Kitsto

Sometimes it can taking something unexpected to make you reassess. Some years ago I was in a covers band that played 20+ gigs a year and got plenty of repeat bookings from pubs and local charity festivals. Then I had a family catastrophe (involving my special needs stepson) and all external activities went on hold. The band were really understanding and got in a dep. The assumption was I'd go back in due course. A while later once things at home were back on an even keel I realised I didn't want to go back. The band were great - the others all better musicians than me and I'd been lucky to be taken on by them. But I gradually realised that, although this had been my lifelong dream (to be in a band), there were niggles that had started to grate - as the new boy I felt obliged to get us gigs, to do the bulk of the loading in and out, to play songs I didn't like, the endless waiting around, etc. Nothing serious in itself. But, above all, I realised I just didn't like playing live. I loved our weekly 3+ hours rehearsals. But playing live either terrified me (can I play this song?) or, increasingly (once I could play the songs), just bored me. I dunno why. It just did. Anyway, long story short: I worked out that I loved deconstructing and learning bass lines but - like Neil Peart in Rush - the live stuff was an encumbrance. So I ditched the idea of being in a band (that one had been plenty good as it was) and created setlists of music I like to play from Karaoke Version UK. I now play 1-2 hours a day on my own and absolutely love it. I'm a better bass player than I ever was in the band. Will I go back to being in a band? No. Will I give up playing? Never. Edit: forgot to say - the point of all of this is that, but for the family event, I would never have left the band - I would never have questioned why I was increasingly unhappy in it or dared to tell the others I was off....

Spent my whole like dreaming of being a rockstar. Reached my 60s. Got a gig in a good local covers band. Hated it. Hated playing live (alternating between terrified I couldn't play the song to being bored when I could). Hated band politics. Hated having zero input to the setlist. Hated humping gear in and out. Hated the waiting around. Loved rehearsals. Loved playing bass. Now stay home (am fully retired) and play bass all day to backing tracks. Couldn't be happier - especially having put to rest that stupid dream.

"Years later, Cheap Trick re-recorded the whole of their second album In Color later on, because they hated the utterly gelded Tom Werman studio production. Jack Douglas did their first album and it's superb." I too am a great fan of early Cheap Trick. I never knew this about "In Color" re-recorded with Steve Albini - great to know. It must have been when he produced "Cheap Trick" (1997) with them and around the time or just before he did "Walking Into Clarksdale" with Page & Plant. Incidentally my favourite track from "In Color" is "Southern Girls" and from "Heaven Tonight" (which was going to be called "American Standard" after the US manufacturer of toilet bowls - hence the cover pic) "Taking Me Back" which is superb.

His studio efforts are pretty good. But I've always liked Robin Trower Live!

"Lovely to be back at the Duck & Ferkin. As usual we're packed in between the toilet and the bar. Very cosy. You won't see our bass player but you will hear him. He's back there in the urinals but we've managed to squeeze his rig onstage." Have to say: this is an inspired thread - haven't laughed so much in years! Every single one brilliant!

Covers band I was in. Pub gig. Between sets singist/rhythm says to me (I was newbie): 'You're playing so many wrong notes.' Me (alarmed): 'Which ones? Which songs?' Singist/rhythm: 'Too many to mention.' Second set. Sharp Dressed Man. Crucial chord change mid-solo (which is quite long). Drummer (v experienced) has got into the habit of playing a little fill to warn me of the impending chord change. I've noticed that on this number in the past the singist/rhythm looks to my left hand to see when I change fret so he can change chord under the solo. Drummer plays fill. I turn my back so singist/rhythm can't see. Singist/rhythm completely lost. Train wreck. Band plays on. Lead guitar (excellent player) - still soloing - turns to singist/rhythm and shakes his head slowly and sadly. Made my night! Never criticised by singist/rhythm again.

So pleased to see EB0s and EB3s being talked about (though late to the party). I really like the Jack Bruce look but in my experience the modern versions seem quite seriously underpowered. I had a Gibson SG bass (one of their anniversary issue from a few years back). It was beautiful in matt brushed cherry. But I had to move it on because it had no power or oomph at all. OK, it's passive. So you could say that's an issue with the amplification. But I was so disappointed. In the end I bought an ESP Viper which has an EB style body twisted a smidgeon to give it a 'contemporary' feel. Now that has loads of clout.

