Dr.Dave

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1407027738' post='2516801'] Working on 'A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square' at the moment. I don't think the words have held up well, but the tune is great [/quote] I don't know about that. Among older folk looking back on their lives there's a few eyes it'd put a tear in !

A good tune is a good tune. Melody and lyric to me - the rest is open house. Makes no difference how the original version was arranged or what musical gendre they were first done in. Having said that , of course , the tastes and intentions of the songwriter will obviously have influence and certain styles will fit a particular song better than others. One of the great pleasures of my musical life in recent years has been taking songs from any gendre and putting our Doc B pub/rock spin on them. I'd love to play the OP's set list - some cracking songs - but for me the freedom to play around with them would be the greatest joy. I wouldn't be interested in trying to do a straight cover as close as poss to the originals , though that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that approach which has it's own merits and skill set. I suppose some may say that 'mellowing' from a bang bang rock and roll approach to a softer style in both playing terms and song choice is just a sign of getting old BUT I for one am happy to admit that the reason I wouldn't have played that set at 20 is because I plain wasn't good enough !

Thin Lizzy's 'Jailbreak'. Askern Miner's Welfare WMC - 1978. 'Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak - somewhere in this town' it goes. I presume that 'somewhere' will be the prison , then !

This one - Slade UK Tour 1981 from the gig at Wakey Unity Hall. It's a bit like a baby camel's chewing rag these days but I won't part with it. I never wear other bands T shirts on stage but made an exception for this because we were on the same bill as the latest version of Slade at a festival at Nostell Priory a few years ago.

Fear of theft is the reason my 73 Precision stays home most of the time. No way I'm taking it to the sort of toilet we usually play in. Instead I bought the blueflower jap precision and put dice knobs and forward tuners on it with beer bottle labels under the clear scratchplate which is perfectly adequate as a bass and ridiculously distinctive - who's gonna half inch that ?! Even if they do - it's worth a fraction of what the 73's worth in money terms and there's no comparison when it comes to what's precious to me. One idea I've toyed with is having my name and number engraved on the neck plate - those blokes that make ID discs for pet collars don't charge the earth. At the end of the day - if Benny Fitt-Scrounger and Clamydia Potnoodle are clucking for strips they're gonna have it away whatever you do - so the best thing is to just guard against it.

In this hot weather your hands will sweat and your fingers start to get sore - I've had that in double headers on warm days. Wristbands will help - as will rubbing superglue on your plucking finger pads (rub it on with your other fingers - use the end of the tube !!!) , though if you aren't prepared to let it vanish naturally over the course of a couple of days you can still bugger your skin up trying to pick it off.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1406198745' post='2509202'] Never wipe your arse with a broken bottle. [/quote] I know a bloke who has a mate who says If you do it under water the glass won't cut you. Try it !

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1406126726' post='2508579'] buy the odd round. [/quote] Come on , mate - there's no need for talk like that !!!

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1406054570' post='2507912'] likewise, several jam nights at the 'tut n shive' playing 'sweet child of mine' etc, she was very good at the widdly stuff but being 15 didn't have the soul to go with it...I'd be interested to hear her now too :-) she had great promise! She spent a fair bit of time in the guitar shop I worked at too (trad music), with her dad looking all proud n wotnot [/quote] It was the tut n shive as I recall. 'Mad' Cliff was the drummer !! She also took part in the beer tent jam after we played the main stage at the Clarence Fest once. Welshy did it , me , Rod , couple of drummers including little Mark - maybe you too , I know I didn't do it all. I fact I recall dong one song on a G and L and I bet it was yours. 2001 - it was boiling hot.

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1406066347' post='2508096'] Obviously I don’t take punters’ opinions about music too seriously in the same way that I wouldn’t expect a guy who repairs vacuum cleaners to listen to me telling him how to do his job! They can only know what they like, so then why would you expect them to understand the mechanics of how music works? [/quote] I don't expect anyone to understand how music works , so long as folk enjoy themselves - and most of them do - I'm happy. I'm known as an entertaining crowd pleaser and I get a buzz out of that. What I don't want is folk telling me this is good or this is bad etc when they can't even tell if something's in time or in tune or not. That's a very basic measure of whether a bit of music's good or not and doesn't require an 'insider' to figure out. Of course , not every punter is the same - there are plenty of clued up music fans about but I find the majority as thick as a whale omelette and find it more useful to me as a player to dismiss their opinions as the clap trap of someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.. There's a drummer round my way who the punters love but I've yet to hear him come out of his woefully clumsy fills in time even once. There's a guitar player who gets raved about who's fast. That's it - just fast. Not an ounce of taste or soul or the slightest bit of stage craft. If I listened to the opinions of the punters I'd be playing with two jokers like that . No thanks - I'll stick to acting on my own opinions because the resultant music I make will be better for it.

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1406025151' post='2507546'] Apart for the disdain for the punters bit this is generally pretty good advice... [/quote] In 30 odd years of gigging I still get called a guitar player , asked why my guitar only has 4 strings , asked if I 'really need all that gear ' , told we're brilliant when we've had an off night , told we're sh*te when we were excellent , told the reason we won't do the Kings of f***ing Leon must be because we can't play it - I've seen excellent musicians ignored , piss taking jokers lauded as brilliant , guitarists judged as some kind of deity on how fast they can move their fingers even though they couldn't keep time with a Rolex , bands putting an interesting spin on a cover told they 'got it wrong' - how long need I go on. Your average punter hasn't got a clue mate. That's fair enough - I don't know how an engine works or how to fix a computer , each to their own etc. I'm happy to go out and entertain and be friendly towards punters - they're no better or worse a human being than I am ( and thankyou very much for the foreign holidays and the narrowboat) but as someone who has spent a lifetime striving to be a decent player and who has learned the sense in recognising good music and good playing even when its not to my taste or not my instrument I refuse - and will continue to refuse - to accept the musical opinions of a Friday night drinker as anything other than inferior to my own or those of my playing peers whos effort and experience based views I've come to regard as worthwhile and command my respect.

