Bassfinger

Some of my favourite bass playing is from a musician who only picked up a bass to finish the album because their bassist had been taken ill.

Ueah, we do pub gigs a lot cheaper but we treat those as practice rather than gigs. If it weren't for that we wouldn't do the pubs at all. Yeah, personally I'd want 10 or 12 large a month minimum if I were doing it for a living, and with share dividends and bonuses it still wouldn't get that close to what I was earning as European Director of Equipment for a very large petrochemical concern. Throw in my own private consultancy as well and it would be even further apart. Fortunately I'm in the position that I play because I want to, and even if I were 3 decades younger I doubt I'd even consider trying to earn a living at playing, much less a decent living where you've gone well beyond being hand-to-mouth. Even if I did I'd be wanting to coin enough to pay roadies, driver etc, and being realistic that would never happen for me, so I take a few shekels from out wealthy equestrian customer base and that keeps me in Ernie Balls finest.

Ah, that what we get paid but we typically do 2 or three a month. As stated, while we do pretty well for those gigs we do play I doubt there's the work out there to give us enough paid employment to make it viable as an occupation. Individual nights are OK, but it just doesn't scale up sufficiently. To earn close to what I was in my proper job prior to retiring a couple of years ago I'd have to play 6 gigs a week at 400 a go right through the year and there just isn't the demand. Even if there was I reckon being my own roadie six days a week would have a pretty short shelf life - two or three times a month is tiresome enough.

We go about 2 grand a gig for the 5 of us, so 400 snifters apiece. When we do gig we can get the top cash, but getting enough gigs to live on might be tricky, certainly round these parts. You'd need 2 or 3 a week minimum at those rates to earn enough coin to live on, and 5 or 6 to be comfortable and I can't see there's enough demand for it.

Swarfega and a wire brush for me.

If that Jazz plays as sweetly as my Sire PB then I'd say the Jazz.

What about us pipe smokers?

Which is the best tone cake?

I didn't realise you'd met me!

Where do you chaps and chapesses stand on the tone strap-nut debate?

I've seen more scientific method in a Laurence Fox rant.

Not for bass, which I can play by feel alone in the dark, but I do for mandolin and irish bouzouki, at which I'm still a newby.

On an unrelated note has anyone seen that new band, Border Force and the Stolen Instruments?

Depends on the level you're at. We do typically two, occasionally three, big paying gigs a month (two grand a time between the five of us) and we have no website. Between times we do the pubs at 500 a go, but we regard that as paid rehearsal rather than gigs. Word of mouth and social media presence alone seem to keep us busy enough now were known on the local circuit, although if we raised our sights higher a website might well be beneficial.

Usually Learn to Fly for reasons I am unsure of.

Four musical gods descended from Valhalla to bestow this upon my mortal ears. Ever since I was a teenager I've been listening to this, often several times a day, and each time I hear some new nuance, a different musical quirk. Its a manifestation of genius, and it has completely enthralled me from the moment I first heard it.

The one I used prior to that did.

Wheatus.

Oh Lord, I'd hate to choose because I love them both. However, I think never the twain should meet and PJs should be burned for heresy.

I discovered last week that GAK don't even open the boxes to eyeball the instrument before dispatching them to the customer with parts missing...

That's my ad!

I don't own a daily car but our singist liges in the village and picks me up. I always ensure he is kept in beer and snacks during rehearsals to show my appreciation (we rehearse in our drummist's pub on a Mon or Tues when it's closed.)

I very much dislike those cheap bolts with the code numbers in raised letters on the head. Would have been a first class job with better quality fasteners.

Our USP is taking lightweight pop songs and reimagining them in the hard rock style, and that makes even the most dire tat palatable to listen to and fun to play. Stand and Deliver and Video Killed the Radio Star are fun to hack away at when you're hamming it up.

I'll play anything and if it's fun to play will enjoy it regardless of whether it's my type of music. Thrashing away at I Predict A Riot or Buddy Holly are great fun to play just for the fun of it regardless of any technical merit or taste. But some stuff is so easy, or just such a dirge, it's almost painful to play. Titanium and Pompeii wpu,d be high on thwt list, but so many people paying good money to hire us ask for them I have to grit my teeth for the greater good. Thankfully I do the mandolin as well, which gives me something else of Interest to play and a chance to dodge playing some dull bass lines.