I'm now too old and infirm but when I was in a gigging band I used a couple of Tbird Pro IVs (which are active). We had a regular halloween gig and had to dress up as zombies and ghouls so I got a Tbird Goth to fit the part. I saw it as a novelty bass and paid about 200 quid for it. Anyway, these days I play along to backing tracks at home and, blow me down, if it isn't a great bass! I think because it's passive it has a woody thump to it. Anyway, this is just to say that currently it's my fave bass (which isn't saying much - I play cheap instruments, bar a thing called an ESP Viper).

I started with modest ambitions. I just wanted to play with others. Responded to adverts in local shops, online, in rehearsal studios. Also went to see a lot of local bands and gradually got to know one or two people in them. Found a couple of guys who were at the same level as me (mucking around for fun). That helped me get my chops. Then found a band in a local rehearsal room that needed bass. Played with them for quite a while - worked really hard learning the songs they wanted to do. But they started doing original stuff - not my bag. Then, through a friend of a friend (always tell your friends what you want in case they know someone who might know someone), landed the bass spot in a regularly gigging band. I went about it the way (being self-employed) I'd developed my business (and took it that seriously) - knowing what I wanted (being able to answer BigRedX's questions above), taking baby steps to get there, building my network and being in places where bands (customers) gathered, until I found one that had what I wanted and which wanted me. Then worked really hard to get up to speed with their setlist and started taking on some of the responsibility for getting gigs, etc. It took me 2-3 years of pretty assiduous application. But by the time I got there I was ready.

I wouldn't want to overstate the case for them. It is 'just' pop music and not all of it that good. I find their albums quite odd. Their albums get amazing reviews and awards but there's an awful lot of electronic faffing around between a few real songs. Every album starts (IIRC) with a sort of instrumental intro all of which are called 'The 1975'. I don't buy much of their stuff - just watch video clips of them in concert. As for the name, they were called something like Music For Cars or Drive My Car and weren't getting anywhere (like U2 they all met at school aged about 15) and the frontman had an old copy of Kerouac's On The Road in which whoever'd owned it before him had written, instead of the date they bought it, 'The 1975' which stuck in his mind. I don' think it's a great name. You tend to think that's the vintage of the stuff they play. They come from south Manchester near where I grew up.

I agree. I'm a bloke in his 60s who grew up on Zeppelin (first gig I ever went to) but I think they're great - not all their stuff and not all the time - but in Matty Healy they have an engaging frontman and like all unique bands their dynamic is unusual: he and the drummer write most of the material and produce it. Favourite tunes are: Somebody Else (the studio session where Matty and the guitarist - also on keyboards - are the only two playing), Robbers (great bass line), 'fallingforyou' (live at the O2 from about ten years ago) and I'm In Love With You (the official video). Great fun.

Thank you so much for posting this - awesome seeing him live - love the way way he gets into the music!

Completely agree - it's not a bass track but Sweet Lorraine from Magician's Birthday is still a brilliant song! David Byron died quite young, I think, which was a real shame - he had a great voice. I feel Mick Box is underrated and - although not sounding the same - is a stalwart Gibson Les Paul player like Mick Ralphs.

One of the principal tracks that got me on to bass as a teenager was Uriah Heep's "The Wizard" from their album "Demons & Wizards" with the brilliant cover artwork by Roger Dean. I loved the bass line - so bubbly and melodic; just beautiful. For the last 50 years I thought it was Gary Thain since he was the bass player in the band back then. But today I discovered it was Mark Clarke (I assumed his songwriting credit was because he was the lyricist since he wasn't in the band - how stupid is that!). I hadn't even heard of him. But - as you will all know - he was in Colosseum, recorded a couple of albums with Mountain and was also in Rainbow, briefly. And he's still going strong in JCM. I feel a real clod for not knowing of him, but really pleased that the bloke who played that brilliant bass line that inspired me all those years ago is still very much around.

