meterman

Never had a Precision equipped with EMG’s but have had Precisions with Fender flats, Rotosound flats, Chromes, and probably my favourites La Bella flats. We’re all different players with different techniques so recommendations are always going to be tricky but for me the La Bellas are spot on, I have them on two of my three basses already and they’ll probably end up on my Jazz at some point.

I’m always surprised when folks say that Telecasters tend to have chunky necks. Certainly the original 1950s ones did but I’ve owned a ‘63 and a ‘68 that were just on the perfect side of skinny. I had a 1969 Thinline Tele and that had a fairly skinny neck too. My hands are weirdly tiny so I’m always into any guitar or bass with a neck that I can get away with. And having worked in a shop that specialized in vintage guitars I found plenty Telecasters that had skinny necks or were simply easy to play. If you don’t mind buying second hand, then definitely try and check out the MIM ‘69 Thinline, or the MIM ‘72 Thinline that has a pair of humbuckers, that is a very versatile Tele and they can sound like regular Teles if you need them to. The roadworn Teles and Baja Teles should be available in your price range too. In terms of Squier - any of the ‘60s style models should have necks to suit your needs. Play a few if you can, you might be surprised. I’ve got 3 Teles (1 Classic 60s Fender, and two Squiers) and the one that gets the most play is a CV ‘72 Thinline, the neck on it is my favourite but tonally it’s great. And it was £150 second hand. Just try and play a few and you’ll know soon enough which is the one (or two!) that’s right for you. Good luck on the quest 👍

If I still lived in the UK and there was enough acts I wanted to see at Glastonbury, I’d pay the daft price and go and get stuck in. It’s not my fave festival in the UK but there’s nothing quite like it. I can look past all the posh gap year kids and the packs of acid house milfs on the razz, easy, and just crack on cause there’s always interesting stuff going on somewhere there. (Btw, I have nothing against acid house milfs at all, they’re great. Just not when there’s 50 of them on a hen do completely plastered, waving glowsticks, and covered in glitter. Then I’ll run in the opposite direction because they scare the bejeezus out of me in large numbers 😂 )

With IOW you also have the ferry operators seriously upping their prices for the weekend. Just because they can

So if that’s ‘Rick-O-Sound’, does that mean the Shaftesbury copies have ‘Shaft-O-Sound? And the Hondo copies have ‘Hond-O-Sound’? Either way if had a spare three grand I wouldn’t say no to a Rickenbacker 3000 bass. They’re like the Rickenbacker bass equivalent of a Fender Telecaster or something. Quirky but I like them.

I realise that the accident was late in his career, and should have been dealt with better / sooner, but what an awful end to his career.

or Edward Scissorhands or summat...

Would have to be these, surely:

I use the side of my thumb, not as in a slapping kind of way, just instead of using fingers to pluck. It’s my preferred way to play but if I have to play anything a bit lively (repeated 16th notes or disco octaves etc) I’ll use a pick for that. My technique is terrible but it’s ingrained in me now. I’m self taught and had nobody to tell me I was doing it wrong when I started playing (1989) so I always carried on playing like that. Can’t play finger style at all, it feels really weird, I lose all sense of timing and evenness between notes. Thumb or pick, that’s all I can get away with.

Almost all of my friends are musicians, or DJs, or run record labels, or work for radio stations or record shops, or are vinyl collectors... it’s inevitable that we’re going to talk about music. It always happens. Even my ‘non-music’ mates mostly seem to have been in a band when they were teenagers, or ran clubs, or something. Music is just one of those things we all have in common. It’s rare I meet people who don’t have some connection with music. 40 years of playing, and not having a ‘regular’ day job or career is probably the reason for that. I can natter on about other stuff but music always enters the conversations I have with mates.

Only time I’ve been asked for set lists (plus lyrics in some cases) has been in originals bands, usually at festivals or when TV or radio stations have been present, and you’re asked like it’s a legal requirement, maybe it is I’ve no idea. Never ever got asked anywhere when I was depping in a covers band, no matter what the genre was. Might be because we were rubbish though 😂

