ivansc

Egos and income. Really the only two factors that are likely to split a halfway decent band.

How much was shipping to the UK?

I think it is spelled Two-er when theres only a pair of gigs?

Yup - think you covered it all. Just noticed you are from Crowthorne - my folks lived there for some years & I suppose inevitably you MUST have come across Simon, otherwise known as Wonky Wabbit?

In my experience the problem is simply that the specialists available on the NHS just simply don't understand WHY the problem is such a big deal for a musician. I was asked why, if I could straighten the fingers out with the other hand, I didnt just "do that" and carry on playing! Between that and the two friends who had been butchered by this idiot I am so glad I decided NOT to let him operate on me.

Ouch on the thumb op, Nancy.... As far as appointments for the surgery, I wound up getting an "emergency" aPPOINTMENT IN fEBRUARY FOR (WAIT FOR IT) THE SECOND WEEK IN nOVEMBER. i PAID THE SURGEON FOR A PRIVATE CONSULT AND WAS IN WITHIN THE WEEK. Bugger. Combination of arthritis and not being able to look anywhere but at the keyboard when typing. Sorry!

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1461303265' post='3033410'] *Oh, and it's nothing to do with playing guitar either. It's in your genes and is passed down through the male side of the family. Nordic/Viking bloodline, apparently (yes, I'm being serious!). [/quote] With my last name of Carling & coming from a long line of fair haired blue eyed folks, you could have a point!

Nancy - I wish I had read your post before MY experience with the local hand surgeon. Really makes me wonder how ham fisted the guy is to have screwed up what superficially LOOKS like a pretty straightforward op. I watched a YouTube video of the procedure and just don't understand what this clown could have done to mess two (that I know of) people's hands up so badly. Am also SO glad I decided to try rest and improving my playing habits, which ten years on is still keeping trigger finger at bay. THANKS for the advice and explanation. Do't suppose you have any advice on arthritic bone growth in thumb base joints, do you? *sigh*

I had trigger finger. Right hand & it got so bad my first and second fingers would lock up whilst I was playing and I would have to stop and straighten the fingers out with my other hand before I could continue. Was told by the doc that it was the equivalent of carpal tunnel syndrome but in the metacarpals. Said I should stop playing bass to give the joints a rest. A friend had surgery which made his problems ten times worse, as did the Chairman of our Parish Council ( a non-bass or guitar player) and HIS post-op symptoms were so bad he wound up with kidney failure due to OD-ing on pain killers after the op. In both these cases, the affected fingers ended up permanently bent double against the palm. I cancelled my appointment with the surgeon and played guitar instead for FOUR years before I risked having another go on bass. Fortunately the reduced stress from guitar instead of bass was enough to allow it to heal. I now warm up properly before I play & have had no recurrence. But now of course I have issues with arthritis in my thumb and finger joints, among other places... Cant win. But then I am 72 in June....

First dud oops dude HAS to be miming.... PLEASE tell me he is miming.... Last one - that has to be The Groove That Dare Not Speak Its Name....

Read an interview with him years ago where he claimed to be using mandolin frets on his basses. Also gave me the idea of copying his "playing with left hand fingers ON the fret" to get a more woody double bass sound. It works! But damn you have to be precise with that left hand.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1461119452' post='3031628'] In my 50 years of playing bass in rock bands, rehearsals have always been in someone home. I would never join a band that was paying for rehearsal space unless they were making big bucks. Blue [/quote] I was about to say "there werent any rock bands 50 years ago" till I realised I did my first paid gig in.... 1954! Time flies! October-ish of this years I have 62 years of gigging (at least semi-pro) in! Wow. I remember thinking I would probably quit once I hit about 25.....

In 1963 the late Bubs White joined my band and I went from playing guitar to bass. Bought a used rosewood neck 1962 Precision from the chap who bought it new in 1962, about 6 months previously. He paid 80 guineas and sold it to me, complete with the Fender cardboard box, for 60 pounds. During its busy life it fell out of the back of our van & was run over by a lorry, but virtually unharmed because it landed face down! A friend made me a pair of solid brass knobs to replace the two broken plastic (or were the aluminium?) ones and at least those I still have. Sadly, I had to sell it in late 63 to buy a guitar for the new gig I got. One of the two best Precisions I ever played - the other one was also a rosewood 62 Precision. Sting in the tale. While it belonged to me, we played a gig with a band from Corby - the band members stole Bubs`s Binson echo and my Precision. Happily, both turned up a month later at a music shop in Corby and the culprit got away with a charge of receiving stolen goods. The chap I sold it to disappeared out of my life until 2012. I was organising a reunion of all the old guys that played in bands in the Cambridge area in the 60s and at the same time I got a message saying "I hear you have been looking for me". Was the chap I sold it to. My daughter had set up a myspace or something like it page for me and in the "person I would most like to meet" question, I had answered with the guys name and that I was interested in getting the bass back. Well we got to meet up at the gig and guess what? HE had also had the bass stolen in 1964 and never saw it again. Some things are just not meant to be. P.S. I now have a rosewood 62 reissue Precision with the proper case, but it STILL doesnt feel as good as my memories of that first bass. And I dont even have a photo of it, since every photo taken of me when I was a kid got stolen from my Mum`s condo in Nashville back in the seventies.

