Dr.Dave

[quote name='cetera' post='600270' date='Sep 16 2009, 02:50 PM']That outro solo is one of THE greatest guitar solos ever IMHO [/quote] Ha! I've always liked that too and the 8 bars in the middle. Top example of taking the melody then running with it.

[quote name='Funkmaster' post='600159' date='Sep 16 2009, 01:18 PM']And I think that's where the BLues Crew's guitarist met Welsh T... And we all know what happened then! But on to reunions. I had a busy time in the mid 90s with a band called The Roosters. They were a Martini band (would play anytime anyplace anywhere - and did to the extent that for a couple of years we were getting close to 4 gigs a week. Growning family and career commitments (their's not mine!) meant that level of playing wasn't sustainable and it kind of imploded on us. After that the singer, guitarist and me would do the occaisional acoustic trio gig, garden parties, bbqs weddings etc. Then we suddenly realised that nearly 10 years had passed since we'd done a live recording for a CD back in the day. 'I know', says the singer, 'lets get a band together for a one-off gig... same venue as near 10 years after the date as possible. You can organise all that can't you Dave!' I'd continued to be as busy a bass player as possible after the band fell apart originally so had plenty of mates I could call on to do this one off gig. So I got a drummer in and keyboard player. Booked the venue. Tried to get a bit of a buzz going locally so the venue wouldn't be completely be empty. On the night it was packed - and we got the offer of gigs at three other venues that night. And we're still doing a couple of gigs a month or so. And thankfully because I organise em they don't clash with my Welsh T Band work![/quote] I often think the Blues Crew/Dr Blue/Roosters/Welsh T saga would make a good rock family tree!! We've had both Welshy and Rooster's drummer help us out this year - I know you used Mick and Tony before Graham. Rod and I have both done Welsh T gigs - not forgetting the infamous Dr Welsh ' I've just bought another Boogie and he's just bought a Rivera ' street fight in York last year. I often wish you'd have done that one and me your ceiligh band that night then you'd have had to try and control that pair of noisy sods instead of me!!! BTW - all the best at DNE. I'm on hol. from tomorrow or I'd def. have been there. Get your fee up front from the bits of gossip I hear!!

My EpiEx dives if I take my arm off the body - that's what I despise it so. It's just too 'right' for the ZZ trib in every other way though so I put up with it. Other than that - I wouldn't buy a bass that dived - simple as that.

Not quite a reunion. I was in a band called the Blues Crew in the late 80's but the frontman - Pete - died , sadly. Fast Forward to late 90's and the early incarnation of Dr Blue - my current band. We bumped into Pete's widow at a gig and she ended up marrying our guitar player just a few months later. We then sacked our drummer and replaced him for a while with the drummer from the Blues Crew. As a result of Our guitarist's marriage we got to know Pete's son , now all grown up and home from college and he started playing harmonica with us as his father had with the Blues Crew. For one gig only the Blues Crew's guitarist joined us on stage. As close as we'll get barring reincarnation. I've also had a few stints in a rock band called Optic Nerve - my first band. I've rejoined a couple of times - once with the original drummer - but the guitarist and I always end up knocking lumps off each other so it never lasts long.

I decided on bass after hearing Jim Lea make Slade sound so fantastic. I set out to be a bass player with attitude - ie. an entertainer too. After a couple of years I could get by in a band fairly well but stupidly rated myself on how good I was at copying others. As a result I wasted my younger years in a creative sense. In my mid 20's , having had a break from playing , I started writing and recording songs , got back on the scene and eventually got asked to join bands as a bass player again. I spent a while in a blues band helping a friend out and my standard of playing took off dramatically. I've never stopped since - and my current blues/rock band has been going 10 years. This band got me into singing too which makes me feel more of a 'musician/entertainer' than it does a bass player. At 16 I just wanted to shag everything with a pulse and be a millionaire. By 21 I knew I wanted the conventional creature comforts of life too much to put in the effort to achieve that and have become very happy entertaining the people and earning the respect of my peers.

