bassace

Most harrowing? We Plough the Fields and Scatter........I suppose.

Spot on, Admiral. I live three miles away and have enjoyed some of the acts, not the headliners necessarily but some of the surprises - well to me anyway. Wilko with NW-R, Alison Moyet superb, Buffy St Marie at 70 with just bass and drums, Waterboys and lots more. We are spared Jules Holland this year. But although I can, ahem, afford a VIP ticket I haven't the slightest inclination to join the braying hordes. You only have to walk past the area outside the tent - sorry Marqueeeeee - to know that you wouldn't like to join the denizens within.

UB40's dads were all members of the B&W Minstrel Show.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1429204450' post='2749247'] Who can forget Richard Harris's stirring performance of that Bob Dylan Thomas classic, "Under MacArthur Wood"? [/quote] Ah, it's all perfectly clear now.

At the end of a DB gig some old dear came up and asked if I could play the instrument properly. I presume she meant with a bow. But she might not have.

Sorry KevB, just a tad too long in the rain.

Since when was Richard Harris Richard Burton? Although you never saw them in the same room together.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1429105325' post='2748047'] Oh, and pretty much anything by The Beautiful South. Especially that Jennifer thing. [/quote] Oh, too right. And also bloody Ebony and Ivory. Although I agree with the sentiment, of course.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1429027046' post='2747185'] Interesting... Have you tried it with electric bass? [/quote] No CR I haven't. The OP referred to use with an acoustic and I replied with that in mind. However, if the Crazy 8 is a good substitute for a Wizzy 10 I'd have thought that it would be good for an electric. I've got a mag PU on my Kolstein and I'll try to give it a go over the next few days. I'm gigging the K on Friday so may take the 8. (Was planning to use the Genz which works very well with it).

[quote name='eude' timestamp='1429020083' post='2747085'] What about one of those Crazy 8 cabs?... http://greenboyaudio.com/cabdetail?model=Crazy8 Trick Audio, here in the UK make them from £375 up. Eude [/quote] Yes, I've got a Crazy 8. I use it lot with DB. It seems to have more bottom and thump than the Wizzy 10. A great cab.

Actually, one of my basses has got that modification that I did as a quick fix to save taking the bridge off. Didn't realise it was daft. Sorry.

It looks as though it's not just the G. The top three strings appear to have been progressively lowered wrt the E. So perhaps not so sinister after all. But be cautious all the same.

And what do you do with your other hand?

From someone who's final gig looks ominously close, enjoy the moment and Iet me wish you joy. You've had some good advice here, which I don't need to repeat. Be well prepared: will there be a set list? Don't play too loud. And when it all goes well in the first half don't get too confident and have too much to drink in the interval. The second half could be a tiger trap. Lucky fella!

Brother's band played support in '63 at Reading Town Hall. And they used his home-built PA. Just saying.

As a musician I dislike the misuse of the word 'crescendo'. As in 'rising to a crescendo'.

I've been doing some stuff with a nice jazz trio - gtr/bass/drums. Tomorrow we'll be at Blenheim Palace, Water Terrace Cafe. Last week we were back there at the Orangery doing posh lunches. And it's only 15 mins down the road. Nice.

Starting to get a bit tired, is it?

I use iRealPro for jazz gigs. I can call up 1300 tunes in chords form - lyrics and melodies (top line) are copyrighted, chord sequences aren't. It'll also transpose quickly if the guys on the front want a different key. It also does backing tracks and other stuff for practising which I don't use. There are Android and iOS versions available. I use an iPad Air on a music stand - haven't shelled out for the clamp version yet. It's great for freelance/dep gigs.

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1426346869' post='2717188'] He's selling some more at the moment - a de-fretted Roscoe Beck, a Tokai and a very nice upright...not a hint of the "recently used on" line... [/quote] Yes, the upright looks very tasty indeed. Hm.

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1426180926' post='2715373'] Yehudi Menuhin did a lot of yoga and he got to play with Ravi Shankar, Astor Piazzolla, Benjamin Britten, Edward Elgar, William Walton and Wilhelm Furtwangler as well as hanging out with Stefan Grappelli in cool jazz clubs in Paris. So you won't go too far wrong there... [/quote] But it didn't do anything for his jazz, did it?

Not quite stopped yet but perhaps coming soon. It's my back. This morning I helped Mrs B muck out three stables, turning the beds over and carrying full buckets of water. Then I dug over one of the vegetable beds and some other medium/heavy lifting. But can I stand upright on stage for 2x1hr sets without getting excruciating backpain? Can I buggery. So I've just left my first call band, a band I've been in for 15 years and I'm turning down a lot of freelance work later in the year. I've got one gig a week for the next five weeks and after that I'll have to see how things go. I'm going to miss the gigs, the chat, the laughs. Oh, and another thing: looking at recent photos of live gigs I look very old, embarrassingly old. I'm 74 now. I feel a lot better now I've got that off my chest. Bit like AA I suppose.

Back in the day, when Mrs B and I got married things were a bit difficult and she was a bit miffed at having to decline party invites etc because I had a gig. Actually I had a weekend residency which blotted out a lot of together time. So I saw the writing on the wall and gave up playing for a few years. Trouble was we were not very flush and I really needed the cash but I new what I had to do. Bang up to date and I really think that soon I'll have to give up gigs - old age/health issues. When I mentioned it the other day it decame apparent that she rather valued the time I was away and she could have a bit of time to herself. So, go figure.

I had two at different times and sold them both because I didn't always have access to front of house - at which the mic excels. Not at all advisable to use with back line. There are some considerably cheaper DPA clones about on eBay and other sources.