Muzz

I've used my Fenderbird in the covers/function band (usually chosen in an eeeny-meeny-miney-mo way just as I'm setting off) for all sorts of stuff from Luther Vandross slappity to pop and rock...I had to hoick it up a notch on the strap for the slappity, tho...but that's more about where I had it slung, at Pete Way-regulation hip-height... 🙂

Having tried/owned most of the top end stuff (Wals, Alembics, yadda yadda), I've never come into contact with a Fodera, so, yeah, one of those - just to see what all the fuss/money is about...as far as vintage goes, I've had enough of them to know they're a crapshoot when it comes to the actual bass; like most mass-produced instruments, there's good ones and bad ones from every year...

Three gigs in two days for the very busy band I'm in - two pubs and an open air festival in between...which was freezing cold, the worst onstage sound I've heard in decades (I was just DI'd, but it wasn't just me - there was one sound guy and just a line check), but apparently out front it sounded (like the other bands did ) OK. Left the house at 3pm, got in at 1:45 this morning, knackered... On the upside (I was at the Physio Friday for a neck injury), the 80s headless bass was nice and light and very easy to play with, and I've got it sounding good now. My gigging rig* is pared down to the lightest, most easily transported kit that still brings all I need, which helps an awful lot. * Helix into Fender Rumble 12 (with 'proper' Eminence 12 in it) on a raised stand for stage monitoring - all the bottom end dialled out - and DI taken straight from the Helix, the PA does the heavy lifting. Easy.

I had a late-70s Jazz come into my possession a while back, I sold it for a daft amount of money (or so I thought at the time; it'd be three times that now), but it was a dreadful instrument; it weighed a ton (over 11lbs), played like a dead lump and sounded like it, too. But it was in very very good condition, had the original ashtrays, case and candy, etc...that one I can only hope is hanging on a wall somewhere as a conversation piece, otherwise someone's getting a bad back and a terrible sound just on principle...

Yes, it's the way I did it...well, without anyone else, really...my point was, though, that going to college to study music can't do any harm; an artist can be an artist from any background...

Let's not forget what Les McQueen said about the whole thing...and that hasn't changed from Day 1...

Having many more younger students studying popular music (as opposed to when I wanted to go to Uni/College to study music, and was told 'Bass? Ummm, no, we don't teach that...perhaps cello? Same number of strings?') and developing their skills can only be a good thing; great musicianship and artistry are not mutually exclusive. There's still a lot of younger musicians out there playing original music (being 'artists' if you like)...you just have to leave the house occasionally: trawling through the internet means trawling through the absolute tsunami of songs uploaded every day (conservatively estimated to be around 50,000 PER DAY*), and yes, a lot of those will be electronically produced, because it's easier to write and record in a largely digital manner in your bedroom, click Upload and move on to the next one than it is to get a band together, rehearse, set up gigs and tours, etc, but the fact remains there's still a vibrant gig scene of new music out there. Live music has an energy that no streaming service can reproduce, and this still has all the appeal it ever did for kids. * With those sort of numbers, how many of the 'greats' might've come and gone unnoticed if they'd started out today?

I go to a lot of small gigs (I've mentioned elsewhere my preference for a band I've never heard of rather than a stadium of well-knowns...and not just for the money reasons), and there's lots and lots of kids out there making music with guitars and basses and real drums. The internet might lend itself to the more electronic ways of making music, but there's still a very vibrant live scene...if you're prepared to go out and attend it...I also know and play with a lot of kids who are doing music degrees, and the majority of them want to get onto a stage and do it live...and they do. And yes, most of them are very, very good players; three or four years in music college will do that...it's very annoying... 🙂

I co-host a weekly jam night, and there's many more younger bassists than older ones; in fact there's only two of us gimmers there regularly, everyone else is under 30... I also go and see a decent amount of small bands (I'd soooo much rather see a band I've never heard of in a small club for a tenner than fork out fifty quid or (much) more go to a horrible-sounding enormodome to watch some bigger names), and the vast majority of bassists there are kids*... * i.e. half my age...which is getting easier and easier to be these days...

