HengistPod

Freshly added to the list - audience members who are going to actively notice if I take my left hand off the neck during a song.

Just make sure you don't beach endlessly about your keyboard player if he leaves the band ... I'm guessing there's certainly a niche there - with Kingdom Of Madness going out doing the older stuff, and Bob Catley sounding more like a death metal singer nowadays ...

I record all our gigs with a camcorder on a small tripod. There's not many venues where I haven't found somewhere to put it - on a shelf, windowsill, behind the drummer or wherever if need be. I have a full-size tripod in the gear box too. Having done this for a few gigs, you end up with footage of a given song from various angles which you can edit together (works best if your drummer can keep an even tempo at different gigs ).

Enthusiastic punter: "Can you do something by AC/DC / Led Zep / Foo Fighters / etc?" Us: "Yeah, no problem." Punter waves arms around and exclaims his pleasure joyfully. Drummer, over mic: "This next one's by AC/DC / Led Zep / Foo Fighters / etc". Band launches into whatever tune was next on the setlist anyway. Funnily enough, I've noticed that this sort of thing tends to generate more dancers.

Our guitarist recently took to playing the riff to tease folk before breaking into feminist anthem "All Night Long". But we found that folk were getting all excited - and then a bit disappointed when we didn't actually play Smoke. So we decided we'd better learn it properly *. Now, I know that the bassline behind the solo is "just" based on a couple of pentatonic scales and a fellow could blag through it easily enough - but it turns out the original is very nicely constructed and worth duplicating. I had to consult Songsterr to figure it out, and then it took me several evenings to get those 16 bars sorted. The verse part is also entertaining to play. I can better understand now just why it's a "classic", particularly when you add in Paice's hugely tasteful choice of what to play where in the song. (* our singer, who is but a young thing, had actually never heard Smoke on the Water before in his life!)

Smoke On The Water, which I've never actually learned properly. Turns out Roger Glover's bassline is a whole bag of fun to play, although it took me a wee while to figure out what he's doing with those pentatonics behind the solo. In the end, Songsterr was a great help!

September 1992 at Platform 9, Aberdeen (closed down decades ago). I'd been playing for 12 years, but never made it out into the public eye. We were supporting a band that featured one of my girlfriend's mates on guitar, so played just under 45 minutes of covers - Screaming Jets, Joe Satriani, Ozzy, Tom Petty, Thin Lizzy, UFO, The Cult. Non-sensibly, our drummer was up the back about 10 feet behind the backline, so couldn't hear a thing we were playing. I have a sound-desk tape, though, and it sounds surprisingly decent. We were absolutely rehearsed to death, which was just as well. The bass was an "Arbiter" copy, and very good. Wish I'd never sold it now.

18 years off the radar is a long time, and means you're pretty much starting from scratch. I gave up playing live for around 10 years, until my old drummer came round and tapped me up for starting a new band. Granted, it's "dad-rock down the Dog & Duck", but it's a lot more fun than it was before. I get out and play, and I make a few quid from it. We had contacts from years ago that sprouted again, and now we're merrily rolling along at 2-6 gigs a month, with bookings through next year. Our one problem was finding a decent singer - absolutely none available in our age group (40s-early 50s). We ended up with a young karaoke hero who has a great voice but no concept of fronting a band. He's slowly getting there, though. There are few pub bands left around here now - they've all grown or given up - but it has to be said that there are also a lot fewer gigs. The youth of today generally couldn't care less about live music, and they just don't turn up to pubs where there's a band on. Pretty soon, a proper, all-live band playing down the pub will be history. Acoustic blokes and chintzy duos already rule the roost in these parts. Anyhow, if you're looking to accelerate back up the league again, you may have to track down old associates and look for a leg-up. Otherwise, if you really want to get out and play, you're going to have to relive your youth by playing with less experienced musicians and all that entails. But, if you're honest with yourself, you knew that already.

Not quite getting this one. Surely a straight on full frontal could be either portrait *or* landscape and have similar scrutiny value? I'd add "decent high-res photos taken by person lacking shaky hands". And if "blemishes" are a feature, decent pics of them so that the buyer knows what he's getting.

Geddy Lee - Hemispheres. I think a lot of the sound comes from his tightness with Neil Peart, to tell the truth, so perhaps not the bass sound by itself. Ali McMordie's sound on the live SLF "Hanx!" album is a perennial favourite bass sound of mine - one of my favourite drum sounds and mixes on a live album, too. Pete Way - "The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent" (track, not album). Also, take your pick of Doug Pinnick's glorious bass sounds on the first 4 King's X albums, and Eric Avery's work on the first 2 Jane's Addictions - the track "Three Days" springs to mind.

