Dr.Dave

Interesting - if the bassist wrote the song he was probably able to insist on putting his own stamp on it more so than if he was a hired hand doing what his employer wanted.

Big gob ?? When the house lights are on I'm a wall flower - when those lights go off and mine come on.... party time ! I cut down the original tort pickguard from my 3ts 73P so it just held the knobs and just enough around the pup. It looked excellent - the yellow of the sunburst started to go green in the middle of the body. I got a red tort for it a few years back and now I've lost the cut down one. Bugger. Not sure I'm keen on black on black IF it's a dark fingerboard. With maple boards black on black looks really good. At the end of the day it's just personal choice. If you had a hot date with Rachel Riley would you give a toss what she turned up in so long as the content didn't disappoint ?

When I can figure out why it is that some people decide they should be offended by something that , unless they're as thick as a canteen cup , is obviously just plain funny - then I'll tell you on a public forum !

I got a clear one and stuck a bunch of differing beer bottle labels underneath stuck on cardboard and cut to the same shape as the pick guard - that's on a blue flower precision with red dice for knobs , pink furry strap. The worst that can happen is the punters remember the daft sod with the offensive T shirt and the stupid bass - they forget the player with the stock one that other players admire.

Sator's version of Abba's 'Ring Ring'. Been doing it for years as a set opener ( with a bit of Cher's 'Believe' chucked in the middle for a laugh). It's on You Tube.

Reading back through this - Yes , A cajon bag does the job perfectly. Mines a World Rhythm Percussion job. 10mm padding. Straps go right round it. One10 goes in handle side down (so the side feet don't indent the padding over time) - Peavey MiniMax (in it's own bag) fits against the top end of the cab so the bottom set of cab feet don't butt up against it. Canvas bag ( the post office get their coins delivered in them - ask for one ) full of leads on top of the MiniMax. 22 brick and change on Amazon but if you apply for their credit card then chuck it away you can get a tenner off. Whole package weighs about 23 lbs - or 10 and a bit eurokilothingys if you voted Lib Dem. That's if my ancient bathroom scales and my specsaver bi-focals are accurate. A stone and change lighter than my 'ultra lightweight' GK MB210 combo , which will be coming to a for sale forum near you soon.

A WMC in Bradford , think it was called the Thornhill or Thornton Labour club. 1979 and I was 17. 1973 Fender Precision that I'd bought late in 78 for £150 - took me months to save for it on my trainee wages. Still gigging with it. Marshall 50w valve head - think it was a JTM 45. 1x15 and 1x12 cabs my Dad made for me. Thin Lizzy , UFO , AC DC stuff plus some originals. There was a stripper on before us. Well dirty. Coke bottles , the works. I went in the dressing room after her spot and she was stark naked , she grabbed a towel and covered up ( I could never figure out why after what she'd just been doing ). Anyway I was so gobsmacked all I could think to say was 'We've got a towel like that at home' !

I had a sunburst/maple 72 , humbucker version. At the time I was playing a fair bit with a pick and couldn't get a sound from it so I converted it to fretless with a replacement neck. In the end I sold it in bits and made more than it was worth. These days my stage bass is a 90's cij Blueflower single coil version - though I did put a quarter pounder in it , changed the reverse pegs and added a baddassIII. I also put an extra screw in the clear pickguard. Beer bottle labels under that - dice knobs - job done !!

I'm sure you're right , mate. Probably a case of something I read 40 years ago when I started out sticking in my head. I've always like the GK , easy to get a sound which is quite bassy for a 2x10 and has never given me a problem in 200+ gigs. It has one fault - whoever designed it had the DI xlr seated the wrong way round and you can't get your finger in to release the xlr. What a pillock. I have to stick a key in to release it. I'll let it have it's head this weekend. Always happy to solve a problem without parting with any cash !

Habit , mostly. Many moons ago I read an article that basically said if you're turning the amp much past 4 to get the volume you need you should be thinking about getting bigger gear. I've always liked the idea of my kit coasting rather than being pushed. I'll have a rethink though , notch it up a bit this weekend and see how comfortable I feel about it.

Because we're now all 150 years old we're downsizing our gear a bit. I'm currently using a GK 2x10 Combo with a 1x15 ext cab. The combo sounds fine on it's own but is just a tad quiet and I'm unhappy about turning it up past halfway to get the volume I want. So.... The combo alone is rated at 8 ohms which means the 10" drivers must be 16 ohms each. What issues might arise if I replace them with 8 ohm drivers so the amp section is pushing it's load into 4ohms ? It should give me the little extra volume I want but what problems might it create ?

Just remembered this one [font="'Bookman Old Style"][color="#3d3d3d"]All my lazy teenage boasts are now high precision ghosts[/color][/font] [font="'Bookman Old Style"][color="#3d3d3d"]And they're coming round the track to haunt me[/color][/font] Although for the pedants among you it's not technically the first line.

Rush , for me. Time , stand still - I'm not looking back but I want to look around me now.

I try not to be one to hark back to the past on some nostalgia trip so I'd only go as far as last weekend so I could watch Burt Bacharach again.

