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Yesterday, my covers band, Night Shift, hosted a charity event at a local pub. We called it The Party In The (Car) Park. We raised over £2k for Prostate Cancer UK. This is a cause very close to our hearts, as Terry, seen next to me, is at stage 4 of the disease. It was a beltin’ day and everyone was following the advice to stay hydrated 😉.

We played a wedding tonight as a favor. We're not a wedding band. We had enough standards and songs people could dance to to get by. We were sounding good tonight. We have new lighting. Blue

Did my wedding dep gig last night. Beautiful location in Wiltshire with views of the rolling hills of somewhere or other outside the open sided marquee. It was the one with monitoring replaced by earphones and a click track. Playing wise I got away with it. 40 odd songs, most of which I didn't know, so happy with that. Playing without proper monitoring is never going to be my bag. No one can hear anything anyone says so the band retreat into their shells and don't communicate with one another. The click was buried in the mix so I basically didn't use it. Didn't have time to learn the app so couldn't adjust it myself. Still, nice people to work with and they seemed happy with what I did. The unscripted, unexpected version of Bohemian Rhapsody at the end of the evening is probably best forgotten. Not a song to busk.

I played my first orchestra gig yesterday! I've been gigging on guitar, banjo and bass for about 60 years and went to upright bass in 2015 and finally started taking DB lessons last October to learn to play with the bow properly. My teacher is a virtuoso bassist and has been very patient and I have made a lot of progress since my first weekly lesson last fall and all of my DB playing(mostly jazz) has improved. A few weeks ago I was astounded when he asked if I would like to join several of his adult students to fill out the low end of his youth orchestra for a concert. There are about 30 members of the orchestra up to about age 18 with a few very young ones who sit in for two pieces, all the members are his students. The 4 adults, two basses and two cellos, would only play on the last three selections, all of them are "bass heavy" and needed more than the single bass that he usually has. The last piece was an intermediate junior orchestra composition called "Fire in the Forge" and since I am a blacksmith I just had to get in on it so I agreed to work on the material and go to rehearsals. It was a wonderful concert and we adults did fine but the real stars were the kids, the youngest player was 6 years old...71 years younger than I am.🙄 It was probably the most interesting, challenging and memorable of the many gigs I have played over the years and as the last booming bass notes died at the end the last song I just stood there loving it with big stupid grin on my face. I hope he asks us again, my last lesson before summer break is on June 23 but I will be back for more in September, can't wait.😊 The extra basses and cellos were beside the bassist in the long shot, fantastic acoustics in the church, I have been to concerts there but never played in it before yesterday.

A hot and sweaty one in a small pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield last night. A bit of an education in logistics after the last few weeks of reasonable stages but we cracked on regardless. Had the obligatory drunken bloke crash through my set up in slow motion in the second spot, no damage to my mouth thankfully, the only casualty being my mic stand which was a bit lop sided for the rest of the gig. Only pics were from behind the band which appeared to mainly feature my backside. Onwards and upwards, next week is the Farmyard bikers rally in Helmsley North Yorkshire, always a cracking gig.

Had a 60th birthday party last night with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band. We were booked by the guys brother after he booked us for a bike rally back in Feb and was really impressed by us. Was an odd night tho. Reasonable sized stage but not a lot of dancers altho it really took off for the last 6 songs where floor was full. Was expecting a hot sticky night as it was 26 C when i left the house but only 16 C at the coast in Boness. Loads of vids being taken throughout both sets and i always take that as a compliment of doing something right. Lots of great positive comments at the end of the night to be fair and the manageress said she was very impressed by us as she had also booked us in same venue later in the year around Nov for a Sat afternoon gig. She's already sold 80 tickets for the gig in Nov. Think it only holds arounf 120-150 max. As we were loading our cars a group of people coming out said that wasn't just a band playing but a complete show and had a fantastic night watching us and enjoying the songs. Halfway thru the first set our singer asked the audience how we were doing so far and we got a resounding cheer. It was just odd that not many were up dancing. It creates an odd atmosphere when that happens but we still got paid. No pics or vids surfaced as yet. Dave Vid appeared on FB showing our biggest and smallest fan of the evening. Think she was dancing most of the night.One very happy customer http://www.facebook.com/ray.doull/videos/961902048354877

That was good fun. Private party in a big old shed, a new one with insulation in the walls/celiings so not quite the echo chamber that some sheds I've played in were. The organisers had prepared well - we even had a large, homemade stage to play on! We got fed and watered and it was a good gig - a small but enthusiastic cohort of dancers, a lot of people stayed outside and listened until later on because it was a warm, dry evening but we got lots of nice comments from people and a decent pay too, more than our usual fee. A worthwhile endeavour. Team G&L FTW (CLF L-1000, with Tribute LB-100 lurking in its gigbag behind)

