JJTee

Have to disagree on the strings front. I saw a great interview with Nile on, I think, a Top Ten of Disco (hosted by Huggy Bear I think!) programme which I recall very clearly as I watched it over and over again. Nile said it was in an interview with both of them for Guitar Player magazine where: ‘the interviewer asked “Bernard, you have that fantastic sound - like, what kind of strings do you use?”, to which Bernard replied “I dunno? What kind of strings come on a Stingray?” - he hadn’t changed the strings since he bought, he didn’t even care what they were!’.

Fantastic - never seen a live version of Everybody Dance with Bernard showing off his chucking technique before. There it is, at 08:00, in all its glory!

I think it’s a P bass on the first album (i.e. for Dance, Dance, Dance and Everbody Dance) and then his 1978 Stingray for everything else. And with the unchanged halfwound strings it came with, for every session. I read that he used the P bass and BC Rich for live work because he thought they looked better, and Marcus Miller I think confirmed this when he asked Bernard how he got his tone on the records using (he wrongly assumed) the BC Rich he’d seen him playing live.

Interesting to hear Le Freak played on something other than a Stingray by the great man himself. Definitely one of those players where it’s all in the fingers…(although, is it my ears or is his bass a bit flat?)

During the bridge of Dr Hook’s ‘When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman’, as a nipper I thought it was: ”Maybe it’s just an eagle problem…’. In fairness, I don’t think I knew ‘ego’ was a word back then…

You’ve inspired me to order this…

Exactly what I though it was, too.

Here’s how it was done in the 80s. Mullet? Check. Short shorts (with integral underpant lining)? Check. Risk assessment and safe system of work? Hmmm. There are some gloves though (and a pair of sandals). Interesting technique at the 8min mark…

https://playbasslines.sellfy.store/embed/checkout/product/slbxd1/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fplaybasslines.sellfy.store%2Fembed%2Fcategory%2Febooks%2F%3Fpage%3D2

Fantastic bass player. Lovely, quirky fun to play stuff. And for those who want a helping hand in learning his lines, this is highly recommended: http://aidanhampson.co.uk/blur

I’m knackered and really want to go to bed, but I just can’t drag myself away from this master class…

Liked the fact that Duff still essentially uses the same £500 bass he grabbed off the wall in LA with his advance from Appetite for Destruction (albeit this is one of the copies that the custom shop made for him). Shame I can’t here much of it through the cr@p TV speakers!

I was looking at the cab and thought I was seeing things and had forgotten how to count! Currently watching Skrillex, Fred Again and something or other. Strangely compelling, no idea what genre it is…even if it does look like two blokes from an IT helpdesk having some kind of fit.

So ‘The Churnups’. Who are they, place your bets: 1. Foo Fighters 2. Blur 3. Pulp 4. Someone else

Well someone had to start it, so I thought why not me?! Seeing as the reason why I picked up the bass in the first place - Duff McKagan - will be playing with GN’R, I will be watching at least that performance!

I can only just about breathe and play bass at the same time!

He does love at bit of the old Autotune that there lead singist…

Blue Peter missed a trick by not getting John Noakes to play the w@nkaphon atop Nelson’s Column. The Uber phallic imagery would have made the National Viewers and Listeners Association apoplectic. That REALLY would have been something for the BBC archive:

As an aside, the BBC archive is well worth subscribing to…. Some superb stuff, not least John Noakes ascending Nelson’s Column. I have to say, it does look a tad phallic they way he’s playing it. Some wag has suggested renaming it the w@nkaphon…

There’s a 21-day right of appeal on all abatement notices. Better off pursuing that, than starting a petition I would have thought.

I love Pick of the Pops on a Saturday afternoon. My favourite years alway seem to be between 1976 and 1983. A good selection of songs this week from 82, and nice bass playing. And this:

Or a Goldator Sherlymod if you string it with flatwounds and wire the pick ups so they’re out of phase.

And for those interested, this is what happened after they called it a day. Well, this looks 20 years old, so maybe they’ve reformed again!

Not without good reason: the bloke that wrote this song for The Doolies (Michael Myers…) also wrote ‘I’m in the Mood for Dancing’ for The Nolans according to my brief research on the internet!

Apart from around the 3 minute mark when he presumably forgets it’s the single edit they’re miming to and misses the drum fill!