TimR

Do you have a £30k car? If not, then I agree, it doesn't apply to you....

Yes. But not £30k a year. As you say £3k a year is £60 a week, every week. And that's just for £3k worth of basses.

Indeed it does. But how much have you spent on it in 3 years and how reliable is it? And if it breaks down and you miss an important meeting? I do 30-40k miles a year, an £800 car wouldn't manage that. Ultimately it is a tool, just like a bass is a tool. If you're attaching sentimentality to an object, then that's the problem. Whether it's a car or a bass. Especially if you're buying them serially and are not able to let go of them.

A car is a tool. As its worth depreciates, the money you have made from using it increases. I'd hazard a guess that someone buying a £30k car new, is earning far more than £30k a year. So after 1 year, the car has paid for itself. £30k worth of basses, I think most people here would struggle to earn £3k a year from using a bass guitar.

Depends on what tone I'm after. Usually neck pickup. But very occasionally bridge pickup or corner of neck.

I'm pretty sure we've all been in that band.

I seemed to have a collection of spades in my shed. Having several spades is always a good idea. In the summer I had a good clear out and decided to get rid of the excess spades. It snowed on Monday. Mrs R took the remaining spade with her in her car. I couldn't get my car out of the drive... At least one of those spades would have come in handy. Had to borrow one from the neighbour. Wonder how many spades there are in our street. Not many judging by I seemed to be the only one clearing any snow. The problem is, it's a delicate balance, many is the time I've regretted throwing something away (I can always buy another one if I really need one) only to spend hours scouring the Internet or local shops for it's replacement. Then there's the 3 rubber mallets I have in the garage, because of the times I've not been able to find the other one.

My dad bought me my first bass in 1986. A Japanese fender copy £120. I bought my first bass in 1989 with my first paypacket. £350. I bought my current bass in 2001. c£500. I spent a lot of time trying basses in shops between about 1996 and 2001 so my current bass is a good fit. I still have all 3 basses. The first one has the frets ripped out. My wife still thinks I have too many.

Well our guitarist has covid and the drummer has a chest infection. So looks like no Christmas tunes this year...

Yes. It's a bit random. And I think if the guitarist busks the chords it probably doesn't work. Seems like some weird jazz chords in it.

Slade's - Merry Christmas Everybody goes down a storm whenever I've played it in bands. Is a great sing along and it's got an intermediate level bass line to keep it interesting. We're currently 'learning' it for our next gig next week.

I do it as a bass solo because the rest of the band won't play it.

My bass was £400, amp £500 and each speaker £250. So £1400 for me. Pay can be variable but £80 is handy. No one has £500 cars anymore. A tank of petrol and set of tyres would double its value.

Sounds like a very modern relationship. I've always found it best to keep my wife away from any of my other partners.

Ha. I had assumed it was the reason for the thread resurrection. As you were, nothing to see here...

Be interested to see how much the Fender Rhodes goes for

So better to spend a lot on an older one than go new?

Who else doesn't have a Fender but thinks maybe they should have one? What would you have? I keep looking at pictures of the Jaguar Player c£800. C neck with PJ pickups. But can't find a colour without maybe going custom for £2k. All the Fenders I've picked up weigh an absolute ton. I've not even physically played a Jaguar Player. But I don't really want or need one do I...?

Definitely. If you have an MD with charts, you practice, and maybe rehearse, but otherwise you turn up to the gig and play the charts and follow his directions. If you're at that level of musicianship you know what you're doing. If you're in a dodgy hobby band you can spend months just practicing and getting an arrangement started, that's before you're in a position to rehearse them. Sure you need to put on a good performance, but you need to be realistic as to what level your band need to rehearse depending on the skills and experience of the members of that band and where you're playing.

Yep. If you're rehearsing for something I totally agree. As I've said I don't like endless rehearsals for no reason. Guess it depends on what you're playing. We play simple 4 chord pop covers. There's only so many times you can play vcvcvc before falling asleep. You don't need to rehearse them week in week out if you're also gigging them.

Typically you've been playing the same song for a long time and someone makes a silly one off error that has never been made before, and will never be made again. Someone else decides to stop the song and have a great long disection of who played what, when and why. When everyone else knows, one person has made a silly one off error. No one actully knows what went wrong, it just did. Sometimes even playing live things go wrong. That's the nature of live music. So you start again and play the whole thing perfectly. That is wasting peoples time. Develop the ability to continue playing and recognise silly errors as opposed to actual structural issues with arrangements.

@Kiwi woke up in a bad mood?

No idea. I sent them an apologetic email. The drummer also sang so we were left looking for a drummer and a singer, I'd lost interest and was playing in 3 bands at the time anyway.

They're professionals and I doubt very much they rehearse week in week out for one gig a month or less. From the professional dancers I know, they'll be called in the morning for a show that evening. They'll block through the dances in a few hours, rehearse and get on stage. It's what they do for a living, they're professionals and they get on with it. If I was in a band that met a couple of weeks before a tour, spent a week or so in the studio and then hit the stage, that would be great. I suspect once the tour is going, there are no more rehearsals unless a change happens. My brothers band is full of professionals. They don't rehearse between gigs. There's no money for it and they know what they're doing. I find going through the motions at rehearsals just introduces silly errors that then get disected to find out who played what wrong. Waste of time.

It goes quiet for a few weeks then picks up again. I can't remember what I've contributed. One band I was in it seemed that the lead guitarist had no intention of ever gigging. Unless it was very local and to his friends. Which meant we spent a lot of time rehearsing between the 4 gigs a year we did. He then played really badly due to lack of stage experience and what I think was stage fright. Really he was just someone who owned some very expensive guitars. When the drummer left, I took the opportunity to give them the chance to find a new bass player.