Billy Bootleggers in Newcastle tonight. Great venue, bijou and compact stage area but in-house PA with engineer is always welcome. Six pm kick off and two strict 45 minute sets meant I was home, gear away and sitting down by 9pm. We’ve played better, but it was still a great gig 😎

I have owned quite a few Jazz basses over the years but have moved over to short scale basses, in the last couple of years. I remember seeing these Japanese made, Junior Collection Jazz Basses and wanting one but I never saw one close enough to go and check it out. Then I saw one in a relatively local store, so went to play it this morning. This short scale Jazzer looks really nice, with it's vintage white (or cream to ordinary folk) body and tort scratchplate. There is nothing flash here and the body has a satin finish. But that all works rather well and happily, when you play it, it is a very nice experience too. It a very comfortable bass, with a good balance. The pickups are decent and sound as you'd expect. They are not the best JB pickups I have heard but they are clear and pretty full, for single-coils. I managed to get all the tones I wanted, with some amp eq-ing and pickup volume balance adjustment. The tone control is very useful too and really helps shaping your desired sound. Overall then, a very well made bass, with no frills, loads of playability and some very useful tones. All for not a lot of cash and made in Japan. Very happy with this.

.. or order the 4-in-ine headstock: https://bite.guitars/product/4-in-line/

Thing is (up until this) she might have got home, to work etc and told people that she had the best night ever and that the band were amazing. Just because people aren’t jumping about and waving their arms in the air doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying the show. It’s not the audiences responsibility to perform for the artists.

Have been hankering after another Precision for a while now so I went to Guitar Guitar in Birmingham a few weeks ago. Tried a few different basses and then tried this one out. Fit and finish is impeccable with the best neck joint that I have seen on a Fender. It weighs in at 3.7kg and resonates like crazy as you play. Was originally looking for Oly White/Rosewood but am absolutely smitten with the black maple. The VMOD ii pickup is really quite nice much to my surprise, it will probably get replaced with a Nord or a Fralin at some point but no hurry on that!

Just acquired a Fender, Made In Japan, Junior Collection, Jazz Bass. Really nice bass.

So from here: to here: in a couple of weeks I'm not disappointed.

Hot & sweaty - great! I slapped some new strings on my guitar and took it along for the guitarist to play. He fell in love with it The blue thinline tele is the "Nozcaster" that I built for myself (build #1). The wood LPJ double cut is the guitar that I made for the guitarist (build #2). I'm proud to say that both guitars sounded amazing in his hands. I really must find the time to build myself a bass (Enjoying the Sire 5-string P loads though!)

Saturday night saw another outing for Rascallion at one of our regular venues, this time for a private function (a 90th birthday party, but fortunately with a range of generations present who seemed to appreciate our brand of country-rock and blues). After a good start and a slightly tentative middle, the first set ended up OK, and we hit the requested 45 minutes bang on the nose (more by good luck than good judgement it has to be said!). The second set then saw a first for us, with people up and dancing right from the opening number. This continued through the more "rocky" part of the set, with "Long Train Running" and (amazingly to us) "Rockin' In The Free World" going down particularly well. Overall, the audience response was probably the best we've ever had, and continued even after an utter trainwreck of a final, unplanned, encore, when Mr Lead Guitar started "Travelin' Band" on completely the wrong chord, then totally failed to catch up while the rest of us who'd actually remembered how the song went just ploughed on regardless. 😇 Next gig is an outdoor charity festival in a months time - suspect we'll not be doing "Travelin' Band" on the day, but reckon we'd probably better brush it up just in case!

Dep last night. No one died, but how the heck did I get so lost on one even with the dots in front of me 🤦‍♂️🤪 Generally ok but DAMN! Just ht one damned me 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬

This evening a covered outdoor... and landlord promises no rain 🙄 .... but will there be a riot when they switch the champions league final off?

Sparked by the one-hit wonder thread, I thought it could be interesting with a thread for music you'll never see in the lists. I thought we had a thread, but can't find anything like it. I'll kick off with music composed and recorded by others. I just was in this band after they didn't have a hit ... and remained hitless even though I joined them. 😁 Dutch band The Group: "Ballad of Hathor" from "Omniphonic Music", 1975. Not their most marked song, but the only one I could find.

Played with The 77s last night at Drakes Cork & Cask in Maidstone which went really well. Wasn’t as busy as we, or the venue were expecting but I think a combination of the heat and champions league kept people away. Used my new terror bass head which sounded great, it wasn’t as loud as the Mk 1 version so I am looking at getting another cab to get more volume out if it. I had some problems with bass last night in that anything on the A string was a lot quieter than the other stings which was very annoying. The venue wanted to book us again so that was a good sign!

