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Got home at 3am from a wonderful Katy Hurt gig in Sheffield at Greystones, with the wonderful Joe Martin in support. Last date for 2023, we started messing around with 3 new songs in the green room and they point to a bright 2024 if we can finish them off. Receptive crowd, singing along to all the songs, even found myself signing things at the end which is a bit novel for the “new bloke” but very cool. Zoot Funky 4 was the weapon of choice, through my TE1200 and a pair of Two10S cabs. Sounded blimmin marvellous. Knackered now after a day at work and a hard yoga session just now 🤣

A game of two halves this weekend: Friday night's gig was one of the regular ones we play, but the pub's not exactly thriving, and this week was just terrible; about a dozen people in, which dwindled to two by the end. We're gonna give it a miss till into the new year, if it's still open... 🙁 Satdy was a last-minute 40th booking in a pub (buffet set up on the covered pool table, that kinda thing), busy (yeah, the rugby was on, but once that finished the regulars got involved, too) and an engaged audience...turns out the birthday boy, who loved it, manages 14 pubs in the area, so the BL unloaded a big wedge of business cards...fingers crossed...

Odd weekend. We were supposed to be doing a gig in a village sat night, but when we went to confim last week were informed the LL had had a heart attack and was taking it easy now and they thought thye had told us but not. Well, fair enough, they probably had other things on their minds. Then we got a notification of a local pub that is closing and up for sale wanted us on a sunday night 7-10. A bit odd, most places dont do sunday nights but whatever. Went down there in the rain to setup, and turns out the landlord had got drunk, forgot he booked us and hadn't advertised or anything. There were about 10 people there, but we went ahead anyway. Easy setup as there was noone in the way, the pub is good for live music, and the guitarist wasn't in the way, so we could get setup before he got there. Did a sound check, sounded fine. Started the gig, had now got to about 12 people, sounded awful, loads of feedback, levels all over the place, no idea why. First song sounded weird, second song we missed half of it, sounds like a trainwreck but on the plus side, noone really there to hear it. After the 3rd song, things fell into place, and continued the first half ok. A few other people drifted in, and it picked up a bit but not much, a few tracks went down ok, like the streets and Linkin park. I am playing a fretless bass, a gwb35, as I just got it and thought I would see how it did, it did fine, better for some tracks a bit trickier for others. During the second half a few more people came in and there was a bit of dancing, but not that much. Got to the end, people obviously called for one more song, even though they hadn't really noticed we were there, so we did. Easy packup and load, and nice to get back before 11. The landlord was actually really happy for whatever reason (I am sure he couldn't have made money from it) and the landlord of another venue was tehre who wanted to book us too, so I guess it was positive, and it was a paid practice which was also good, but not going to go down in the list as something to be remembered! Ironically (and maybe because there weren't many people there), some tracks I think we did better than ever, including my singing ones like "Feel it still" etc. so I enjoyed that. And the GWB35 is certainly a pretty easily giggable bass.

Not a bad night. Last gig at the pub for the landlord & landlady (though we’ve since heard that the new licensees intend to carry on having bands so we’ll see. TV on for the rugby and prior to that p155ed punters doing karaoke while we set up (oh joy). Then one of said punters decided they could play ‘guitar’ (I think you mean bass dear but let’s let that pass) so could they have a go to show their prowess? Not on that bass you can’t (Status S1) but knock yourself out with this one (beaten up FPPR S1 that SEBB attendees from years ago will remember Barney had for sale for years, plays and sounds great but looks in a state and one for the tightest of gigs where I don’t want to worry about knocks). So she strummed aimlessly for a while til I got bored and stood on the Microtubes mute footswitch and said “Oh no! You’ve broken it”. Otherwise the gig went well despite mullered punters spilling drinks everywhere, but all singing along and no major foul ups by the band so not so bad. Slightly marred by landlord getting into a domestic over how he’d dealt with a punter that rumbled on while we packed up and tried not to get drawn in. 🫣

Our Train To Skaville gig on Saturday night at Trowbridge Conservative Club was excellent. Great crowd, danced to everything (even the soundcheck) and loved us to bits. Very very hot, I mean blistering -- my shirt and facetowel were both wringing wet by the end, if we play there again I'm taking a fan -- and thanks to the low ceiling and concrete floor, mahoosively loud too. At one point I took an earplug out, winced and put it straight back in.