This is a really (well, to me at least) interesting subject. I would say that covers bands are an essential part of the live music ecosystem. Loads of people love playing in them and equally loads of people love going to see them in their local venues, just so they can hear a bunch of their favourite tunes whilst having a few drinks and a good time on their Friday night or whenever. Pubs, clubs, bars and larger venues all benefit from having covers bands on, it helps keep the live music scene alive in some towns, and it’s a brilliant outlet for the musicians who enjoy playing covers, or those who don’t write their own material, or maybe do but don’t feel confident playing it in front of the Dog & Duck crowd on a bevvied up Saturday night. Also, sooooo many big pro originals bands relied on covers early on in their careers. Not just the obvious Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin (arguably), but Kasabian were more or less an Oasis tribute band when they started out. Loads of soul and R&B outfits leaned heavily on covers in their live sets too. And artists like Bryan Ferry or Siouxsie & The Banshees or John Lennon (and many more) cut covers albums during their careers. Full disclosure: I’ve done very little covers band work over the 40 years I’ve been playing, and have been lucky enough to be able to get away with playing originals most of the time, but I’m not too up myself to rule out playing in a covers band for fun or for a bit of pocket money if the opportunity came my way. I’d love to play in a classic ska covers band, or a soul revue, or a reggae covers band, or even something as left field as a Wire covers band. I reckon something like that could be a brilliant laugh. I’d have to draw the line at playing “Sex On Fire” though. Or that flipping Killers song....

I’m not especially nostalgic and so I never used to bother keeping stuff, just because I moved house so often and would declutter each time. But after 40 years I’ve still got a load of AAA festival lanyards and venue wristbands in a bag somewhere. The odd gig poster or flyer or ticket stub in a box, maybe some photos (definitely some Polaroids) etc. Some handwritten crib sheets with percussion charts on them too. I don’t even have physical copies of everything I’ve played on but I’ll buy them if I see them cheap. But the only set list I have kept is this one from a gig in Bulgaria in 2015. I was on a session gig and sneakily took a pair of scissors to everyone’s set lists and placed them onstage, so the first time they saw them by their monitors, they’d see this: When we got onstage everyone couldn’t stop laughing throughout the gig. It’s not big or clever or even particularly funny, it was just the unexpected factor that made the other players laugh.

Result! I’ve never headlined the main stage at IOW but have headlined a couple of the smaller stages there at a similar age. Biggest main stage headline gig (as a session player) for me was one of the London Hyde Park gigs when I’d have been 48 or 49. Never rule out decent opportunities due to age, you just never know what’s going to come along or when. In my case I don’t feel like I’ve ‘made it’ because I’m not famous, nobody knows who I am, I’m not even particularly good, I’m just generally available and get to play with mates who are a bit higher up the chain than me. And it always feels like there’s been an admin error and I’m doing those sorts of gigs by mistake. But I’d always do them if possible 👍 My two bucket list ‘made it’ gigs would have been TOTP and the Royal Albert Hall, I always wanted to do those but I never have, or will. But that’s okay, I’m too tired now anyway 😂

Bootlegs yes, but not t-shirts or merch stall gear. Have found tunes by one of my old bands on a couple of dodgy bootleg CDs, and in one case last year, a poorly pressed 7” single. Boils my Fosters, but once they’re already out there’s very little you can do except get your solicitor or publisher to issue a cease and desist letter and call the f***ers out on social media and make sites like Discogs aware that the items are counterfeit material which prevents them from being sold on their site. The guy that did the dodgy 7” sort of did me a favour though, in that his actions made the label I was signed to in the UK decide to put out a deluxe edition of the 7” in a picture sleeve with free stickers and stuff thrown in. That was a result. Never been in a band big enough to have had bootleg t-shirts done, as far as I know. Homemade badges would probably be the most I’ve seen.

Sticking with Scotland, possibly Glasgow? Lot of bands and musicians came from Glasgow. There’s probably hundreds but off the top of my head there’s: The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Teenage Fanclub Donovan Altered Images Belle & Sebastian Primal Scream Hamish Stuart (Average White Band) The Pastels Maggie Bell (Stone The Crows) The Blue Nile Del Amitri Texas Mogwai plus there’s Jack Bruce, and Angus and Malcolm Young from AC/DC, Mark Knopfler, one of Franz Ferdinand, maybe two of Orange Juice, couple of Simple Minds, a couple from The Jesus And Mary Chain, a few from Lloyd Cole And The Commotions (even though Lloyd is English), I mean there’s probably loads more but my memory is not on top form tonight...

Thank you, I got it second hand and it’s really nice to play. I’d still like to get a P-90 fitted because the undersaddle piezo is a bit shrill. But to play acoustically it’s great, can recommend them 👍

If they did an album of stripped down largely acoustic numbers like “No Expectations” or “Love In Vain” or “Country Honk” then I could see that working for them. Especially since Charlie is no longer around. The idea of them having yet another go at rocking out and trying to compete with their former glories though... bleah.