I first jammed with her when she was 15. She was slightly precocious in those days but her over baring parents that came with her caused that. I remember doing 'sweet child of mine ' with her - just a kid and she played the arse off everyone. Not seen her in a couple of years when we were on the same bill in Skipton and she did a solo acoustic spot - very good she was too.

You can't blame the poor sod for trying to stay in tune fer Christ's sake ! (I'm assuming he does it silently - doing it be ear at full vol is a bit of a ball ache). Surely you can think of some gag/wisecrack/intro/ to talk to the williams about in the 'gap'. A succession of 5 second intervals that go 'This is called 'Devil on a Motorbike...1 2 3 4 ' all night long would have me straight out of the door. Guitarists need to tune - drummers need to adjust their adjusting things - singing bass players need to have a slug of their pint etc etc. Plus the Williams like to turn to their mates and say stuff like 'These lot are ace/sh*te etc'. Use the gap - don't fight it. If you want one of my tuning gap lines try 'Look at this dozy c**t tuning up again - 2 grand guitar , buys his strings from the f**king pound shop '. Usually gets a laugh.

Be a musician - not a gear collector. Only copy others until you're competent enough not to - no heroes. Deal with mistakes , don't fear them. Remember that you can't break rules until you know them , but that rules are for the guidance of the wise and the obedience of the weak. Make sure that at every gig you do something to ensure the punters will remember you when they wake up next morning. Have other interests - life's too big to waste it all playing music. Play what you should , not what you can. When offered money to prostitute your artistry and compromise your values - always take it. When a landlord offers you free drinks - ask if you can come back tomorrow and have them then. Never pay too much respect your audience - if any at all. Don't join in this drummer or singer bashing nonsense - strive to play with good ones. Never play in Doncaster , in fact never go to Doncaster. If you can already play an instrument that allows you to have a rest mid song and stand around for a moment looking cool - stick with that !!

The pups on the Mex P are pretty helpless things. Take your pick of a thousand upgrades .That could well be why you don't like the sound. As for P neck on a J.... why not , if it works for you. P J arrangements on a P seem less popular than they did once but there's another option. It's a Mex P to start with and you say you got it cheap - not much to stop you hacking it. If you decide you like the J with a P neck - put the other bits together , flog them and a J necked P and retire to the nearest pub.

Hoping to be around Vire at some point. A relative was wounded by a Tiger there , while trying to recover an anti-tank gun. He was walking wounded and went off laughing - quoted in a book as saying 'I've got a blighty one , see you later lads , I'll be back in a few weeks'. He got on a hospital ship - the Amsterdam - it hit a mine and he was killed.

So have I , mate !

Good fun yesterday at a tea time gig but I came home in time to watch the cup final with a lipstick mark on my cheek which went down like a fart in a space suit !

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1405351192' post='2501094'] Dave... That's fair enough, you've passed the test. I'm not up to speed with British pricing; in France I'd expect something between the equivalent of £30-60. It's a pretty simple operation for a competent luthier. Pics of the operation, if you go ahead with it..? [/quote] Might be a while but pics for sure. I'm off walking the Normandy sites again in a few weeks - might bring it with me and have it done while I'm there !!

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1405351666' post='2501101'] Here you go Dave... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLjtajNuAm8[/media] [/quote] Very kind of you , mate , but I don't want to know. We're a covers band but I like to have as much 'artistic' input as poss into what I do and I find I can roll my own better without too much - or even any - knowledge of the original. Besides - the sounds off and my good lady is watching Tipping Point and won't be best pleased if I turn it up !

I can think of two types of 'nerves'. One stems from getting up in front of a crowd of strangers but that's never concerned me how ever big the crowd. Most of them wouldn't know a good note from a bad one so long as they see your fingers move. The other is fear of letting your band mates down which I do understand. I overcame it by realising I'll never play a perfect gig. I'll make mistakes and so will the other members - so there's not a lot of point fretting about it. Experience has taught us how to recover from cock ups and that recovery is the important skill to learn. You go for your chops , mate - no champion ever left his best fight in the dressing room.

I don't think I've listened to anything new in the last decade but based on our set the two most recent things we do are the aforementioned Black Keys thing (which I hate but other guys in the band and the williams seem to like) and - though it might not make the parameters for all I know - Country Girl by Primal somebody or other. Williams love it every time and I get to sing ' my arsehole is unclean' at the top of my voice which is obviously a bonus ! I don't know if we do it anything like the original because I've never heard it. Our guitar player sang it to me in the car !

I was doing OK - knew 4 of the first 5 - but then as I got bored I scrolled to a link with a picture of Pamela Anderson so I clicked on that ! A fine example to practise the sexual technique of 'double bassing' on I reckon.

True enough , Pater , but I don't want lines , I don't need dots and my pre-CBS packet of polyfilla's gone hard ! I really fancy one of these fancy wood blanks I've seen. Black Palmwood to be precise.

Got chance of a rather nice Tanglewood acoustic bass for not too much coin. I had one before but , like a pillock , I sold it. Lovely instrument. Anyway , this one's fretted but I fancy having it fretless. There's a couple of suppliers on t'interweb offering fancy wood fingerboard blanks at reasonable prices so - wondering how much I should be paying to a luthier to fit one to t'other ?