thumb behind four fingers four fret technique has been really useful and one which it is worth working on and becoming comfortable with. Ive got shorter fingers and even if you don't use it slavishly it is a really useful tool to have in the toolbox as a player. Looking across my playing I probably use 4 fret technique about 30-40% of the time. A lazy variant on 4 fret about 40-50% of the time and thumb over about 10-20% of the time, sliding between all three. Building up the pinkie works too, in fact now my ring finger is probably my more neglected finger over preference for the pinkie. It gives that little extra stretch. Those chromatic four fret exercises are good for building dexterity and strength too... Spiders crawling up the string and across the strings. Eg working up the next 4 frets at a time starting at F, then F# then G etc. Or 4 frets from F then Bb, then Eb then Ab and back down to F#, B, E, A etc... I've never had an issue with 34" scale lengths a problem but narrower necks certainly are an advantage.

Funny, I spent this morning on a diet of Doobies... Their first album and farewell gig from the 80s. With those five CDs you have the cream of their stuff. Next two two try are Minute By Minure and Livin on the Fault Line. The other two classic period albums. Tho on both the Michael McDonald soul influence gets heavier. Their self titled album is rawer but a great listen too. Tiran Porter... What a bass player! The later post reform stuff doesn't really stack up to the early stuff but is still quite listenable. There are a couple of live albums which are good too, esp Rockin' down the Highway: The Wildlife Concert. Kind of a greatest hits live set. Studio Discog... The Doobie Brothers (1971) Toulouse Street (1972) The Captain and Me (1973) What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974) Stampede (1975) Takin' It to the Streets (1976) Livin' on the Fault Line (1977) Minute by Minute (1978) One Step Closer (1980) Cycles (1989) Brotherhood (1991) Sibling Rivalry (2000) World Gone Crazy (2010) Southbound (2014)[18]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1455740068' post='2982046'] My job in my band is to play the best bass lines that compliment the songs we play, sing background vocals and maintain a certain level of stage presence. I was not hired to critique or correct other members playing ability. As long as our calender is filled with good gigs I keep quiet. Blue [/quote] Dragging us kicking and screaming back onto topic I found Blue's comments interesting although I didn't agree with them. The difficulty arises when the player thinks that they're doing just what Blue describes but on any reasonable measure isn't. Where they are playing something that clashes with the song and/or other band member (either because of a characteristic of the song - to over exaggerate effect, palm muted metal power chords all through Le Freak, a Mark King slap fest all through Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding... Or by consensus of the band that that isn't what is wanted/required for their version of that number). Then, and here is where I disagree with the last comment, it should be addressed within the band context. Sometimes one member is elected (or the first to blink and elect themselves out of necessity) to be the catalyst for addressing the problem. Unaddressed it just festers and causes even greater problems down the line. Humility and teachability are great character assets for any musician, as the willingness to play for the greater good not just oneself. There have been some really good bits of advice so far on how to help open the guitarist's eyes to a need to change already in ther thread,

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1455876552' post='2983124'] A declaration of war! [/quote] No, just an over simplified statement of statistical theory... Most things fall into some form of distribution and that will include both cover and originals bands... As others have noted. On this table... X axis will be increasing goodness of band, Y axis will be number of bands...

Hake! This could drag on for dace before we all clam up. I'll just perch over here and watch...

I love the Audere pre I put on my Frankenjazz... B/M/T plus pickup pan. Plus dead easy to install...