Stub Mandrel

Sunday's venue posted some lovely words and this photo.

Our sound guy wanting everything miked and setting up a video camera is a frustration for me. We should start on time not wait five minutes for the video to get started.

Interesting views. My experience of hearing plenty of 60s/70s pros who are now with local bands on the pub/club circuit suggests that either they have vastly improved or, just maybe, they were pretty good back then. A few weeks ago I saw the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. No sign of any iems for click tracks, in fact the guy runningvthe back projection was synching it live on his phone. But one track, Space Captives, is historic in being the first commercial track recorded with a drum machine instead of a live drummer. For that one track the drummer was like a human metronome. Worked in context, but didn't have the same groove. Quantisationnis mainly driven by bands/producers who want to be DJ/dance friendly.

Exhibit one: Deep Purple.

They were good basses.

I have a B2 and a Jack Custom V active. So the top and bottom of the range. Love them both but the B2 is my favourite.

My fretless is nearly 50 years old. It has a poly finished maple fingerboard. It has been gigged on and off over the years, usually just a few songs. So not heavy use. It has a couple of minor marks. Probably from falls rather thsn wear.

Well... today's 4-6 venue turned out to be huge, but the audience wasn't. We were not expecting much but the audience we had were great. Two of them came because they've seen us before a few times. We kept up a constant good-natured banter with the soarse audience "get ready, I'll do some crowd surfing in a minute". At one point we greeted a three year old and sang happy birthday to her baby sister via a phone. And we did a couple of requests. They were apologetic about numbers and desperately want us to come back. Shame for them as it was a good paying gig and they did a lot of publicity. Just looks like sunday matinées wontwork for them. To our surprise we all enjoyed the gig and ended up playing an 80-minute second set uncluding encores!

Not read all the posts. PMT had an annoying and trading standards worrying policy of not displaying prices and looking things up online if you enquired. I think they have been 'encouraged' to price their instruments but still do an online check before selling so you should get the website price. It's worth doing an online check if you know what you're interested in. When I wanted an AVII it was hard to find places with stock, but the best price I could find in the UK was actually a fairly nearby store in the valleys (A Strings) who are brilliant at customer service so big win!

Don't have the bass too low and push your forearm forwards so your wrist/hand naturally wrap around the bass.

Bill was.

Studio etiquette. I had no idea what to expect the first time I went into a proper studio. I had seen a handful of tv shots of the Beatles etc. In a studio. Nothing like you can see now on youtube. I do remember two things - first no option, go direct into the desk, no amp allowed. Second, both times the engineer said they wanted to record my Hohner B2 not my Fender Performer after doing an a/b test. One time I was asked to raise my action a tad to reduce fret buzz. Process was record a 'guide track' live. Then drums, bass, guitars and an absolute age on vocals. This was despite rehearsing in 'Rob's Caravan of Doom' - a tiny space where every visit would be recorded by the eponymous Rob as he used it to improve his own skills as a sound engineer. But there is still a dire shortage of even basic guides on what to expect, how to prepare and what to bring.

The real victims are anyone who owns a Line 6 Spider.

Back in the late '60s you couldn't count yourself a real guitarist if you didn't slip it into your solos.

If it's hard to follow as one thread, is splitting it into threads for specific questions going to make it easier to follow in practice?

Personally I find it interesting seeing the topic evolve. I'm unlikely to follow several threads addressing various sub-issues and the OP has been pretty good at posting updates with a summary of progress.

You could banish Glenn Fricker to the underworld by facing him down with a Precision with 20-year-old flats fitted. I get the feeling that many (if not most) of the bands who record with him have barely gigged.

A good band can make tempo changes part of tne song.

The two times I've recorded in a proper studio we did four songs over two days.

I think most people assume instruments left around in recording studios are there so the sound engineer can make you use them rather than your own instrument because they are too lazy to adjust the eq....

So what bits of other songs do we transplant? Our guitarist switches to Third Stone from the Sun in his solo during Take Me To The River, so I've started playing the bass from Hey Joe over the chorus 😁

Loved music as a kid. Had a cheap classical guitar, never got far but kept trying. Put steel strings on it and tried to play punk. It died. My mate got a cheap as chips Kay 'Strat-a-like' from a secondhand shop. I got the (even) less cool 'SG-a-like' (still got it!). Made lots of bad noises. Wet to uni. Played (badly) songs from 'The Beatles Complete' for sing alongs after the pub. Eventually got a decent used acoustic (1976, Epiphone, still got it). I could probably have been a rhythm/folk type guitarist if I had consistently tried and could have remembered more songs. My mate Steve let me noodle on his bass, and I enjoyed it far more. In the end, he lent it to me for a month on the condition I played 1FPF. Ended up with a Hohner copy of a Jazz. Did an audition. Learned a whole tape of songs badly. Two guys didn't actually want to play any of the songs on the tape... Did another audition... got into a band. In bands for next 9 years. Got much better. Got married. Over the years, I forgot how music had been the core of my life since I was about 11. Eventually started playing again as that fell apart twenty-plus years later. Got the hang again. Went through covid and got lots of practice and got much better. Divorce finally went through as covid restrictions started to ease a bit. Moved. Got into playing seriously. Joined two bands. One going strong, the other going nowhere, so left it and started a second band. Discovered jam nights and even depping. Met my amazing new partner when she came to see us play and decide if we were worth booking. Bass has helped me repair my life. If it wasn't for my wonderful daughter, most of the 22/23 years in the middle of my life would feel completely wasted.

Hmm. I was noodling Roundabout last gig. Not sure prog would fit in our blues rock set...

@dmccombe7's comment made me realise I spend more time worrying about choosing the right t-shirt for a gig than choosing which basses to take. 🤣 But I do have (even) more t-shirts than basses!

I don't show much originality in my choice these days...