bassbiscuits

I’ve had a few Hiscox cases for acoustic guitars and basses. They end up spending most of their lives in my garage, unused. I’ve ended up with Protection Racket cases instead - not as rigid, and still bulky, but light and with shoulder straps and big pockets.

Iron Maiden “Running Free” in early 1986. I played violin in school (quite badly) before I started learning bass and worked out the main riff of the song on the fiddle first, holding it like a guitar.

I remember after lockdown taking a good while to get back to match fitness when gigging restarted. Same with singing. If I don’t sing regularly I lose some of whatever internal muscle tone / breathing etc is involved. Though back in 2002-2005 I stopped playing bass completely after a bad split with my band at the time. I concentrated on acoustic guitar instead, which in hindsight benefited my bass playing when I did eventually restart, by giving me another viewpoint and different understanding. Swings and roundabouts innit.

Yeah it’s dynamite isn’t it! I’ve had to learn a load of Dee Murray basslines for the Elton John tribute band, and a lot of times he’s not playing the obvious at all. He’s ace. Really interesting stuff to learn.

Another vote for Schroeder cabs too - the 1210 and 1212 are very small and compact and seriously loud with great onstage dispersion of sound due to the angled speaker configuration. I had a 800w 4ohm 1210 as my only cab for a good while after growing tired of lugging around a lovely but massive Aguilar GS410. The Schroeder never struggled to be heard with a loud four / five piece rock band.

Exactly this. I’ve bought stuff which seemed to tick the boxes in the shop or at home but onstage didn’t work for me at all. I tend to find that kit which is right for me is right straightaway, while stuff I have to tinker and modify generally never hits the mark for me.

Didn’t hate it, but I had a Lull PJ4 which did nothing for me. I sold after not very long.

Over Christmas I did quite a few small gigs with using just one cab and one bass to save space on the already tiny stages. All good. Quite enjoyed just taking a limited rig and making the best of it.

I’m beginning to realise that after 38 years of bass playing, probably 30+ of them gigging, I know what works for me on a practical level and I probably already own it. Cant afford anything else anyway so enjoying what I’ve got instead.

It’s a boring answer from me, but actually most of my gear is stuff I’ve had and used for years with no desire to replace / upgrade. Ive got a float of gear which I take a punt on buying, trying and moving on, but the majority of my stuff isn’t going anywhere.

Tidy. Being a skint mature postgrad student should help keep me on the straight and narrow. 🫡

Good grief. I’ll sign up with the best of intentions and see what happens.

Have you looked down the back of the sofa? That’s where all my missing stuff usually ends up.

Freddie, Bon, Ozzy, David Lee Roth, Steven Tyler etc. All legendary frontmen. I’m going to stick my neck out and guess some of them aren’t/weren’t the easiest people to deal with, and not great at conforming without putting their own stamp on it and their own ideas. To many people a frontman is the visible face, voice and mouthpiece of a band. Pretty unlikely to have a band in which a strong front person doesn’t stamp their identity in some way, so pick a good one.

I suspect music a bit like the apparent mental benefits of learning another language - they are both quite abstract, complex skills which people devise different ways of adapting to make their own. Both have got to involve a wealth of quite advanced brain skills. And if it makes us more attractive to the opposite sex then hey, jackpot.

I would add to that the social benefits of being in a band. Most of my friends are people I’ve met through through music, and playing in a band has given me with much of my travel and life experiences. Also a lot of what I’ve learned about the world, people and about myself has been via the “musician” part of my life, which has been the only stable thread running thru a lot of it. Definitely agree on the cognitive side of it as well. I don’t read music so the mental imagery I use to map out what I’m learning is quite elaborate. And I reckon that years of picking out basslines and vocal harmonies from all the other music is quite a skill of concentration and selection. So yeah. Basically being a musician is a superpower yay.

Amps will say something on the back about how many watts they put out at how many ohms. Something like 300w/8ohms or 500/4ohms for example. Similarly the cabinet should say whether it’s 8ohms or 4ohms. So you just need to make sure that the cabinet / speakers can handle the amount of power they’re receiving from the amp at the corresponding number of ohms. So a 300w 8ohm cab would work fine with an amp head that puts out anything up to 300w at 8ohms. Not sure if that’s what you needed to know. Apologies if it wasn’t, and hope it’s helpful if it was.

Thanks man. Hoping it’s the start of an exciting journey for him 🤞

I bought my eldest lad a Squier Strat and a Blackstar practice amp for Christmas, but gave it to him a few days early for a local community gig we both did. I didn’t/don’t have any money at the moment to treat myself to anything very exciting after that! I think my biggest festive music-themed indulgence was blowing £5 on a bottle of alcohol free lager at a gig. Yikes.

Not got a NYE gig this year. To be honest New Year isnt a great time for me (some quite unhappy associations with it) so I don’t mind being at home with my family. Besides, I’ve played on most of the last 20 NYEs since I’ve been gigging regularly so I won’t miss a few.

In my main band I’d be quite hard to replace. I’m one third of the band - I play bass, sing harmonies and a couple of lead vocals, am involved in songwriting with the band leader and also own the PA and lights. As a three piece with plenty of room in the music we each sound quite distinctive and removing any one changes things a lot. In my other bands, yeah I can be replaced quite readily and occasionally I am when gigs are depped out. I like to think they miss my input if I’m away, but I’m sure they survive perfectly well.

Don’t lower your own standards to fit in with someone else’s.

Final gig of the year with the Andy Wales Band at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. It’s a sort of Cuban-themed tapas bar and I wasn’t aware it had live bands until recently. But it turned out to be ace. Decent turnout despite the freezing windy weather, and a relaxed vibe. Brought just my little PA (pair of old Mackie SRM350s and a little Allen and Heath desk) and a single cab bass rig but it was plenty. Really fitting end to my gigging year, with a cosy local Sunday afternoon gig. Here’s to 2025.

As a 12 year old picking up a bass in 1986 my bass gods were: Gene Simmons Steve Harris Duff McKagan Billy Sheehan Tom Hamilton I’ve ripped off a few ideas from all of them along the way. Started guitar at 14 in 1988 so my main influences were: The Beatles John Martyn Mark Knopfler Paul Weller Angus Young I’ve also always loved Matthias Jabs from the Scorpions but can’t say I’ve ever managed to play like him.