12stringbassist

"Oh she's nice". "What's the next song, I can't see my list". "Oh that was a good drum break". "How does he play guitar like that?" "What's the first line of the next verse?" "What's the first line of the next verse?" "Jeez, I hope they didn't notice that!" Last night: "She had better not fall into the drums again". "Oh good they have taken her home". "If these buggers have to stand around and have a conversation, they could at least not form a crowd in front of me, as people are trying to watch the band." "God, I'm tired".

My thyroid: Half of it went. Fortunately, it was just a cyst. My thyroxin will need checking periodically. The prostate cancer - I have a page on my website about it and ALL you male bassists should read it. It's on THIS page. There's an explanation of what happened to me and a radiotherapy blog. To cut a long story short: After I finished work to just do the band thing, I spent a lot of time with my wife who remarked I was going to pee a lot. I said it's just all this coffee I drink. You pee a hell of a lot, she said. Get yourself checked out. She said this many times, until I cracked and went for a 5 minute blood test. Then the doctor called me in. PSA level = 19. They would have been happy with 4.5. Finger up the bum time. Lovely lady Doctor. could have been a lot worse. Then another doctor. Then a biopsy. Then sepsis. Then a week in hospital, trying not to die. Released in time for my diagnosis. Given options. Chose surgery. A few weeks later I had my prostate gland out at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester. Some months later, they told me the thing was "fried" (their word). Quarterly reviews clear for nearly a year, then small recurrence of the cancer. Radiotherapy earlier this year followed by one clear review.

A series of health decisions have driven things to get me where I am now. I took early retirement from my day job, about 6 months after having part of my thyroid gland out. I made the band that I was with then my job, plus a jam night band every Sunday. The band turned out to be absolutely horrendous to be in and then I had to have my cancerous prostate gland out. During my downtime I thought hard about what to do and so the jam night band became the full-time band. And here we are today. Make hay while the sun shines.

@Bluewine Next year's diary looks like this already. We have a landlord who has 7 pubs who wants to put us in all of them and once a month in one of them. So there are some more dates to go on there yet. Plus we have a glam band side project that we are going to start selling in a little while. www.the3.co.uk

The good thing about his freebies with newspapers was that he got paid exactly what he wanted by The Daily Mail for each copy. He would have made far more money from that than any streaming deal.

I'm 60 in October and my band have 130 gigs in the book this year. There's no such thing as too old, unless you are physically incapable of playing.

That reminds me of my guitarist in an old band of mine... "Brian May doesn't play that song like that" "He would if he was in this band!!"

Nice one Eddie!

I don't see the point in doing a completely note for note cover, unless you are in a tribute band. Add something of your own in there, or it is pointless doing it. Anyone tells me that "that is not like the record", I just say go and play the record, then!

I play with either and my bass is at a reasonable volume anyway, so changing between doesn't cause a huge jump or sudden imbalance. I think I have learned to play harder or more firmly with my fingers. I don't really think about it.

Believe me, I tried. We played a selection of crowd pleasers that usually can't fail. and they just stood with their backs to us. I tried the cheerful tried and tested between-song patter and .... nothing. Maybe they just were not up for a band. I did give the couple a big smile as I brought the gear in and say hi. I think a bass rig, monitor, a few bags and a couple of guitars coming through the door and being plopped down a couple of feet away would be a clue to most people.

