chris_b

A legacy of a life in bands (apart from tinnitus) is that my left shoulder is permanently 2 inches higher than my right. And that's from years of playing basses that have mostly been on the right side of heavy. I have no idea what my short lived Fender Precision Special weighed when I played it in the 80's but even as a fit and healthy 30 something my knees used to buckle after 20 mins. My Lull is 8.5 lbs, Lakland 9.5lbs, Fender J 10lbs, TF750 23lbs, TH500 4lbs and BF SC 21lbs. My accessories case is the heaviest thing I carry these days. I'm thinking of splitting that into 2 smaller and lighter cases. When you get a bad back you make sure you know the weight of everything.

I used to play my P bass with an acoustic folk rock band and then my Lakland and Lull 5 stringers with a folk, ragtime, blues guitarist. It's not what you play but how you play it that counts.

I dep with a reggae band and a [u]good[/u] Jamaican born and bred drummer is a musical force of nature. It's an amazing playing experience.

While you're there don't forget to take in Austin, TX and New Orleans, LA. Also the Alamo is down near the Mexican border.

You don't like the sound of an MM and my Fender AM Std Jazz V only goes to 20 frets, so how about fixing what's wrong with the Lakland? If your hand is fatigued playing your Lakland I doubt it's because of the 35" scale. The difference between a 34" and 35" from the nut to the 5th fret is only .251 inches so something else has to be causing this problem, unless you're trying to play chords below the 5th fret or the action is too high. Maybe you could get the bass hanging more comfortably on the strap. Try lengthening it a little and tilt the neck up more so that the head stock is closer to you. Move your hand so that you don't have to stretch for the notes and lower the action so that you need less pressure to make the notes.

Both is the right answer.

Set lists are fine. . . . as long as you know how to construct them and you're starting with a list of the right songs. It's obvious you're not going to please everyone but if you're playing well you can change some people's minds. In my experience people walk out on cover bands because they don't like cover bands, the band is too loud or the band is crap. It's hardly ever the songs. Unless of course you really have chosen a bunch of terrible songs.

Hot Rats.

My guess is that La Bella had a different string design back in the 50's.

Nick Beggs also toured with Steve Hackett. Playing anything from an SSD and Ric to a Chapman stick. Sounded pretty excellent to me.

No. The whole band should have left.

My preference is for a great sounding bass rather than a versatile bass. I look to get the best sound I can and stick with it. Most people I've heard don't actually change their sound much when they're playing. My first 5 string was an SR5. It was good but I replaced it with a Lakland which I thought was better. I did hear an SR5 2H with piezo. Now that [i]was[/i] versatile [i]and[/i] sounded great, but it's not your typical Stingray.

Sometimes they are together and sometimes apart. Our set list is changed for most gigs depending on the audience we think we'll get and based on the last gig we did there.

My criteria for playing a song is: it suits the band, we play it well and the audience likes it. Meet those 3 conditions and I'll play any song.

We used to do this in our school band. . . . [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4w4DWG5QwM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4w4DWG5QwM[/url] I haven't heard this for 40 years. Just love it. Duck Dunn on bass I believe.

What a difference the band makes. . . . . . . [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmJBM9HbWE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmJBM9HbWE[/url]

Just play along with the track as many times as it takes. It will get easier and quicker over time.

GAS happens when you are bored. Join another band and play more gigs.

Time for a clear out. Keep the EBS 112's but sell the 610 and 115 and the "various heads" and replace them with a Barefaced Four10 powered by your Reidmar. How about an upgrade the 750 watt Reidmar?

So you'll be sorry to say good-bye. I've remained friends with bands I've left. If they are so crap you can't sleep you've got to go.

A good quality cab will have a long life if you look after it. My Mesa EV 210 was over 20 years old when I sold it and it was still going strong. That's one reason why if one cab will do I'll use two. My speakers will die from old age rather than over use.

I'd suggest Jerry Barnes is using his regular gear. In this clip you're probably just hearing a DI'ed jazz type bass. You can hear him switch to a regular finger style Chic bass line at about 3 mins so he's not focusing on slap for the sound of this bass. You need a good 2 pickup bass and a set of new round wound strings. As an overall comment I'd say there is no "correct" slap sound. You can fit in anywhere between Mark King and Louis Johnson. Try to find your own sound and have others want to copy you.

410's are a piece of cake. You should try moving a couple of 412's and we won't talk about unsplit Hammond C3's and Leslie cabs.

It's an advert!! Who cares what they do to mangle the soundtrack. I believe that rerecording the ads with session guys happened years ago before the owners realised the financial opportunities they were sniffily passing up. I know a drummer who rerecorded a lot of Van Morrison's hits with the man himself. VM get a very poor percentage of his early hits due to signing bad contracts, so anyone who asks to use one of his songs only gets permission to use one of these versions. At least he gets paid for the use of these ones. I haven't seen an advert in years. I record all TV programs of interest on my hard drive then FF through the adverts when I watch it back.