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Like owning a Ford Focus you mean? ubiquitous and therefore best?

Indeed, respect comes from being rich enough to afford a US made Fender, rather than musical skill?

Our youth are far too clued up on these matters and therefore their music is very straightlaced and safe. Music is so much better when it's written by a drug fuelled, chaotic anarchist with a chip on his or her shoulder.

Little update! Neck carve next apparently Si

One thing worse than an EC gig? A snooker tournament..............

Don't get me started. I saw Brian Ferry at the City Hall, Newcastle a week past Sunday. The couple two seats along from and one row in front of us, spent the whole gig taking photos, including flash, and videos of the gig. The guy directly in front of us continued blocking my view, every couple of minutes, by leaning into his partner to say something in her ear, then lighting up his phone to take pics of Brian and the band. Why not simply stay at home and put a DVD on? Its an event, live in the moment, suspend reality, enjoy the spectacle. Why spend all the time trying to capture a "Live" concert on a phone, so you can impress the mates in the pub next weekend? Give me strength.

The band I'm playing with at the moment have the answer. You need to get a bus to another post code to be able to hear yourself think let alone have a conversation.

Alan, from ACG has just updated his profile and the bass in question caused me to have stirring that I haven't experienced in a long time.

Yup, and Steven Tyler is on a "free" stage. BTW, all stages are free except The Amphitheatre. My band doesn't have a date yet. Last year we played before Frampton. Blue

The Cult: She Sells Sanctuary Sisters of Mercy: Alice Fields of the Nephilim: Moonchild

The new A Perfect Circle CD that came out at the weekend. Much quieter than previous stuff, and I like it

Maybe the XLR isn't really darker, maybe the 1/4" is brighter... While the pedal was in development dUg used it on tour through a multitude of amps and different PA systems and the filters were set to his specifications. He prefers going into the efx returns when using backline amps though that isn't always an option. In those cases he just plugs the pedal in front of the amp. My suggestion would be to try the pedal for yourself and not come to tonal conclusions from something you read on a forum. In the video interview with Pete Thorn they are using the XLR output and there is no shortage of high end.

To be fair, I don't think she mentioned playing the P. Just owning one. Take one with you and gain all the respect and kudos. Then get out your preferred bass...

I want this bad boy for my 50th. 18 string. Forget a P Bass. You turn up with this.

A fiat fight - one that breaks down fairly quickly. (although not as quickly as an Alfa fight - which lasts until shortly before squaring up time.)

I’m not; it’s the attitude that only a Fender P (a US one at that) is sufficient. You’ve also derailed a thread about dream purchases with a very narrow minded opinion.

To be fair I can only think of one thing worse than an Eric Clapton gig, an acoustic Eric Clapton before it!

A couple of bass-centric beauts utilising the Fairlight CMI.

A sweeping statement that means nothing. I love a good US Precision, but I've played and owned better Japanese made Fender P's for half the price. I love a good P sound but have an old Tokai P that delivers an identical tone (possibly even better). The Precision is an icon and I love it. But there are imho equally good and/or better and more versatile instruments out there..... many of which suit alternative styles of playing better.....

Ignorance is bliss apparently.

The American Fender ain't no run of the mill Ford Focus. It is an icon. An iconic sound matched by nothing else and never bettered.

I used one of these, someone on here linked me to it when I was in a similar situation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GMM74T0/ref=asc_df_B00GMM74T051942047/?tag=googshopuk-21&creative=22146&creativeASIN=B00GMM74T0&linkCode=df0&hvadid=214462264766&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17959555060353432343&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046574&hvtargid=pla-421630808123 Cheap and cheerful, does the job admirably and weighs nothing. I no longer have the rig but you can see it in use here:

That wasn't a big hit but should've been as was this by Peel faves the Red Guitars

Killing Joke with that massive hit :

The thing I love about the 80's is the variety and changes the music scene went through, it started out with the last throws of punk and disco, then new wave, post punk, new romantics, electronic, goth, alternative, rap, hip hop, acid house, hair and glam metal and everything else in between, all in a decade, amazing. Here are some of my alternative 80's favs.

Everyone should own a Fender Precision. The proper American one - used to be called Standard, now called Professional. Get yourself a new one of those and understand that you own the benchmark against which all other basses are measured. Respect will be yours when you stand on a stage. An unquestionable seat at the top table of bass playing.

When I saw The Who at Wembley Arena not long before Entwistle died, Townshend went off on one about something gloomy. Being slightly refreshed I yelled out 'F**k off, Pete, you're such a miserable c**t'. In fairness to him he laughed and gave it a rest.

