HengistPod

While rehearsing, set your gear up as for a small gig (personally I like to be on the hi-hat side as at least I can hear it cutting through!). Reasonably tight into the drums. Have the singer stand where he would at said small gig. Helps you get spatially comfortable, so you don't turn up at a gig and feel out of place once you start playing. If you have the chance, set up a camcorder and film yourselves rehearsing. If nothing else, it'll convince you to look up from your fretboard and attempt a smile every now and then during an actual performance. Also a handy way of discovering that the cool lick you've quietly inserted actually sounds totally crap. Know your songs' structures inside out. Most common post-gig conversation between guitarist & bass player: "Well, I couldn't hear a thing you were playing...". If the song structure comes naturally, there's less chance of a verse/chorus mismatch between you during early gigs!

Just in the interests of anyone searching for info and coming across this thread (like I just did ), I'll add my tuppence worth. The Classic Pro has a body that's a good bit thicker than the Gibson. Consequently, it's noticeably heavier. The neck is pretty similar to the Gibson. As is the neck of the Epi Blackbird - which is lighter than both. I only just picked up a Korean Epi bolt-on, which has a very obviously wider nut-width. Doesn't seem as wide as the Tokai TB48 (not measured them yet), but certainly requires a mental adjustment when picking it up after the Gibson. To be honest, I'm falling out of love with the Classic Pro ... it's just too heavy. A workhorse compared to a racehorse.

Will be more fun than you think - but probably only afterwards! As so many have said, you'll need to see what they usually play - and in what order. You'd be better playing two songs in a row rather than one here and one an hour later. Not much point hitting them with a couple of songs they'll have to go off and learn. The drummer won't, thinking he can blag it, and you won't have any of the cues you're used to listening for on the recorded version. Definitely sit in on a rehearsal, and ask for a run-through of the agreed tunes. Sounds me like you'll be fine. Just make a conscious effort to stay in time with the drummer. Be semi-prepared for fecking it up somewhere along the line - keep playing rather than stopping (try to do so in the right key!). Guaranteed no punter will notice, and hopefully the guys in the band have got over the thing where they all turn and look at you whilst rolling their eyes!

... which is grand, but I tend to only break one string at a time, requiring replacement at the end of a song. If I had a set of new strings and used, say, the A, to replace a broken one, then I have now got E, D and G left as spares. What am I gonna do - replace them all at the end of the gig? And if I only put on the "old" ones a week ago, what happens to them - throw them out? I have not the cash for such profligacy. So when I put a new set of string on, uness the old ones are totally shot they get saved in the packets the new ones came out of. Hence a whole bunch of spare single strings in the pocket of my gigging bag. (They also come in useful for holding bits of my car together on occasion.)

Apparently, Harris plays with a very low action and a very light touch. It has been said (by either him or Nicko) that if anyone else picked up his bass to play it,they'd blow all the speakers with their first note. He certainly uses two fingers rather than three. Running Free doesn't require any fancy stuff. Getting the intro (where you're "naked") sounding right is the main thing. Use an open E occasionally instead of the 7th fret to add meat. Much more entertaining is "Children of the Damned", which requires bionic fingers. You can get away with it with three right hand fingers going like the clappers - how Harris does it with two is beyond me.

Just had to purchase new supplies of strings and my Rotosounds turned up in a plastic, not-resealable crisp-packet sort of affair. I'm all for recycling and packaging minimisation, but I've been in the habit of keeping a couple of sets of used strings in the relevant-gauge paper envelopes so I can quickly retrieve one if I break a string at some point. A new plan is evidently in order here. Also, I note from the packaging that, to ease the pain of not knowing the difference between a .105 and a .65 without the envelope to tell you, they've colour-coded the ball-ends now - red, white and blue. I foresee a drop-off of sales in one half of Glasgow there.

