diskwave

Def in the early years but as a 15 yr old, timing was terrible. Just about to do grade 6 or 7 on the fiddle and some bloke called J Rotten and his merry bunch came into view. That was it, bye bye vioilin and hello Fender P bass and me thinking " I wanna be like them", and its taken me 40 odd years to get back into the classical thing. No point with regrets, Punk was the sunny uplands Id been looking for and it was a revelation and it enabled me to have a great life as a semi free time bassist. Im now 64 , did my last dep five yrs ago and started Cello two years ago.....another revelation and having a ball... flippin hard work tho. Bet yeas Its important that I acknowledge the chance I was given at school.. and of course back then it was all free.

Haha takes me back. A hotel season on the IOW. Three Penguins and a female singer in a gold larmay jacket...Sure we looked the part.. but what part exactly? A bunch of 1920's gangsters I bet. Still got the set list...all those early 80's Disco stompers....happy days.

A tall music stool is actually pretty cool. Remember that early 70's ToTP's TV icon?..However I'd be most miffed if I'd payed to c the Pistols only to find them sat on their whatsists, shudder the thght.

I like basslines that swing so yes Im old fashioned. I'll put on a 70's Philly soul compilation and be lost for days...Some beautiful playing on a lot of that old stuff. Harold Melvin, The Drifters, O'Jays, Chilites, the list is endless.

Ha.. character building I call it!. Guess Im a cheapskate and prefer to get away with the bare minimum. Thing is you can easily spend 2/3 days charting stuff then what with the 20 hr full day of the gig for me it wasnt really worth the effort, so I'll scribble down the keys on a fag packet spend a good few hrs going over the real tricky stuff then hope for the best...it moreless works out...apparently..ha

Im not a bad player, read etc, good ear blah blah but four years ago I got a call from guys I had played with many years ago...anyway they needed a dep for a very well paying posh private party in a flippin grt manor hse in Oxford...two weeks away, only catch, it was 60 odd tunes from the 60's...Tons of tricky old Beatles that type of stuff....No charts, nothing. Probably about the hardest I'd ever worked...Great fun but my old brain was treading water like crazy and I made a few muck ups which the lead didnt miss either...oops.

And there you have it, plus older peeps dont drink as much. However it was up to them to spec you guys out so they would be happy, but that's their problem and they should have honoured the agreement. Happened to me a few times over the years...maddening!

My gigging days are over but I still have a BA108 in the lounge...gets quite thunderous pushing a P bass with dead flats thru it, my neighbour thinks so too, apparently...haha

Saw the Marvin thing last nite too and was rather thrilled when I noticed the bassist playing an SB900 thru a Muisicman rig. Exact same setup I had back in 81. Nice basses tho the neck was always a bit skinny for my hands.

Watching that video and listening to that guy is one of the most fearful things I think Ive seen in the world of bass. No wonder AI will consign all of us to the dumpster. Meanwhile....a certain Mr Jamerson has my full attention....That's better.

Rubbish and wind ur flippin neck in. You wanna diss all those classic tunes that people like you now have to "sample" to make yoiur music right, go ahead. But you will never ever better what came before so wind it in. And with that I bid you good day sir. Tho no doubt youll have the last word. I will not be responding.

And that makes for great music does it? Of course not.

Sting. Love him as an original thinking, hugely talented renaissance man but that pretentious thumb thing he does where the bass just disapperars into the mire? Ive tried it, just stroke the string with the soft part of the thumb?...awful, mushy and indestinct, and now everyone does it. No ta.

Its always been a dilemma. Ive often found those types tend to be very good at what they do, they tend to have fiery difficult temperaments. Remember a fantastic male singer I worked with many moons ago. He and the hotel manager locked horns and one night he (the singer) stopped the band mid set and into the mic launched into the most awful dressing down of the guy....finished and we launched straight into Totos, Hold The Line...it was dramatic and bloody embarassing for all, but we carried on for the season because he was the draw. Crazy.

Late Hitsville, ie 71 was I think Bob Babbitt, By then Jamerson was on the wain for all the reasons Im not going to rake over again here.

So way before "digital" this and that on all those old jazz records Motown cuts the guitar/bass players are out of tune? I started playing bass in 1977. I tuned to whoever was the dominant player, guitar, keys...horns, whatever and I was always in tune. As a much lesser cello player I use a tiny pitch pipe...never fails me..ever.

Has to be one of the easiest tunes to figure ever. Try and hear the progressions. Whilst its imperative to read notation its also good practise to train ur ears to catch stuff like this.

I'll leave the hate for the politicians but tunes? hugely dislike maybe and its pretty much everything from around 1990 onwards and, apart from the Sugar Hill Gang, and only that thnks to Bernie Edwards bass line, pretty much every hiphop and rap tune ever written.

Lucky man. I love those walnut 70's P basses, theyre just so 70's, and if its a good one then its a keeper. Having said that my walnut CV70 is not far off...

Now go listen to Radio 1 jingles from the 70's. Sorry but its predicatable and extremely boring.

Complete opposite here. Played an original Ray from 79 thru 91 and was never really happy. Heavy, kinda thin sounding. Been playing P's since I got back into it in 2000 and couldnt be happier. Funny ole world.

Ha.. the Chinese really are taking over the planet. When not playing bass Im a free time cellist of questionable ability. They are knocking out quality cellos for crazy money...Ive played 30K luthier instruments and 1.5k Chinese instruments and its hard to see the difference, so I'm not at all surprised that ur bass is as good as you say it it. Nice.

Hands down the CV 70's P bass. I ve owned loads of Fenders, Jap bases, Squires but the CV is the ony one with the big ole fat, 70's neck.

Yes, makes a feel a bit old. See me Smile..one of those unique tunes..nothing like it before, nothing like it after. Brilliant stuff.

Not one...Today, its almost like one massive great big competition to see who can the play the most notes the fastest in the shortest amount of time. I cant think of a single YT vid just showing a bass player playing... One.....in a funk style and doing it with touch, feel and groove.....One.