HengistPod

Loads of straps which I purchased and found either (usually) weren't long enough, have clunky bits or silly patent locking systems on the ends, are uncomfortable or are just not well-made. Really need tidying up and put in a box or something.

So I'm left with one which I use with all my basses - a Seymour Duncan thick cotton effort which is absolutely ideal for me. Straplocks on it, and corresponding buttons on every bass. No Thunderbird neck-dive with this baby. Got it off eBay USA. Must try and find another for backup, think they've stopped making them now.

"Turning Japanese", by The Vapors.

Not having listened too closely to the verse lyrics, I assumed it was a rant concerning the deluge of cheaply-produced far eastern goods threatening to erode good old Britishness at the time.

Seems it's a bit more personal than that.

Up to yourself, I reckon.

If you're capable of performing a set of actions with a thing that consequently produces some kind of noise, that counts as a "musician" in my book. The trick is in which descriptive adjective you choose to apply ... "professional", "amateur", "bedroom", "gigging", "rubbish", etc ...

Should a fellow wish to show off the wood-grain of his bass, he might be well advised to just take all the paint off it (that way, he'll find out what the grain looks like that he somehow wanted to show off before he knew).

Honestly, I couldn't care whether someone wants people to think they're some sort of road mongrel with a bass that's accompanied them up Kilimanjaro and back rather than mostly living in their bedroom. Fact is, it soon becomes fairly obvious who is and who isn't. As said above somewhere, it's like buying pre-ripped jeans, and personally I haven't much time for such fashion statements.

I reckon that most semi-serious players, whilst wistfully acknowledging the stories that accompany each ding or patch of rubbed-off paint on their instrument, don't have the time or inclination to make pretend ones. There are tunes to learn play better, things to fix, gigs to book, band members to round up for rehearsal, lights to programme, and so on.

Around early 1981 ... probably "Jailbreak", followed swiftly by the rest of "Live & Dangerous". I do recall putting the album on and playing along with the whole thing.

If not that, it would have been "Touch Too Much" by AC/DC.

Nothing wrong with an old bass that's got itself worn after years of gigging.

What I don't like about "relicing" is that it falsely conveys the impression that the player has worn it out themselves via years of gigging, and that it's a much-loved but slightly abused instrument being played by a similarly seasoned "road warrior". What other possible reason is there for chiselling away at a perfectly good bass to make it look "road-worn"?

It's fake news, is what it is.

According to me, a good drummer (among most other things already mentioned):

1. Observes what everyone else is doing. This becomes particularly important at the end of a tune, where heads-down hammering doesn't cut it while everyone else is trying to catch their attention with a view to perhaps not going round the riff another 4, 8 or 16 times.

2. Makes even a rudimentary attempt to figure out a tune before rehearsal instead of trusting their untrustworthy instincts. "I listened to it in the car a few times, but I always get distracted about halfway through. I'm sure I can wing it, though."

3. Notes where in a song a drum part acts as a cue for others, and at least attempts to imitate it in the right place.

4. Doesn't fill a pub/club with unrestrained cymbal splashing, and learns when and why to close the hi-hats.

5. Notes that aforementioned cymbals aren't just there for indiscriminate bashing.

6. Can control their overall volume, tries not to increase same with increasing excitement (see also: tempo).

7. Understands that starting a song slightly too slow can be recovered from more easily than starting it too fast.

8. Thinks about where the bass and guitar amps need to go before turning up early at a gig and setting up, then moaning when asked to shift everything a foot to the right.

7. Puts their kit away after a gig, instead of socialising excessively.

8. Buys their own bloody gaffer tape (see also: singers).

Evidently I'm a member of at least one of the same FB groups as you, and am well aware of this fellow and his consistent efforts to sell this bass over quite a period. I've fallen out with him myself over some petty thing I can't remember.

Now I just ignore him - he's an opinionated, self-centred jerk.

"Hello, Police."

"Yes, this is Gordon from The Police. I'm calling about the guitars you found ..."

Oops, wrong thread.

A fun one for me is UFO's "Only You Can Rock Me".

Pete Way, despite being extensively marinaded in illegal substances, came up with a great line in this tune - and then embellished it here and there on the live recording. I also cover the keyboard breakdown in the middle, up around the 9th-14th frets, which is extra entertainment for me.

Another vote for Living On A Prayer, too - a fun, rolling thing to play.

I was the early-teen first in line to buy new Abba albums as they came out back in the 70s, and have always loved the basslines. Each tune was a mini-musical in itself - you can follow the progression in expertise through the albums.

The "Abba: Live" album, depending which mix you get of it (the original cassette seems to be the best to my lugs), has the bass much more upfront and obvious. Lovely.

1 hour ago, ricksterphil said:

Funny that, I bought a lovely Thunderbird 2015 model with the Babicz bridge etc. ... 

See, I tried the Babicz bridge, and I tried the Hipshot bridge too. But then they both came off again and the trusty 3-pointer went back on. Just feels "right".

Speaking of calluses, the only proper piece of elephant skin I have is on the outer edge of my right hand where it tends to sit in front of the top bolt on said bridge.

Black for me, with a white pickguard.

Having said that, I saw a band the other day where the guy was playing a white Rickenbacker bass, and both guitarists had black guitars. The bass stood out an absolute mile, caught all the stage lights and became in itself a focal point. Quite instructive.

