Dr.Dave

They notice me. If you're not getting noticed - and you want to be (because some folk don'twhich is fair enough) - then it's your own fault , nobody elses. Of course some....many... people are stupid and wouldn't know a bass guitar from a garage door but all this self deprecating 'down trodden bass player' stuff is just horse sh*t.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1350932689' post='1845288'] i always thought of it as a MK11 jazz bass... maybe i'm just wrong [/quote] A ray's too 'chunky' all round for a jazz , I think. As for you LED haters.............. 2 things 1) For everyone - side LED's (not on the front) have been a godsend to me. I had them put on my Shuker and they work well in bright sinlight and spot lights as well as in the dark. 2) I'm seriously thinking of having Aurora put front LEDs and also a lit pickguard on my Blueflower Jap 54P with it's red dice knobs and pink furry strap. It's a fun bass ( though the badass , Schaller pegs and Duncan pup upgrades make it serious too) - so why not have more fun ?? Is it cool.......... well , I can't answer that because I don't know what cool is and have no desire to find out - but it would suit my camp/OTTstage persona and the band's image to a tee.

[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1350911381' post='1844927'] Thats because Leo Fender got it so right from the off - if it ain't broke don't fix it etc........................... [/quote] I'm of the school of thought that he fine tuned it and got it 100% at the second attempt (not withstanding the 'prototype slab body single coil stretched telecaster guitar). All the niggles of the classic Precision are sorted with a Musicman Stingray. It's always been a Precision Mk II to me. Whatever - I still prefer the niggles of the Mk I !! I digress Bass I love to hate. The well made , very versatile and extremely playable workmanlike Jaydee. A professional's instrument to be proud of......... and I think they're too ugly to even look at !! Sorry Jaydee fans but they're just hideous.

I'm in a pub covers band - though they all have quite a 'spin' on them. The songs chosen are all our choice rather than what we need to play to get work. I'm also in a trib band but that's gone very occassional by design. I love the music but I'm never that comfortable 'being' somone I'm not. I have been in originals bands , done a fair bit of songwriting/ recording - and some gigging - as a solo performer too. I make no excuse whatsoever for playing any of the music I've always loved playing.

[quote name='fender73' timestamp='1350660431' post='1841976'] My conclusion is that it's musicians that dislike the most covered tunes, cos we do about 60% of the OPs list and punters love them. [/quote] A cynic might comment , then , that if we want to respect of our peers we shouldn't do anything too popular or be too successful. Funnily enough - it's yet another example of the 'art v craft' style debates we have around here. Over to Bilbo then.... !

[quote name='urb' timestamp='1350650146' post='1841750'] Here's mine - these are Nordy NS4s - under soapbar housings - I liked the Sadowsky vibe so I nicked it for my Sei [/quote] That Sei's almost too beautiful - I suppose I'll just have to suffer looking at it ! I went after one of Jon Shukers that was very much like your Sei but I was outbid , sadly.

Sex on Fire and Can't get enough of your love are the two most likely to make me drain my pint and leave. Everybody seems to be doing them. I predict a riot's another but that seems to have died a death round these parts.

[quote name='Dr M' timestamp='1350595531' post='1841163'] Although, out of interest, is there any particular reason soapbars on a Jazz are a bad idea? [/quote] Not that I can think of , fellow medic , but the idea of 2 sigle coils twinned with 2 volume pots was a really , really good one. If it aint broke........................

Eden is very hi fi and versatile but I found my Eden combo too fussy for me and I gave up on it after a few months gigging use Try as I might I couldn't get a single useful sound (and my sound 'need' is very simple) out of a Mark Bass head I owned for exactly 5 days ! I've yet to hear a noise from any GK I've tried that I didn't like and , for me, the 'neutral' sound of them is bang on. I'm on my 5th now. I change them while they still have decent 2nd hand value for new ones. No other reason.

