Muzz

Does he look like a Drumkit Butler while he's doing it? 🙂

And knowing when to ask for less cowbell. And the ability to tell the difference. Oh, and erm, thingy...timing. Damn. PS With all due respect (and heartfelt sympathy) to any lurking oboe players, 'as hip as the oboe' has now gone straight into my Top Drawer. Chapeau. 🙂

Huge indeed. We had a dep drummer a couple of years ago, American fella living over here, had married an English girl, couple of kids, etc. I was frankly astonished by his tales of the sheer scale of Country over there; he'd made a good living for several years touring the US Midwest with various acts on a pretty much permanent basis in two and three semi (HGV for us, to avoid unnecessary fnarr-ing on a Sunday morning) rig-sized pantechnicons, playing to 15,000+ people per gig. Artists I'd heard very little about, or assumed they were kinda niche. Depending on your sources, Garth Brooks (admittedly The Biggest Hat In Country) has sold more albums than the Rolling Stones and Abba put together, and outsold Elvis. He's certainly comfortably Top 5/10 All Time. Who? 😀 And yep, Country has plenty of ladies, a lot of them playing acoustics. Possibly Fender acoustics...

Two 8x10s, 2x15s and three amps? If I was gigging those places and didn't have to lift any of it (tbh, I wouldn't even want to lift the Wals 😁) I'd do exactly the same. Maybe with another 8x10 to replace the 2x15s... 😀 I once had a walk round Tour Supplies with my pal who works there, and it was a great fantasy strolling up and down the aisles of 810s, 412s, 215s, and allll the good heads (DB751s, SVTs, etc, etc) thinking "I'd have one of those, one of those and one..no, two of those..." 😀 And then I'd use my in-ears...now that's killing rock'n roll without killing rock'n roll...

None of the musicians in the theoretical bands I was describing were covers bands...in fact they were all laughably snotty about playing covers...

I know a few musicians who'd rather have a theoretical band with a social media profile and pictures of themselves that they can talk about to impress* people than actually get out there and gig. I wouldn't waste my time with them. * for a given value of 'impress', obv...

Yes. You will not be surprised to learn I no longer own the 12-string. 😕🙂

An extreme example, and it's an anecdote I've repeated before, but this one surprised me: in our originals band, we had a couple of songs which were kinda atmospheric (cue the 'OOOoooOOOooos...I knowwww), and I'd thought about it a good deal, and picked up a 12-string bass to use for them. We went through them in rehearsal, and after we'd run through the set, over a coffee, I said "So, whaddya think about the new bass?" Cue shrugs and non-committal, "S'OK, sounds fine" type of responses. These are seasoned, talented musicians we're talking about here, not Yer Average Pub/Function Punter. Now, I wasn't expecting to be carried shoulder-high from the rehearsal rooms to a chorus of cheers and have a street named after me, but even so I was surprised. Seeing the rather tragic shape my face was assuming, the BL said "Don't worry about it so much; it sounds great, but it's just the bass..."

See, I was right! 😀

Quite. Pair that with a cheeky Durian side salad, and the only people left in the building would be the olfactorily challenged, and the frankly menkle... And for those that like a little visual stimulus to their delusions of wholesomeness, let's not forget Casu Marzu, that Sardinian effort which is served writhing with maggots. Yum.

A much better version. Even with the bossa nova...

I'm enjoying the lawyer-speak of "...going back to late 2017 when the group began plotting a 2018/19 world tour." What, with Malice Aforethought? 😀

There are several options (I own three different ones) but the general answer is...A Shuker. 😉

As with any bass, it's a case of play it first. I bought a 78 Jazz unseen, and it was easily one of the worst basses I've ever owned. For the money, it was easily the worst ever.

On purpose? Pffft. That's just poor workmanship - there's no reason those holes couldn't have been drilled with a little more care, even if they were done 'by hand'. Would have taken ten seconds to line them up properly.

I've seen more even grouping from a beginner's darts night than those string holes... I liked the Wishbass I had; it was very...organic, which suited the fretless vibe. I bought (and sold) it for a fraction of that asking price, mind...

I've played with plenty of people who thought they were the dog's do-dars...didn't seem to help most of them, tonally, or otherwise... 🙂

There's a thread/article somewhere on the other place with a blind comparison of a chunk of scrap wood (pine, I think? plywood?) with some bits slung together vs a real bass. It's like the Zapruder film in tonewood terms...worth a look, bring your own popcorn... 😕🙂

While we're drifting past bass names, it's worth mentioning at this point that an anagram of 'Fender Precision Bass' is 'Reinforced Penis Bass' Just sayin... 🙂

Yeah, that's about it - the singist gets the ultimate veto, tho there's at least the pretence of democracy about it all... 🙂

It's always the singist's prerogative to choose the songs. It's easy to forget how personal a challenge it is to stand up and sing in front of people, and there's enough beaching and moaning goes on on here about playing songs folk don't like when we're mostly standing at the back, and don't have to invest as much of ourselves in the process*. Also, before anyone gets all het up with the person getting the gigs and getting all the band members to commit to and actually turn up to them, I'd suggest trying it...herding cats is slightly easier... * With all due credit to singing bassists here...double points, chapeau, etc... 🙂

And another haul back onto topic: first rehearsal in several months with the Proper Rawk Band. Shedbuilding, Cosy-Powellesque* drummer, two Marshall 100w heads on angled 412s, stoooopidly loud. None of the clever FRFR/In-ears hoohah from the other band(s) - Bass(es) into Walkabout into BF Super Twin. Gain around midday (juuust before it starts to squish), nothing extreme in the EQ, other than my usual -15db at 30Hz cut, Master at 9 o'clock. Massively loud. And I mean massively. If your Walkabout isn't loud enough, it's definitely the cab that's the issue. I was cursing that I'd forgotten my attenuators, and my ears are howling today. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... 300w my a*se... 😁 Oh, and it sounded absolutely fabulous. 😁 * In terms of volume and, erm, brio, rather than talent. Unfortunately...