Japhet

My experience of functions as opposed to gigs is that people often want to have a chat and catch up with each other (particularly weddings) and a longer break is quite acceptable. From a playing point of view I always prefer a short break so that the impetus isn't lost.

Could you DI into the PA?

On ebay at the moment is a TechSoundsystems 2x5 cab. Stick 'tecamp' in the search box and it will come up. Current bid is £10.50(!) with just over a day Ieft. I'd be all over this if I didn't already have the 2x12 version. Feather light and fantastic sounding.

I don't think you can expect too much 'professionalism' from an amateur or semi-pro musician. Most of us have day jobs and can't devote untold hours to perfecting our input. There are standards to aspire to though and personally, I'd tell him he needs to pull his finger out a bit if his gaffs are that frequent or horrible.

I bought my 55 01 as back up for my Stingray. The Stingray now rarely gets an outing. For the money I think you'd struggle to find a better made/sounding bass. Love mine!

I prefer to be on the drummers left mainly because it keeps the headstock away from cymbals and stuff when space is tight. It's also easier to turn towards the drummer.

'Scooped' can also be described as 'smiley face EQ'. On amps like my old Trace Elliot, it had a 12 band EQ (12 individual sliders) on the front of the amp to set EQ. For a 'scooped' tone, the sliders were set so that they resembled a smile ( ) for a tone much favoured by slappers. Slappers..... at a recent gig there were these 2........No, I won't go there.

Streamliner is a very 'ballsy' sounding amp. I've been using a 600 for a couple of years and have found it pretty much impossible to get a 'bad' sound out of it. I played through a Shuttle quite a while ago and it was very clear and transparent. Personally, I love the Streamliner for the rock covers band I play in. To me it is Trace Elliot for the 21st Century. I play it through a TechSoundsystems 2x12 and never use it past about 40% (with a loud drummer and 2 guitarists) so the 600 is plenty loud.

Ban Saturday night 'talent' shows from TV to get the British public off their sofas and out in the real world.

Line 6 LD15 is a nifty little amp. Loaded with all sorts of effects to get a taste of and with an input for Mp3 so you can play along to your ipod or whatever. Plenty loud enough for home practice but has a headphone socket too. Masses of sounds available which can be stored too.

I recently put a set of lighter strings on my Ray which are coming straight back off. 45 - 105 from now on. Have played a few Precisions but never owned one and I've always loved the way the Stingray starts to bark when you get stuck in. Never got that out of a Precision.

Good songs frequently add up to more than the sum of their parts (and none moreso than the bass lines). The best musicians I've ever played with have known what not to play and when to back off. The worst have always been about emptying their bag of tricks at every available opportunity. I'd often like to be a bit more challenged with the bass parts I play but know deep inside that my job is to provide the platform, not the bunting.

You'll need a watch that runs 30 mins behind everyone else's so that you don't accidentally turn up early enough to help set everything up. You'll need a selectively bad memory so you can't possibly connect your mic to the desk. you'll need an enmpty wallet so you don't ever buy a drink and a Cinderella carriage to whisk you away at the end of each gig while everyone else is packing up. You'll also need to memorise phrases such as 'that last gig nearly killed me' and 'this is so much work for what we get paid'.

I was taught that your thumb should be opposite your second finger and close to the underside of the neck. This does make stretches easier and also gives a very good point of reference if you play fretless. It is however, in my opinion, bloody uncomfortable and unnecessary when bashing away in a pub rock band.

Level42/Love meeting Love would be quite good to demonstrate ability to get around the fret board whilst keeping a solid groove going.

Personally, I string through the body when possible simply because it makes more sense to me to have the pressure pulling through the whole body of the bass rather than pulling on the screws that hold the bridge in place. Probably makes no difference to the sound though.

She really was a massive talent and a huge loss to the music industry. She was around for such a short time but made a long lasting impact. I assume Sting is raking it in as well, which is a shame.

I'd also suggest that you listen to some drummers who move the beat around. David Garibaldi is one of my favorites for moving the snare beat around which gives a real funk feeling to his playing (check out Oakland Stroke as an example). Moving accents, skipping notes entirely ad cutting up the rhythm are all big contributors to funk. You can do all of these things on the bass.

It's always the way that smug gits like Sting come out with the old 'the world is a tough place' routine when they have just sh*t on people. It's mainly a tough place because people are greedy (in his case, quite obscenely) . However, I don't suppose Andy Summers or Stewart Copeland are exactly destitute so I won't be losing any sleep.

From your list I'd say the Genz Contour wins hands down. They're silly cheap now and although fender have bought them out there shouldn't be any problems with backup.

My 'go to' bas for gigging is my Lakland 55-01. Fabulous neck and build quality is terrific for the price. The one I'll never part with is my Stingray 4.

Has Dave Swift ever played the same bass twice?

To have 2 guitars you need 2 guitarists who are prepared to 'back off' when needed. Their gear is important too as they will need to sound different whilst not hogging too many frequencies. Having a few problems at the moment with our (young) rhythm guitarist who uses a Les Paul and is often too loud and all over the mix. Wish he would use a Tele personally. More instruments always means more discipline and knowing what not to play.

Have only experienced this once. Bloke came up to me between sets and told me my technique was all wrong. He said I should be reaching over the neck and fretting with my thumb (!) so I politely pointed him to the guitarist, who according to him had his eq all wrong. We're pretty hot on not hogging each others frequency, so during the next set the guitarist pretended to change settings without altering anything and got a big thumbs up from the numpty. Was told after the gig by a couple of locals that the bloke was an expert on everything and a constant source of entertainment for them