Dr.Dave

I insisted on doing and singing a driving hard rock version of winner takes it all complete with Queenesque ' Now I'm here ' start , acapella audience sing along in the middle and motorheadish insane ending as the last song in Dr Blue's first set for several years. I even sang the proper words rather than a sweary offensive version which is what I'd usually do.. That's how good the song is. It was when the other band members got serious - after 20 years (!) - and decided such joviality was beneath us that I knew our time was up.

I read somewhere - apologies if it was here - that the grill itself on the minimax is responsible for most of the noise and that putting little spacers on the fan mount bolts holds it away from the case , reducing the noise..... ...but I can't be bothered trying it so it's just what I read

Just reading folks views on the Minimax's noisy cooling fan. I have one as a gigging tool and it's possibly the best amp I've owned . It's size is a blessing. It's feature packed. In built tuner - smashing. Sits on top of my two tiny barefaced cabs and copes with a noisy valve guitarist and big hitting drummer without needing to be cranked up even to half way. Fan noise - rehearsal or gig , no problem whatsoever , you just don't hear it. BUT Surely considering it's price point and size this is the sort of amp that many players who don't gig regularly will be interested in. Or - like me - gigging players want to set it up in the house for a bit of practise or general noodling about. If so - the fan noise will annoy the hell out of you like it does me. I was reckoning on it being so compact I could dispense with any form of practise amp for home use. I was wrong. So for home users or sole amp owning giggers wanting to use it at home a lot - forget it.

This fine gentleman just sold me a spectracomp and somehow got it to me in two days despite the massive xmas postal backlog. Thank you Sir.

Possibly because when I started out - just after the battle of Trafalgar - I was a bit clueless about stringing and always had rattles esp from the a string as others have mentioned. I solved them by adding a second string guide to hold the a string down - a practise I've followed on all fender style basses ever since , though probably not required anymore now I know how to string up properly.

I took the time to put round wounds on my 54 reish P instead of flats and I've been noodling about with it in the conservatory through my new vox practise amp - bought for no other reason than it fits on the windowsill. The pound shop rotty sits on the table in front of me fascinated until I lapse into playing hotel California , at which point it scratches it's starfish and sods off.

Bloke that sold me an old jazz bass I moved on for a few quid ..... Said he was shutting the shop for a few days to go down to London for Reggie ( or Ronnie , can't remember ) krays funeral as they were old mates etc etc. When he reopened I said I watched the funeral on the telly but hadn't spotted him. He said to keep it to myself but he never went to the funeral because he had a thing going with Barbara Windsor and spent the two days shagging her !!! It's not that I care about his bull - it's that he must think I'm daft enough to believe him !

I think the most I ever had was five but for the past few years it's been my 73 sunburst precision that I've had since 78 and my heavily modded blue flower 54 re-ish. Must have had that 10 years.

Forgot to mention - I do sort of have a job. I flogged my narrow boat when I retired and moved and soon hooked up as volunteer crew with the chesterfield canal trust's trip boats. I'm now a qualified skipper with the inland waterways association. 13 hour days sometimes and the pay can be as much as two cherry bakewells per day ! I even played Santa Claus on a dozen kids trips last Xmas. We do lots of charters so if any one fancies a floating birthday party , let me know.