I see one at almost every gig I go to. Having said that, I've not bought a Gibson new - and wouldn't. I'm stuck on the 90-91 T-bird versions. And I've only bought two Epis off the shelf. Aside from them, all mine are second hand.

Our gig on Saturday, in a fairly small room, started out with a few folk in. Most of them left before half-time. More people came in, and the odd foot starting tapping. Some left. Still only the odd clap after each tune. The last 15 minutes of the set was everyone suddenly having a great time, dancing and singing along. Then they wanted more. We stopped after four "encores". The landlord raved about how good we were, and gave us a couple of crates of beer on top of the cash. Average pub gig, then. :)

Undoubtedly true, although you wouldn't know it to listen to the records. Studios are marvellous things, particularly when equipped with an engineer adept at cutting and splicing tape. Digital recording and editing suites must've made the making of a Metallica record much easier.

Your link returns a 404 for me. I'm guessing it was these: https://store.hmv.com/technology/headphones-(1)/maiden-audio-by-onkyo-edph0n3s-headphones-iron-ma?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvdfJ4tHl3gIVldGyCh1Yqw6pEAQYAiABEgLFhfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Those Maiden headphones were overpriced in the first place - relying on Maiden fans being easily parted with their cash for anything with the logo on it - so it's no surprise they're trying to get rid of stock now. If they were wireless, I'd have snapped some up for the Mrs's Xmas, cos she's asked for headphones. I've managed to con her into coming to see Maiden twice after years of refusing - last time she actually almost enjoyed it.

As per the subject header, everyone apparently likes to think of themselves as well-listened and a bit special. I'll happily listen to a bit of Strauss, or Hungarian folk music, or Radio One (not so happy there, but pre-teen children leave you with little choice). Sometimes even C&W. However, it always comes back to Hemispheres at the end of the day. Sometimes it's a couple of months, occasionally a year or so. But Hemispheres is always the end point, usually via a few other albums that always crop up on the way (Clutching At Straws, Strangers In The Night, Going For The One, Hanx!). I'm old enough to not bother about thinking I have an eclectic taste in music anymore. Whilst always having an open ear, I know my place and am happy in it.

Wonky building downstream a few blocks from Charles Bridge is quite famous. Good enough campsite and hostel at Branik, beside the river, with a tram stop nearby. Tends to get flooded, though, and has mad swans. If you like aeroplanes, the museum at Kbely is worth a visit - if only to see the rubbish post-war "Avia" Messerschmitt copies that used Me109 airframes with a Heinkel bomber engine shoehorned in, allowing the pilot to shoot off his own propeller very effectively.

Check out the 10-string Thunderbird thread in the "Builds" forum for pics of a pickup mule in action ...

One that's inexplicably stuck with me was an American comedian with coyote glove puppets that did a turn on, I think, a Ben Elton hosted show back in the 80s ... "Woke up this morning, My woman was dead Reindeer came down the chimney, And stood on her head." Could always try doing a Jon Anderson. Use words that fit the rhythm of the song - use them for the sound they make rather than have them making any sense at all. That way people think you're being all mystical, and search for hidden meanings in the nonsense. "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day, so satisfied I'm on my way."

Rhythm Stick is a fun one when you finally get it to flow. I like a lot of Geddy Lee's lines - many of them use patterns you're familiar with, but used in ways you might not have thought of. For example, "Circumstances" has a great signature riff, as does "Freewill" which also includes a nice solo section with variations on a theme. Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" is the one I currently have on my "to figure out" list.

There was a chap on the Rickenfakers FB page a few years ago who made a habit of purchasing old Kays and posting pics of himself feeding his multi-fuel stove with them.

Slade Shaky Darkness Also, it looks like "Tiger Feet" is getting a look in this year. Maybe one or other slotted into the set from the start of December, with the last weekend getting the full sleigh-bell attack.

Our drummer often asks me if the fill he's thought up and just played during a run-through works. I always reply "no idea, mate - I don't listen to the drums." Which, though intended to wind him up, I suppose is true to an extent. You tend to play unconsciously, and it's only if aforesaid fill (and what you play alongside it) is obviously out of place that you actually notice.

The thing with better gear is that it tends to highlight and magnify all the rubbish parts of a fellow's playing style, bad habits, etc. Which, in itself, forces you to get a little bit better (or dissolve into a depressed heap of snot as you realise you're not nearly as competent as you thought you were for all those years ). All that diminishing returns stuff is spot on, though.

Of course it's the right thing to do - if you have a bass that you love, you'll enjoy it more and play better. It may have quirks, but you'll adapt to them.