How was my gig tonight............ Pissy. Newcy Brown should never be free. Night night everyone !

The few enforced breaks I've had have been down to illness/injury to others but my approach is always the same. I put the bass in it's case and forget about it. I accept invitations I normally have to decline because I'm playing. I go off for weekends that I normally can't because I'm playing. I don't have to rush around after work on Fridays or cut my Saturday afternoon's short. During enforced breaks I've done the 3 peaks walk , been to the ballet at Sadlers Wells , been to the June 6th Anniversary in Normandy , been to the Crick boat show , actually attended someone's birthday party instead of sending a card and last time it happened I went clay pigeon shooting and got horrendously mortalled afterwards with a bunch of posh farmers. In short - I enjoyed the things I usually can't get round to doing and my life is richer because of it.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1429955587' post='2756625'] Free Bird & Sweet Home Alabama!!! I love Skynyrd, and there are loads of other great Skynyrd songs, so why do so many bands insist on playing these two? [/quote] In my case - no Freebird but we can mix up SHA with a bit of Werewolves of London and a bit of All Summer Long then make a gag about only ever playing stuff by dead people so Kid Rock must be shitting himself !

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1429958973' post='2756677'] I used to hate Rebel Yell by Billy Idol. I never really liked the tune and found the bass line boring in one way and difficult in another (too fast!) By actually it grew on me the more we played it. It always went down well, and once I'd got the speed up I could actually look round and enjoy it. I almost miss it now I'm not with the band any more! [/quote] Me too - but I love doing I now , even though it tears my throat up. I've always detested 'Can't get enough of your love' . Hate it with a passion but every dep job I've ever done required it.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1429983330' post='2756961'] I've seen a few bands in recent years that have kicked off sounding awesome. Then the vocalist lets fly with some god awful screamo style noise. [/quote] Ah..... you've seen me play then !!!

I'm in a trio with two bad singers and one good one. The good one's the drummer and ( sadly) he doesn't like singing much. So us two bad ones grabbed the ball and ran with it. What I can't get away with the guitarist can and vice versa. The drummer does what we can't. Like anything else - practise made us better and confidence did the rest. We attack it like singers - so we become singers. I hate bad singers that don't know it. We're bad singers that know it but learned to develop what we've got to good effect. BTW - re. Stevie Nicks - her nasal carry ons can be a bit irritating and the state of her much abused septum won't help ( not withstanding the stories about other bits of her ! ) but to me she thinks of her self as a non-musician/songwriter just getting her material over best she can. Christine sounds like a bloke - Mr Buckingham sounds like a girl - but the three of them harmonise like a choir of angels to my mind.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1429885005' post='2755997'] I'm always complimenting other bass players [/quote] I tend to just steal the lines/riffs/showmanship that impress me !! I suppose that's a compliment in itself.

How very kind of you all to send your good wishes for Hazel. Hopefully a combination of medications and some minor lifestyle changes will help stop her ticker behaving like a £5.99 Argos watch with a pound shop battery. Were she here - and hopefully she will be later today - she'd selflessly say that if you stop smoking , or encourage someone else to , that would put a massive smile on her face. Mind you , were you to take her bottle of sav, blanc out of the fridge and bin it you better be Usain Bolt or you might end up in the same ward !

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1248111333' post='545581'] Not wishing to counter-assert - but are they? There's a surfeit of Jam, Beatles, Stones - but can only think of 3 or 4 AC/DC in the UK. Then, I'm probably talking bollocks again. [/quote] There is - or was - 1 based in Humberside with the joyous name of 'Highway to Hull' !!

I tell them the truth - which is that I'm not gifted , I worked hard and have been doing it a long time. I go on to tell them about my office bound work pals who can knock out an email in ten seconds with all 8 fingers whereas I use 2 and take ages. Same thing. Practise and a long time doing it. Each another audience outside the gilded cage. A bigger gripe for me is that often the folk who say such things wouldn't know a decent bass line from a hole in the ground - so I never pay compliments , or criticism for that matter , much mind. BTW - one or two of you have PM'd me asking about my whereabouts of late. My lovely wife hasn't been very well and is still recovering in hospital so I haven't had the head space to think about playing much.

I wasn't t all interested in music until I saw Slade on the telly. Ugly blokes dressed up like clowns making a big noise and I thought 'that'll do me' and got my Dad to buy me an acoustic guitar for Xmas to learn on. Then I went off to a much larger school where some other kids could play the guitar. They were all better than me so I thought bass looked easier , at least to get to a standard where I could play with others. I was right. By my early 20s I'd been in several bands as a bass player but sort of re-learned bass as I wanted to be good at it rather than just get by. I'd figured there was little value in being able to recreate what other players did and wanted to roll my own - it's a decision I should have taken much earlier. My playing improved 10 fold. At 53 I'm not as technically good as I was because I can't be arsed practising and think of myself as a singer/entertainer first and bass player second. My ambitions were always to play/make music and have people like it rather than the self satisfaction of being excellent on a particular instrument. I know many folk who are hugely interested in the instrument they play and play in bands as an extension of that , which is fine but I do it the other way round.