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IMO you are going about this all wrong. Start by getting some support slots at local gigs. Find similar sounding bands on social media, get in touch and ask for a support. For this you only need 25 minute's worth of original songs - no-one will want to listen to a band they have never heard of for longer than that. You'll need a demo to convince the bands you are contacting that you are worth bothering with so find a decent cheap local studio, book a day and get a good version of your best song recorded and mixed. It sounds like you have plenty of songs already written, so pick the best 25 minutes worth (plus one cover) and get practicing.

My band has been struggling to break into local venues and we played two gigs last year. By chance we got ourselves an agent (our guitard met her when seeing a band she represented at a local pub). We played a gig last week (arranged by her) where she saw us for the first time, and we now have eight gigs lined up so far this year. Although she is taking a small cut, she is arranging a fee that incudes her payment so there is no downside for us at all. Result!

I like this. I'm always looking for ways to lighten/carry less gear. Could be a good substitute for a couple of stands.

I know this sounds pretentious but I maintain the standard musical notation system is one of the pinnacles of human invention. Off to cook some quinoa now....

This is without a doubt the single most useful thing I have ever read upon this thing called 'the internet'. Have yourself a biscuit, sir. A choccy one. In foil.

Yeah, go on. GAS-filled minds need to know!

This evening I tapped out Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' on my scrotum with a teaspoon.

I once stood and watched a fantastic saxophonist stand under a bridge, here in Edinburgh, and play his heart out. He was so good that I went up to him and gave him a tenner. He looked at me and said 'I'm not busking, it's just that the reverb is really great under this bridge'. He didn't give me my tenner back though.

So... skimming through today's threads we learn that you're probably best off with an old Peavey TNT combo and a used Fender bass. Hooray! Ten years of membership to find the best gear was totally worth It!

Purely a personal observation, but it seems that the enthusiasm for 'boutique' basses expressed on this forum doesn't translate into mass sales. I would think that the number of players who equate 'bass guitar' with Fender must be in excess of 75% of all players of the instrument. In the real world, rather than the rarified atmosphere of a specialist forum, I have never heard any negative comments when I have turned up with a US Fender. They are an industry standard, and are likely to remain so for many years to come. Say what you like about more modern designs, technology, etc, the truth is most bass players regard a Fender bass as an essential tool if you expect to be taken seriously by anyone considering hiring you. A Fender bass will keep it's value far better than any beautifully crafted, hand made special, simply because they have such a wide appeal. Go ahead and tell me I'm talking out of my backside, but you won't change my opinion.

To be fair the revolutionary innovation happened years ago. I agree with you about the rut, but on the other hand when Fender do try something new everyone practically has a heart attack and demands they get back to their 'core values', i.e. more of the same.

All my gear other than bass and cab fit in a laptop bag. Even the amp. I just wish I could find a laptop bag that would also fit a 1x15 lol.

Awesome mate. Will watch this space

Two 8 ohm cabs in parallel presents a 4 Ohm load to the amp. Ohms aren't pushed anywhere, Watts are (if you want to use that "push" terminology). If you want to maximise the amount of Watts that you safely put out of the amp, then you present the load that the amp is designed to work with, in this case 4 Ohms.

...all in the name of science and experimenting...

Excellent.

Oh, definitely addicted to loving flats. I have Chromes on my P Bass, EB Cobalts on my Jazz and LaBella on my Spirit headless. I like them all, but Chromes will be tried on the Jazz at the weekend, looking forward to it. Big fan of TI’s, and would love to try LaBella white nylon... guess I need 2 new basses?

Thanks, Ped. Stupid, blind, berk that I am, I didn’t see that and had gone straight to the Saturday tab.

It certainly isn't a put down. It's just like Marcus Miller said, 'why wouldn't you'?

I bought this as a 45 in the early 70's and only recently found out that Chuck is the bassist. . . one of the funkiest bass lines I've heard.

And all with 1 picking finger...

I thought it was a Carl Thompson initially, but it’s actually an Abe Rivera, and was apparently the first bass they (he) made.

No I’ve decided against it, just going for simple black pickguard and hardware I think it would look better that way

@petebassist, so, which one is you..? ... ...

Kinda summarises it perfectly! I remember the first gig where we had gone from a 30 minute 'beer money' set to a 2 hour 'properly paid' pub set and all of the above applied, a couple of years back. Our singer was such a bundle of nerves before the gig: easy to forget that, in terms of learning material, the words to the songs take a LOT more memory than bass riffs, chords or drum lines which are essentially repetitive; combine that with the fact the vocalists have to front the band and engage with the audience and you can understand her nerves. She was completely fine and never such a pre-gig wreck again! We ended up getting a residency at the venue which has been a mainstay for us ever since.

I think it's an excellent idea!

Washing up and tea spoon playing aside, Fender announces a rename of its American Vintage line with some (very mariginally) modified basses and it gets 1370 views and 100 replies in less than 24 hours?!! Good for them if that's what keeps them afloat and is their sales model. I'll certainly be looking at the new models with interest - not sure they'll get over my 70s created aversion to their basses, when lots of other makes started providing a better platform for players to express themselves. However if people generally want to hark back to 60s pop when bass players were generally the rumbling and inaudible poor relation of the band, plodding along in the background then this doesn't auger well for bass players and bass playing in general - it's also to be heard and seen in current popular music as well - not universally though as some producers and players do seem to see the value of bass as a fundamental or leading part of music. The demographic of the forum must have changed and is perhaps over-represented by Fender players - something also visible on televised music but strangely not amongst the range of players I see in local bands where a much broader range of makes appears.

Just make sure you wash it before putting it back in the drawer (the spoon, that is)

I owned a 3.0, and now I am using a 9.0 for 6 years or so. And I also liked the sound of the 3.0 the best.

That's much better-looking than most Fender basses.

You get asked to play and get well paid. The food and drink is usually free. I love them. The audience may not love what you play but the people who are paying would have to take any flack for liking and booking the band. Whats not to like?

They do a nifty line of underpants and pencil cases.

There's a story about Jimi Hendrix appearing on Top of the Pops in 1967 to perform/mime Purple Haze, only for the technician to put on Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear... I would have liked to have seen that, if it's true.

If the title wasn't "new range" you could be forgiven for not realising

Nah, it`s cos in these label-driven times passers by saw he was playing a Squier, so thought he wasn`t a serious musician.......................

How long it takes to be able to gig is simple - as long as it takes you to learn the 30 / 45 / 90 minutes of material you need. How long it takes to get your first gig depends on whether you have someone in the band who's prepared to do the work of contacting venues and promoters, and whether they have the experience and contacts to do it well. If you get your whole setlist together without figuring out who's doing the booking, there's a high chance of fizzle-out...

Having the time of their lives by the look of it.

Did someone mention bad miming?

Watching a second time, I feel more disturbed by the hair than the miming.

I tend to swap back and forth. As soon as I feel that I’m starting to get hooked - I swap. And it’s really hard not to get back to flats. I just swapped to roundwounds few days ago. Oh, I love flats...

@lownote12 all sorted?

What’s your monitoring going to be like? If good then I’d say take your bass and Evo head since you have all your modelling etc in there. If there’s no guarantee of decent monitoring then take you cab too, just in case. Better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

Well this is what I looked like in 1962... And today. And gigging circa 1984...