casapete

Yup, that top is definitely not a standard feature from that year. Strangely attractive though...

Hey Gary, My band is called The ELO Experience. We play mainly theatres around the UK with the occasional festival / outdoor gig. Your charitable offer is very kind, but unfortunately it’s not my call, and the M.D. who wrote the parts is currently abroad whilst we’re on a break in our schedule. Hope you get sorted though, all the best, Pete.

Cheers Mart, PM’d you buddy.

Not sure if they have ever made t’internet TBH. My band is an ELO tribute, and our MD transcribed all the string parts from the original recordings I believe, so assume he couldn’t find them either! Not much help I’m afraid, but good luck in your quest! Cheers, Pete.

Jazz isn’t big in my playlists, although some bluesy jazz gets my thumbs up - Crusaders etc. Larry Carlton is doing a gig in Hull ( I know...) at the beginning of October and am thinking I’ll give that a go. Probably be a bit out of my comfort zone in parts, but chance to see a world class player just down the road from me so I think I’ll be going. Done a fair few gigs over the years where the booker wants a small jazz ensemble and after a few tunes the audience come up and ask for ‘Brown eyed girl’ etc ! My guitarist friend can play jazz all day and make it sound wonderful, so makes it a lot easier for a non jazzer like me to follow his lead. It’s taught me a lot too.

Many years ago at a club where I was in the house band, we had a quite famous 60's group on. I remember a guy behind the amps at the back of the stage doing most of the lead vocal whilst the original frontman 'sang' and entertained the audience. They must have done it okay though as they got away with it without being sussed! There has been a lot of conjecture about Bernard Fowler's alleged similar role with the Stones for many years, although I haven't seen any evidence of that TBH.

Certainly won't need a shadow guitarist for Mike Campbell - stunning guitarist.

Blimey, forgot ELP! They were massive when I was at school - 'Pictures at an exhibition'. Yes were also popular with my mates, along with bands like Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Budgie and Camel and obviously Pink Floyd. All of which didn't capture my imagination at all of course 😄

LOL! Of course I know that now, but my early teens self didn’t! . At school you were either into ‘heavy stuff’ (Sabbath, Led Zep, Uriah Heep etc) or girl’s stuff ( Soul / Motown / pop ), so I think I was viewed with suspicion by some of my mates. Early Wishbone Ash and maybe Deep Purple were about as far as I got down that route, and although having quite a varied taste in music now, I still don’t really do ‘Rawk’. Am sure this is something to do with the bass, all those 8ths hammering away under screaming angry vocals maybe....😆

Always enjoyed a lot of Rod's / Faces covers. Here's one that may divide opinion - I love the Isley Brothers's original, but thought this was a good version too. Not sure who played what on this track, but the album it's taken from ( Atlantic Crossing ) featured Duck Dunn, Lee Sklar and David Hood on bass duties, as well as Steve Cropper, Booker T and possibly the last session by the MG's Al Jackson on drums.

I saw Talking Heads in (I think) 1977 at The Outlook in Doncaster. ( IIRC they were on the same tour as The Ramones?) Whilst not really my kind of thing, I was struck by their quirkiness and originality, at a time when punk was already wearing a bit thin for me. Always thought David Byrne is a genius, and admired the way he's changed direction so many times over the years whilst still keeping his trademark sound somehow. Psycho Killer still sounds good today!

Damn, so it is. Okay for anyone to collect if they’re passing near York though I guess.

Gear4music are currently selling these new for £17. Stupid deal, great little pedal (Sansamp style) / budget DI. https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Behringer-BDI21-V-Tone-Bass-Preamp/6LV?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Behringer&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=1+-+Product+Level+-+Behringer&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=8563d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=111959022559&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgMnpjfOu3QIVSLTtCh1paQUaEAQYASABEgLjTvD_BwE#full-des

I used to play a fair bit in Scarborough, loved The Indigo Alley on Thursday nights! The Watermark café do some good stuff, as do The Merchant Irish bar. There always seem to be a lot of really good musicians for not a particularly large town for some reason. When I gig in Scarborough these days it's usually at one of the hotels doing cover stuff for functions etc.

Absolutely. We live in East Yorkshire, not that far from York, and the house prices / rents deter us from looking to move there. Nice place but as Len says, it is a tourist hotspot which can get to be a pain. Leeds is a lot bigger, with a busy gig life and plenty to do, although (as a lot of places, including even York!) it does have some areas which are a bit dour. Think you would fare better for finding a band in Leeds, not least due to the Leeds College of Music having plenty of good players looking to gig.

Yeah, you’re probably right. Got a Now TV thing, which means I can access a lot of catch up as well as other stuff. Just wanted to see what people watched live on a Saturday evening these days, and was so disappointed.

Having a quite rare Saturday night not gigging, so thought I'd watch a bit of TV. Used to think I was missing out on one of the best night's telly of the week, how wrong was I? Strictly Come Dancing - a long programme introducing C list celebs and loads of filler in between. Even Nile and Chic didn't save it for me. X-Factor - WTF? More dreadful than I remembered, with out of tune contestants being praised by all the panel. Jonathan Ross - don't mind his show normally, but why have far too many guests on at a time? Some potentially interesting people on, but too little time to get the best out of them. If this is what a lot of the country sit and watch on a Saturday night, thank god I'm a gigging muso. Over and out.....

Looks good! Great price too, so assuming you love the sound it makes / plan on keeping it (which I'm sure you will!) I would use some of the saving and get an amp tech to give it the once over. Good luck , nice one.

Crikey - great player uses clip on tuner shock 😉 New band / bassist for me, sound great.

Bit of different situation though to be fair - haven't seen the Stones play a gig without him in that period, and am sure he'll be on a retainer to make sure they're his first priority. Quite surprised that any band would drop the bass first. I mean, drums and no bass ??

Mmm, tricky one. The 8 piece band I was in would sometimes take gigs for a 6 piece, losing two brass players in the process. However, once those gigs were done, we all agreed that we would only go out using the full band. This was decided as a result of a) being fair to all the band members, and b) to avoid confusion with people wanting to book the band i.e. if they wanted us then it was the full line-up. Although initially we did turn some gigs down, I think it was the best route. Must admit IME it's not usually the bassist who first suffers from slimming down a lineup, especially as it seems your band has bass on most songs they play. Hope you manage to get it sorted, otherwise you'll have to decide whether it's worth your time being what is ostensibly a part time member. How about them using you as a session / dep player i.e. you'll do it if you're available, but not guarantee exclusivity and therefore leave you free to pursue other stuff?

Mike Chapman was in the pub recently where I play every week in my acoustic duo. As well as all the mid 70's pop stuff he co-wrote for Mud, Smokie etc, I never knew he went on to produce Blondie's 'Parallel Lines' album and also co-wrote 'The Best' (Tina Turner / Bonnie Tyler). Wouldn't mind a cut of the royalties for those.....

Thought so! Whilst you can't do much harm trying different strings, my money would be on the bronzewounds.

Hey Jon. As stated above, they will work but I've found with my Washburn AB20 the best results are with the brass coloured bronzewound strings. I use Fender 8060 phosphor bronze sets (45-100 gauge) and they're fine. Usually pay around £13-£14 a set, and they last reasonably well. Probably worth asking whether your bass is either a semi-acoustic ( like an electric with magnetic pickups etc but partly hollow body sections ), or what's called an acoustic electric (or electro acoustic) bass, which usually means it's more like an acoustic guitar - larger body etc - and often has a built in piezo bridge pickup like my Washburn.

Absolute bargain, great basses.