Any way the rest of the band could do it between you?? Have a practise and try it out , considering that practise is the worst it'll ever be. It's a thought.

You're not wrong - it opened in December if I read it right. Doesn't seem that long since we played there. I'll get back in touch - we only stopped doing it because of the dressing room and the lousy get out. The good news is you're even closer to the Kashmir - look right out of the main door and you'll see it!!! The pub at the end of the street is where I got nabbed for being the Yorkshire ripper. I wasn't even old enough to have a beard then!!

[quote name='cetera' post='598340' date='Sep 14 2009, 04:08 PM']Excellent news Dr!! So, you suggest a bit more 'mid' and less 'bass' on the Ampeg head /Boogie 2x15 then Sir?! [/quote] Nope. Turn it up and hit the f**kers - that's what I suggest !!! Very low ceiling over the deep stage which is a mess of loose cables - afterthought dressing room behind made from MDF or similar. The get in's not bad because the joint isn't open but they close the outside yard off later meaning the get out's up 2 internal fire escapes. The house PA is big , loud and crude - the house lights are so so though I expect you'll use your own lights/pyros etc. A (sort of) safety curtain comes down in front of the stage which can hamper placement of kit like floor lights and flash bombs. If you're off for a curry - which you should in Bradford - ignore the posy joints and go to the Kashmir beyond the Alhambra near the Photo Museum.

I'm hoping to get along to the Gasworks. Don't know if you've been before - the dressing room's a bit naff but it's stocked with bottles of Carlsberg. Sadly the only bottle opener that was there is in my gig box!!! It's the daddy of bassy sounding stages too.

[quote name='OldGit' post='598005' date='Sep 14 2009, 10:44 AM']I know it's a trek but our local good venue starting putting on "the country's best tribute bands". May be worth a punt if the fee's good. [url="http://www.theglobecardiff.com/"]http://www.theglobecardiff.com/[/url] We had the Hamsters ZZ Hendrix show a few weeks back... That went well. Nearly Dan's here soon too .. That's Pete Academy on here so you can ask him how it goes .. I guess you could ask him for good trib venue ideas ...[/quote] Thanks matey - I'll have a look at that. We're not short of gigs , at least at the rate that we want to play them , but one thing on the cards for next year is lining up a few long weekend mini tours in further away parts of the UK. If we can find a couple more in Wales - why not!

[quote name='Tait' post='596126' date='Sep 11 2009, 10:50 PM']one day i WILL own a blue flower tele bass.[/quote] [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-BLUE-FLORAL-PRECISION-BASS-P-Bass_W0QQitemZ150372181207QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item2302e164d7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-BLUE-FLORAL-P...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='597957' date='Sep 14 2009, 09:14 AM']Birkenhead? Bloody hell mate, that's a bit of a trip for you innit?[/quote] Only about 80 miles and the fee was good plus they gave us rooms on the cheap. We're having to travel further to do the ZZ trib - though we support that with 30mins of Doc B. Sadly we can't find anywhere to do the trib locally other than the odd charity do.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='597921' date='Sep 14 2009, 07:29 AM']It was the first gig with my new band The Silver Dogs - I've only been with them a couple of weeks but had managed to learn enough to do an hour's set. We completely blew the audience away and I only made a couple of minor booboos so today, I'm very tired but very happy.[/quote] Glad to hear that - you seemed pretty shaky about it t'other day. Bit of adrenalin's a wonderful thing!! Revolver Club - Birkenhead. Late show but what a cracking gig. If you're fussy about the monitors though - take your own.

Once or twice at gigs I've been asked 'do you get paid to look like that?' I say 'Yep , and you're paying me - what's your excuse for looking a twat?'

I think it stems from trying to learn too many new songs at once - they take a while to sink in. When in doubt - hit the root note and look like you're doing it on purpose !!

I listen to a song we want to cover enough to get the gist of it. I'm not interested in what the bass players doing , I come up with my own part. In fact , that what our band does as a whole. Where's the fun in copying? Because we also have a trib band we can't quite take that attitude but we still roll our own to a degree. I rarely listen to a song we do after we start doing it because I a) don't want to be influenced and it's arrangement might stick in my mind and I'll end up arseing up our version.

