meterman

Don't confuse them, Pike!

The New Fray Bentos Jazz Orchestra? The Smooth Jazz Riot Police? Onions? Cat Poo Jazz Bags? Smell My Jazz? Bifter, featuring Felicity Kendal? Grifter, featuring Geoff Capes? The Porcupine Jazz Quartet? Topol & The Jazz Roofers? Schnorbitz Jazz Club? Blimming heck, naming jazz outfits isn't easy is it? Can't you get a female lead singer in the band and call yourselves Heather Report? Or The Jacqui Pastorius Big Band or something?

Anything fan fretted. Never tried a Thunderbird or Flying V bass. Nothing ‘pointy’ or ‘metal’ 🤘 None of those coffee table single cut basses made from exotic tonewoods that look like vomit, and where the top of the body starts at the 5th fret. Yet. (I only play a Precision with flats now because Angela Rippon used one to redo all the parts on the first four Yes albums because Chris Squire was still primarily a tenor recorder player at the time and his bass parts weren’t up to par. She really was one of the great unsung British session players. Never got into Yes but I did try. Still want a 50” gong, a cape and a wind machine because of them though.)

£120 quid? Do it! Great bass for the money 👍

I've got 11 or 12 year old La Bella flats on my short scale Precision copy, they sound fine and play really nicely. On the first bass I bought in 1989 (a Shaftesbury Tele Bass copy) it had the original flat wounds on it and they must have been 20 years old already. I changed them for some Rotosounds one day at the behest of a band member but even he thought they sounded awful on that bass, so I swapped them back the next day. If your flats sound alright and play okay, leave them on until one breaks then get a new set 👍

Got my confirmation email this afternoon as well. I'll believe it actually exists when the theremin is in my studio and I'm actually making freaky noises with it. Then I'll put batteries in it and make it go "wheee-ooo-waouh-eee-ooh" etc...

The only music I have on Spotify or any of the streaming platforms has had about 80,000 streams from an album and a couple of EPs. And that was only because a couple of tunes got used in US tv programmes. The licensing payouts for the TV shows was thousands, whereas the payouts for the streams more or less paid for a pint and a packet of posh crisps. I have a non-streaming clause in anything I license out to labels now. It’s not worth me giving away my music for free, as it’s my only source of income so I’d rather take the actual record and CD sales, and the money from the licensing agreements. But I’m sure it works for others, just not me.

I just got a barely used Squier Sonic Precision in California Blue from a mate. I switched the neck for a Squier Jazz neck and the whole thing weighs about 2.9kg. It's probably made of balsa wood but for £100 I'm not complaining. Sounds ace as well. Can also recommend the Hofner violin bass, they're probably lighter than the gigbag that you'd put it in. Mine was possibly less than 2kg, but then again it's got a tiny body and it's hollow. Great for reggae and ska, as others have said 👍

Paid last night, finally, after getting the '504: page crashed' message over and over. Really looking forward to adding this to some recordings when it finally arrives. This will be the first Dubreq instrument I've ever owned. Unlike seemingly every other kid of my age, I never got a Rolf-endorsed Stylopedophone at Christmas in the 1970's. The inspiration for getting one was Via Mardot. I am not - and never will be - in her league, but I do love her compositions.

I swear, just replace Tyler and Perry with a younger, more capable pair for touring. Tyler's been half-àřśéd about it for years anyway. I doubt many folks would miss him like crazy. Like I said earlier, just get Brian Blessed in on lead vocals (he won't even need a mic, so money saved there) and get Jeremy Clarkson in on lead guitar (he'd look funny as fark with eye liner and leather trousers and tie-dye scarves and all that) - audiences would be too busy laughing at the state of Clarkson to pay any attention to the actual music. Then they could just phone it in and mime like Britney Spears. Job done 👍

Never been a fan of Aerosmith, except for the single they did with RUN DMC, but just because Steven Tyler’s voice is shot shouldn’t mean they have to pack up for good. They should get Brian Blessed in on lead vocals and continue touring and making albums. Then I might get into them. 👍

I like his 1960’s records, but I know very little about him, other than: Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor all played in his bands at some time or other. He lived in a treehouse in Manchester as a teenager, up until he got married. And he was reputed to have owned one of the largest collections of pørńögráphy in Britain until he move to the US. Rest In Peace, JM.

Thank you Daryl. Yeah, I was gigging and recording whilst I was still at school. 15 years old and being allowed in bars, underage - fantastic! However, while I was still 15 I involuntarily spent time in a psychiatric facility on and off for the next two years, so I didn't get to do any school or exams or anything. I really wanted to become a graphic designer and work in advertising or something, but I'd missed too much education to even get into art school. So I worked in a warehouse for a year, then rejoined a few old school mates, started up a band, and that was it. I have no real transferable skills outside music so I just focused as best as I could on earning enough from music to cover the mortgage. Sometimes it was pretty $hitty, but then other times it could be great. Never earned a rock star fortune with flash cars, or even a decent career wage with fancy holidays and a good pension, but I did the best I could with the meagre skills I've got, and I've done okay. I reckon it's being prepared to take risks that gets the work coming in. I have no doubt that most folks here on BC could run rings around me as a bassist. But then there's probably lots of folks that wouldn't give up their day job to be kinda thrifty and get by, just from playing music. Personally I'd have chosen a career every time instead of music but my limited education and bipolar issues ruled a career out for me. I envy day job folks!