We played a pub just outside of A******ton last night. When I arrived at 8 pm, the stage area was (as usual for this venue) totally full of tables and I was prepared for the usual battle of wits with the landlord about getting them moved. I took all my gear in and placed it in ahuge mound, next to where I was going to set up in the corner. The couple sat at the next table looked at me with big eyes and a look of total dumb incomprehension. When I took the covers off the amps, they seemed to finally get the picture and moved a couple of tables away. The landlord saw me setting up without moving any tables at all and was, for once, shamed into asking if we needed some tables moved. 'All of these that are in the stage area' I said. So, with a look of sadness and bewilderment, he moved all of them a few feet forward, except the ones where the couple were now sat, leaving no room for our guitarist and still not much room for our trio. Our drummer was at his wife's (significant) birthday bash, so we used a very good stand-in for the night (Steve, who covered for Graham's absence last year, after his operation). When he turned up, the couple looked alarmed, but stayed put. Up went the kit. Then our guitarist arrived. I got his amp into the room and put it right in front of one of the couple sat where he needed to be, on the floor by the blokes foot. They took the hint and moved again. It astonishes me how utterly dim some people are. As to the crowd that night, they sort of looked at us as if we all had two heads for most of the first half. They didn't seem to undertsand what two guts with guitars and a drummer were doing there, or even clap when we finished playing songs. The atmosphere was totally flat and to be honest, I was dreading the second half, until a few people wandered in. Their faces lit up when they saw us and they sat to watch and actually reacted to what we were doing, unlike all the unresponsive in-breds that were there. The second half was much better, thanks to the handful of people who took us on while we played, but we only have one more gig there this year and to be honest (again), I think it will be our last one. There are far better places to play. I wish we'd gone to Graham's wife's birthday bash instead.

I have a Burns Bison. I bought this one from a shop in Blackpool while doing a weekend there with an old band. I walked past the shop and it was there in a dark corner with lights on it. Oh God, it just looked gorgeous. This very retro bass looked just the part for the 60's vibe of the group and so I called in, as soon as I got a chance, to try it out. I wasn't disappointed at all with what I heard. It has just about every variety of tone built in that anyone could need. This bass is great for the studio. It is featured particularly nicely on 'I don't wanna talk about it' which is one of the slower, more atmospheric songs on the first Kerbcrawlers CD. It's great for live use, too and the only thing that could be considred a 'drawback' is the emormous body size. It weighs a ton!! The neck reach is the longest that I've ever had to use. You want neck dive? You got it. Only an idiot can't control (or complains about) neck dive, though. It sounds more like a Rickenbacker should at times than any of my 4 Ric 4003's!

The guy concerned is a mate of mine and I have quietly advised him on how to deal with Eastwood over their misleading publicity for this model.

The other one -

33 (+ 1 not pictured here)

I've only ever played one Jazz bass that I have liked. A new USA one from about 2010. I came across it in a store in Boston USA while on holiday there with relatives. It sounded very much like a good P bass, so why not?

I got this one last week. Plays just like any other P. Has a good rounded sound, haven't found the dead spot yet. Lowered strings to my taste and no fret buzz etc, intonation bob on. Pickups seem just fine, but slightly quieter than my USA 60th P. Tuners are quite ok. £619 from PMT Manchester on price match. Doesn't come with a gig bag, but they gave me a used one to get it home, as I am a 'frequent flyer' with them. Bought a white pearloid scratchplate to replace the plain white one. USA 60th anniversary P that I mentioned. Scratchplate also swapped out from white.

How is his voice these days? I heard he had real trouble singing a few years ago. Not knocking him. Genuine concern.

Oh that's a shame. They were superb in Manchester.

The purple Cloud went to a Prince tribute band at the weekend. I think it will go down a storm onstage.

Del Amitri. Manchester Apollo Sunday.

I love mine. I am not a Ric fanboy though. I will not go through my personal experiences with John Hall as this topic is about the basses. I luckily bought mine before the prices went totally insane. I wouldn't buy one at the £2300+ price that my nearest dealer is asking. That is getting really crazy. The pound sinking has maybe had a lot to do with it, but Ric have also had their own price hikes. They are out of the reach of most people. I like the sound of them, the necks vary on them and only one has a tree-trunk neck, so it doesn't get used much. The Walnut is my go to of these at present. The features that are different from the other Rics (Maple fretboard / neck) really make it a top bass for me. I don't use the vintage tone pull-pot on it, it just takes the bass end out of it. Some will not like the hard edge with the binding or the bridge pickup cover. You get used to them. I've had copies and none of them sound like a Ric.

Nick Lowe - Rose of England Full of great tunes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTZ_8e3yg0

@blue We just didn't ask them for any dates this year at the lower fee. They wanted to cut our usual fee by £50. It's a really long drive for one of our band members. Just not worth it. I keep friendly with the place in case they need a band and are prepared to pay our going rate.