My approach is simple. At 50 , I have what I damn well please. Manual labour , of course , is not something that pleases me - so I have people do that for me whenever possible. Usually takes the form of our drummers son and our extremely valuable roadie - Marc. In order to save space - rather than weight - I have bought a smaller rig recently though. I'm sure that many middle aged players give up because of the humping and dumping rather than the playing. I would suggest all of us do all we can to make sure that's not the reason we eventually hang up our basses. It's just not the right reason. Folk bleat on about the Stones playing at their age etc. 'How do they do it?...eternal youth' etc etc. Bollocks. When was the last time Mick Jagger humped a 4 by 12 up a fire escape at 1 in the morning in the pissing January rain?? There's your answer. When you think about what gigging players do....... it's equivalent to a studio flat move twice a night with a gig in the middle. Moving home is supposed to be one of the most stressful and uncomfortable things you can do... we choose to do it every weekend !!! I too am contemplating early retirement from 'work' - and am preparing for that assuming I'll still be around. I'm also aware that shrouds have no pockets. So - as with anything in life - balance is key. As for retirement from playing...... I just don't know. I expect Doc B is closer to the end than the beginning but maybe we'll morph into something different - something less physical. Maybe I'll do a lounge duo or something. Who knows. All I know is that when it ends I want to be in control. I want to choose to stop gigging rather than the stresses of gigging force me into doing so.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1350243869' post='1836355'] There's more to life (and music) than the fee you get at the end [/quote] Yep - very true. The fact that other people value my time and aquired skills enough to reward me financially - a real and proven recogniton of my professional level , self -achieved technical standards and attitude - means more to me than any actual fee. It's a feeling of satisfaction I can take to the jam nights , fundraisers and other loss making projects that I choose to get involved in as well as to the paid gigs. If anyone wants to always play for free - for whatever reason and whether covers or originals - and by doing so help to make profit for an individual , or individuals , in business purely to make money - and that player is happy for that situation to continue however skilled and popular they become ......... there is a problem in that person's reasoning. I would have no respect for their attitude and be wary of their motivations. There is nothing wrong at all with playing for fun - waiving fees for promotional purposes or exposure (after first checking the motivations of those asking you to do so) or a hundred other reasons - but purely allowing others to make money off your back and not wanting your fair share is not just wrong , it's stupid.

Look - this one's really easy. Once upon a time there was some caveman type wanting to shift a big lump of rock from here to over there. He tried to lift it and it was too heavy so he thought 'f*** this for a game of soldiers' (probably in Greek) , went off and invented the wheel. He then proceeded to easily shift his lump of rock using his new wheels. Trouble is - he set his fags down on top of the rock and didn't miss them till he got back to where he started from so he had to go back and get them. Filled with joy at his recent invention he made another pair of wheels and nailed them to his feet thinking it'd be better. His mate piped up ' You dozy twat , you have a perfectly good pair of legs for that job'. The guy realised his mate was right. He could manage some things perfectly well but new technology helped him with others. Next time......... Scales and Modes explained using a tale about a lady boy , 2 milk bottles and a dog turd.

Anybody else do that thing of playing the wrong note then waiting till the next verse comes nd playing the same one wrong again on purpose........ that's jazzzzzzz !!! I doubt many folk forget who plays bass in our band. It may well be that there are higher and more satisfying ways to be imortal but if I can keep them saying 'he was a foul mouthed fat bastard with an overly offensive T shirt and a stupid flowery bass and a voice like a fog horn' then I'll remain happy.

[quote name='ironside1966' timestamp='1349781117' post='1830343'] Am I the only one who thinks that the cash in hand pay no tax economy that occurs regularly in live entrainment is doing more harm to the value of musicians, than any band playing for free in the local boozer. [/quote] Yes , I expect you are.

Not post gig but my saintly and , sadly , late dear Mum - who said to her mate ...... 'You ought to hear our David , He's almost as good as them on the telly ' Post gig put down of the century goes to my guitar playing pal Kev , who said to the band that had just finished playing - ' There's a fair contrast between the two guitarists' 'Oh' said one of them , well happy , ' how do you mean?' 'Well' says Kev ' he can play and you fcuking can't'.

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1349726847' post='1829789'] I actually took up am dram to get over stage fright. Facing a packed house whilst performing the crucible made me realise I could face anything [/quote] What an excellent idea.

Why you? Why not you ? Everyone has nerves - for some standing up and playing in front of people is the big ish , for others it can be lack of confidence in their abilities or fear of letting band members down - all sorts. None of which matters a toss. What matters is dealing with it. so........ Put on an actors clothes. Assume the role of a confident performer. I assure you , after a while you will become one. I did. Forgetting stuff ??? Every gig you ever play will have mistakes in it. You , others... everyone. Again , what matters is how you deal with it. Experience will mean you get out if tight corners more and more easily. You'll find it becomes less of a problem. I did.

