diskwave

If the band is musical and everyone including the drummer is playing musically ie keeping it interestig then its an unequivical NO from me. If however the band plays four on the floor dance music then its a big fat YES too.

Saw them in Basingstoke last night in a little seated theatre, never seen them before, in fact come to think of it havent been to a live theatre gig for quite a few years, festivals but not theatres. Anyway what a treat, and yes I know their not everyones cup of tea but it was so re-freshing to watch an old school bunch of musicians live on stage with everyone playing their part and rocking too with some brill upbeat groovers........And good old Maddy Prior still at it at 70 plus....she's a flippin institution and still sounding pretty good. One little observation and only cause Im a four banger was watching the bass player constanty fiddling with his Jazz bass...haha, still, he sounded very nice, full and fat with a touch of grindy clarity - it really underpinned the band. I dont often wax lyrical about bands anymore. Their either too loud, processed or boring but Steelye last night were bang on. Live music dead?...no way.

Lee Sklar. Extradorniary musical player....everythign just right. But for instructuon it has to be Tom Bornemann. I love the way he writes out evrything out precisely and his excercises are so musical..

Its an interstesting thing really. There are players as in many of us here...good players with mega chops but then there are "performers" like Pomeroy who literally put on a one man micro show, whatever their doing... Its really satisfying watching that level of talent. I used to sing backing and muck about a bit but not whilst playing those tricky ELO tunes.....guy looks so relaxed and in control its really good to see.

Watching ELO at Wembly on Sky. What a cool fellow Mr P is....great playing, always smiling and larking about and doing backing vox too...my type of performer..brilliant indeed.

Only 24 posts in 16 hrs about an absolute musical legend. Does the Basschat demographic apart from myself stop at about 18 or something? Talkbass has gone nuts and showing huge respect...

Hate to state the obvious but how bout get the tune onto ur phone and learn it in bite size chunks...must've wore my old tape player out back in the day learning sets for new bands. Anyway its a great changing bass part, interesting to play start slow and dont worry about soaring up the neck on the middle section keep the run up mid neck and it'll still sound great.

I always get slammed for this but hey free speech an all. In my humble but experienced opinion aftermarket bridges are basically snake oil. Ive owned umpteen Fenders with tin bridges and they all had plenty of sustain and tone and even the 71 P I had with the bridge in the wrong place intonated perfectly......Iam yet to be convinced.

Well if you call a singer who would stop the band mid groove and start berating some punter then yes. Trouble was we were a damn good groove outfit and he was a brilliant singer/ huge range, great pitch, I just had to get used to looking the other way and sucking it up...haha, ah the good ole days.

Talks about her hearing loss on BBC today......not sure if she mentions this but is this the result of in ear monitors...squirting noise directly into the ear? She does appear to use them.

Ha singing out of tune is an art...Boy George made it so....This?...my goodness, really?

C'mon peeps not one post about his actual playing? Lee Sklar is a top draw session musician, some of his runs and melodic lines equal that of Jamerson. Big respect.

I totally understand those who find P's kinda clunky , flat and horrible....but its in that awkward simplicity where the gold lies. Fresh rounds and a pick with the tone rolled off a hair you get that beautiful archetyple punky/metal clang. Sling on a set of old flats and then play fingers with a light touch a hair south of the PU and you've got that low mid punchy tone that fits a million tunes. But play it like your not sure whats going on and it will sound lifeless and dead.

Autotune?..auto this, auto that...what gets me is that I bet he's probably quite good live with a guitar around his neck so why process the living daylights out of the record.....ugh....Lets hear some fluffs, maybe a slightly outta tune guitar, tempo wander..some space around everything...ha.

The question suggests that we as bass players have some sort of control over the overall audience experience. I gave up years ago worrying about how I sound from the middle to the back of the room/hall cause unless ur doing the Entwisle, John Taylor, Jaco thing then those bass frequency nuances we endlessly discuss pretty well all sound the same...either over bloated, or soft and mushy.....rarely will ur crispy well honed tone sound like that at the bar.

The term "set up" is used way to loosely and I think it kinda scares most shop managers. Its def not about different strings but it is about doing some pretty intrusive machinations. Most shops are staffed by young inexperienced people who - a, are not mechanically minded and b, basically dont know one end of one guitar from another. Then add tight profit margins etc...and its no wonder new instruments are left as is.

Exactly my experience and Im probably a lot older than you. Bought an original SR in 1980, played it all thru the 80's...it was kinda de rigour at the time...short strap, bent wrist...dear oh dear but there was always something missing...as if I'd skipped dinner...the tone sounded kind of empty. Eventually sold it and traded a few P basses....Im still playing the P's and will never go back to active.

Nope. Heavy metal at the time meant one thing only....Black Sabbath...the Purples were heavy rock. So SOTW is a heavy rock tune.

That replacement P looks very nice, light too?, Fenders body contours are smoother than the Squires but my CV when it arrived was beautifully set up from the factory (the shop didn't touch it, apparently), and bear in mind the poor thing had travelled thousands of miles from Indonesia. That neck thing you had sounded like soft wood with someone maxing everything out to get it right.....this type of QC thing can happen anywhere....its very difficult to predict how wood is gonna behave under pressure.

All that is old and glistens etc....I had one in 78, heavy and, I was young and brawny back then, and I dont recall it sounding that great. Todays Squires especially the CV's cannot be compared on any level.

Maybe a bad bassist is one who doesnt play the bass line that is the crux of the song.....have to say it would be unusual....cant say Ive ever heard it...

Started watching, love em of course but that reunion tour just seemed lame somehow....Blackmore throwing water at stage hands...not cool....switched to Beeb4 Boy George...his voice has gone but he's a cultural icon rarely seen live, it wins the night for me, grt tunes too.

Oh forgot mention even tho Im a die hard funkster soul type....that Ampegy intro to the Damneds Love Song......full of clangy goodness. Peachy.

Now you've gone and done it and your dead right....That's Y forums like this are kinda odd really constantly worrying bout this and that. As you say no-one on the floor cares....all they know is that that mushy low drone they can hear is neither here nor there...its just a bassy drone.

Hate to tell the truth but to a certain degree this is the only thing that matters. Ive played in bands where no one really cared to much what I was playing and we were doing tasty funky poppy stuff...As long as I hit some key notes, played a confident groove and chucked in any old lines I deemed appropriate all was well......Never go to an audition thinking you need to impress unless the band ask for it.. What counts is attitude and personality and a modicum of ability