Just like most pub bands..?

Fretless ‘Rays aren’t that common, you might be surprised at the interest it might generate. Try selling it as a fretless and see if gets any traction, if it doesn’t, you can refret it then.

No. Why should they stop if they still enjoy it? What a ridiculous thing to say. Would you stop doing something you love if some punter came up to you after a gig and gave you a pissy comment? If you don't like what they do, jog on. There's lots of other music out there which might not embarrass you, listen to that.

I can see where you’re going Tim…. Its a mystery

It's here! Absolutely killer bass. Great playability, amazingly smooth neck, love the sound... Great bass. Here it is with its cousins from the low lands: Stingray with a Boekholt (NL) neck De Gier (NL) Soulmate Belgrado (BE) Z-lectro De Gier (NL) Bebop

I'm sure you're worth every penny 😉

Who appointed anyone on here as the official arbiter of when musicians and bands should pack it in? If they want to keep going and enough are willing to buy tickets, it's their business what they do. Nobody is forced to go and see them.

Interesting. I saw KC & The Sunshine Band live recently and couldn’t stop thinking that they should just Give It Up.

Had a little run of gigs this week and took the B6 for them all. The plan being to use it in the hotel room for a bit of headphone noodling. Of course I was way too busy with traditional rock star activities to do that, but on stage it performed admirably. The sounds really are first class. I use it in pedal board mode and I'm finding out more about adjusting effects on the fly, switching between boards and so on. It's wonderfully light to carry, way smaller than my traditional boards but not so cramped I can't hit the right switch at the right time, and that tuner! It's so stable, so big, so visible - a joy to use.

There's certainly a ton of bands out there that are still gigging when they're well past theur sell-by date, but if tickets sell then they'll keep doing shows. Look at recent/ongoing/upcoming tours by Kiss, Motley Crue/Def Leppard, Elton John, Madonna, Stevie Nicks (and so on); IMO these should all have hung up their boots many years ago, but until people stop paying £250 for a seat in the gods to watch a lipsynching granny in basque cavort about with dancers half her age, then they'll keep doing it.

Taking the title of this thread literally... I'm the one on the right.

Last night was our jam night. As the venue was being used for another event earlier in the day, we were asked if we wanted to piggyback onto that band's extensive PA system and backline / drums. We gratefully said yes, thinking that it would save us a lot of carting of our own gear. Our guitarist and myself ended up bringing our own backline. Saves worry about what you're going to get. The lights were really good too. The only problem I had was that on our part of the night, our jam night, they insisted on using a smoke machine that was close to my bass rig. It makes the lights even more impressive. Yes, but it f***s my voice up and we've got 3 gigs next week. I asked them to not use it. But the lights, they said. After a while, I switched it off, as I could feel the tell-tale signs of my throat getting scratchy. Other people weren't happy with the smoke machine either. I switched it off. After a bit they came up and said had I switched the smoke machine off? I said yes and told them why I had. They weren't happy. It went on again. I went across the road to watch another singer in a pub across the road. I sat outside in my car until I was required to finish off the night. Afterwards they said something else about switching their smoke machine off, along the lines of it won't happen next time, will it? I cheerfully said there won't be a next time. They will have to clear their stuff off the stage and out and they will have half an hour to do it in. I know they meant well and that it was a very generous offer, but to cause someone to feel unwell at their own event by forcing them to put up with something that they have told they do not want to be used while they are onstage is not on. My throat is like s*** today.

D'ya get trade discount from Alex ? (asking for a friend) 😎

Pubs round this way pay 300-400, we’ve played a charity event for free, and had a couple of ‘cheaper’ nights as a favour to a friend of the singer (around 150 per night) so we could get some good footage for social media. Moving forwards we’ll be asking the going rate with the exception of charity events. It’s not about the money as much as it is not undercutting anyone else in the area. Musicians deserve to get paid adequately for their labour.

