musicbassman

Well, you aroused my curiosity, so about 40 years after the event, I opened up the Big Book of Internets yesterday evening and after some digging I came across this. He had an unusual name, so chances are this really is the very same guy, and it all sounds about right...... I rest my case. Currently working on the A14 near Cambridge and cheating on my wife. I'm a pretend bodybuilder and claim to have competed at the highest level possible in this country although no one has actually seen proof of this. I love listening to music with a varied taste from u2 or anything guitar orientated through to Alfie Boe which my beautiful wife introduced me to as I had never heard of him before I met her. I love good food, good wine even though I don't drink cos I am an alcoholic. I'm a rubbish listeneras I believe what I have to say is way more important than anything you want to say but a bit shy as far as ladies are concerned, although i do try behind my wife's back. I think i'm romantic and quite possibly a bit of a knob head. I am a gypo, so will take everything of yours, show you no respect a compulsive lyer and I believe all women are second class citizens including my wife. I am married to a beautiful woman who gives me her whole being. We have had a horrendous few years living in a caravan like a couple of skanky old pikey's in a field with no money. At one point we literally had a bowel of porridge between us for the day , honest truth!, we had no toilet and she had to do her business in a plastic bag. Sometimes I had to leave her for weeks on end with only the dogs to talk to to go and work. She has given up her whole life for me, her home her family and her friends and constantly reassures me that it will all be ok and we will get thro this. We are now in rented accommodation but even right here right now I have left her out in a village with no furniture , she is sitting on a cover on the floor and has no car or money. And I am up here trying to see other women whilst she is there with nothing. And I know she will not leave me even after doing this to her. What a great guy am I !! By the way, my black hair is almost all grey now, I do have a child and I couldn't give a damm about them. your weight matters to me a lot, the fatter the better, which is the complete opposite to my beautiful wife who trains every day and has a fantastic body, she tries her best every day to look good for me, I'm not athletic, I've got a fat belly, I get out of breath going up stairs and I smoke like a chimney and I didn't go to school. As for children, my girl was prepared to take on my five nieces and nephews when their parents died despite being estranged from her own thro no fault of hers. She also supports me in every thing I do. She has and still does sacrifice her whole life for me, .......she makes me laugh and is my best mate.........Still, who cares she is the most wonderful woman I have ever met and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her, her but Im still gonna mess around behind her back. So, in conclusion, I'm a fat, bald, lying, cheating gypsy who spends all my money on fags and will happily share my chlamydia with you.

Sometimes, the flakey vocalist is the reason the band is a draw - unpredictable, outrageous, entertaining, etc. But they are always 100% difficult to work with - unreliable, no concept of time or logistics, won't learn lyrics, insist on bringing equally flakey partner to rehearsals etc. It's a balancing act. Along time ago, a new band i was in got a support slot at a local theatre with a semi name band as headliners. The show was running very late due to PA problems so there was only time to play five songs, and this had been made perfectly clear to us before we started,. So after five songs the band left the stage but singer refused, and proceeded to give the stunned and silent sit down audience a five minute lecture about how he was going to be the biggest star in the whole world, ever, and no one would tell him when the show was over. He was eventually physically 'removed' from the stage by two roadies from the headline band. It was just about the most embarrassing five minutes of my life, and of course, the end of the band.

Well, ALL of them, of course! Otherwise it's not fair on the ones you leave behind, and they'll sulk...

Stewblack, I feel for you. Sometimes life can be a s##t. But, reread what you wrote above, and pick out the good bits. You worked hard and clearly enjoyed, and are still enjoying, the status of being a respected muso. You don't have to stop, just because you have to get some sort of dayjob for a while. It's very common amongst actors as I expect you know - they call it 'resting' (!) And you've made good friends and contacts, and this is maybe the most valuable thing of all. So, keep on keeping on, as they say... 🙂

Jeez - almost 60 years old, and I bet it's seen more debauchery, sin and abuse in it's lifetime than I have. I'd be quite happy to take care of it and give it lengthy counselling sessions to help undo the traumas built up over many years.........

I might be pointing out the obvious here, but this is to my ear is definitely pick playing, but I'm sure you've already realised that. If you've got reasonable technique, then this should be quite straightforward : Full treble on a decent P bass and playing pretty hard, but don't grip the pick too tight. People are saying rounds, but I think decent newish flats might be a better option. The sound really should be almost there straight away and only require minor tweaking. I have a very early JV Squier and this is almost its default sound when used with a pick. (For a pick, I would suggest a 1mm Jim Dunlop nylon as best all rounder.) 🙂

This guy is the absolute biz. Mind you, I understand he's been playing since he was four....... Here he is with Donyea Goodman showing us what we could be doing. His phrasing is remarkable.

Ah! - when i wrote this I thought you were asking about an individual muso doing a dep gig, not a whole band !! For a band doing a charity event the organisers are going to expect a 'special' rate, and it depends whether you have an interest in supporting the charity concerned. But it's reasonable for the promoters to make at least a token payment to cover some of the expenses and travelling time . If they won't do that then I would wave goodbye - after all, they wouldn't expect to get a hall hire or caterers for free, would they ? BTW, I think skidder652003 is about right for pub gigs - with a few exceptions, there's not much money left in that sort of business now.