We sometimes play for a grand plus , we also play for £80. That's at a tiny bar that can barely squeeze us and 40 people in and it's all they can afford. After petrol money that's maybe a 20 spot a piece. None of us are short of a 20 spot. We do it because we love playing there and the punters and management love having us. Accepting money has nothing to do with 'greed'. Suppose I broke a bass string that night , Mart punctured a drum skin and Rodders guitar lead went tonto. That would effectively be pay to play for us. Another venue we play - we take a lesser fee than we might because they let us have practise space. There are many ways to be 'paid'. We live in a world that primarily values our skills and products by giving us money or by trading services and products. Our precious , precious time has a value far beyond any amount of cash , but it does at least recognise that we give of our time and skills. Don't anyone ever sell yourself short.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1349712408' post='1829481'] we all have a right to play for free, [/quote] That's true , but with it comes a responsibility to ask ourselves whether we should.

3 questions for me. 1) Do I place a value on my time and aquired skills...... Yes 2) Do I want a fair share if someone else - ie a promoter or landlord - makes money off my efforts.......... Yes 3) Do I give enough of a sh*t about young bands who need the money to not play gigs for free and possibly take their paid gig away by doing so..... Yes Do I do fundraisers or Charity shows?? Of course - makes me happy to do so , though I won't go anywhere near the Help for Heroes stuff that keeps cropping up whereby bands play for free but the landlord gives 'a percentage' of the bar take to the cause. What percentage would that be then?? Fcuk that. I've also done headline type things for free so that young bands could have the support slots . We often have young bands support us and we always make sure they get a fair few quid out of it. There are those who say they simply believe in free entertainment and play for nothing as a result.. OK - let's see you give up your sky dish then then you'll have even more time to steal other folks copyrights by ilegally downloading. There are also those who are simply not good enough to merit being paid. I expect if I were in that category I might be tempted to find myself a nice little moral wall to hide behind

In fact......... here's Jeff and Roy in The Move. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNClsvgv2V0 How many of us want this in next weeks set ?? I do !!! I'm going to suggest it.

[quote name='socrates' timestamp='1349698790' post='1829187'] wonderful documentary but yes needed much more on early years and Move in particular who were a great band. [/quote] I'm guessing , but looking at the Jeff/Roy Wood split would likely have poured a bit of water on a pretty upbeat doc. . plus I think the makers just got carried away with having Ringo and Macca take part. There was a lot of name calling around , too , with ELO at the end. As I recall , bass player Kelly Groucutt felt particularly agrieved. Jeff spoke himself about his musical single mindedness and I expect the doc set out to show the positive side of that rather than the negative. Bottom line....... here's a fella that was in the Move , was the main man of ELO , leading light in the Travelling Wilburys , and brought John Lennon back from the dead !! I reckon when Jeff has something to say we ought to listen.

I've been loving the 'live from the bungalow' thing with just Jeff and Richard Tandy. Great to hear stuff like 'Telephone Line' stripped back. Always loved ELO. Loads of fair to middling songs and one or two great ones actualy improved by near brilliant arranging and production/ A rare thing. I doubt I'd get on with Jeff - seems a very self centred man professionally but that's certainly what's led to his success and you can't knock that. The doc that's been on wasn't so good. Just seemed like an excuse to get Macca and Ringo on spouting off about that God awful free as a bird sh*te. That was a small thing in Jeff's career overall but was treated as some sort of peak. The Wilberrys footage was interesting though.

I guess as a singer , to me it comes down to which sounds best. An 'almost' voice with pitching helped a little by technology or one flat as a witches tit. I've tried really hard over the years to pitch better and it's still not perfect. I have no problem using a digital tuner to mke my bass pitch perfectly - why is my voice different? If I was way off - no , tech wouldn't be the answer , more practise would be the answer. I use a bit of delay on my live voice with the pub rig and that's it. I doubt the investment in more tech would be worth the improvement as my pitching's not bad most of the time , just less than perfect some of the time. If at a bigger gig a PA crew turned up and suggested a harmoniser or similar on my voice - why would I not consider that? I tke the same view as I've always done towards tech , particularly new tech. Will it do a job for me? It's the only question to ask really. Personally I'd also ask if that job would be cost effective but many wouldn't care so much about that which is fair enough,