police squad

I saw them at Wembley arena just over 20 years ago. Glen was in the audience there too. She sang great at that show

I played the violin from the age of 6, till 13. At 13 I bought a bass. This was 1981. My brother played guitar and we would jam together a bit. I played along with the Jam, The Police, Duran Duran and Saxon!! My first band gigged within 6 months of me buying my bass. I had/have a very good ear and could pick stuff up quickly After a while I decided to learn the songs on guitar and used my violin knowledge to work out the chords. Firstly by playing the scale and then arpegiating it and working out the chords from the arpegios. I now know that my violin theory had really stood me in good stead. The difference between major and minor (flattened third) and sevenths etc. My bass playing wife has been studying piano for the past 6 or so years and has learned much more theory than I had and I have learned from that too. In 1989 I joined up with a guitarist to do a mainly 60s duo. I didn't know hardly any of the songs but listened intently whilst we were playing. I soon worked out what chords would be played if a song was in a certain key. Needles and pins in A. C#m, D, E, it's not really that hard. I still learn songs this way now. I'm no virtuoso on guitar or bass, but I know I'm good enough to do what I need to do and have fun

No it doesn't. Custom shop '62 fender pickup This thing sounds amazing

I use a vox tonelab LE for guitar, in both my band and my duo. Works great. and depping on bass using my normal bass rig, everyone has IEM, so the bass amp isnt very loud. I could probably ditch it altogether and use my Tech21 pedal IEMs have really changed my whole perception. I'm loving it

I'm on Fender flats on a P bass atm. I liked the flats on my JMJ so have put them on a P bass. It's my first time using flats on a P to gig with. tension is good . Sound is mostly good too but some of the tunes I'm playing do need rounds (Clash/Jam) but I'm coping I think

I sing lead and do BV when playing with other singers I'm depping with a great band and the drummer does all the obvious harmonies, so I look for different ones. We ended up with 4 part harmonies on I fought the Law, on Friday night. (guitarist sings to). Sounded quite good

so in a slight change to all this, I'm currently depping in a well known local band. Their bass player, Iain (who is on BC but I don't know his user name) has a detached retina and is out for a month (maybe 2). They have an enormous set list, it's all new wave/ska. I did a gig with them 3 weeks ago but now I've done 3 last weekend and have 3 more this weekend and 4 the next. I work full time and am learning the songs virtually. I listen to them at work all day, and work the bass parts out, mostly in my head Yes I am making mistakes during the songs but I am trying to remember which ones are knowledge based and which ones are just hitting the wrong note. I managed to put the knowledge based ones right. EG, I was missing a chord in Lip up fatty. It was an E and a B flat. The keyboard solo in No More Heroes is longer than I think so I keep my eye on the guitarist's left hand. Each gig they try and vary the set, so I have lots to look at between the gigs too. It's great fun working this way and the punters don't really notice the mistakes. No car crashes so far keep smiling, laughing and dancing. It's all about the show

@fenderfever nasty injury sir, I hope you get the surgery you need quickly.

two here aswell. Ever since the pickup went open circuit on my P bass and left me with nothing

great bass line

I've owned this bass 33 years now. I did hundreds and hundres of gigs with it. Literally 100 a year for nearly 20 years. My wife named it 'Old Faithfull' because I was playing it when we first met (and she plays bass too, so recognised it when we eventually got together 16 years ago) any excuse to post a picture

I depped in a rock band yesterday. Wore ear plugs (ACS moulded). Stood right next to the drummer, they weren't that loud but how I longed for my Inears. No wedges, couldnt hear the vocals, hard work really

here's a link to my for sale ad, which shows the wear

I had a flea bass when they were first released. It did a lot of gigs and by the time I sold it, you could see more primer as the top coat was rubbing off nicely. It was a lovely bass too. Great pickups, I shoud have kept it but fancied something else.

done

What desk do you use now? I love my Allen and Heath desks, very very musical eq and the vocals sound so warm but it is analogue

Just before lock down 1 I decided to buy a wireless mic system. After much research I was none the wiser, digital, analogue? Shure? Sennheiser. After some discussion with EBS_freak I plumped for the Sennheiser EW something or other. It has been brilliant so far. I'm about to start rehearsals for an Americana touring band and am thinking about going wireless for this too. From what I've read I think it'll be te Shure system that Walshy recommends. Back in the day, I used a Samson Stage II wireless that was racked mounted into my Marshall Jubilee 300 head. I even managed to solder in a four way plug to the marshall power input, which left the receiver wired in and ready all the time. I literally took my bass out of its case, put the strap on with the transmitter pack already attached and was ready to go. It's this approach I would like to take here I think, the Shure looks rackable and it could be all wired in ready. Spare (backup) leads would be ready in case of failure, as would a spare amp

I saw them in Folkestone in the 90s. great band We covered 2 princes for a while, was a challenge to sing and play bass

I like this man. I almost spat my tea out when I read that. I think you're right here but one of the guitar things and amps, you do need a certain amount of volume to make the guitar feedback, if that's you bag. As a guitarist too, I enjoy that air movement and the guitar vibrating. That just doesn't happen on a silent stage but I just get on with it. I am yet to play bass this way but I do have a tech21 thing that sounds like an ampeg and I hope to try it at some point. I also appreciate that some people don't agree but the IEM mix, as you move about, doesn't change which as the singer is lovely. I have pretty bad tinnitus these days and have IEM because occasionally the on stage sound is too loud (thinking small pubs here, right next to the drummer etc) So I gave it a go. I was hooked from gig number one

The foam, under the pickups, on my '73 P bass is so knackered I actually cant adjust the heights, which is annoying because my A string is slightly quieter than the others. It been like this for most of the 33 years I've owned it. One day, new foam and I'll adjust it all up