It's not for everyone, that's for sure. I was 25 when I moved from being in a signed (albeit rubbish) band, to doing session work. But I used to do a couple of night shifts at a bakery as well, just in case there were quiet weeks. Sometimes I'd turn up to a studio session or a dep gig or something, and I'd get the "ooh, look out - here's little bakery boy" chants or get called a master baker or whatever. Wahey! It was usually done in jest so I could have laugh along with the banter, no big deal. But I did start to notice that other musicians I was playing alongside were living in rented rooms or bedsits and living off cup-a-soups, or still with their parents, whereas I had a mortgage on a flat in central London because I had a side hustle and they weren't prepared to do that. I was usually totally knackered - imagine finishing a drumming gig and then heading straight off to do a night shift at a bakery, already sweaty and fit for sleep. But without the bakery side hustle for a couple of years I wouldn't have been able to carry on, I was rarely 'first call' as a player, my skills weren't up to it. I wasn't A-list, more like S-list 😂

Tell ya what, I am quite partial to a western snap front shirt - they used to be my #1 choice when I'd be touring with a country-soul artist. They always felt like the right attire for the occasion. Top look 👍

I think he’s an amazing player but - and this is all on me, it’s not meant to be a personal attack on the guy in any way - but the jazz bass bridge pickup tone has always been too nasal for me to listen to for very long. I lasted about 90 seconds into that first tune before bailing out. It sounds like ‘pages from Ceefax’ background TV music from the early 1990’s or something. Like Dad, drums (well, percussion mainly) are my main instrument. But unlike Dad I absolutely love house music and repetitive beats. Or even just repetition (disco 12”s, dancehall, Velvet Underground, Steve Reich, etc). But that kind of mix of jazz fusion and musak - fusak? - goes straight past me, regardless of how great the players are. The trio recording was more to my taste though, and I liked his muting technique, super clean, and perfect for that setting. Thank you for sharing that 🙏 I just wish someone would rip the bridge pickup off his bass 😂

I don’t really count, being a percussionist first and foremost, but guitar wise it would either be a Telcaster of some kind or a Danelectro DC59 (late 90’s reissue), they’re my go-to’s for guitar but I’ve got all sorts - Mustang, Jazzmaster, couple of Guild Starfires (one’s a 12-string) a Bigsby-ed Silvertone, 3 Teles, plus an electric sitar and some acoustics and a couple of ukes. Around 100 guitars and basses have passed through the ranks over the last 40 years and I’m currently Strat-less and have no Gibsons. Although I would love a late 1953 / early ‘54 Gibson Les Paul - the gold top ones with the wraparound bridge and the pair of P-90s. At some point when a decent chunk of money comes in, I’ll track down one of Gibsons many reissues of these. But if I pick any instrument up to write on, it tends to be a Precision or Jazz Bass. I always found it easier to write on bass, despite it being my 4th or 5th instrument, in order of playing ability.

I'd totally wear one of them onstage, or even just round the house, or down the shops 👍

My sentiments exactly!

Is it not possible to thread some replacement corks back on it? Shame to have to replace it, it looks like it’s seen some action, I’d be wanting to keep that one 👍

Not currently gigging or planning to, but I'd have nae problem wearing my latest headgear purchase onstage. I mean - Tunnocks Caramel Wafers in hat form, go on ya wee scruffbag 👍

My wife assures me it's the standard British average, really, er... Back when I was doing the pubs and working men's club circuit as a teenager we'd do an hour of chart hits, then have a 15-20 minute break for a pint, then do an hour of classic rock - AC/DC, Zeppelin, Free, Bad Company, Stones, Faces, Little Feat, Deep Purple, Sabbath etc. Basically two hours with a break halfway through. Function gigs? We'd just ask the organisers and play as long as they wanted (if the money was there) I played in an Afrobeat band once and I swear this is true - we'd often play 3 or 3 and a half hours non stop, and all the songs seemed to blur into each other after about an hour. Weird thing is, a 3.5 hour set of Afrobeat might only have 12 or 13 songs in it. The intense repetition would make you sort of zone out but focus right in, if that makes any sense. Nowadays I'd be gauging audience reaction to figure out how long to play for and whether to take a break or not. Also, "where's my money?". Or "Are there any pies?" etc

That's bad, but mine is worse. This is 1960's Connery-era James Bond quality compared to my horrible soldering which is not even Steptoe & Son quality.

Thank you The Brig, I totally appreciate your knowledge 🙏 I think it's going to be a Squier neck on a Fender body, which probably doesn't happen too often, (and it means I'll never be able to try and pass it off as a Fender so my conscience is clear) but if I can fettle it I'll be very happy 👍