I did a few sums and decided I could retire early from my job - with a housing association - 2 years ago , so I did. At the same time I moved 40 miles south to a rural village. Bit of band politics here but in a nut shell a band member tried to use it as an excuse to fold the band when the reality was he'd become more interested in his side project. I wouldn't let it happen so the band carried on into 2019 when he found another excuse involving the drummer. Long story short and I was bandless for the first time in 30 years. Happily I've started something locally ( Retford's my nearest town) which is proving slow to get going but gigs are now booked for later in the spring. Back in Wakefield I could have walked into any one of 3 pubs and formed a band before my pint settled but it's been really hard here because I don't have the contacts or the catchment. I'm also finding it hard work to learn 20 odd arrangements because for the past decades I've only ever had to learn two or three at a time. I'll be doing far less singing which I'm glad about. I'd become more of a front man than I intended and it feels good to just play bass on the majority of the songs. This band's a five piece when I'm used to a trio and that makes things harder too in terms of having more bodies to get together at the same time for rehearsals. I'd like to have walked into a working band but I couldn't find an interesting vacancy. If this start up doesn't work out that'll be the only option I'd consider in future. I'm only 58 and by no means clapped out but retirement has given me a taste for an easier life with new interests and I can honestly say if I never picked up a bass again it wouldn't break my heart. I am enthused by the new band. I hope it works out but I'm not the dog with a bone I used to be where playing music's concerned.

We did a very zz toppish version

It's got to depend on what the band aspires to do. You get function and trib bands who try to get as close as poss to original versions which is a skill in itself and fair play to them. Personally I like to roll my own in terms of arrangements , style , bass lines - anything. I'll happily sing and play a female sung pop tune with a slapped line as if motorhead we're doing it. If I don't like the middle eight , I'll dump it. If I want to shove a chorus from another song in , I will. If I wanted to earn more money I'd have to adapt I'm sure , but I don't so I won't ! For me - play what makes you happy. Rules were written for the obedience of fools and the guidance of the wise.

I'd have liked to have been a true artist but I wasn't naturally inspired enough nor prepared to give much up to become so. Instead I became a pretty good craftsman , which I enjoyed being , so much so that others were prepared to pay for my time and skills. There's your answer.

Played Mustang Sally for years but it was always venue dependant. Town/transient type pubs. Always got women up dancing , usually a few up on stage as backing singers. We ended it by going into 'Shout' and the roof would fall in. No idea what key we did it in - various probably , depending what key we ended the last tune in. Certainly we never learned or rehearsed it.

Not sure I have a pic , mate. Settings wise ... None of the boosters in. Bass , mid and treb about 12 o'clock. I always reckon if you need to swing on knobs to get a sound you like you bought the wrong amp.

All I can say is my two One10s have coped easily with a loud drummer and 50w of valve loving rock guitar player and pack away with my Minimax and associated cables etc into two well padded cajon carry bags which cost about half as much as a cover does. My only complaint is I can't find which font the logo is because I wanted to make stickers and change it to read ' barearsed ' !

I don't like the transient places where the punters couldn't give a toss about the band , they're just going from place to place. Usually the reason being the place only gets an alcohol licence because they agreed to put entertainment on so the management ( the 'bar manager' will be no older than 19 and thick as a canteen cup) don't give a toss about music either. They tend to have no decent beer and are often up staircases. The stage will be right in front of the big screen with sky sports on. Some drunken lass 'always wanted a go on the drums' , some whizzed bloke wants to push your mic stand in your face while you're singing to get a laugh from his knuckle dragging mates and to round it off nicely the whole lot of them deliberately stand in your way around the doors while you're loading and unloading. Pound to a pinch of stinky poo they always fall on the same night that the motorway gets closed for repairs and you have to drive 30 miles through the sticks to get down to the next junction too.

Certainly I'd still think of bass as my primary instrument to play in a band but I'd have concentrated on songwriting. Somehow I ended up becoming a craftsman rather than an artist and , worthy though that is , for me it's a poor second.

Jim Lea from Slade. No way I'd ever have picked up a guitar if it wasn't for Slade and the fabulous bass lines.

