musicbassman

Thanks for your input, guys. Obviously I'll have to make sure that I don't pick someone who wants to hoover up all the gigs - but hey, I was there first - and I can't imagine mature old musos like these either wanting or needing to do this. (FYI stewblack - band mainly works Crawley/Redhill areas) Yes SICbass - exactly - it all sounds so sensible to me - but I don't know what they'd make of the idea - might think it a bit odd. They've been together for many years, and might find the idea a bit new-fangled. You know what old people can be like.....................

So, after a lot of searching for my first gig after a long lay off I've picked up a dep gig with a decent 1960's covers band, and it looks like they'll want me to join permanently. Their old bass player cannot gig any longer due to health issues. They're all v.experienced players aged 60-70 and great people. 1960's music is not really my cup of tea, but they play it very well. This is all good, but they've got far more work than I want to do - they're doing 35-40 dates a year. I'd be happy doing about 20-25. I was considering whether to suggest to them that I job share this position with another bass player (of the same standard) as a permanent arrangement. So this wouldn't mean putting a dep in, but sitting down with another suitable bass player and deciding who was playing which gigs for the next 6 months or whatever. Has anyone experience of this arrangement? Sounds fairly straightforward to me, but other ideas/warnings may be on offer from your good selves.

I played on the USAF bases in Spain in the late '70s We did 6 nights a week, 6 x 45 minute sets per night. Jeez, that was hard, not just for the band but for the equipment too. ......and as for the poor vocalist.....................

So, you want to learn to play 'Rocket Man' on this ?.......... By Thursday?

Bass for sale, heavy reliced finish, mint condition, never played.

1000 Brownie points for your thread title......................... Nick Fyffe was the bass player. Great phrasing, this should be on every developing bass players 'to learn' list.

Blimey, I hope I never come across a Bass Boiler ! Still, at least the strings would sound brighter afterwards.......................

We really need to get some well paid pub gigs..................

Lots of common sense and sensible advice in this thread. I'm a 'one' player - One bass One amp -and err, one pedal (comp). Bass is early '80's PJ. Just about b****y perfect for me. Combining the tone range of this and playing in different styles (both fingers and pick) means I can get most of the way to whatever 'that' sound I want for a particular song is, and no one else except me is going to notice that last little bit of difference. Mind you, I must admit that looking at any quality pics of well worn '60's Fender basses is pure gear porn for me..........*blushes*

Absolutely stewblack, no responses here just because we are all speechless......... ( Actually, must admit that is pretty neat! )

One of the best descriptions of a certain style of singing I've ever come across!

Looks like I've hopefully picked up a decent gig now after quite a long search, but online I used these three sites: Bandmix: Very clumsy and inaccurate search engine, won't accept some postcodes, and some of the band ads which come up in results - they aren't even looking for bass players! Join My Band - the simplest and most straightforward, ads by U.K. county and in chronological order, no fees. Find-a-musician.com - Charges fees, unintuitive site - and another one with a dreadful search engine and difficult to filter results. If you use paid-for Bandmix then the most important thing is to write a carefully worded profile and include your contact details, then anyone can contact you without having to sign up and pay. Also I agree with FuNkShUi about trying agencies - good plan.

I've just bought a Spectracomp, and it's rather good. And just one adjustable parameter - nice and simple. Suits me well..........

Jeez, I wouldn't want one of those if it was offered for free. I like the care that was taken to make sure the top line of the pickguard doesn't even run parallel to the strings.

Lozz 196 - I think (someone may correct me) that Kaye was always a pick player, Jamerson never. I think the analysis is a bit OTT, but I agree with the overall idea that they both contributed to the final master. I would say the part from 3.15 onwards which he describes as being played by Kaye is definitely played with a pick and has a more regimented feel, and I certainly agree that Jamerson features again later on. And for those that think this is all a bit boring, well, this is a bass forum, so people who are interested in this sort of fine detail might just like to talk about it...........................endlessly!

Ha ha - Not sure what I was thinking of - it's Scott DeVine - or is it Scott Devine?

Are you serious ??? I expect many people can 'play' this, but as Misdee says, it's all about microsecond accuracy, dynamics and feel here............

Hi Andy S, An old thread revisited - but useful. Ideally, I would think you should learn to play with both pick and fingers, but I would put the emphasis on finger playing to begin with. This is mainly because it is easier to control the note length with fingers than with a pick - most finger players control note length with their right hand (but some with their left, just to confuse you, and some with a combination of both !) But pick playing is also very useful technique to learn, to help reproduce certain bass styles and feels This lesson from Scott Mills may help you re damping and note length:

This.

Jeez, band relationships can be so tricky! There's usually one person in a band who is a bit touchy about any comment about their playing, however tactfully this is done. Two ways forward: 1) If your drummer is replaceable, then maybe find someone else who takes the gig on the understanding that the BL has the final say in how the song is to be played. End of. 2) Or, if you think it's going to be difficult to continue without your current drummer, then much gentle counselling and persuasion might be necessary. But this then puts them in a dominant position - they know that they can throw their toys out of the pram at any time and get away with it. And, long term, this could be even worse.

I stopped playing completely around 2001 after 30 years of continuous gigging. And when I say completely, I mean I literally didn't pick up a bass for the next 16 years. Then 6 months ago on a sudden whim I got my one remaining bass out of the cupboard and started fumbling around on it. To my almost disbelief, it all came back very quickly, and now I'm a reasonably competent bass player again, and loving it all over again. So maybe the trick is to stop completely, and then just let nature take it's course - you might never play again, or you might have a joyous renaissance - time will tell.

It's a shame the guy interviewing doesn't have more knowledge so he could ask some more intelligent questions.

So, I'm in a holiday camp band back in the '80s, and we're auditioning a new girl singer. Bandleader: "OK, what key do you normally sing this in?" Girl singer: "errr - quite fast?"

Sounds like you need more Dobly...................