Dr.Dave

Some good suggestions on here. I'd say avoid anybody soloing away and showing what can be done rather than what should be done. It's just not useful at this stage. I'd also say treat yourself to Donald Fagens ' the nightfly '. The cream of US session bassists all at the top of their game enhancing -but supporting - the song. Lastly - learn by copying , sure , but learn enough to be able to stop copying. You've been a player for a long time so you probably understand that

Just bought a pedal from Tim that arrived so fast I thought I was in a time warp. About 16 hours. Many thanks my friend - I wouldn't hesitate to do deals with you again and I hope we do so.

Start big - slow stuff 4 songs in - novelty after that - filler - end big. Basically I write the set list slightly wrong , ask everyone else for comments , ignore those comments but rewrite the set list as I wanted it in the first place - tell everyone it's now much better for their input and accept their grateful thanks.

We once arrived at a pub called the Smawthorne Arms as a last minute replacement band where , it turned out , the last thing anybody wanted was a power trio. We had a chat and did three things. Reduced the volume , reduced the tempo and reduced the energy. We actually enjoyed it and so did the williams. Though we never went back (our choice - they did ask us to) we did purposely find another two or three gigs that became regulars where we applied the same thinking and that type of gig became known as a ' Smawthorne job'.

In the Gypsy Kings cover of 'My Way' the bloke sings 'I'm not a mouse' My fave though is a misunderstood rather than a misheard. When I was a nipper I honestly thought that Israel had a King called King Born because they made us sing 'born is the king of Israel' at the primary school carol concert.

I chucked mine away to represent me throwing away my ridiculous old fashioned concepts such as being able to have an opinion that's different to somebody elses , short sightedly not wanting to see talented young women put off sport because they'll get beaten by blokes and my ludicrous expectation that the police that I pay for should investigate an armed robbery instead of arresting an old lady for innocently giving her rescue kitten an unfortunate name. Be gone , you string ends , and take the evil thoughts of this vile throwback with you !

Apologies if I'm repeating stuff from in the thread but I couldn't be rrrrzd to look through 9 pages to check ! I'm not interested at all in somebody shredding or soloing away and when you've seen Alana Alberg showing her legs once you've seen it all but I did enjoy the playing bits of Guy Pratts lockdown licks. Not so much his high volume waffle and incorrect assumption that he's funny in some way. I had a load of classic rock covers to get my head round for the new band and I found watching this bloke saved me a shed load of time.

Oh yes. 50 years old now. Different pick guards , bridge and knobs in the two pics but the same bass. Overall we're both showing similar signs of wear at the mo but I'm now 61 and , sadly , I expect I'll change in the coming years quicker than the bass ! Just looked again - you can't see the knobs anyway ! And it's the same low G I'm playing !

The drive was a bit hairy - having to wind the windows down to see at junctions etc - but the gig was great and surprisingly well attended given it's January and the weather was so poor.. Someone took this pic of me. I looked in my files and found one from 25 years ago for comparison purposes. Other than a minor follicular pigmentational degradation issue nothing seems to have changed much !

Yes I do know but I'm a gigging musician rather than an instrument collector so I don't care about such things.

Default mode tells me to pick something from Made in Japan but my thinking head says Perfect Strangers

Since when did losing an audience bother the BBC ?

BB King was practically one foot in the grave when I went to see him so I suppose I shouldn't have expected much. His support act - guest rather - was Gary Moore and he and his under rehearsed band had no age related excuse at all for being plain awful.

Pretty much word for word why I never bother with it. The producers must think it's some sort of national treasure type show but the reality is it's a woefully tired , repetitive format that everyone grew tired of years ago.

I always go back to something Pat Travers said in an interview decades ago - buy the guitar that feels best in your hands. Anything else can be put right with a screwdriver , a soldering iron and a spray gun.

RS 66s. When a man is tired of Rotosounds he's tired of life ! Though I don't recommend putting them on after 5 glasses of French 75 which is what I just did !!

If you get a chance to play Jim Lea's great bassline once a year - why would you not ?

All I can say is that when I walk into a pub or club with a gig bag on my back I feel like I belong there but if I walk in without I feel like a stranger. I definitely belong on the stage. I'm not comfortable in an audience. Don't know how else to put it.

Sleepwalk - Santo and Johnny Neon Knights - Sabbath Cum on feel the Noize - Slade Waltz of the Flowers - Tchaikovsky The Future - Leonard Cohen Silver Springs - Fleetwood Mac I only have eyes for you- Art Garfunkel Run like Hell - Pink Floyd Luxury item - Rachel Riley Book - Red Storm Rising

An absolute no brainer for me is for tuners built into amps to be as standard as a volume control. My MiniMax has one - one of my TCs has one.... still the exception rather than the rule though.

As some of you will know my solution to singer problems was to become one ! Clearly this isn't for everybody but I would say this about it. Don't ever tell me you can't sing. What you mean is you don't sing. Because of that you haven't learned how to use your voice - what suits it etc etc. When you started playing bass how good were you ? Gigging standard 5 mins after you first picked one up ??? Of course not - you took time to practise and learn new skills and your competence grew. Same with singing.

Sept 2018 - I played my last gig with the band I'd been in for 19 years having moved away from Wakefield and it's familiar music scene a few months earlier. Since then I've done some depping jobs with a rock and roll band , played a local fundraiser festival with a scratch band and that's been it. I tried to get a band going here in Notts but I just couldn't get a steady line up - stop start stop start etc. Out of the blue a few months back a guitar player who'd been in one version of the band that never was rang me and he was reforming his old long term band with folk who'd all been in it at various times but needed a bass player. So - off we go again. Tonight is our first gig - I'm not too happy about the drive into Sheffield but I'm glad to be back on stage. Been to see a couple of bands recently and I felt like a spare part standing in an audience. I feel at home on a stage. I swore no more rock bands but a covers rock band we are. 'Age appropriate rock' , I call it ! A lot of the set I was doing 40 years ago ! Anyway I feel a bit weird after so long a gap. I keep thinking there's something I've forgotten about gigging and I keep checking everything like nervy folk do. I'm sure a lot of you seasoned gigging players have either been out of the game and returned or are currently out of it but about to return so I'm sure many of you know the feeling , however alien it is to me. That's it - just a bit of waffle to let you all know that at 61 I'm far from finished yet and I can feel the cocky bar steward inside me fighting to let 'em have it again !

Three. A 1973 sunburst precision , a 90s Jap 54 reish precision in blue flower and a squier dimension I got recently. I've owned loads. The one I most regret selling was a Status Energy.

433 but I could probably make it 434 out of the bits kicking about in the garage.