I don’t see this as a big deal (unless you’re a fan of the bassist from Porcupine Tree maybe). Nowadays with advanced studio production techniques vs the ever increasing economics of touring, it’s inevitable that some artists are going to augment live playing with pre-recorded elements. Acts as varied as Flaming Lips, Björk, Ian Brown, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Aswad, Wire, etc, immediately spring to mind but loads of chart acts also do it. And it’s been going on for decades. I toured with a dance act in the ‘90s that combined live instrumentation with some of the impossible studio stuff coming from a DAT machine. At the time I thought it was a bit weird to have seven musicians and two singers onstage with a bunch of production stuff coming through the PA as well. Extra bass, drums and synth parts and production bits. But when we did all the festival gigs it became apparent just how many artists were combining pre-recorded elements to their stage performances. This was over 25 years ago and it was already happening before then. Especially with electronic acts that also used live drums or bass or whatever. If the UK Subs toured with Charlie Harper on a pre-recorded video screen I’d probably give them a miss. But a drum n bass act would be a different story.

Fantastic!

I’ve done it in originals bands, for a couple of different reasons. One, when you’ve been on tour for nearly 3 months and you’ve run out of clean clothes to wear, raiding the band merch doesn’t seem like too bad an idea eventually. Especially when the record company has produced 1000’s of them and you’re stuck behind a drum kit and nobody’s going to see you anyway. Getting your laundry done when you’re away for months is almost impossible. So, yeah... Guilty! Two, when the T-shirt design is a really good one and you’re playing in a great band on a huge stage and being paid daft money to be there, then why not? Again... Guilty! Similarly, I did a gig for Levi’s once and got a load of free gear from them, which I’ve worn onstage at various places. Nobody’s bothered. I’ll admit that although I take my work reasonably seriously I wouldn’t claim to possess an ounce of cool, so in my case I’d doubt anyone seeing me in a band shirt would give a toss. I’m a middle aged white guy so nobody really cares what I wear. I’m at that age where I might as well be invisible now anyway 😂 But also it wouldn’t bother me if I’d gone to see a band and one of them had a T-shirt with the band’s name on it. It’s not exactly Joy Division oven gloves or Sisters Of Mercy tea towels level is it?

^ This might do the job. Apply some T-cut to the scratch and buff it until you see some improvement. If it doesn’t work and the scratch is still really bugging you, maybe get a spot refinish?

I sold a black / black / maple 1977 Jazz bass in 2012 for £1495. It looked really beaten up, had a lot of dings in the finish, a replacement Leo Quan bridge and it weighed a ton. But it sounded divine. An old bandmate sold a ‘78 sunburst + maple Jazz in 2018 for £2000. Again, that one was a bit scruffy and weighed a ton but it was all original and sounded and played brilliant. That one sold on the same day he offered it for sale. I guess it comes down to what the individual buyer is prepared to pay for the bass, if it’s the right one for them?

Top choice 👍 Valium jazz at its finest! I love Julie London’s records but have a very soft spot for her final album before she returned to acting. “Yummy Yummy Yummy” from 1968 is stuffed full of pop hits of the day but she absolutely makes each one her own. As with Bobbie Gentry, I wish she’d continued her recording career.

When I still lived in the UK I was gigging loads more than I do now and the run up to Christmas would often be really busy. And very well paid.💰 I think my final three gigs in the UK were all in the week before Christmas 2019. And I always had extra DJ work on in Decembers. Never seemed to have any problem getting work. Pre- Br**** there’d often be residency bookings in Switzerland or Germany or France where promoters wanted UK acts. Not sure how easy it is to get those gigs now though. But now I’m living in rural French nowheresville and I barely gig at all, I just do as many records as I can during the year, or remote session work, and keep some money stashed away to tide me over, just in case. It helps that I have no debts and tend to live fairly frugally, but it works for me. Buying and flipping instruments can be a good side hustle but that can also be as time consuming as doing a regular day job. I recently scored around €2000 worth of vintage drums and percussion gear for €80 so when I get a spare couple of days I’ll be goggle-eyed in front of the computer listing stuff on Reverb. But it’ll be worth it. And there’s always bargains on Gumtree or at carboot sales or still on ebay if you know what to look for. Otherwise round winter I’d teach if I had any idea what I was doing in the first place. A number of musicians I know do temp work in winter, and if I had any transferable skills I would too if I needed to. There’s always something going, even if it’s not playing. Tech-ing, driving, doing sound if that’s a skill you have? Band photography if you’ve got the skills and contacts? There’s always something 👍