We did an afternoon beer festival in Gillingham (Dorset) on Saturday playing outdoors from 2-4pm. The humidity and temperature were challenging to say the least and I was bl**dy glad to see the end of the gig after three encores and two and a quarter hours non-stop playing! Audience liked us so that was the main thing - not much dancing but a lot of beer and cider was being consumed to our musical accompaniment - still, I was totally cream-crackered by the time I got home and flaked out by 9pm First try-out for our new Bose PA (it's that one with the tall thin tops sat directly on the subs, with computer controlled mixing) - great improvement on the previous rig, which is now relegated to foldback duties.

Pearce BC1 clone

@Dad3353, I'd love to hear that, but still have no sound in my laptop. I forgot that little bit when starting the thread. 😟 😄

@Skybone We've manwhile introduced our 24-fret premium model Evening Star with our proprietary body shape: https://bite.guitars/product/evening-star/ 34" with figured top 35" XL scale with artwork

Written by Nik Kershaw, a songsmith of the highest order.

We made this during the first covid lockdown. All audio recorded at home and sent to the guitarist for mixing. All video recorded on phones and sent to me for editing. None of us met in person due to the restrictions at the time

There is a reason that I neither named the bands nor made them identifiable by virtue of genre; Other bassists on here may wish to audition/ play in said outfits. It's not my place to discourage them, so it's my attempt at being fair to those who have no "right to reply".

No worries, someone sent me a link of this thread, it must have been someone else if it wasn't you, I have many haters for various reasons, they get a kick out of things like this. You've met me in person before, it's awkward for you to ask people about me, you definitely know more about me than 99.9% on here. For full disclosure I've torn my ACL 22 days ago, I can just about walk now and I need surgery, I'm still trying to work but there are lots of physical challenges, packing/ unpacking guitars, fret-dressing while sitting down is proving to be rather difficult and I simply don't have couple of hours to spare for someone to come and try multiple guitars, sorry.

Black Pudding Ram Jam

I was once a very unenthusiastic member of the audience at a Hawkwind gig. I found a seat in the bar at the back of the venue and sat there trying to ignore everyone and everything around me. Thing is, though, that I am a lifelong Hawkwind fan and in fact I was (unknown to me) coming down with pneumonia at the time. I've never heard of the band in question (have my own personal rock to hide under) but woman in a bobble hat sounds like the sort of person I see in the waiting room while my wife has her radiotherapy. She might be doing the very best she can to enjoy music she likes, no one knows what's going in in a stranger's life.

Or two or three 😀

3 Nelson Mandela ～ The Specials

You are Cassandra and I claim my £5..!

Just want to chip in and say I bought a MIJ Hama Okamoto P bass from @fenderfever and the service was great. The bass is probably the one I play most and it I can't fault anything with the transaction, really happy with the whole process and I'd happily buy from there again. I played a few basses when down there and they were all really great, very nicely setup. In fact, I'd say the bass I bought was probably one of the best setup basses I've ever played and a couple of mates who have played it were really impressed with it 👍

Had my restrained & subdued EDA from new! It's a very unusual-sounding bass with the combination of peizos & soapbar, almost has an acoustic character to it with some settings.

This one will hopefully meet the approval of many of you - new material from Meshell Ndegeocello. Jazz/Soul, just beautiful, and one of the best bass centric tracks I've heard. Thanks to Cerys Matthews who played this today.

Masterplaster ～ Stevie Wonder

Band 1 Guitarist seemed like a decent bloke on the phone but never turned up on time, forgot about it completely twice possibly because he was a massive pot head. We all quit and went our separate ways. Band 2 Great music, thought I'd have no chance of getting the gig but did. The two guitarists were convinced we'd be full time pro within 6 months and spent a ton of cash on pro level gear then insisted I do the same. My response of "let's see where this goes before I drop £7k" did not go down well. I quit and so did the drummer shortly after. Band 3 Me and the drummer met at a jam session and got on well. He had a mate who plays guitar. Primary aim of the band is to enjoy what we're doing. We play loud, simple punk/metal crossover. It's going great.

Furthermore, thanks to the Brexit, the marketplace is even smaller, don't forget that very important point and most of the asking prices are, as said above, ridiculously high.

I've shut up shop right now. Too much adulting to do. I've noped so many tasty looking things by saying "that's a car clutch", or "that's getting my utilities account back on an even keel", or "that's money I need to save to insure against whatever the next effing domestic disaster is", etc.

Well I've heard "your pinkie" used in a rather different context.... 😉

This Is what I brought home yesterday. Spent several hours cleaning it up, almost ready now. May I present my 1981 factory fretless Yamaha BB2000.

Oh wow, that is shocking, we thought we had it bad but what happened to you is unbelievable. You are absolutely spot on with the singer/guitarist. We were very big U2 fans so lots of reverb on the vocals and delay/echo on the guitar. Great memory you have to remember that. So here are some pictures. They are not great and I hope the mods don't mind me posting them in here.