Take a pair of scissors, a flathead/crosshead screwdriver, small adjustable spanner, spare 9V batteries if you use them for pedals etc, plasters, superglue and gaffa tape. It's the bass player's job to carry these items (cos no other f*cker bothers). Optional extras include soldering iron/solder and blu-tac. You must also drive the van, know how to fix a head gasket at the side of a dark country road using only the above items plus old guitar strings, and round up the drummer afterwards to deposit in a heap in back of said van. I have an old sports bag with a couple of side pockets. One has the above handy things, the other has spare strings ready to whip out and change as necessary. All my leads and stuff go in the main bit. Keep your leads tidily coiled up. I always have a reasonably long power extension lead squirrelled away somewhere too - you'd be surprised how many pubs put bands on 5 metres from the nearest single wall socket! (edit)Another thing - a couple of wooden wedge doorstops. Just little ones, but enough to hold doors open so you can transport your gear through without having to try and kick the door open at the same time. Remember to pick them up again ...

We had a Saturday night gig at The Divers in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, which was taking a bit longer to get to than we thought ... there was a good chance of missing the ferry if we didn't utterly hare it across the mountains on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula in our old van. Fortunately, there was nothing coming the other way and not too many sheep in the road, and we made the Lochaline ferry with minutes to spare. On arriving at the gig around tea-time, we found a jazz band already set up. Much dismay was in evidence. To be fair, the landlord stood us dinner and free beer for the evening, put us up for the night (part of the original gig deal), and let us play Sunday afternoon instead. All's well that ends well etc.

Only in the last few weeks have I actually learned how to play UFO's "Only You Can Rock Me", after it being suggested by a bandmate. This after it probably being one of my favourite songs for over 30 years. Just never bothered to learn it before. It's actually rather a fun line to play, up and down the neck like a pleasantly relaxed yo-yo - plus I figured out the keyboard breakdown bit up around my 12th fret or so, seeing as we haven't got any keyboards.

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1431269089' post='2769434'] This Fender stand takes care of the shape of the jazz bass and is very strong and stable. [url="http://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-stands/pid24679/cid584/fender-universal-a-frame-electric-guitar-stand.asp?LGWCODE=24679;56375;2717&utm_source=googlebase&utm_term=0991819000&utm_medium=pricecomp&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CI7pnbC0t8UCFczJtAodp3kAYw"]http://www.andertons...CFczJtAodp3kAYw[/url] Frank. [/quote] +1 for this. I have a few of these for my Thunderbirds, which have very asymmetric bottoms. The legs can be moved up and down on either side, although they're not fully adjustable (you have to screw them into one of a series of holes), and there's that extra padded lever thing on the side to prevent slipping sideways (though I've ended up not using it). It's a good, solid stand that can take reasonable abuse. It does have "Fender" written on the side, but hey ho.

Really saddened by this. Like many, it took me years to notice how superb the man's lines were on Abba songs that perhaps I hadn't listened to "musically" before. I originally had the Abba:Live album on cassette - the bass on that was stunning. However, I bought it on CD recently and the bass seemed to have either been mixed down or was reproduced differently on the digital format. RIP.

Boney M? I actively turn the radio UP if they come on! UB40 I absolutely cannot stand. That geezer's whining vocal actually makes me angry. And the Smiths have a similar effect. I don't like their music either - faux-fey, whining adolescent nonsense. I went to see them in 1984 and was appalled at the rip-off being perpetrated on their fans. Also, anything where the singers just grunts along in a hoarse fashion (this may be death metal?). Sadly the music may be reasonably entertaining, with at least a massive guitar sound to eat your pork pies to - but the vocal kills it stone dead.

Strangely, one of my Thunderbirds sounded frighteningly like a Rick last week. I always have all the controls full up, so it wasn't that. I had been fiddling with my compressor and turned the sustain down, and perhaps upped the high frequencies a touch on the amp. I'd also just shielded all the cavities with copper foil, completely eliminating any extraneous noise that'd been there before. Other than that, it must just have been the room. It was quite scary, but I was dead impressed with it.

Yeah, Jadis and Pendragon, I remember seeing them there. Jadis supported Marillion (?) around that time, too. Also, and how could i forget ... Engine. Surely one of the greatest pub-rock bands ever?