Anything from £5 plus a drink to £500 plus expenses. A lot more information required - Type of band, Type of gig, Size of venue, Size of band, Playing level of band, (keen amateur, dad rock, semi pro, pro) How much you would guess they're being paid, How far away it is, How long you'll actually have to spend hanging around at the venue (can be a problem with weddings and functions) How much rehearsal time (if any) required, How much you'd like to do the gig (prestige, possibility of permanent position, other musos in the audience looking for a bass player) That'll do for a start... 🙂

'Agua De Beber' is a Jobim standard that's been covered so many times - I think she's slightly over egging it here, and the last note/notes are a bit - err - microtonal. This may not be everybody's cup of tea, Newfoundfreedom, but maybe you'd have to understand it in relation to the booming Latin scene of the early 60's. *Gets out musical history books* And maybe to understand 'Jazz' you have to try to learn the language a bit - otherwise it's like listening to poetry in another language - you get an idea of what's going on by the meter, but can't 'hear' what they're saying. You could try listening to Jaco's 'Donna Lee' again and don't think of it as random bass notes, think of it as an expressive language which you might like to learn ? Sorry if this sounds a bit pretentious, but it's the best explanation I can come up with. And at the end of the day, just listen to whatever you like that makes you happy !

Has anyone still got a Bells catalogue? I can remember getting overexcited about WEM PA columns...... and the Audiomaster....just look at all those knobs !!! Just 48 payments of £13/8/6d a month !!!!

I think what you are playing is spot on. F# G A F# E D C

I think you've slightly missed the point, mikel.

Well, here's a few ideas from the pros...

Well, assuming that it's a four string bass then the E string is tuned getting on for a quarter of a tone sharp ? The weird thing is that sometimes it sounds worse than other times. The bridge part of the song based on Bb just confirms it's only the E string that's out. We can surely only speculate as why nobody picked up on this. Maybe the studio air was so thick with waccy baccy that it interfered with the soundwaves... 😵

I wouldn't bother moving round here - i live near Portsmouth and I've been looking for a decent covers/functions band anywhere within a 30 mile radius for over 12 months now. It's not that I'm not passing auditions - there simply haven't been any good quality established bands looking for a bass player, apparently. And I advertise myself everywhere I can think of incl. FB.

Yup, come across this many times at auditions. The worse thing is there's always ONE member of the band (the guitar widdler or keyboard player) who will take your polite suggestion that their particular choice of chord is.... er... 'unusual' as a gross personal insult - so you won't get the gig anyway - you're obviously going to be a threat to their status in the band.

British legion Club, 1990’s. Gig on the Sat night before Remembrance Sunday. Band in full flow. Committee Chairman comes on stage shouting: “Turn it off” !! Me (in the middle of singing harmony part): “What” ?? Committee Chairman: (purple face like thunder) “Turn the music off !! All of it! Now!!” I indicate to the band to stop playing, the drummer the last to catch on, as you might expect. Committee Chairman: “You’ve broken the Remembrance Day Plate, the one we put the Ashes on, on Remembrance Sunday” Turns out that in the bands break, the drummer had gone into the dressing room and tried to switch on an electric cooker in there, to warm the place up a bit. But he’d only succeeded in switching on a high level grill which he’d unknowingly left on full blast and this had eventually shattered a large ceramic platter which had been sitting directly on top of the cooker. Realising we’d made some dreadful faux pas relating to the Remembrance Sunday Service memorial proceedings we were full of the most humble apologies . It was only later when talking to another Committee member I realised the Chairman had actually been shouting “the one we put the sandwiches on, on Remembrance Sunday” I wished my apologies had been a little less profuse.

For those technophobe BCers like me not suffering from perpetual GAS, please could you explain what this is, what you hope it might do, and why it's important ? I'm not being sarcastic, I'd genuinely like to know.

I was 16 at the time and I was certainly doing it wrong

Year: 1970 Place: large youth club in the wrong part of Exeter. Job: Dodgy local band with a stand in lead guitarist as we'd had a massive row the previous day and regular guitarist had flounced off, taking his homemade Les Paul copy with him. It became clear soon after we shakily started the first number that we were really there just to provide some background music whilst there was a massive brawl between two rival gangs of skinheads which soon took up the entire dance floor. It was serious stuff and we were close to trouser soiling in case the rival gangs decided to vent their frustrations on the band instead. We stopped after four numbers as the police arrived. I've never been so glad to have a reason to stop playing. It was the bands first and last gig.

It's a generation thing also - some people of my age (60's) both male and female are still unreasonably impressed if they find out I play bass and follow up by asking the usual rather naive questions. Whereas kids in their 20's or 30's who find out the same thing are completely uninterested. Or in one case looked up from her phone and said "Well, if you were playing in bands in the 1970's why weren't you famous ???" I didn't sleep well that night... 😳 😳 😥

Yup, this thread is turning into a secret confessional - oh, the shame we feel when we discover we've been doing it the 'wrong' way. It's like discovering that some people stand up to wipe their bums while others remain seated...

You lucky, lucky guy ! I, (and I guess many other BCers) never had any teachers even remotely like this at their school

Isn't it good to be on a forum where people can openly admit to possible gaps in their musical knowledge and don't get immediately crucified and name-called by others ? Meanwhile, I shall continue trying to avoid hearing "Top 10 Eurovision Songs You Won't Believe You Don't Know ! ", or something similarly clickbaity on YT...