When I used to gig I had two identical Tbirds that I wanted to get used roughly the same. So one was Scott and the other Virgil (after my favourite TV show as a kid) and each had a sticker of the character on the back to tell them apart.

Trite to say but I think it depends on the song. There's a v. interesting thread around at the moment about All Right Now. I personally think the original bass part is brilliantly original. Andy Fraser wrote the song and left the bass out of the verse completely! Then when it does come in it's this amazing stuttering frog burp. Then the bit under the solo is out of this world. I saw my mate's cover band play ARN and he had a busy bass player who wrecked the minimalism of the guitar solo by putting a million notes under and over it. It was just plain awful. But then if you take Why Dontcha by West Bruce & Laing, Jack Bruce's bass is all over Leslie West's riffing in some of the most melodic, fast, lead-style rock bass playing I've ever heard. And it lifts a so-so rocker into something wonderful.

I echo everything already said. Joined my first gigging band at 58. Arthritis forced me to give it up but I still play along to Karaoke Version UK downloads (excellent) and will play a full 'gig' of an evening sat in my chair at home, playing one song after another straight through. My conclusions: Bass lends itself to mature playing. Playing fast (unless it's in a jazz or fusion context) risks sounding too busy. It was Duck Dunn (IIRC) who said he tried to play as few notes as possible. That becomes easier with age. And your confidence and feel get better. I'm playing the best I ever have (age: 65) and enjoying it more than ever.

I think this is how classical music ensembles get together and function (a mate of mine plays bassoon in an amateur orchestra). They learn the music beforehand and there's an inherent democracy (in my mate's orchestra the members elect a committee which oversees the running of the orchestra, the repertoire and hires in the conductor).

But are these advertised basses actually selling? My impression from casting my eye over the basses-for-sale forum and Bass Bros is that a lot of stuff is just not moving at the prices asked. I see basses advertised at north of 2k and wonder who on earth is going to be buying them, given the cost-of-living crisis detailed above. I've never had expensive kit. When I used to gig I played my trusty ESP Ltd. I had two: one new at £450 and one 2nd hand at half that price. Bass Bros have one going for £425 which is sort of what I'd expect to pay now. I've only ever paid more than 1k for a bass once - and would never do that again (much as I love it). So people holding on to expensive basses thinking they've got an investment may find they haven't. Far more of us can afford a bass at £400 than three times that.

Apologies - nothing useful to say that hasn't already been said except that Karaoke Version has been a lifesaver for me. I didn't enjoy being in a band and KV has enabled me to play at home whenever I like without lugging equipment around or deferring to anyone else's setlist. I think the versions are terrific. Often the vocals sound as good as the original. KV are good at finding matching singers and in some cases better (I personally have never liked Brian Johnson's voice - the AC/DC tracks have somebody who sounds as gruff but clearer). Also, in my own head I'm back in a covers band so it's OK if the vocals aren't the original's. Since I'm now in my late 60s and becoming immobile, KV has enabled me to carry on playing. Also, once you've 'bought' a track you can go back and download different versions for free. And they often add a better version of an existing track and email you so you can download that for free too. They are forever adding new tracks and have on there tracks that I thought only I liked.

Just checked. It's gone 😞 It was on at £50 and to my untrained eye looked quite ornate. Found this. This was it: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB914GB916&q=florence+nightingale+hospice+"mandolin"&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjYgK2GiZv9AhXFi1wKHYkTC2AQ5t4CegQIRBAB&biw=1536&bih=722&dpr=1.25#imgrc=fDJV8Tm9eitrVM

I have given a couple of basses to nearby music colleges - they were very appreciative. If you're in rural Scotland it may be more difficult to find colleges within reach. Charities that have shops also sell online. So, just because a charity shop doesn't seem to sell basses, it doesn't mean they won't take it in and send it to head office to sell online. My local charity shop has a mandolin for sale online.

Who's Next Zep 4 Symbols Black Sabbath 4 followed by Demons & Wizards (U Heap) Heep) Yes Album After The Goldrush I was lucky enough to have an outstanding musical education courtesy of elder bro (he recorded this stuff for me on C90 cassettes - remember them?). Real education, not so much.