PaulWarning

I was the same, in fact when I first learnt guitar I tuned it to E and just used one finger to barre the bottom three strings, proper punk rock , but I know what you mean I use open chords on acoustic except where I've no choice like the pesky B and Bb chords

Guitarist that can't play barre chords? and I thought my guitar playing was limited

I do have mental blocks when playing bass, but I've had a mental block trying to think of one. I also do open mics playing acoustic guitar and singing, on one occasion I was asked to go up and sing Copperhead Rd with no guitar, made a right mess of the lyrics, it's surprising how certain things trigger the memory and get you out of jail at the last moment when you've got a mental block

I always say to the band when someone suggests doing something a bit obscure "Nobody will know it so we may as well do one of our own songs"

indeed, the audience is less likely enjoy the show if the band don't look like you're enjoying themselves

Brexiteers and Remainers, I'll get me coat

I think amazon get bad press because they don't pay enough tax, I blame Governments for that, nobody pays more tax than they've got to, but their business model and customer service is spot on in my experience, which is why they're so successful

I do seem to have ruffled a few feathers, not my intention, I fully expected not everyone to agree with me, but not the hostility from a few, the slightest form of criticism does seem to bring the worst out in some doesn't it? in my OP I did allude standing there with a smug look as well as removing the hand from the neck, the comment came after watching a Bass player doing it while pouting like Victoria Beckham (he had a strange sound as well, rather like someone knocking on a front door, that didn't help)

I think maybe they need to look more like Sabbath if they go down the tribute route

thankfully, you don't know me at all

yep, that's another one, we supported the Anti Nowhere League once and the bass player did it all gig when playing open A and there's a lot of open A in league songs

not many share my opinion then, us bass players are the most underrated members in the band, guitarist's think it's easier and the public don't really know what we do, not helped by being low in the mix a lot of the time, and only last night someone said to me " I've tried guitar and couldn't do it, might try bass it looks easier". So standing there playing an open string with the freting hand dangling by your side sort of disrespects us IMO YMMV

is it just me or does anybody else find it irritating when bassists take their hand off the neck when playing an open string, usually with a 'look at me aren't I clever' look on their faces? when it's exactly the opposite to being clever.

colleagues then?

this, I've got 2, none of them in the band, I've got people I'll happily chat to in the pub but wouldn't call them close friends, I couldn't ever see me being close friends with someone I'm in a band with, band politics get in the way

so I guess it depends on the type of gigs you do, sounds like function type bands will get asked but pub type bands won't

we've been asked a 2 or 3 of times in about 400 gigs, then they've never bothered checking when we got there, a lot of it is common sense, making sure the plugs and mains leads are in good condition mainly, I've got some blank stickers, I think the regs say they have to be tested by a competent person, well, that'll be me then

suppose it depends how busy the band is as well, I get on better with people outside the band, I am guilty of fighting my corner with a little bit to much enthusiasm at times, I was watching a documentary and it was saying, correctly in my view, that the longer a band goes on the less time the members spend together, so with that in mind 4111

depends what you mean by friends, friends as in, you've known them years, you'll have heart to hearts with and see regularly outside the band, or friends like in, see them when you happen to be at the same gig or pub, or even worse, friends as in Facebook.

never under estimate the power of nostalgia, that's why people go out and watch covers bands, thankfully.

this is it isn't it? they may be cheap and decent cabs, but the reason is, lightweight cabs are the way to go, a bargain is a bargain only if it's what you want anyway

must say I can't agree, it's such a distinctive part of the song, some attempt should be made, if not don't bother at all

Bill Wyman also got screwed, he wrote the riff for Jumping Jack Flash, or so I read somewhere

not sure you should be bracketing Sid Vicious and Glen Matlock. Punk had some really good bass players (JJ Burnel, Bruce Foxton, some of the The Rezillos bass playing is exceptional, not sure who it was as they changed bass players at the time) as well as the root note merchants

it certainly did, which is a big reason why we had some many good bands in the 60's, but it was forgotten, punk reminded people of that and I don't think it's been forgotten again, probably punks lasting legacy