I was thinking about this last night after reading the thread. In athletics, athletes continue into the masters category. Over 40s, 50,50,70,80,90 for men and 35,45 etc for Women. Although people do go and watch, they're not so high on the TV ratings. I suspect the same happens with Tennis, McEnrow et al have 'retired' but still play age group and exhibition matches. There will be an ever diminishing audience for Cliff Richard and others, it's just a matter of whether the fans die before the artists. 😆 Lots of ageism and sexism at display. How comes Tom Jones is great for going out and entertaining but Madonna isn't?

Bands should only quit when they want to do so. The idea that anyone else should get a say is laughable. It really does fall into the "I don't like it so nobody else is allowed to either" category. Maybe a big band will end up only playing to 30 people in the Dog n Duck on a Tuesday, paid in pints and crisps... but so what? Don't buy a ticket if you don't want to see it. When Iron Maiden are on a break, Harris goes out to play tiny clubs and pubs with 'British Lion' because he lives to play. He'll still be doing that when IM finishes. Maybe they'll be so few people wanting to watch that he'll have to pick between crisps OR a pint for pay. It's just as much of a passion for those at the top as it is for us dreamers, and I would never contemplate demanding that anyone abandon a passion that hurts nobody.

Arrived in the post recently... A Fender hi-mass bridge and a neck from China. The neck is about 1mm too wide for the pocket, but I've kept the black headstock style of the original, we just have blocks instead of dots now. The nut needs to go because this was a "reverse headstock" right handed neck but that's no bother at all. The cheap plastic nut can go and I'll replace it with something better and left handed. This is going to be a slow build as funds dictate but next is pickups, wiring and scratch plate.... Tuners also required but I'm hoping to find a good set second hand.

If you don't like it then don't go to the gigs ... because, after all, they probably aren't going to your gigs.

I like to line my tuners up so they're in line then transpose on the fly to whatever tuning I'm in. It sounds a little off at times but looks good. 😎

@grapefruitmoon my standard question when hearing problems that you describe is: does your amp have an effects loop? If so, connect Send and Return with a short signal cable and see if that helps. Problems with the normalizing contacts on these jacks are not uncommon especially if they are not used.

This cha-charming man. Smiffs

That set up was just messing about in the studio and I can't remember which amp went into which bit, but probably the Streamliner to the BB2 and Boogie to the One10's For gigs I use either the One10’s or one or two (though not often) of the BB2’s. If I'm feeling up to it for the proggy gigs I might use one BB2 for bass and the other for basspedals (McMillen 12Step into either a soft synth on the iPad or a DSI MoPho) The Boogie has gone now. I tend to use a Darkglass Microtubes 500 sat atop the Streamliner as a spare or for smaller venues an Aguilar Tonehammer 350 on either the One10's or a BB2. There's also an LH500 knocking around in a flight case though that's getting less use at the moment.

My 3 piece blues/rock oufit get £300 for our monthly residency - guaranteed 12 gigs this year and we've been booked for all of 2024, too. I am pleased with that. We do go out for £250-£270 if it is a new place we want to try out but ask for £300 for a repeat. We got door money at a blues club a couple of weeks ago and walked away with £500, which was a pleasant surprise. Conversely we get support gigs and music festival gigs that barely cover expenses but we consider to be worth doing for the old 'raising our profile' thing - which has actually happened so we continue to do them. Plus we have got some great media showing us playing bigger stages by doing that - which is priceless. What other hobby does this?! At the end of the night you have a smile on your face and some cash in your wallet. Long may it continue.

Problem is that at the same time as petrol etc has gone up so it costs us more to do gigs, everything else has gone up so it costs venues more to run them. Coupled with less punters this makes getting more for gigs a challenge to say the least.

Because Tom can still sing and Madonna can't. Hardly sexist 🙄

Not to be "that guy", but I doubt Stevie Wonder has ever seen a voice coach.

