Leaderboard

After playing on Saturday night to around 3000 people at a festival, I had a gig this afternoon playing to around 30! We usually do a care home ( where my Dad spent his last days ) twice a year, Summer and Xmas. The weather held out so we played in the courtyard garden, with requests ranging from Elvis to Nirvana ( okay, that was from one of the staff). Apart from my bass lead, it was the first time I’ve done a gig with a Bluetooth PA including mic - great JBL speakers sounded fine. Used my little Ibanez electro acoustic and Fender Rumble, ideal for such occasions.

I’ve made a living from playing music now for a tad over 30 years. I gave up my day job with a local newspaper in the early 90’s due to increasing pressure on my workload, and this coincided with me being offered a position in an 8 piece function / wedding band. Prior to this I’d been resident in cabaret and working men’s club bands, working 3 nights a week alongside my regular 9 to 5. At this point I was earning good money from the two jobs, along with a company car, so giving up one of them wasn’t an easy decision. I was married, with my daughter at primary school too, so it was a massive change for me. Early on I worried about volume of work / paying bills / buying a car etc, but the band were doing well and it soon settled down. I stayed with that band for 16 years, through good times and some bad. This was a time when many pub bands were trying their hands at function work, so we were being constantly undercut and also seemed expensive as an 8 piece outfit compared to a smaller band. Also the running of the band was blighted by alcohol and substance issues ( not mine!) so I started to look around for something else, not easy as in my early 50’s by then. I did contemplate a 9 to 5 again, but then got offered my current gig with The ELO Experience. I’ve been doing this now for around 13 years, after initially doing some deps for their original bassist who was sadly battling illness. Absolutely love it, playing with a great bunch of people and crew and earning a decent wage. Through all the above I’ve worked with my best mate in an acoustic duo too, so been good to have that income, along with many deps and one offs as well. I’ve never earned shedloads of money, which I suspected would always be the case, but have managed to live a reasonable lifestyle. Paid off two mortgages, holidays abroad etc etc, although by current standards we still live quite modestly. Would do it all again if I had the chance* and am now facing the dilemma of when to consider retirement from the band, although can’t ever see me not continuing with the duo. *Only thing I would have altered would have been to learn to read properly, which may have resulted in more work.

There are two big debates going on here: How much do you need to live 'comfortably'? Can you earn enough to live comfortably from a function band? Clearly, some of us are fortunate enough to have very different ideas of what 'live comfortably' looks like, but disregarding that it's clear that you need to address the first question from your own point of view before any answer to the second has meaning.

Got this one in last week, a nice fretless in see through blonde finish. Probably late 80s.

A very odd one on Tuesday evening. We played at a pub in Erbistock, as they were holding an event to celebrate their recent re-opening. One of the singists is an area manager for a brewery and it was arranged to say thank you to the people who had helped with the renovations and whatever business stuff gets done when a pub re-opens. There were a fair number of people who declined the invitation, some on the day and a few in advance, with the upshot being that we played to about 12 people. We played ok, but it was very loose and we were changing the set list all the way through, adding some and dropping more. We're not a covers band and had only put two into the set (we'd not performed them before), which were both dropped and replaced with a different one we've done a few more times. Still, the few people there were somewhat attentive and polite (possibly because they knew the singist). We were also fed and paid, which is always nice for an originals band! 🤣 I also got to give the new RCF ART 945's a run in anger for the first time, so that was useful. Mosh pit photo below.

I've said this before too, and its something which is rarely considered. As you get older going out nearly every night until the early hrs chasing every penny can loose its shine real quick.

It’s barky with a little bit of bite…

Looks like a quality woof-er installed.

Where do you insert the jack?

I think it's great. We did an outside acoustic gig and a van dropped off a dozen care residents. It was heart warming to watch how cool and appreciative they were. Blue

Brilliant for improvising, but hopeless for remembering what brilliant improvising you did.

