ivansc

One thing I used to do back in the days of playing crap venues was to carry a couple of large dyed-black duvets, some extra springy clothes pegs and a couple of folding airing stands. Slap them up across the back of the stage area and it will soak up SOME of the crap and is quite unobtrusive unless the whole place is painted white or indeed any Don Johnson-style pastel hue!

Try and get to see some of the local bands playing actual Balkan music. It will scare the pants off you! I got to jam with a band from Croatia a couple of years back. Closest thing I could think of was the yddish dance music I grew up with in north west London in the fifties. Great stuff but for yer average rock and roller it was like falling into a vat of boiling pea soup! Big fun though.....

June 1954 got a guitar for my tenth birthday. September 1954 got a gig playing a borrowed banjo in a trad jazz band. 1962 Moved to Cambridge and couldnt find a gig playing banjo so I bought an electric guitar and amp. Started playing lead guitar in a RnR band. 1963 we got a really good guitar player so I bought a 1962 Fender Precision off a pal and played bass from then on. 1970s I had a side project going called the Kebab Brothers (we were all pretty overweigh at the time) in which I switched between guitar and bass. Since then I have pretty much played whatever was required. Electric bass in The Saints, an old 60`s band I play in, and guitar mostly for my own stuff. I just cant stick with one over the other and dont suppose I ever will. Hand and shoulder arthritis means I aint the player I once was but I still get by OK.

I played on my 60th and 70th. Both regular gigs thjough. I dont really "do" birthday celebrations for myself.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1473112743' post='3127123'] I saw a band called Bonzo Dog Band open for Sly & The Family Stone in the late 60s. I forgot what type of band they were. Anyone, clue me in on this dig band. Blue [/quote] Very few of the originals left now - Viv Stanshall, the prime mover, died a while back & their guitar player, who was in one of MY first groups, Tony "Bubs" White, died a couple of years ago too, sadly. A wonderfully insane band. Have a listen to some of Neil Innes` work after the Bonzos quit.

Bugger! Forgot about all the festivals I played in the 60`s and early 70`s! Mind you there is a reason I "forgot" about them & have no idea how many punters were there - not even sure I was there myself a lot of the time....

Let us not forget we are all standing on the shoulders of giants. No such thing as A golden age for bass, there are so many all for different reasons but equally valid. Not all of the bass instruments have/had strings on them either. Check out the Taj Mahal double live album with multiple tubas sousaphones and bass horns! Fabulous stuff that grooves like crazy.

Found the stand on ebay and will be investing! Getting the action etc sorted out nicely and YES turn stagg down and amp up fixes a lot of stuff. I suspect that a set of decent strings and maybe a peizo change may well transform the "little" blighter. Funny - My wife was driven to the airport to join me in France by the chap whop bought my Double Bass.... he mentioned to her that he had bought it. She hadnt even noticed it had gone, let alone the EUB that replaced it!

The Japanese have been making modern style concert instruments for almost as long as their european counterparts. Bloody excelent quality. Wish I coudl afford a good Japanese DB

I am the oldest in my band by a fair bit. The Kid is the guitar player at 61 or is it 62? There are certain gigs where it really doesnt matter if you are an old fart. Ask Gilson Lavis.

Hope and Anchor back in the early days. If you didnt fill it, depressing and crap sound, with that low ceiling and boxy shape. If you DID fill it, suffocation and soaked in the condensation rolling (nay flooding) down all four walls. What a horrible place, but many happy memories.

Matthew Seligman used a teaspoon back in the late seventies. Cheaper and easy to replace if stolen. Sounded very nice indeed when he did it. I sounded like an explosion in a cutlery drawer.....

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1472286612' post='3120018'] Errrm that's 'emojis' and don't Orange do it already? [/quote] An Orange tradition! I had a graphic 120 head in the seventies with one knob solemnly labeled the F.A.C. Never did figure out what it did so we all referred to it as the eff all control. My fave is the arrow breaking and bouncing off the snow-capped mountain.....

quoting GarethFlatlands: Distant memory says it's the last year of primary school in which case they'd be about 10-11 Ah! I joined my first semi-pro band at the age of ten. First paid gig a couple of months later. Looooong time ago. We didnt call it "year" back then IIR. "Form" was the form.

Like your Forum name, but is it a north London football team, a band, or some obscure south American arachnid? To the point: You are dead on the money. We all have our likes and dislikes and quite rightly so. On the other hand, I suspect the OP's "ramming it down our throats" approach wasn't entirely serious....