UB40 should have called it a day rather than becoming an awful cod-reggae covers band. I went to see The Who a few years ago. Daltrey has lost his upper register but has adapted, pitching the vocal lines lower, and while it didn't have the impact of the original it was still good.

Unless you play originals, we are all in the nostalgia business!

My lovely Squier VM 'plated up'.. I've gone backwards and forwards on this a few times and may well get a bridge cover with the 'F' at some point but I'm very pleased overall - added mojo! ❤️

So as promised, I did. Not the gig on saturday, that was cancelled, but we picked up another gig for sunday, which I am back from. I figured as I normally play the acrylic bass in the second half, i only needed it for the first half which is mainly the blues and rock bits before we get on to the party stuff int he second half. Well, turns out I enjoyed playing it so much I just carried on, and as there weren't many people there, didn't seem much point using the acrylic as it is largely for show. Some songs I found it actually seemed to make easier. There were a few that were tricky, the ones I normally use a plectrum for, not using that on a GWB35, anything that needed a longer sustain not as good. but most where, and the ones I thought might be tricky - all right now top bit at the 17th fret up was actually pretty good. In the end was good too - as I play the piano with one hand and the bass with the other, it was handy that it was actually up more because of the lighter pressure thing.

Tiny snippet of audience reaction from last night! ChokedPlough.mp4

it is coming along nicely 😉

I think Neepheid has it right. I would be a little surprised if someone asked me to bring an amp to a lesson. An instrument and cable, yes, but an amp seems a little odd, especially If he has half a dozen. For low volume lessons, I would have thought you or he could use one of the guitar amps. You aren't going to blow it up at lesson levels. If you have one, take your SVT plus fridge along. It'll be a laugh getting him to help you lug it up the stairs. Also, the assertion that "tab is what is generally being used now" doesn't fill me with confidence. At the reading jobs I do, I am given conventional notation, not tab. I've never been given tab. I wonder whether he might he not be a reader himself.

Seems unneccessarily difficult at best and downright argumentative at worst. Not keen on hearing them try to dissuade you from learning to read proper notation if that's what you want to do. No spare bass amp? It's just lessons, a 30W combo would be enough. 5 guitar amps and 1 bass amp, I think that in itself suggests that bass is an afterthought for this guy. I hear alarm bells ringing, but maybe I'm being paranoid.

What is this 'cash' of which you speak..? ...

Gorgeous basses. Unusual bass rig set up too. Do you use both amps at same time or is one just a back up. ? Had a Streamliner 600 years ago when they first came out. Wish i had kept it. Dave

The main gigging band (4 piece) do pubs for £300 minimum, and I'd expect 2.5 - 3x that for New Years...unfortunately, for various complicated reasons, it looks like this New Years might be the first one in the last 15 or so I'll be in the house and missing out...still, the Boy's home from Uni, so that'll be nice...

Too Late Too Late ～ Mötörhead

I don't consider myself to be a particularly "good" bass player. My music theory is pretty poor and if you give me a bass clef score, I'll stare vacantly at it for a while and then ask my 11 year old daughter to tell me what the notes are. The thought of going to a bass bash and playing in front of other bass players makes my blood run cold. That said, I like to think I have a fairly musical ear and the ability to not ruin a track. I also practice the songs we play, a lot. The band leader/songwriter likes the parts I play and even the drummer sometimes says they're not cr4p. As an aside and a full-on "humble brag" the drummer invited one of his work colleagues (who also plays bass) to our recent support gig in Manchester. I've mentioned him before, not often by name, but our drummer is Mark Radcliffe and his colleague was the producer on one of his radio shows. Anyway, after we'd played, he said that his producer said (and I quote) "That bass player's pretty handy". Of course, when I asked him to repeat it for the benefit of the tape he said the comment was "The band was really good, but let down by the terrible bass playing". Having that sort of compliment (and the associated disparaging remark) gives you both a confidence boost and keeps you grounded. I suppose the TLDR takeaway is: I'm ok at what I do, but there's always room to do better.