[quote name='Raymondo' timestamp='1428831871' post='2744877'] I still feel shamed by my reaction and so, if you were the young guy that went to see Dumpys Rusty Nuts at the Mardi Gras club in Nottingham in 1985.....my band SYZ II were the support.....I apologise [/quote] Well ... I was at that gig, but I didn't compliment you on your bass playing! The Mardi Gras was ace. Quireboys, Little Angels, Wolfsbane, Dogs D'Amour, Pallas, Sleeze Patrol (Punky Wayne, what a guy!), Brian Connolly's Sweet (shame) etc etc. Few pints in the Sal, and some more at the Trip on the way down to the gig. As for compliments ... whenever I get any I assume that the complimentor is probably a better player than me anyway, so I get a bit embarrassed by it all!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1425899275' post='2711875'] For some bands image is important. Some musicians think it's ok to look like a sack of sh*t with a string tied around the middle. Clearly the two are not compatible. [/quote] If I were to take possession of a sack of sh*t, I'd make an effort to make the string compatible with it.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1425910626' post='2712062']Everyone involved must be lashed until they drop. [/quote] Sir Herbert - I believe you're just the fellow to dispense said justice to, in particular, the aforementioned Polish milkmaids. If not, perhaps the task could be assigned to your good lady wife, whose name for the moment escapes me.

Nowadays, Eurovision is multi-media pure entertainment. Don't expect classy music or performers, because that's not why it's there. So there's very little point getting worked up about a perceived lack of musical quality. It's simple, throwaway, OTT high campness of the kind ultimately aspired to by drag queens up and down the country every weekend. To ignore the gay factor is to be disingenuous, because that's increasingly the core target market. Personally, I think it's great fun for an evening of brainless, worry-free entertainment. I hope Poland send the milkmaids again this year.

"Can't Get Enough" springs most readily to mind. However, that and all the songs mentioned by e.g. Japhet above, are just fine by me if the band make a decent stab at them with a bit of attitude. It's always fun to watch a band and go "Well, that's not NEARLY as good as we do it ..." (which you know is exactly what they'd say too if the tables were turned) Mind you, I don't ever want to play Mustang Sally in my life again, ever, or any Stones song for that matter. <edit>"Don't Stop Believing" ... I've witnessed some heinous slaughterings of that recently. Seems to me that punters' brains are wired to hear what they want to hear, or what they [i]think[/i] they hear, rather than the "the intro was shocking and it went downhill from there" version that the rest of us observe.

Cheers, neep. Much appreciated.

Does anyone happen to know which post the brdige earth wire goes to on a Gibson Thunderbird (1991)? Also, how does a chap go about extracting the posts from the body? Do they pull straight out, or rotate like a screw?

As for which strap to use, best to try a few different widths and materials. My '91 G is best with a relatively thin webbing strap, whereas the Classic Pro (which seems to me to be considerably heavier) needs a wider padded leather one if I don't want a rut in my shoulder. I don't feel entirely comfortable with either on the active Pro IV! Certainly when I take off the Classic and put the Gibson back on it feels like it's made of balsa wood.

None of my basses need to be reliced - I don't believe any of them have lost the lice they had in the first place. I did buy a Tokai T-bird which the last guy had been at with a sander and some manner of poking implement with which he'd engraved lovely (not really) skulls on it. I got it cheap - unsurprisingly given the state of it - and am currently halfway through restoring and refinishing it for my own entertainment.

UFO at Aberdeen Capitol in October 1980. Pete Way. 'nuff said.

I got hold of a Tokai Thunderbird that a bloke had "relic-ed" a while ago. He'd made a proper arse of it - so I've removed all the hardware, stripped the paint and sanded the top edge so it's chamfered rather than a square edge. I've satin-varnished the neck, and am now waiting for better weather to spray the body out in the garage. No hurry. EMG pickups have been purchased cheap off eBay, too. Having done various small fixings on basses in the past, I thought I might as well go the whole hog and effectively start from scratch. I've been through the fear of fixing anything on my car many years ago, and ended up changing stuff like head gaskets myself. So I reckon I can do the same with a bass ... fingers crossed.