Good luck to them all. Any of us would be more than happy to have had so much exposure in the industry that people were discussing us on forums

For myself, I believe that talking through a band is a matter of context and degree. It's one thing if it's a willowy, ethereal lady folk singer singing a mawkish ballad about The Land of The Faerie Queene while tearfully accompanying herself on an un-amplified autoharp in a folk club. Silence is mandatory, lest one be assaulted by some ghastly old hippy in Jesus boots. Quite another if it's four hairy-4rsed blokes hammering out Sex On Fire at full beans in a boozer. Frankly, they just have to take their chances

I've always thought that if a punter can have a conversation without seriously raising their voice then we're not loud enough. Or as a guitar player I used to play with (who also owns a very successful PA hire / installation company) would occasionally announce to the audience "tonight ladies & gentleman, we will be using volume as a tool... and if necessary as a weapon"...!

You've seen Coldplay, then?

Just wanted to see whether it all ties in together, All the hardware is going to be chrome I’m still not 100% sure whether to paint the headstock Cream or would it look better Black or should I just leave it Maple???

"That's a lovely rack tom." "Agreed, but don't call me Tom."

Or the Neuser Fretless System aka NFS :

Think how good it will look when he installs the frets!

I don't think that they are SuperSteps, because the ball end of the string isn't taper-wound. They look to me like ordinary LaBella Steels (used to be called Hard Rocking Steels) but for some reason these are much harder to get in the UK, which is why I think Strings Direct are trying to sell you SuperSteps. Personally I've given up with LaBella Steels, because although they are very nice strings, they no longer make one of the gauges I like (45-135) as a set, and because they are difficult to find and expensive when you can get them. I've switched to Warwick Black Label which are very nearly as good and about half the price.

Wow - the ultimate humiliation - being pulled off stage by your Mum! He's not a singer, he's just a very naughty boy..........etc.

Love them.

Awwwwww Just like The Lannisters.....

Let’s not forget the kn*bheads who spend the best part of a live concert looking at it through their mobile phones 📱

But is it PedAnt or PedEnt?

@Happy Jack those anecdotes were brilliant. Can’t wait to read the blog when it comes out! So I thought I should join in with my most embarrassing audition... Staines 2003/4-ish About 15 or so years ago I decided to get back into gigging after a few years off. Did a couple of auditions which went OK but by the end of the session I'd pretty much decided the respective bands weren't for me. Then I saw a card in a local guitar shop looking for a bassist in a new-country covers band. And they were local. Phoned the guy up and he seemed really nice and easy to get on with. He said that their regular player had been whinging for a while about wanting to take his playing more seriously and do some proper session playing up in town and the band was getting in the way of getting proper gigs with pros. So on that basis he'd decided that he was leaving the band. In fact he’d told the whole band so in no uncertain terms after their last gig. I thought, “fair enough” and got the names and keys of a few songs to learn for the rehearsal the following week. It was mostly stuff I had on CD and pretty straightforward to get on top of - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle, Eagles, Nanci Griffith... Anyway, on the following Tuesday I set up at the local scout hut and was introduced to the rest of the band. We ran through a few songs and I did a bit of backing vocals with the two girl vocalists and all was going swimmingly. I really liked all the guys, they played really well, I liked the music and we were all getting on like a house on fire. Anyway, after about 40 minutes this figure appears at the door while we’re mid-song, lugging a bass amp and a Fender MM bass and then freezes, looking at me. The band all did a double take, looked at him, looked at me and then looked at the bandleader. There was a quick huddle next to the door after which the bass player set up his amp at the opposite side of the room while shooting me daggers... We broke for a cuppa while more conflabbing happened and the bandleader's wife calmed down the stroppy looking bassist like the veritable “band Mum” while I chatted to the drummer, keys player and other singer. It was at that point I suddenly recognised the guy. About three months before I'd seen him backing a girl singer/piano player at a really good songwriter event a friend ran up in Shepherds Bush. I recalled that both he and her had been right prima donnas: properly unpleasant, up-themselves, sour and stroppy t*ts to all and sundry that night - organisers, crew and other acts. Fair enough, he was a very good player but my friend said afterward that neither him nor her were ever playing there again. I decided that discretion should be the better part of valour. I toddled over to the now very worried looking band leader and volunteered to pack up and toddle off leaving the other bassist to do the rest of the rehearsal... to much protest from the drummer, keyboard player and other backing vocalist (this made me wonder if the bass player was regularly fractious and they were seeing their chance of finally being shot of him evaporating). The poor bandleader just looked really embarrassed but gratefully accepted my offer; so I packed up and went home. He phoned me the next day and invited me round to his place for a chat, to explain and to apologise. Turned out that at the last gig when the bassist had thrown his toys out of the pram, yelled “I quit” at them and stormed off, the entire band had taken him seriously and thought he'd actually left the band. So it was a bit of a shock to them when he turned up at the rehearsal and they learned that he'd not actually meant it. The bandleader felt that he sort of owed it to the guy and so had accepted his apology. As it was he offered me (as a consolation I guess, or maybe as an insurance over the guy's next strop) a place playing rhythm acoustic with the band. Unsurprisingly I felt that might be a tad awkward and I was really looking to get back into bass playing. So regretfully I respectfully declined...

Wow, blown away by your left hand muting technique. Outstanding!

No I didn’t. 182 must have been too busy that day!