stewblack

Well, so far I've been listening to Roundabout from Fragile. Musically I have to say they seem to go to an awful lot of effort - fair play to them but I'm not sure it isn't more than they needed to for me. But the thing is all about the bass and yes I do heartily approve of where the man goes with his basslines. Not sure I play in the same way as I never tried to play on a song as remotely that complicated.

[quote name='OldGit' post='290934' date='Sep 24 2008, 03:33 PM']Chris Squire, hopefully Yup That's a good thing in my book .... melodic, upfront, inventive, cutting through ...[/quote] Cheers OG - look forward to having a little listen when I get home.

I've just received an unexpected package through the post. A very old friend with whom I started my musical 'career', the drummer who first told me to 'Listen to the bass drum and try to play the odd note in time with it' (how valuable was that lesson to a young bassist just learning his trade?) sent me a cd. It contained some tracks by Yes and a note explaining that he always felt my bass playing, in terms of melodic decisions, to be similar to that of Chris Squire. However as I'd never listened to anything by Yes it could only be coincidence. Anyhoo for whatever reason he sent me some tracks to listen to. What do you guys reckon - a good thing to be compared to Mr Squire? edited to get his name right! Thanks OG - doh!

Utterly aware of it at first but until reading this post I'd forgotten it. It won't be a problem. In fact in terms of my marriage it's the least of my problems.

I had an interesting day yesterday. We played at a mate's wedding so mates rates , not much cash but a night out. During the day a few of us provided background muzak as the guests wandered around the grounds of the hotel sipping their champers and making small talk while the photographer bossed people about. However the interesting bit came earlier. We'd been asked to provide music in the ceremony itself; when the bride came in, the signing of the register and as the happy couple left followed by their guests. As it happened the guy who organises the weddings at the place also asked us to play a bit of background stuff as people came in so we just jammed some laid back 'lounge music' not having prepared anything. I got chatting to the guy afterwards and he was sooo impressed - he'd done nearly 40 weddings so far this year, all with recorded music, he thought it was so good having a band he asked for our details as he was sure it would be something other people would want. So what was just a favour to a friend rehearsed (after a fashion) for one evening at a mates house could turn into a lucrative little sideline. The hotel is less than a mile up the road from where I live and if the guy wants to offer us as part of the package it's A) An easy 1/2 hours work and A foot in the door to the wedding circuit. Could be good.

[quote name='PlugnPlayStudios' post='286916' date='Sep 18 2008, 11:11 PM']This is not pay to play - you're paying for the rehearsal facilities and the support. I just thought I'd let all you bassists know... this is ideal for a bedroom bassist wanting to do their first gig or a rusty bassist who hasn't gigged for a few years. We get lots of guitarists some of whom 'fill in' on bass but we're often a bass player short of a full band! Many of our Warriors bands have gone on to regularly gig and we support bands who return to play at PnP with free rehearsals. Gavin - WeekendWarriorsReading/PlugnPlay Studios[/quote] Fair comment - after all we all have to pay for rehearsal space and lessons, non?

Thank you Joe, Chris, Kev, Neephid, Bod and Protium - very much appreciated. I'll be seeing him today and will direct him straight here. He really should join anyway!!

Friend of mine asked where he would buy a neck. Specifically he was interested in a jazz neck but the conversation turned to how one goes about buying a replacement neck. I said it wasn't something I'd ever done but I knew some people who would definitely help. Any ideas folks?

[quote name='El_JimBob' post='271899' date='Aug 28 2008, 04:55 PM']I use a C-Tech Pocket-Rockit headphone amp which is fantastic for the pittance i paid for it - very simple layout and a line-in for cd/mp3 - good sounds and a great jamming tool....[/quote] Yep +1 for the Rockit - fantastic little piece of kit, linked to my MP3 player I can wander round the house playing or use it backstage for last minute practice. It is excellent.

It's been Jamerson's awesome bassline on the Gladys Knight version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Mccartney's line on Drive My Car for me. Never done live - don't know if I will - but they are just both so good.

OBBM. Thassit.

Just had [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-McCartney-Bassmaster-Playing-Basslines/dp/0879308842"]this[/url] delivered by the postman. I must say it's rather splendid. Anyone who's never tried a Paul Mccartney bass line will be very pleasantly surprised. He certainly surprises me with some of his lines. There's some biographical stuff but it's all pretty much bassist oriented and 9 basslines are written out in TAB form for those who own or can get hold of copies of the songs and standard notation for those who prefer to do it that way. Gets my thumbs up anyway. I have to say as I flick through and learn some of the songs that he was a fine musician. Wonder if he ever sold any records...

[quote name='Bassassin' post='207679' date='May 27 2008, 10:51 PM']That's mine. A real pity about the frets, because it's a lovely-looking & decent-sounding thing otherwise. And no - I [i]didn't[/i] do the refret! Jon.[/quote] The frets are put in ok though? Just need dressing, or is there a problem with how they sit in the neck?

I had an Aria proII fretless. Sometime back in the early 80's. I didn't like the sound. When I look back on the kit I put it through and the fact that I never changed strings or cleaned the ones I had, I could weep. Ah well.

Best practice is a great programme. The karaoke settings mimic throwing your speakers into a bathtub full of wallpaper paste but the loop and pitch and speed functions are superb.

Cheers guys. It has lifted a weight just picking the thing up again.Now I'm going to sit and watch standing in the shadows of motown and start learning some more songs.

One of the reasons I've not been around here for a while is that yet another band break up knocked the stuffing out of me. I'm too old for all the crap and politics that go on and I guess I put the bass down and all the stuff I associated with the bass (ie GAS, this place, listening and practicing) took a back seat to my other interests. But you know what ? I've been like an addict who didn't know which itch needed scratching lately. So last night I grabbed my Peavy 5 down off the wall and almost totally at random spent an hour learning Everybody Dance by Chic using Best Practice to slow the darn thing down. I was bloody slow, desperately out of practice I guess, and I struggled. But afterwards boy did I feel like I was back where I belong. I shall be putting together a cd of some motown, disco and funk covers tonight and passing it around a few people. See who's interested and maybe I'll climb back in the ring. But this time I'll pick the songs!! Jamerson, Edwards ... mmmmm

[url="http://easylearn2playguitar.com/guitar/most-hilarious-guitar-design-ever/"]Check this out[/url]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='141789' date='Feb 17 2008, 09:36 AM']We drove all the way to Blackpool last night - a round trip of 80 miles for our drummer, only to be told on arrival that there's been a change of management and there's no live music any more. C*nts.[/quote] Unbelievable, one bloody phone call is all it would have taken. There, encapsulated in our two posts, is embodied the joy and frustration of the musicians lot.

We played a (relatively) local gig in a village hall. It's one of those rare occasions where the committee formed to fundraise and build the thing included local musicians who insisted the acoustics of the building were a priority. Anyone who's played big hard echoing barns which most modern village halls are will know what I'm talking about. The place is amazing. There is a huge high ceiling (a badminton enthusiast was also on the committee) proper stage, PA incredibly high spec pro lighting rig, they laid on food and drinks for us paid us MORE than agreed and nothing, but nothing was too much trouble for them. The crowd were genuinely appreciative that we'd made the effort to go "all the way out to our village to play for us" and I've never received so many compliments after a gig. In fairness we were good last night. The acoustics of the place meant everyone playing at much lower level than usual and only vocals through the PA despite the place being pretty big - and the quality was crystal clear. I'd go back without the briefest hesitation, these guys don't even make money out of it, last year they just about broke even and it's more people like that that this business needs, there are after all enough musicians who do it for love.