[quote name='XB26354' timestamp='1471939414' post='3117032'] I'm mystified why being a nice person (or otherwise) has any bearing on anyone's ability or effect musically on others? I'm reliably informed some of the greatest and composers and musicians in history were absolute b*stards [/quote] In Vic's case, it is more of a "not only is he a monster bass player, but he *isn't* an arrogant bastard with it - in fact he really IS a nice guy. Knew VW pretty well in the early flecktones days, when he was hanging out round Nashville with the rest of us working stiffs. Polite, friendly, non-judgemental' think that covers it. On the other hand if you only like bass-opotami who ARE shits, I can see why you would be mystified. Seriously, he always was a great chap, as were pretty much all the Nashville working guys at the time.

Done, but I dont think I fit your demographic to well!

From what I have heard, studying for grades will do that to ya....

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1470955146' post='3109670'] The best learning I ever got was going out and playing with other musicians at rehearsals and gigs. Made an absolute pig's ear of my first few public performances but I am thankful every day now for learning the lessons they taught me. [/quote] THIS (just noticed the thread) I used to teach and always made the point with my little angels that unless you like showing off in public, bass is a co-operative instrument. You need to be playing with other people on other instruments to progress. Went to a "do" at a little cafe near us last night, to watch a friend`s young daughter who picked up a guitar for the first time 8 months ago playing with her grandads band. She was bloody amazing for just 8 months learning (self-taught mostly) and I am convinced it was because grandad let her sit in on gigs. Incidentally, drummer and bass player were surprisingly good for old farts (like me) Bassist had a recent 50s Precision USA reissue and a tiny MarkBass combo, drummer on Ringo-finish Ludwig kit complete with double bass pedal, full set of roto toms and two huge floor toms! Timewarp, but they could both play well. Naff british bloke on guitar and an older brit lasdy singing. Evidently the lineup changes for every gig!

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1471068421' post='3110284'] BWHARHARHARHARHARHAR! Sorry about that folks. When I looked up the slang definition behind "plating" (cheers Skankdelvar) I realised my understanding of the word fellatio was flawed. I always thought it was an antiquated term used in classical notation for the pink oboist. [/quote] Out of interest, it is a rhyming slang rough translationb of the Continental original: "plate of ham" = "gam(arouche"

Did my first paid gig in 1954. Worked 2 jobs for most of my life in order to have lifes luxuries like a permanent roof over my head, wife, children, etc. But music was always my "main job" for want of a better name. I`ve worked all over the world in the past 60 years, a lot of the time earning more than enough to live without needing another job. I have always considered myself as a sort of pro but with a little semi-pro thrown in. If I had wanted to just live off music I would have been obliged to give up a lot of the things I treasure in life. And of course now at the age of 72 I have little or no retirement income, but I did put some money into a couple of houses which I am hoping will provide once I cant do much any more! Regrets? Absolutely none. Still love playing out and recording.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1471013732' post='3110011'] He's professional but you're only a hobbyist? [/quote] No - he only helps out when theya re busy. P.S. I think wecrossed the PC line a couple of posts back but if you dont tell anyone, I wont.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1470930755' post='3109443'] The bass is moving on at a frightening pace, IMO... guys who were vanguard 30 yrs ago probably can't keep up. [/quote] I hadnt noticed.

Interesting point: "You dont hear pros dissing other players." It doesn`t mean they don`t do it, just not in public! (grin)

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1470826090' post='3108727'] Strange, but an albeit interesting question and something I've given a bit of thought to this morning. OK, entitlement. Hard to quantify, if wholly necessary, from a musical perspective . I can give you my full 30+ year bass-playing backstory tour if you want ('[i]Paul Anthony; My Life In Music'[/i]), but fear it'll be a bit on the boring side, albeit juxtapositioned with sadly infrequent peaks of excitement ([i]'Chapter 3; Polydor' [/i]and [i]'Chapter 7; Partying with Motley Crue'[/i]), but I'm unsure all this ebullience qualifies as entitlement per se. Luckily, I'm still able to think for myself and from the evidence available, formulate and postulate my own judgments. This, combined with Article 10 of the European Convention, dictates I'm [i]entitled[/i] to freedom of speech. So there's your entitlement. Whether or not saying, 'Adam Clayton is a talentless bass player' is defamatory or not, is all that's questionable, same goes whether or not people agree with the aforementioned statement. Look, at the end of the day, he's not John Myung or Geddy Lee. Or Flea or Bootsy. (Or <insert name here>.) Yes, I get that. He obviously must have something going on otherwise U2 would have fired him years ago, but you know the thing is after all this time, I'm still struggling to work out what it actually is. [/quote] You definitely get an A in semantics & probably in Hard Sums, too, I suspect! Mind you, since you are a relatively inexperienced bass player by your own admission, I guess I can afford to be generous and allow your opinion, even if it is W R O N G!!!!!!