chris_b

You want a change and a lighter bass? Get another Wal, a lighter one this time.

+1 Except for Grateful Dead numbers. Each one lasts for 3 weeks.

I've gone from bedroom player to semi pro, to pro, back to semi pro and back to (part-time) pro again. But in my head I was always a pro player. This has never been a hobby. IMO the differentiators between all these categories isn't money or earnings, it's attitude, approach and time. Mostly time. How much time are you willing to put into playing and learning your instrument so that you move yourself from bedroom player (everyone starts there) along the line to becoming a world class recording and touring professional. Where you stop on that line is determined by the time you dedicate to learning your instrument. How willing are you to invest the time and effort, usually to the exclusion of everything else, into becoming the best you can be, and then pushing to be better still.

You're all being very silly. Jaco was a bass player. Stop putting your limitations on him.

Get the gig then put the band together. If you know good musicians then this is no problem.

I replaced my Wal, a beautiful mk3 5 string, with a Lakland 55-94. The originals bands and recordings had dried up and the Lakland just worked better in the new, blues and soul oriented bands I had joined.

So the bass player doesn't have any gear? If these guys were serious they'd have their own gear. If they aren't serious I wouldn't lend anything to them.

My rig is used as the back line of a jam night. Most of the guys are not familiar with my gear and might not get the sound they need, so I set them up, ask them what they want and make the changes for them, until they are happy. More importantly, I've managed to stop a few doing things that might damage my gear! Get the bass player to stand with you when you make your changes so he's comfortable with what you're doing.

The band does seem to have a certain fluidity, but all the line ups sound good to me. Love the bass playing and great arrangements.

Sad news. I enjoyed listening to that.

I'm liking this. Get your funk muscles ready. . . . fantastic band. . . Paul Turner. . . great bass. . . new album out in May. Sorry Sound comes up muted. Can't change that for some reason!!! You'll have to change that when you click on the clip.

I had wax completely covering both ear drums. It was suggested I put warm olive oil into each ear and come back in 2 weeks. When I did the one ear was totally wax free and the other was down to 50%.

I've seen lots. Tina Turner, Buddy Holly, 5 Guys Named Mo, The 4 Seasons, the Small Faces, Fela! and the great Rocky Horror Show to name a few. I just love live music and seeing performers doing their jobs well. The West End can be expensive but you can get Groupon tickets etc that make it doable and the out of town theatres on the circuit put on the touring versions of the London shows and really good shows in their own right.

I haven't used a single One10 on a band gig. I'm not saying it won't work, just I'm not brave enough to put my huge sounding 5 string bass (I hit a lot of low notes), through one on its own. I did use 2 One10's on a low volume gig and was complimented on the sound and have gigged a Three10 (One10 on top of a 4 ohm Two10) at band volume with no problems. I have a second Two10 on order. I'm expecting good things.

Top Tips: If you think you sound good with 1 cab, use 2 you'll sound even better. If you think you need 300 watts, get 500 watts, turn up and play lighter.

The first bass I owned and learnt to play on. . . . my first pro bass, a Fender Precision. . . . 3 of the 4 most amazing basses I've owned in the last couple of years. . . . all sunburst. I rarely dream about basses, but when I'm thinking about them sunburst is what springs to mind.

Me neither, but I don't tell my wife if I've bought a bar of chocolate when I've been out. Gear is OK, but I really get told off if I eat too many choc bars!!

Gigs like this are a bad business model for someone and are not tenable in the long run. Most bands are playing in the corner of a pub. Many of these are not "proper" gigs but the pub manager thinking you'll deliver him a room full of punters. In the long run this doesn't work either. Some people will come out to see a local band at a local gig but "out of town" bands won't necessarily have that local following. If the venue can't generate an audience then most of the bands won't either. We had this when a venue decided to ditch all but the local bands, because they, "Bought in the punters". When I asked how many local bands there were they said, "About 4 or 5". So they were expecting 4 or 5 bands to fill the place twice a week for the whole year! Of course they coudn't sustain that and there are no gigs there anymore. The venue has to be responsible for filling the gig every week with its own punters (people who want to go to that gig and on a regular basis) and the band's audience will be the top up. Unfortunately the bottom line seems to be that in the UK most people are too lazy to go out to see most of the live music that's available. Compared to a night in front of the TV with a drink at your elbow, a gig is noisy, expensive, uncomfortable and inconvenient.

So the venue doesn't make any attempt to attract an audience?

Get the best bass for you. Spend the rest on lessons. Then get the best bass for your new found abilities. Use your old bass as your backup. You're done.

So I was talking to the wife about NYC Sadowsky's and she asked the price. When I told her she didn't miss a beat and said, "That's a lot, but if they're worth it, get one". When I load the car up for a gig these days I put 8 pieces in the boot and the list price is just north of £9k. To balance things up, I had one bass for 25 years and two basses for the next 10 years. It's been up and down since joining BC but I'm back to two basses again so I don't think I'm too extravagant.

They were when I first saw the Crazy World of, Drachen Theaker on drums and Vincent Crane on Hammond. Both impressive players.

Not so modern or different from the shows of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown in 1967 or Screaming Lord Such in the early 60's.

Now. . . . in my head this is exactly what I'm doing!

We have a front man who has the demeanour of Bill Wyman's undertaker. He's a good singer but I'm now resigned to the fact that we're never going to get any return gigs.