First time out for the recently formed Just two songs at a small open mic (and we had not yet learned the words!) but it was well received and a load of fun. I spent the rest of the evening enjoying the other performers and co-running the sound system. S'manth x

We've been asked if we'd be prepared to do an hour or so at the care home where Mr Lead Guitar's mother is a resident. We've all said we'd be happy to do it, but aren't entirely sure how our particular selection of country-rock / blues covers might go down. Guess we'll just have to wait and see if and when it takes place.

Aaaaaaaaaand, we're off again! D5 vs. DHL, round two, ding ding!

I bought it from a dealer on reverb. I hadn't seen one before myself and liked the creamy looks with the ebony fretboard. The placement of the pickups seemed good for a fretless, so did some research and ending up buying. The fact that I just sold my '66 jazz didn't help not buying it 😉. It's really a fun bass to play, and I like how it sounds. Especially with pickups solood, brings out the mwah more apparent than with the two pickups active.

Cheers. Regarding my duo, it's acoustic guitar / lead vocals and me on acoustic bass / harmony vox. We're called 'Milestone'. We've been doing it now for around 25 years, and my mate on guitar is literally one of the best players I've ever seen, let alone gigged with. He can play pretty much any genre of stuff superbly, and has that greatest gift of all musicians which is knowing when not to play too! He has a great voice and fronts the duo really, with me chipping in or singing lead vocals occasionally as and when. We've got that telepathy thing sorted so it really is a breeze playing with him. I'm considering retiring from being on the road with my main band next year, but can't ever see a time when we won't be gigging with the duo. We have a monthly residency in a local pub, and also regular gigs at a restaurant in Scarborough which is an absolute delight to play ( see pic below). On top of that we do functions / weddings etc as well as my local pub over the road and others. He's a fully pro player, so it works pretty well - the main issue being when we get offered gigs is whether we are both available. (No YT footage I'm afraid, although there may be something lurking I'm unaware of.)

It does appear that the strict answer to the original question is 'no'. However, by branching out into other areas you can, and a good few here, do.

Yes to both of the above. Like many, I've done my share of playing in toilets to animals who hated me because every penny counted. Now I'm retired and reasonably comfortable and don't have to do it, I don't. I won't play for nowt ("It's for charity", etc) on principle, but as long as I cover my expenses plus a couple of beers and the experience is enjoyable, I'm happy. I appreciate I'm fortunate, but I did do my time/pay my dues back in the day, so I guess I earned it.

Wonderful story, thank you! I've often wondered how strict a "no substance abuse" policy bands should have, given the prevalence of drugs and alcohol in society and particularly the rock 'n' roll scene? So it's illuminating hearing about the damage it can do, as it's not widely spoken about or shared, but I guess that's a whole different thread and a complete side-track on this one... In terms of your acoustic duo, what is the set up on that in terms of instrumentation and vocals? (Any YT footage?)

After 45 years of playing and having more basses than a guy should. I’ve come to the point where the P is the bass that best suits my style of play and I can get any tone I want. I constantly am fighting with my J basses to get anywhere near the tone I want. But, that’s me, play what you love and just enjoy. That’s the great thing about bass….there’s no wrong bass. 😃

Only brilliant for improvising if you wanted a 4 hour 12 bar blues track!

Last night I dropped over to see the cab and head my friend picked up. She got a Darkglass MicroTubes 500 v1 with the SC112. First thing I did was pick up the cab , and the weight brought a smile. And then we dialed in the amp , and I was encouraging her to spin the knobs. She was amp shy at first , but was quickly over that. Most of the amp tuning was at fairly low levels , but we did check it out at volume. … nice! I love that cab. It would be fun to do a side by side comparison to my Berg HDN112. She seemed to move to a fairly traditional old school thump. She likes her bass bassy. She was delighted to pick up a “forever cab” as her first one.

No idea what make of bass I've been (and will be) associated with 🙄🤣😂

I suspect that the real world cost of living is having an impact on us all. ☹️ Or to put it another way: GAS PRICE HIKES HIT GAS! "We can barely afford the bass-ics" say UK forum members. "It was buy food or a Fodera, but fortunately I found a can of tuna under the stairs" (more on p34)

Yep and I can't play the bagpipes either, thankfully.. 😁

I can't help thinking that a lot of the anti slap brigade are people who can't do it.