My GK rig just sold so at this point in time - 2 Fender fretted 4 strings - both badass/Duncan QP equipped. One's my trusty 73 sunburst that's now aging better than I am and wears RS66's and the other a Japanese 54 reish in a fetching shade of Blue Flower sporting cheap Chinese flats. Peavey ( never thought I'd be saying that ) minimax chosen over similar animals with the same power and facilities because of the built in tuner. Barefaced One10 chosen because of a combination of creaking knees ( excuse - it's idleness. I didn't do 30 years in local government to start breaking sweat now !!) and a Peugeot 206cc's tiny boot. Both housed in a padded Cajon bag thanks to a tip on here. At the moment I'm on a sabbatical from gigging for only the second time in nearly 40 years but it probably won't last very long so I'll probably be adding a second One10 or a Midget at some point , most likely depending what's on sale here and the requirements of whatever bunch of unfortunates are desperate enough to put up with a crabby old sod like me telling them what to do. Padded bag (found in a skip behind a pub) full of cables and bits. AKG mic , mic stand mounted beer holder , pink tambourine , Tom Clancy novel ( I pick it up and pretend to read it to make a point when guitar solos over extend !!) , inoffensive T shirt to change into in case we show up and it's a bit posh (unlikely) or full of knuckle draggers.

Hard question to answer and all I can manage is that I always knew when I wasn't good enough to make me happy and feel confident but I have no memory of the time that changed. Bubinga5's comment is a good one - indeed you don't need incredible chops to be a good bass player , but I find the players I have most time for certainly do have incredible chops. They just choose not to use them very often. I've only got a few party tricks and half of those are the same ones backwards !

A Jazz bass. For years I lusted after a 70's sunburst/rosewood/block marker job and finally got one - couldn't get on with it. Something about the offset waist and the thin neck by the nut. My hands never fell in the right place. I sold it on - at a good profit through vintage and rare - but a few years later I bought a Japanese white fretless Jazz . Same thing. It just didn't sit well standing or sitting and felt too flimsy at the nut end so one sunny Sunday a nice lady came down to my boat and bought it from me. Just one of those things for me. I felt like my Precisions are hammers and I wanted the rest of the tool kit - just didn't work out.

As I understand it there's a pecking order according to social station too - so if three folk who worked at a school saved an equal number of kids in a fire the head teacher gets the MBE , the support teacher the lesser OBE and the poor bloody caretaker the BEM. Doubtless if some tosser from the Council turned up three days later to 'co-ordinate' the efforts he'd be knighted. Mind you ,if you got one for cynicism I'd be in the house of lords and not talking to you peasants !

Ringo is a multi millionaire so already well rewarded for his efforts. To my mind he seems to have been knighted for not dying. BTW I do like the guy and I like the Beatles. But what about Jeffrey Long. He's an ex-para and 86. He does sponsored walks to raise cash for the British Legion - the distance dictated by his age. Amongst countless others he's walked 84 miles along the Leeds Liverpool canal , 85 miles along Hadrians wall and this year 86 miles along the Thames , despite having a bust ankle and , incredibly , being on Chemo. Jason Manford got involved with that one and as a result donations on his just giving page went through the roof. I can assure you I'm not jealous but were I an aging rock star enjoying my millions , polishing my countless music awards and waking up next to a Bond girl ( often on the floor , I read !!) I'd be satisfied enough to say 'No thanks - how about you give it to Jeffrey who'd likely use the increased profile to raise even more cash'. update - I just found out Jeffrey already has an MBE for his charitable work. Pleased to hear it.

We changed the arrangement and bunged a load of filthy lyrics in because... well , that's what we do - but without doubt the biggest crowd pleaser we've introduced in recent years is 'Living on a Prayer'. None of us can find a key to sing it properly - which is the only time we've come across that embuggerance because all 3 of us sing - so our drummer said we should not bother trying and let the punters sing the chorus instead. Works every single time. That's for the ladies - if you want a bloke crowd pleaser try a bit of Oasis like 'Cigarettes and Alcohol'. Also get some glam in there. Ballroom Blitz is a good one or Cum on Feel the Noize - we did Blockbuster but we wedged it into a medley with Roadhouse Blues and Jene Genie. Bad Case of Loving You - that goes down well , though I had to drop the bit of 'do you wanna be in my gang' I put in the middle because too many people threatened to kill me.