Pete Academy

On Tuesday 2nd November Janek Gwizdala will be holding a bass clinic at the Academy of Sound, 16-22 Hillchurch Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 2EX, sponsored by TC Electronics. Admission is free. Should start around 7.30pm. Let me know if you are definitely coming, so I can keep tabs on numbers.

Adam Clayton is rich. Wooten isn't as rich. I don't see the point of this thread.

You can have a million degrees in music, but as a bass player you have to hold a groove. Is that what the OP is about? It would be unusual for someone from a music college to come out and not be able to play well, but I've had experience of musicians being tied to the notes and not being able to do anything without them. Just a thought.

Goes back to the "tutored" versus "self taught" argument.

Is that a piss take? 10CC are one of the best bands ever.

Very accurate.

Our original sax player went to Leeds and she's brilliant.

Sold a 1997 Stingray 5 and bought a Bongo 5. Stupid decision. Mid-life crisis.

Not sure if I already said this previously, as this thread is so long, but I play covers at gigs. But when I play for my own practise and enjoment, I play my own riffs. Apart from 'Good Times', which I love.

That is ridiculous.

[quote name='Clarky' post='982002' date='Oct 8 2010, 08:44 PM']Can I say that, in addition to seeing Level 42 in 1983 at Oxford Poly, I also saw Renaissance ('the Northern Lights') a few years before that There aren't enough Renaissance threads In fact this may be the first mention of Renaissance ever on BassChat. Fancy that?[/quote] The Rennassance bass player comes into our shop. The band has reformed recently and done a couple of successful US tours.

She's one of the best groovers on the planet, and can make a few notes sound amazing. Also, a great reason to buy a Fender Jazz.

I've just finished watching this DVD. I'm not expecting a great response to this but it's well worth seeing. The sound is great. Check out 'Expresso Madureira'...a masterclass in latin funk, and as good as anything I've ever seen. The main bass player is awesome, and Randy Hope-Taylor guests on a few numbers. Highly recommended.

I'm obviously a big MK fan. He was a big part of my musical history. As I said in the opening thread - you had to be there. Stuff like Love Games was far different from the stuff Louis and Stanley were doing. He took the drum rudiment/slap thing to a new height. If you look at Louis Johnson's style (one of my all-time faves) - and most USA slap players for that matter - they used a mainly thumb-heavy style, whereas MK used a left hand slap on the fingerboard style much more. It's worth exploring his non-slap stuff. I feel he's taken as a one-trick pony, like Victor Wooten, as people focus on one aspect of their playing. And try singing while playing those lines! As for Meshell, she's unsurpassed in the groove department. Check out the Plantation Lullabies album.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='981942' date='Oct 8 2010, 07:40 PM']Why would you let him play bass when it looks like they had Larry Graham in the band from the start? Running away quickly..............[/quote]

Great clips!

[quote name='crez5150' post='981864' date='Oct 8 2010, 06:34 PM']Chic or EW&F[/quote] Ditto.

How could anyone not appreciate this? Way ahead of its time. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JXuFM0lnXQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JXuFM0lnXQ[/url]

I picked up a secondhand one in the 70s. After owning a ten quid Vox and an Avon EBO copy, this was my first proper bass. I covered it in stickers and had a DiMarzio P-Bass pickup fitted.

Fred Baker has been going for years. He's a genius, and is one of the truly unsung bass heroes.

Stoke has a fairly healthy original music scene. But for people now wanting to make living playing covers, it's virtually impossible.

[quote name='crez5150' post='976292' date='Oct 3 2010, 07:02 PM']Don't do pubs at all but a unit I played with back in the 80's/90's used to play the CIU Working mens club circuit....... they had 31,000 clubs back then..... now they have around 3-4000........[/quote] That's exactly how Stoke is. In the 80s a cover band could make a living playing the workingmen's clubs and pubs in the Staffs. My estate alone had 5 clubs. The other day I drove past one of Stoke's most popular venues and it's boarded up, ready to be pulled down.

I expect the players doing originals may frown on this, but in the 80s and 90s I played in a popular local Stoke cover band. I did a count of the amount of pub venues we used to play and came up with at least 15 straight away. Out of those, there is now only one venue still going, and that one is struggling. Scary stuff. Anyone else seen this in their locality?

I was in my teens. Formed an original band. Didn't make it big. Decided that playing covers to people was better than sitting in my bedroom whiddling away. And actually earned money.

This is seriously good gear. It is indeed the sign of the times. I've seen stuff going at silly prices on ebay and on Basschat, as everyone is skint. It only takes one person to offload their gear at a daft price and everything else follows. Also, working in a shop, the main question I get from bass players is: 'I'm sick of lugging my heavy bass gear around.'