The G3 Atom finally arrived today, so I spent all evening wiring it. Some of the audio cables runs are a bit tight but they all just about reached (still had to order more as there wasn't enough left over to wire up the pink fuzz). Underneath is a bit of a birds nest but I'm waiting for the extra wiring to tighten up the cable ties. Otherwise the Atom is great, I can finally switch between multi-pedal patches instantly. Bit weird for a bass player, but absolutely necessary when you play in fusion/jazz/prog power trio!

I can understand taking a second banana as a spare, but did you really need a whole box of them?

Sweet bass, real nice find. I've just seen this thread, the bass sounds awesome. You have original soldering on the pots so its almost 100% certain the pickups have never been out or fiddled with. I can tell you exactly what happened with the bridge. At some point an owner took the neck off - for whatever reason, probably to adjust the truss rod. When they put the neck back on and re-strung, they noticed the strings weren't aligning evenly down the bass and treble sides of the fretboard. Something they probably never even thought of before, let alone noticed - and then they couldn't remember if the E and G strings were always like that - so they panicked and their conclusion was..."the guy at the factory didn't mount the bridge dead centre in the middle". So they moved the bridge to what they thought was the "correct" position. Problem solved, E and G strings both the same distance from the edge of the fretboard. A global rookie mistake - I've owned more than one P Bass or Jazz with two sets of holes under the bridge. The stupid part? It's not a commonly shared set-up technique, but when attaching the neck, before fully tightening the neck mounting screws, you string up. Then you check that the E and G are equidistant from the fretboard edges. If one string is closer to the edge, all you gotta do is pull the neck by grasping it around fret one towards the side that has the bigger gap between the string and the fretboard edge. Then once you've eyeballed it and it looks good, you tighten down the neck bolts. The bridges were never mounted off-centre by mistake - they used jigs to drill all the main holes on the body and neck. Neck pockets will have a tiny amount of play - even if a neck pocket is super tight, you can still tweak it a fraction to either side to align the strings perfectly. Anyhoo, killer bass you got there, nothing like an early 70's with the B width neck. I just picked up a 73 - the thing was buzzing out everywhere, truss rod was all wrong, and the the G was almost off the edge of the fretboard. I don't know if the seller was a player or not, but this thing was unplayable. Sitting in its glorious original case. But a couple of turns on the truss rod, an alignment of the neck before tightening the bolts and a re-intonation and it is incredible. Ten minutes and no re-drilling of the bridge lol... The photo being taken from slightly above actually makes it look like I haven't aligned the strings..made me laugh after the alignment issue I described...

A bit a strange one over this weekend, but after a gig at a venue I've played a number of times over the years (albeit with a different band to the one I'm in currently) I had a chap from the audience come up to say hi. He said something along the lines of "I've seen you play here before and I remember you usually gig a well-used black P Bass. I can't remember what band I've seen you with but I have always enjoyed your playing and remember the old P Bass!" It's true, my main gigging bass for years was my trusty black P but I unofficially retired it a couple of years ago as it holds a lot of sentimental value to me and I worry about taking it out gigging. Since then, it's been a carousel of various different basses but mostly my old Jazz. Still, it's nice to be associated with one particular instrument and even nicer that someone bothers to listen to my playing 😂

Dunking garibaldi's in gin and tonic? .. you anarchist 😂

I think maybe better to say it's "do-able but bloody hard!". I'm aware of a couple of other BC'ers, other than @casapete, @spencer.b and @Bluewine from this thread, and a couple of bass players not on this forum (god forbid, haha!) who are managing to be "purely pro" bass players. A few of them are in successful function bands collectively making £60K to £80K PA and one was a session bass player who did 300+ gigs a year, but who's recently decided to get a 9 to 5. My lot should be getting a decent chunk of cash per head each this and next year from pub and function gigs with a fair wind, and our lead singer can double what she gets from the band with solo gigs, but she would be the only one managing to live off her music performance and then only just; the rest of us have other jobs/sources of income which are still our main income. To the OP: I think there's a romance to being a full time pro musician. But the reality I suspect is that it's often gruelling, bloody hard work, with anti-social hours. Albeit, if it's something we love, it can be some of the best gruelling bloody-hard work we ever spend our time doing.