It must be true: if you fart at the urinals at 852Hz, someone will always say 'Better out than in'...

Coronated with a Coronado? I'd pay to see that... 🙂

This...on both counts. Ohhh, OK, I'll play: theoretically, if I wasn't going to sell it immediately, I'd want a Precision from the lightest piece of Ash they had (for a 7lbs total weight), Geddy-slim Jazz neck, brass nut, birdseye maple board (no markers)...in black. East P-Retro (tho they couldn't do that), Hipshot Ultralites (probably couldn't do that), Schaller 3D bridge (probably couldn't do that), maybe a DiMarzio DP122 pickup (probably couldn't do that). Still wouldn't be as good as Jon's work, tho...in fact, re-reading that, I'd be having them make a copy of Jon's take on their original bass... 🙂

A lovely bass, made even better by the backstory...

Went to see The Bonnevilles in the tiny Retro Bar in Manchester last night...fantastic gig, they really are extraordinary, however...and brace for this...no bass player, and they didn't need one. Eeeeek. I've seen a few two-piece bands of late, just geeetar/vocals and a drummer, and while the others had the guitar running an octaver in a Royal Blood-inversion kinda thing, this time the guitar (and to an extent the drums, too) we simply and cleverly EQ'd to expand into the bottom end space, so there was no lack of heft*. Helps if you've got some great songs, too, and they do. They're playing for free in Leeds today/tonight, I can highly recommend them... * No, not that sort of heft, calm down...

On the other hand, I went to see the Stranglers a couple of months ago, and the sound bloke even managed to reduce the poster boy for upfront bass's sound to mushy, boomy mud*...I've walked out of almost every 'big' gig I've been to over the last few years (including big names like the Foos, Alterbridge) in big venues because of this trend to scoop and blur the bass into a wash underneath a cannon-kick... * See another post somewhere for my post-gig rant/bleat for more details...

I co-host a weekly jam night these days, and I bring my BB414 for punters to use...we get quite a few guitarists with their own kit, but it's rare anyone turns up with a bass. Not had any issues, tho occasionally I have had to insist some rock god (it's a Wednesday night in a bar in a Manchester suburb, for crying out loud, there's such a thing as trying too hard) take off the studded belt/chains first...

A roadie with a good back? Great selection of gear, tho... 🙂

I co-host a weekly jam night which is attended by some very talented regulars, and there's a couple of hotel/cruise veterans (well, they're late 20s/early30s, so hardly veteran) and some pro musicians, and their ability to either know/remember or just bluff an enormous number of songs is astounding. I enjoy it because it's a constant stretch, playing stuff I've never played (or in some cases even heard) before, after a quick 30-second chat about chords or just watching the guitarist's left hand like a hawk...I also have a 'backup' iPad set up to look songs up, but I've only had to use it a couple of times (there's usually not enough time to search and scroll, plus I normally forget me glasses... 🙁). Oh, and the vets/pros can all sing, play guitar, bass and even drum to a ridiculously high level, too...then again, if I didn't have a demanding day job, and could just play all day, I'd be a whole lot better than I am...

I've just changed cars, and to buy what I did five years ago (4ish year old, 50k on the clock Skoda estate) for £10k, I would've had to spend £18k...

Oh my days...at this point I'm drawn back to that thread about improvising where the chap asserts that 'there are no wrong notes' and 'you're only ever a semitone from a note in the key' Not on a fretless played like that, you're not: you're off piste in the long grass without a map, a clue, or a hope in hell... It's actually quite an achievement to manage to play for two minutes while avoiding anything in key or tune, even by accident...

I thought Mr Clayton was particularly restrained - only two basses used in 15 minutes? 🙂 I should add, like some other posters, that I have no problem with Mr.C...other than that he's a bigger gear tart than I am...but then I'm not on his money...

I wish they'd do two versions (like the 2024), one without the shot-off pickguard, as that's the thing that puts me off them...

I'd be interested to know how the Box Pro performs; most of my tone comes from my Helix these days, and I'm looking for a single FRFR for gigs, but there's nothing I can find out there for anyone using one for bass...