gjones

I have a friend who plays in a band in Edinburgh. They play a 3 hr set, every Thursday, for 20 quid a man/woman. Strangely, before he retired, my friend was a union official for Unite. Edit: there are 7 people in the band, but still, that's starvation wages.

Lovely looking bass. Weird that the colour should change so much after exposure to sunlight.

I've gigged with the drummer, who played with The Exploited in the early 90s. His name is Ian Purdie (Pud) and I'm sure you'll be glad to know that he now has tinnitus 🤣🤣🤣

Why would an artist of record company spend the time and money remastering an album, or a live recording when minute quantities will be sold - unless it's done of the cheap. Music in the form of records or CDs is not worth producing in quantity these days, due to the fact that nobody buys any of it - people don't even bother paying to download music anymore Many long established artists don't even bother recording new albums, as they can't make any money from them and their audiences only want to hear the old hits when they play live. Sad days for music lovers.

When Herbie Flowers died recently the BBC, initially, described him as guitarist. By the next day the article had been updated to bassist.

I have noticed that when Gail played Bowie songs live, her basslines didn't slavishly follow the original line on the records (after all she wasn't in a Bowie tribute band). I wondered if Bowie ever noticed, or commented on her particular version of the bassline on his songs, or did he give her carte blanche to play however she wanted? I suspect Lenny Kravitz was a bit of a control freak when she played with him.

None

What....is....it....with....the ....anorak?

If I'm gigging a fair distance away I take a spare amp head but not a spare bass. I've played well over 1,000 gigs and never needed a spare bass (I've forgotten to bring my bass but that's another story). For most of those gigs I only owned one bass anyway, so bringing a spare wasn't an option. Now I have many more than one, I still only bring the one, it just takes me longer to figure out the one to actually bring.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Although it would match my avocado bathroom.

My trousers are flapping just looking at that

Although my comments above were lighthearted, I have played places where the drunken antics of the knuckle dragging, audience were so extreme, that I refused to play there again. It resulted in me getting sacked from the band but my physical wellbeing was more important to me than a gig in a very dodgy pub. So my advice is, if the pub is dodgy, don't play there.

When I first started out I had a 90 watt amp but it couldn't keep up with a drummer. I then bought a 150 watt amp and that wasn't much better. My point is, if your son wants to play with others musicians (drummers) he'll need a combo with a decent output. My recommendation is a secondhand Fender Rumble 500 combo. They're cheap, light and loud. It would be a really, good, first proper amp and last him a long time.

My band used to play the 12 til 3pm shift at a local music bar. The guitarist spent more time kicking drunken people off the stage with his Dr Martens than actually playing guitar. None of the drunks seemed to mind a quick boot up the arse. Good times 🤣

I've never heard a Precision, going through a FOH PA, that didn't sound woolly (except for a Fender Telecaster bass, at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival which had a big lump of foam at the bridge to give it definition and attack). On the other hand I've heard some great Precision sounds, where the bass is not going through the FOA PA and I'm hearing the bassists own amp with his/her own EQ settings. So I would fall in line with what others have already said and get a good preamp so that you can have your sound for when you have to go through the FOA, or play through an amp that isn't yours.

I own an Elite Precision (the model manufactured after the deluxe and before the Ultra) and that has a wheel at the base of the neck, just like a Musicman, that adjusts the truss rod. It's one of the best things about the Elite and I have no idea why they got rid of it when they changed the name to Ultra?

Every house should should come with double bass stuck in the corner. Mine has been stuck there for a loooong time, since I got rid of my estate and got a saloon instead (dumb I know).

The singer in my band is 66. You wouldn't know it by looking at her, or seeing her appetite for life. She's keener now that she was 20 years ago when I first joined her band and I think her voice has got even better as she's got older. I sometimes say to myself, who wants to see a bunch of old farts rocking it up on stage (I'm 62 and the guitarist and drummer are in their mid fifties) but while people keep on turning up at our gigs and the venues keep on paying us, I suppose we'll just keep on rocking.

His guitarist and drummer are excellent and they create a very musical and full sound with a very sparse line up. But I wish somebody would take that 50s throwback from him and hand him a brand new Ibanez, or Yamaha, or something. I can hear his bass when I put the sound through my hi fi but it's awfully woolly 😂

Ashdown making valve guitar amps.......good luck with that. In my experience, I find guitarists incredibly conservative, if it's a valve amp and it's not got got Marshall or Fender on it, they're just not interested.

I have the American version but what I like about the MIM ones is that they have a Jazz Bass neck which, if I'm honest, is my preference.

I've joined bands and have really liked the other members but if they don't show a decent level of commitment, or we're not all singing from the same hymn sheet as far as the set list is concerned, I bail early. I'm too long in the tooth for bands that will be hard work as I've been there, done it and got the T-shirt.

Sounds good for that style of music. Fills the bottom end out nicely.

I've sold a couple of basses to Will. He can sometimes be a bit slow in replying to emails, and sometimes needs a reminder, but he's always replied eventually.