I have owned an oldish 3/4 upright for a couple of years. Czech with a solid top and laminate otherwise. Neck was broken off pre me and repaired by the luthier friend who sold it to me. I paid him £150 for it and at the time I was a little wary of a bass with a repaired neck, but apparently there are an awful lot of them out there. And o fcourse a couple of years on, nothing has moved and it still sounds fine Dont think you will find much out there for £150 these days but I have seen a fair few in the want ads and for sale ads on here for £250 to £450, which is pretty reasonable. If you find an older upright that is still playable you will have a decent instrument that will do you fine for quite a while. Cheap upright electrics seem to vary hugely in both quality AND playability. And I have yet to hear a cheap one that actually sounds much like a traditional upright.

Did a showcase with him in Nashville at the Exit Inn waaaay back in the Flecktones days. He showed up with a cello he had bought the week previous. Damned if he didnt play it on one tune for the lady he was working for.. and absolutely nailed it. Alright he was playing in the Wooten Brothers Band at the age of 9 months or something ridiculous, but you have to hand it to the man - Flea claimed to be the big bad bassoptamus, but Vic Wooten IS in my opinion. And he is a real nice guy.

When I first started working solo in the UK back in the mid nineties, I had a scan do H&O songs in my setlist. Unfortunately "Maneater" wasnt one of them - and it was the ONLY H&O song the punters seemed to know! Bummer.

OP: Were you playing "au black"? I am assuming yes, so it all becomes a bit of a moot point. Those of you not familiar with the French system, if you are getting correctly paid for a gig, it is supposed to be "declare" and taxes, plus the French equivalent of NHI etc paid. There are a few venues in my area (Brittany) that will actually pay a non-declared band to play, but there are less and less. Usual system is for a "member of the audience" to pass a bucket round for contributions, which is the bands fee... Landlord provides booze, often food and sometimes a place to sleep if you are from out of town. And YES most gigs have a "majoration" if there is a band playing that is getting paid. My local venue just slaps a euro on the cost of your drink once the band has started playing.

This is a bit like traditional country. Superficially easy till you arrive at the odd "bar of two" in the middle of a four. Or one-chord transitions.... In both styles, you sorta have to know the tunes or have played an awful lot in the genre. If you think "simple" rather than "easy" you are on the right track. And then you move on to Breton folk music....

Makes me feel mildly smug that I still get offered more work than I want at my advanced age! Courage, onward and upward!

I have gigged with the Damned a couple of times in LARGE venues back in the day. Rainbow Theatre and the Apollo back when it was the Odeon. If the mix was too loud and crap, it was certainly down to the guy on the desk more than the Damned. Those guys were always good players, regardless of what their press said.

I`m 72 next month & play in an old band from the 60s. Still work pretty regularly. Also do my own thing supported by various musician friends at local pub venues singing and playing guitar. My own stuff and a bunch of old Gulf Coast stuff. Nothing beats that rush.

Fascinating stuff, but what a struggle! Is it really that hard to get a "proper" paying gig these days? If so, my heart bleeds for ya mate.

[quote name='Ajoten' timestamp='1459930294' post='3020847'] Looking at the For Sale ads on this website, there appear to be a lot of people with beautiful high end basses. Looking at the Musicians Wanted ads elsewhere (and posters in pubs), the only bassing requirement in the country is Mustang Sally/Sweet Home Alabama/Money For Nothing lame tired covers. Surely noone buys a £2k bass to play Crazy Little Thing Called Love for the rest of their lives? Note: this post isn't a criticism of owners of expensive basses (or their instruments), it's a question re how on earth (or whether) your average bass-player-in-the-street finds opportunities to play contemporary jazz fusion, experimental post-rock, or other quirky characterful intelligent music which seems worthy of such instruments. Because the idea of playing Sweet Home Chicago ever again fills me with nausea and sadness. [/quote] The instrument is a tool. And that is all it is. What a player chooses to use it for is another matter. How well he can perform on it is another. And finally, we come to the crunch: Will anyone else be prepared to PAY him for what he wants to play? 2 Kinds of musicians in the word. Dilettantes who buy very expensive kit with no realistic chance of it earning its keep and.... the rest of us working stiffs. If you want to play the cool stuff, the best way of doing so is either having a great paying day job or to be working as a properly-paid pro musician giving punters what they want and reserving "down" time for having fun playing the stuff the punters dont want to hear. And of course the really sad part is that even if you DO manage to get enough work playing the cool stuff, sooner or later either you or the punters will get fed up with it and you are back to square one.