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Two quite different jams to finish the year: Sunday's was very busy; we went for 3 hours rather than the usual 2.5 and still couldn't fit everyone in. Lots of horn players, singers etc. A saxophonist commented that he liked my ballad playing on bass. There were some good tunes called. Wednesday's had various people call in sick at the last minute. We ended up with: - Horn player good at reading heads from the real book but not confident at soloing. - Gypsy jazz guitarist good at comping from iReal but not confident at soloing. - Drummer who is learning the trumpet and was keen to step away from the drums and play some heads. Not able to do trumpet solos. - Me (unamplified DB). - Er... - That's it. Somehow, we were accosted by pub patrons who said they enjoyed it. There were, out of necessity, more bass solos than I would have liked.

My band has local pub gigs every couple of weeks but we're now trying to up our game a bit and think a decent showreel would help - but we haven't really got a clue how to do it. What have you done? Just record it yourself/friends in the audience on phones and edit it together yourself, or pay someone to do it professionally? Was it worthwhile or a waste of time and money?

In 1975, when fantasy themes were prominent in rock music (think Roger Dean’s classic Yes album covers and H.R. Giger’s eerie pre-Alien artwork on 1973 Emerson, Lake & Palmer epic Brain Salad Surgery), artist Bruce Wolfe illustrated six surreally colorful and cleverly conceived fairy tale-themed Fender advertisements. Elaborately trippy in imagery and copy, these popular ads ran in 1975 and 1976 in publications such as Guitar Player, Rolling Stone and National Lampoon, and in Fender’s highly collectible Collected Works of Fender 1976 catalog. They represent what many consider as Fender ad design at its most artistic. Being as they seem to be presentation quality, they must be at least official copies of the originals used in the advertisements. Not sure whether Fender sold them like gift cards, or anything like that. I was only 7 at the time!

Thanks for the info. I must have confused the 500 and 800 where this happens. I suppose it isn't much of an issue in real terms as you mention. Good to know though!

The sad fact is that without the McCartney connection Höfner would have probably folded decades ago. Even so there's a limit to how many "Beatle Basses" they can sell, and they have obviously reached now.

Banknotes will be replaced by Crypto and blockchain in the next 5 years and yes a blockchain ledger is totally traceable.

Earn it, pay tax on it. Buy it, pay tax on it. Sell it, pay tax on it. Die, pay tax. It's all about handing over to government. It's just a matter of time until banknotes are carrying tracking chips, because HMRC know they're unable to keep check on cash sales. Governing, regulating, managing. Thankfully I'll be dead by then. That's it in a nutshell, isn't it?

Bungo Jerry

I’m not proud - I’d happily play a (standard) one if I thought 0.01% of his undeniable talent would rub off - much as I dislike much of his output.

A maple top should be a feature that enhances the appearance of the instrument as well as brightening up the sound a little. In this case it detracts from the appearance and makes it look worse. I’d also try to return it. Under the distance selling act you have the right to a no quibble return. They’re talking bs.

See You Later Aligator - Bill Haley

Bye Bye Bye - NSYNC

May your days be merry and bright.

I've recently rediscovered 'Trouser Flapping' with my V4B 'tis a wonderful thing even with IEMs A mate of mine gigs (in pubs) with an Ampeg SVT 300 and 8x10 It's not just trouser flapping, it's insane looks great and if was was younger I'd be doing it, like I did 35 years ago

Well, there are people there who have played Hofners at some point, but I don't associate them with those instruments. Of course, they're not bad instruments; I've played one and was surprised at how good it was (but I didn't buy it).

They are all shared in the cloud and accessible directly via the editor. You need to sign up for a free account here first: https://auraplug.com/fidatabase2/

Good Riddance - Green Day

FWIW Vonderplanetz - Door to Midnight

Well, 2025 has been tumbleweed for me and to be brutally honest, I haven't missed the band-centric activity. Had another hand operation last week (success already); this has been hindering things. Pencilled in for a studio session in January. On the up.

Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp

I wonder if the McCartney association is as much of a curse as a blessing for the violin bass. In the same way that some people are put off by signature models because they don't want people to think that they are trying to emulate that player. And the association between McCartney and violin basses is very strong indeed, to the point where it's one of the few models where non playing audience members might actually recognise it and think of it as the 'Beatles Bass'. Obviously McCartney is a great player, but not everyone wants their playing to be associated with or compared to someone else.