I've also kind of reached that stage. Having played Thunderbirds for over 20 years (I have 8 or 9 of them), I've constantly thought I need to try something else. I even gigged a Fender Jazz I got recently. But at half-time I felt fortunate that I'd also brought a 'bird with me just in case - and swapped back for the second set.

I've come to realise that I'm just a Thunderbird sort of bloke, and have no inclination to buy any more basses (red Nikki Sixx T-bird would be seriously considered, though).

Similarly, I played through Trace gear since 1995 and was always happy with it. Last year I thought it was time for something different (and lighter) and now have a Markbass rig which I'm happy with.

My GAS has been transferred to LED stage lights ,DMX controllers, wireless transmitters and receivers for them, and so on. Soon I'll have far too many to take to the average pub gig.

I'm lazy and short of time what with kids needing ferried around to football, older parents, lights needing programmed, and stuff, so nowadays I don't tend to pick up a bass between rehearsals/gigs unless I have new tunes to learn - slightly hardened skin on my left-hand fingertips, but not that you'd notice without close inspection. I can leave a bass alone for some months and come back to it with no pain other than muscular in my forearms and thumbs, though I've not done that for a long time now.

My son's band, Orynthia, at Krakatoa in Aberdeen last Friday (not counting my own gig on Saturday ).

They won the annual Battle of the Bands competition on the night - good effort seeing as over 100 acts entered originally, and £2K in their pocket that they're buying studio time with. They're actually very good. The other guitarist tours Europe with a prog act called Sithu Aye, and has an endorsement with Sandberg Guitars. Elements of Pallas, Haken, stuff like that in their sound. If they pull their fingers out they could do very well.

As a technical musician, the little bugger left me behind years ago.

21 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

... never, ever let us down, and was generally a lovely bloke. 

Could be the same fellow. We thought he was great to start with, but things went gradually downhill - you start to notice little things that don't quite sit right and so on. It was only after we parted company with him (prompted mostly by me raising suspicions in the whatsapp group and mistakenly copying him in ) that people started talking to us about his previous behaviour in their bands, as well as a couple of projects he'd been involved in afterwards.

Such is life, live and learn, etc.  

I see young Nikki is playing a white Epi Thunderbird Classic Pro, which was a 2012 bass at the earliest.

Shame on the props department.

Only one guy springs to mind - he was our singer for a while, but is also a bass player so I'd better not go into detail in case he comes on here.

Suffice to say, after we left him (his ego was such that he was obviously far more important than us) various musicians came up to us at gigs and expressed amazement that we'd taken him on at all - because he'd shafted them and many other people they knew. Claiming illness on the day of a gig then being seen in the pub a couple of hours later, "borrowing" my bass to jam away to himself at half-time without asking nicely (or at all) and fannying about with the strap, and generally considering himself master of all he surveyed despite being a fat speccy bar-stard.

Nowadays he goes out as a midi-backed solo act. He often plays places once and you never see him advertised back there. Can't think why.

I'm quite liking the grille cover - looks about £35 to get one to fit a Markbass 4x10 cab, and is an ideal way to get the band logo seen when there's not enough room for a backdrop.

I suspect, therefore, that Tim will be owing you another pint soon.

We're out around 25 times from now til the end of the year, with most of April, July and August off for holidays and stuff. Some months 5 or 6 gigs, some one or two. I'm expecting maybe another 6-10 gigs to come through the door along the way without actively begging.

That suits me fine - enough to get out and play and justify gear ownership to the Mrs, but not too much that I'm too tired to get out and do family things some weekends too.

Another singer comes for an audition (same round). Gave him 5 or 6 covers, and a couple of weeks to learn them.

He: "Do you have a printout of the lyrics?" Good opener, and should have been obvious which way this was going to go, really.

Us: "Strangely enough, yes, there's copies of them over there. OK, shall we start with "Jailbreak"?"

He: "Er ... I didn't get to that one."

Us: "OK, can we try "Local Boy", then?"

He: "Well, we could, but I didn't get much chance to listen to it."

Us: "Breaking The Law?"

He: "Couldn't find that one on Youtube ..."

Us: "What do you fancy trying, then?"

He: "Um, do you know "Enter Sandman"? That's one of my best ones." Said tune wasn't on the list we gave him.

Us: "Great, let's go for that."

We proceed to play, he misses the vocal entrance and then spends the rest of the tune looking confused, grunting half-lines, and scratching his head.

He: "That wasn't too bad. My girlfriend says I'm a great singer. It'll be a lot better next time!"

There wasn't a next time.

Singer came for an audition, turned up in a Transit with his own PA, effects and equalisers in a multi-unit tower, the whole shooting match. Performed brilliantly - we couldn't believe our luck. Mentioned he had a few gigs booked already as a solo artist. No worries. Shook hands, arranged to get in touch to sort out scheduling conflicts.

Next day:

"So ... are you booked on dates x, y and z?"

Checks diary ..."Yeah, sorry."

"How about these ones ... a, b and c?"

"Oh, no, I'm out on those nights already. Actually, my diary's full every Friday and Saturday for the next two years."

"What bass are you taking to tonight's gig?"

"The old one" (1990 Thunderbird), or maybe "The new one" (1991 Thunderbird).

If I feel like an Epiphone for a change: The white one, the silver one, the sunburst one, the active one, the Explorer, etc etc ad infinitum.

To surprise my bandmates and make them think I'm ill: "The Jazz".

I saw the Electric Boys at Hammersmith (think they were supporting Thunder, maybe). Great, grooving band. Enuff Z'Nuff were good enuff too.

Enjoy the tour!