Jesus H Christ - just look at me. Head down , several chins , serious face , playing up the dusty end............. I must be getting too old for this game!!!! Bought this mid 80's Olympic White Jap Fender of Ebay for not too much coin. I've put a Badass 2 on it and replaced the shiny white pickguard with an 'aged' off white one - both bits bought from you guys. I doubt my Fender wall looks as impressive as WOT's - and my pics certainly don't - but it's a happy little trio that get's plenty of work. The sunburst modded Precision's my old faithful 73 and the Blueflower 54 jap reish is just about my main stage bass these days. Note my impressive collection of Badass bridges - one of each !!!

I do it easily now. No problems at all. The reason? I practised. When I do - the vocal comes first in my mind , not the bassline. I think that's correct - the melody and lyrics are what makes a song - far more important than the bassline. It never fails to amaze me - folk play bass 2 hrs a day for 5 years and get pretty good at it - they have a go at one song , singing , and say they're crap - end of !!! You were crap at bass too when you first picked it up. I truly don't believe in gifts or natural ability - maybe the timbre of a voice is natural , fair enough , but the rest is just putting in the work.

There's life in my RB series yet , but if this amp proves long term reliable it's probably next on the shopping list.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='590940' date='Sep 5 2009, 07:43 PM']Phew, glad I don't play in a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band! [/quote] Yeh - but you'd probably get the airplane cheap

Wasn't there a saying about adding up the 'watts' of all the guitarists in the band , adding 100 w for the drummer , then doubling it and that's the number of watts you should use??? Bit outdated now , I think. The SPL coming off your rig is the important thing. I can tell you what I need. I work with a fairly loud drummer and a guitarist with 50w of valve boogie. I want a rig that copes with that on stage without turning it up past halfway BUT I don't want to grow an instant 3rd bollock and I don't have a tame gorilla to carry my kit. On bigger stages I change that not a jot - I just make sure I have monitoring that copes. Why try and fill a huge stage with your backline? In my case it equates to a 280w head driving 2 not particularly efficient - but reasonably portable - cabs.

If I'm amp shopping I use a bass like one of mine - most likely a Precision. If I'm bass shopping I try and use an amp like mine or one I'm familiar with. Not rocket science. If you get serious about a bit of gear - expensive or not - a decent shop will let you bring your own bass/amp to try it with. Quite frankly if I were trying a 2k bass in a shop and they'd only let me use a cheap little practise combo I'd be out of the door having imparted that timeless phrase that sounds like 'go pluck yourself'. Having said that - it would be an idea for folk reporting on gear shop try outs to say a little about what else they were using and what sounds they expected of it. It's all so subjective anyway - someone earlier said his shop always let him use something good like a Mark Bass - last thing I'd ever use!!

It's perfectly natural to wonder about the credentials of a zero feedback seller - but we all had to start somewhere. There's a hundred reasons why anyone - maybe esp a new ebayer - doesn't relpy to messages. I'm all for 'innocent until proven guilty' - but you have to protect yourself first. Petrol or a train ticket to Leeds is a lot cheaper than losing hundreds of pounds to a scammer , and if you have any doubt whatsoever insist on seeing the bass in advance or paying cash on collection. The seller has offered the option to pay cash and collect and that's a good sign unless it's a total bad egg who does that to lull folk who need to use other options into a false sense of security A genuine seller - esp a newbie unwise to the fact that there are many scammers out there - will , or should , understand that attitude. Re Stingrays.... if you liked what you played - play more of them. Make the effort , go to shops , try and find out (maybe here) if anyone near you has one you could try. If you then decide you want one - there's no shortage of Rays on the market and I'd be suprised if you couldn't get sorted with what you want for around the £650 mark.

Get the one that feels right in your hands - otherwise your appraisal of each's advantages is sensible enough. I'm guessing a Precision might feel better to you if you've been playing 5 strings - bigger neck.