12stringbassist

Paul McCartney Sting Lemmy Mark KIng Phil Lynott John Entwistle Sid Vicious Oh yes it's hard to name 10 bassists that the man on the street would easily come up with... Some of mine are probably a bit obscure to the younger end now.

THE WHO BY NUMBERS. A less than cheerful listen...

Cheers, snagged a pair of sets.

We just picked a few songs from our set and some extra bits and sewed them together....

The bass section at PMT in Salford is rather sad these days.

I very rarely go into a musical instrument store these days, as I have decided to thin the herd rather than adding to it. With only a couple of years or so of playing, I am unlikely to buy a guitar or bass now, as I have what I need.

Slade are now in that situation, with only Dave Hill from the original line-up. I haven't seen the Nod and Jim-less version of the band since 2000. I just can't bear it. When Dave and Don parted company, that made it even less attractive.

My band's got an album out - all original songs - available here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305838185616

Did anyone actually manage to get any of the Rory Gallagher items sold yesterday? I assume an amount of it will be in bank vaults.

You get bands who continue and evolve over many years - I'd cite Dr feelgood as a band that has shed original members gradually and once the last of those left, the question obviously arises - should they stop? Obviously not. They have kept an audience (maybe smaller than in their heyday) and serve them. I liken most bands to WH Smiths. Some one leaves, it's still WH Smiths. I have to hold back a snigger at a certain band in the North West who BOUGHT a band's name for £1500 and trot out some 60's clunge... introducing the songs as THEIR hits... (the bit I find funny).... but they are keeping working and making some people happy. Their website has an honest band history and you can see that the current line-up is nothing much to do with the originals.

I wouldn't be without my BDI21. A little bit of drive and the tone boost are fabulous.

We take between 110 and 120 a year (including a regular Sunday jam night). Our gigs are on the front page of http://www.the3.co.uk

From the other week in Wolverhampton...

My SR1305, during recent recording duties.

The SuperDeluxe editions of some albums have been really welcome to me. The recent Ultravox box sets have been a total delight. The Be Bop Deluxe boxes were wonderful too. The Who's Next / Lifehouse box, while overly-expensive, was certainly the way for a fan to get all of the related content. XTC's reissues were of model of how to do it. A shame the videos have stopped. The Thin Lizzy boxes I have - Vagabonds / 1976 / L&D / Rock legends - are all excellent. The demos in the 1976 box are pretty special, as is the live disc. The 2024 mixes of Jailbreak and Johnny The Fox use some guitar parts that were previously buried in the mix and a spoken word part that was abandoned in Emerald - that was a REAL surprise to hear. The demos as bonus content at the time of original release wouldn't have worked, as the band wanted us to hear record in only ONE way, how it was intended. Elvis Costello's back catalogue is on its umpteenth expanded reissue now and it's too much to expect fans to keep buying it. It pains me to say that Suede are guilty of putting out a slightly amended reissue of their back catalogue every few years. I wish they would stop it. If you can find the Edsel 3 disc sets, get those. They are definitive. They also try to get you to buy a special expanded edition of each new release with b-sides and live stuff added. A visible cash-grab. Having been involved a little in the Slade reissues, I know exactly how difficult the process of unearthing and getting additional content approved as bonus content can be.

It seems quite simple to me. If you want to upgrade your PA system, and if your drummer opts out of buying, then he doesn't own a share of the new PA. Give him his share when you sell the old one. Split the cost between the rest of you. With my lot, I own powered top PA cabs. Drummer owns desk and bass bins that we use. Has spare top cabs. Guitarist also has a small desk and some PA cabs.

Maybe occasional use of a rubber thimble might help.

If I didn't take two basses with me, then sods law dictates something would go wrong with the ONLY bass. At the moment I mainly vary between a couple of P basses or a pair of Rics. I usually change basses for the second spot... but sometimes stick to the first one if I've got my sound properly. I've seen gigs fall apart when a bassist's instrument fails or breaks a string and there's no spare of anything. Nightmare. I've also had another band ask to borrow my bass. A refusal often offends. You're not breaking mine.

I'm on the verge of cancelling everything next year. 33 gigs and a regular weekly jam. Personnel issues. are wearing me down.

No.

Seeing as I've done a new poster design...

I think they got my best side.

We did a gig in Lytham the last two years where someone who was MC-ing came on and cut our set shorter than agreed because he saw himself as 'the big entertainer' and liked the sound of his own voice. He was actually umming and ahhing, struggling for things to say while we were packing up and I said it was his fault for stopping us so early. I wanted to throw him off the stage. He tried to cut it 15 mins shorter, but I wouldn't look at him. I complained to the organiser and the guy wasn't MC-ing this year. we didn't play either as we had other things on the date.