Instrument v set list non-sequitur

[TrevorR]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1459968133' post='3021405']

I don't really care what people spend on their basses, what does amuse me is the amount of care they give them. To me a bass is an instrument to be played and used. It will pick up damage. All is good as long as the guy with his diamond encrusted unicorn hair bass doesn't get upset when a punter spills beer down it.
[/quote]

Yeah, that's where I am too. For the last 25 years I've played what is considered to be a posh bass at just about every gig I've done whether in a club, a theatre, a hotel function room or at the Dog and Scratchitt. I got my posh bass because I had kinda fallen in love with that make some years before and it was an aspirational item for me. However, it's also a musical instrument so it gets used, all the time. It gets properly taken care of but it is also used as a part of my everyday musical tool kit. Sure, it's picked up the odd little ding in the time I've had it but that's just life. Playing it gives me pleasure and that's what is important to me.

And it that makes me play better then the audience benefits from it (irrespective of venue) as they'll get a better performance from me and the band - whether they could consciously identify why the band is playing well/sounding good or not.

Never really understood the comments that you hear "...but I'd never take it to a pub gig down the Nag's Head..." Or maybe it's just that you get a nicer class of clientele at the Dog and Scratchitt? Doubt it, though.

[TrevorR]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1459966500' post='3021389']


Heavily reliced:


[/quote]

You have to pay extra for that, you know...

[lojo]

For those of us who play functions or pubs and clubs , I see buying decent gear as no different to the guys my age who buy top of the range golf clubs or sports cars/bikes.

Personally I'm happy with fairly standard classic basses , but I use multi amp which cost a lot just to play 50th birthday functions in golf clubs. Im not into golf, sports cars or anything else that requires purchasing equipment , and my bass playing just about almost pays for itself (if you don't factor in time)

Edited April 7, 2016 by lojo

[TimR]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1460010065' post='3021661']
For those of us who play functions or pubs and clubs , I see buying decent gear as no different to the guys my age who buy top of the range golf clubs or sports cars/bikes.

Personally I'm happy with fairly standard classic basses , but I use multi amp which cost a lot just to play 50th birthday functions in golf clubs. Im not into golf, sports cars or anything else that requires purchasing equipment , and my bass playing just about almost pays for itself (if you don't factor in time)
[/quote]

That's a fairly good analagy. I think as you get better you begin to be limited by the club/bike/bass.

However, there are guys who cycle and spend 000s on the lightest carbon frames but would be far better off losing 3stone and working on their fat burning.

[4stringslow]

I guess it's that cheap violin bass that has limited Macca's playing career

[discreet]

[quote name='4stringslow' timestamp='1460017798' post='3021735']
I guess it's that cheap violin bass that has limited Macca's playing career
[/quote]

Yes, just think what he could have achieved if he hadn't been so tight and bought a P Bass instead!

[12stringbassist]

As long as the venue isn't a sh*thole, I'll play any of my basses at any gig.
They are bought to be used, not live in cases.

[TimR]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1460020318' post='3021768']


Yes, just think what he could have achieved if he hadn't been so tight and bought a P Bass instead!
[/quote]

Well, he did, and a Rickenbacker and a ...

And whatever he plays now.

The Violin bass is a testament to how we "hear with our eyes." Don't underestimate it. I played a pointy headstock 80s Chavel for years. Until I started playing functions, it just looked and felt wrong, sounded fine though. It still sounds great and I'd still play it if my new (slightly more expensive) bass wasn't better (subjectively speaking )

[discreet]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1460021283' post='3021793']
Well, he did, and a Rickenbacker and a ...
[/quote]

He didn't get that until it was gifted to him by Rickenbacker in the States in 1965 when he could easily have afforded any bass he wanted, the bloody parsimonious mop-topped git!

[discreet]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1460021283' post='3021793']
The Violin bass is a testament to how we "hear with our eyes."
[/quote]

Yes, you get a lot of that on here.

[fleabag]

The bass itself doesnt give a hoot what you play on it, since its a bit of tree with some wires nailed on, and cannot speak

Having said that, mine have occasionally spoke to me, if only to say " put me down, you talentless butt wart "

[fleabag]

Oh , for the record. And me..

A [i][b]Non sequitur[/b][/i] ([url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin"]Latin[/url] for "it does not follow"), in formal logic, is an argument with a conclusion that does not follow from its premises.[sup][url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur_%28logic%29#cite_note-1"][1][/url][/sup] In a [i]non sequitur[/i], the conclusion could be either true or false (because there is a disconnection between the premise and the conclusion), but the argument nonetheless asserts the conclusion to be true, and is thus fallacious. All [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_fallacy"]invalid arguments[/url] are special cases of [i]non sequitur[/i]. The term has special applicability in law, having a formal legal definition. Many types of known [i]non sequitur[/i] argument forms have been classified into many types of [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_%28disambiguation%29"]logical fallacies[/url].

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1459968133' post='3021405']
...All is good as long as the guy with his diamond encrusted unicorn hair bass doesn't get upset when a punter spills beer down it.
[/quote]

It's so funny when the bassist throws a hissy fit. I'm sure that's the only reason they put horns in bass cabs, so's the punters can have a good larf.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='4stringslow' timestamp='1460017798' post='3021735']
I guess it's that cheap violin bass that has limited Macca's playing career
[/quote]

Oh man, think what it would've been like to hear him on a uBass with George on his uke too.

[TrevorR]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1460021283' post='3021793']


And whatever he plays now.


[/quote]

A left handed Les Paul for a fair bit of the time, it seems...

[ivansc]

[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.

[discreet]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1460318972' post='3024672']
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.
[/quote]

Sad, but very very true. Whither the snows of yesteryear?

[Happy Jack]

Since when was your opinion HUMBLE?

[discreet]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1460355131' post='3024812']
Since when was your opinion HUMBLE?
[/quote]

Fixed for you.

[peteb]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1460318972' post='3024672']


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.
[/quote]
You are of course quite right in that an instrument is a tool.

When I need some work doing on my house I usually try to see if I can get one of my tradesman mates to do the job for mates rates. When they eventually come round they always look at the many cheap tools I have collected over the years to bodge simple jobs around the house and tell me that I should have invested in some decent tools. Then they go out to the van and get their expensive top quality tools that they use day in and day out to enable them to carry out the job better than I ever could.

Of course they would do a better job than I could with my crappy tools but they invest in top quality ones to enable make the work easier and to get better results.

Edited April 11, 2016 by peteb

[RhysP]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1460318972' post='3024672']
The instrument is a tool.
[/quote]

And quite a lot of the people who play them are too....