Japhet

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

Precision would be a 57 Chevy Jazz = 65 Mustang Stingray=BMW 5 Series BC Rich=Lambourghini Countach (flash but horrible)

There's a Genz Uber410 in the F/S section.

Can only speak from experience but I'd go for a Genz Streamliner. You can drive the valve preamp for grunge if you want and have bags of headroom with a 900. I use a 600 through a very efficient 2x12 cab and to be honest, if you need more volume that that you're ridiculously loud for a pub band and you might as well leave the drummer at home.

I've tried a Streamliner through a Schroeder 2x12 which sounded pretty good. Loud as hell too. Nice compact cab for not a lot of dosh, but I don't know how the GBE and Streamliner compare, although I'd expect them to be similar.

IN; Barefaced Compact Techsoundsystems 2x10 Custom combo Zoom3 Markbass Super Booster OUT; Barefaced Compact MXR M80 Digitech BP200

If time travel was an option - Hendrix, The Police and (maybe oddly) Duke Ellington. If time travel isn't available, how about - Little Feat, Incognito or John Mayer?

I've wanted to do the SAHB version of Delilah for yonks, but everybody else in the band just looks bemused! I used to play it in a previous band and the punters used to go completely nuts for it - especially as an encore.

Audley Freed - Guitar Robin Trower - Guitar Reece Wynans - Keys Steve Gadd - Dustbins Darryl Hall - Vocals

David Garibaldi Gene Lake Bnrd Purdie would do for starters!

I've used my Streamliner through a Compact and a TechSoundsystems 2x12 and have to say that the 2x12 wins hands down. Compact is a good cab but won't compete with your Neox if you ask me.