Ten Years ～ Paul Simon

And complete! The aim was things I press on the bottom, things that I don't press on the top. Major overhaul following removal of delay and introduction of Boss WL-50. The PSUs and Hub stayed on but everything else off, start again. Harley Benton solderless patch cables apart from the long tuner > C4 run, which is Lava (because they're great for sneaking cables up the side of pedals!). Gets it's first outing (alongside two other wireless units!) on Saturday. In emergency, a right-angle jack will fit in the Boss Input socket to bypass the wireless (once the 3 way switch has been temporarily nudged aside). Omniport 2 on the MC6MkII is available for my expression pedal if I ever actually use it 😄

Indeed - if you just want a bass get the one that plays well. If you want something collectable get the 76 (god knows why one that new is worth that now). Or use the 2.5k difference to invest in some stocks, you will probably get the money quicker.

Thermos of Earl Grey tea. Always. Black. No sugar.

So, "yes, we have no bananas"..... etc

I hope the dog didn't get in free

That’s my wife’s pictured nightmare of me returning every time I say, “I’m just popping into town for some new strings”.

I don't think i've been without an Ashdown of some sort for at least the last ten years. Mostly ABMs of all shapes and sizes as they are my favourites and I understand why the OP says his ABM is his sound. I've sold on a few Ashdown's in the past, always in great working order and when I've asked the buyers why they were looking for an Ashdown, I hear the same reasons over and over. They sound great, they are reliable, and something that is said very often is "my tech told me to get one" and that's because they aren't disposable like so much gear is becoming these days. They are very durable, can be repaired easily and that's usually a sign of a quality design. And of course they are backed up by Ashdown here in the UK.

I do hope you eventually finish it. I'm picking up an HB 5 string with a mashed truss rod nut at the weekend, courtesy of the Recycling thread here. I checked with HB and the nut is welded onto the rod and can't be replaced, so the fretboard will have to come off and a replacement put in. It's a project for the autumn when the nights draw in and I don't have to water the vegetable patch every evening. And I have saved up to buy the required clamps for gluing it back on again. Seriously, a dozen more clamps could cost more than a new bass.😁

Finally had the full dozen basses at home again so had them recline on the orange sofa again. Had to use the wide angle lens on my iPhone so it's not the prettiest photo ever. But still. Top, from left to right: Sadowsky MetroExpress JJ5, Lakland USA JO, Fender CS '64 LE Jazz, 1966 Fender Jazz, Fender Standard Jazz fretless, De Gier Bebop 5 Bottom, from left to right: Yamaha BB N5II, Blade B2 Tetra Bass, 1971 Fender Precision, De Gier Soulmate, Fender JMJ Mustang, Sterling Ray34 with Boekholt fretless neck

I cannot attest to BD’s service and despite the honesty of all BCers, the comments on here cannot properly be calibrated. You have to make your own mind up. My beef with them was a criticism of a manufacturer that they did not sell, that seemed spiteful. One of the things I learnt in my working life was never to criticise your competitors. If you do, you may allienate all their happy customers.

A good drummer. And weed.

About 10 years ago, i had no job at all and have to earn some money for living. I knew a lot of popular songs and had no problem to learn any needed. Lead mussicians knew me as a bassist, but here in Latvia You try to earn as much money as possible and gig in as few people band (drummer, bassist not needed). It was pretty hard and i had to react on every call from band leaders who needed a biger band for party. Also the whole musical style was not my type so as soon i found a normal job i abandoned that mussicial type of life. Now i have a project of good potencials building up, full freedom for me and no stress at all, perfect for job/band life. The last way You can earn a good money as mussian, when You concentrate on one band who gets lucky to become popular and can make a big concerts and take good deals of business world, too.