peteb

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

When you guys talk about charts and heads what exactly is that. Its not something i do in bands and only read at home.

Just curious if they are different from the transcripts you post Rob.

Could you post one on here to let me see what you are talking about or even a PM.

Dave

As I understand it, the 'head' is the main theme of a piece of music, which you are likely to return to during the piece. The chart is simply the piece of paper that you have on a music stand in front of you (or these days, a file on an iPad). 

For example, in Jaco's 'Portrait of Tracy', you get the all harmonics intro, then you play the head (the main melodic bit that you remember about the tune) before a B section and then back to the head for the outro. I'm sure that Rob can correct me if I haven't got that quite right. 

9 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I play fingerstyle but i'm not snobby about it and enjoy good bassists no matter how they do it. If its good, its good. Simple as that.

I started with a pick for first few yrs then got into Jazz rock and changed to fingerstyle but i was caught between both styles and chopped and changed depending on what i was listening to. I liked Jazz rock but was mainly playing classic rock or prog. Eventually i settled on fingerstyle and just found it easier. I can play using my index finger as a pick but struggle with an actual pick and end up getting cramp after a few songs.

Dave

I get cramp when I try to play with a pick these days as well. 

I went back to fingerstyle after playing with a pick for several years because I realised that I was a more fluent and had less limitations using my fingers. I was just a better player that way. I do occasionally meet people who remember me as a pick player. 

I actually started out playing fingerstyle because of the cool looking, smiling black dude with the afro and P bass in the instructional book I originally learnt from. If he played with his fingers, then obviously I should...! 

Yea, but Chris Squire and many others did! Both can be great - whatever works for you... 

20 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

It seems like in some circles playing with a pick is frowned upon.

 

As a teen I was " all in " with finger playing. I switched to playing with a pick about 25 years ago. For no reason other than the type of grooves and riffs I play are easier to execute with a pick.

 

Daryl

I originally learnt to play fingerstyle, but a band leader persuaded me to play with a pick (very much a thing at the time), which I did throughout the 80s! 

About 1990, I reverted back to exclusively playing fingerstyle, which I've carried on with to this day. To be fair, I was always a far better fingers player and these days I very much doubt I could play anything like a full set with a pick! 

On 20/06/2025 at 10:06, dmccombe7 said:

What a coincidence. Nice one. Hopefully we'll get some gig pics of each others band from you both. 😂

Dave

So, played the Farmyard Party at the weekend - pics above on @casapete's post a couple of pages ago. 

The Friday was very hot and sticky. As we were staying over, I had to put up a large tent pretty much on my own (the missus is recovering from an operation on her hands) in rock hard ground - hence me managing to look sweaty, pasty and sunburnt all at the same time in the picture of me and Pete above. Great to meet Pete before the gig - I was obviously pretty busy trying to get everything ready for our show, so I only managed to see a couple of songs from his band, but he is obviously a very tidy bass player. There was a bit of a groan from backstage as they played a song on our setlist, but fortunately that seemed to be the only one, so we managed to avoid too many duplicate songs! 

The gig itself was a bit hit and miss. We had a (very good) dep guitarist and it had been sounding brilliant in the three rehearsals we managed to get in before. However, live there were a few adventures starting and (particularly) ending songs and a fair few missed cues. Endings became a bit of a negotiation between me, the guitarist and the drummer, with the poor keyboard player trying to work out what was happening from the other side of the stage! However, we got a pretty good audience reaction and had a lot of very positive feedback after the show (with a couple of gig offers thrown in), so it can't have been too bad - amazing what you can get away without the audience noticing when playing live sometimes! Gear wise, I was using the 78 P bass and the usual set-up of a Shure GLXD wireless, Thumpinator, Cali76 bass comp and Caveman pre into a Handbox R400 and Berg CN212 cab. 

27 minutes ago, diskwave said:

I think the only way to really combat it as old person is to completely change your daily behaviour and habits.. which isn't easy. ie for eg, Park as far from the shops as possible and carry heavy shopping. Get out of bed and literally yomp around the house like a crazy person swinging arms and stuff... yes its all crazy but I think it works....In a nutshell. Move more.

No, I'm afraid that might (marginally) help to keep you fit, but it isn't going to do anything to maintain muscle mass or bone density. The only way to do that is to regularly lift weights. 

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

I had one of those prescribed nasal sprays and ended up with severe uncontrollable nose bleeds and now won't use them. Bleeding was a constant stream rather than a drip and lasted up to 45mins at one point.

Not a very nice condition. I know you can get a jab for it but not sure how good they are.

Dave

The jabs work, but they do have side effects and they won't give you too many of them. I had one when I was a teenager and about to do my O levels. 

To be fair, my hay fever used to be much worse in my teens / twenties 

8 hours ago, casapete said:

Hey Pete - I’m playing at this festival tomorrow too with The Alligators, also in the blues tent.

Think we may be on just before you - if so come and say hi?
Cheers, Pete. 

Nice one Pete - I will see you later 

2 hours ago, Delberthot said:

This is why I train at the gym. I don't want to be Arnie and walk around like I'm carrying a roll of carpet under each arm, I'm doing it as a preventative measure to try to avoid being frail with arms like knitting needles and not able to walk the length of myself when I get old.

 

This

 I believe that lifting weights also helps to maintain bone density, so if you slip when you're old you just get up and brush it off rather than requiring a hip replacement. 

4 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

Thanks Dave,

 

It should be good. We've been playing Summerfest every year since 2009. However for the last 3 years we were relegated to what I call low profile kiddie stages. 

 

This is the first time in 3 years where we're back on a respectable and proper stage.

 

Daryl

It's always fun to be part of these big events, even if you're not on the main stage. 

12 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

Dave,

 

Not rock & roll ? When I fell and broke my ankle a few weeks back a tube of Preparation H ( hemorrhoid cream ) fell out of my front pocket.

 

Daryl

Fortunately, the only time I've ever used Preparation H was to put on a new tattoo years ago! 

Summerfest looks like a great event - shame we don't really have anything similar this side of the pond. The bike rally I'm playing (the Farmyard Party) is one of the biggest ones in the north of England, not quite as big as Stormin' The Castle in the North East, but still about 6,000 people on site. They have a blues tent (stage) for the old school bikers who still like their blues - will probably have a few hundred people or so in there. Maybe a 2,000 for the main stage (that I last played ten years ago with a rock band). 

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

Not so good. I only occasionally suffer from hay fever but i'm on daily anti-histamines for past 20yrs or so.

Hopefully it'll be ok and you can enjoy the gig. Did get a tip from a guy that suffered badly was to rub some vaseline on inside of your nose to trap pollen. Not tried it but he swore by it.

Dave

I've been taking prescription anti-histamines (not the ones you get in a shop) in hay fever season since I've been a teenager. I do have some special beeswax type thing to wipe inside my nose, along with nasal sprays, etc. 

I once did a big blues festival type gig in Dundee once while having a major attack. It must have looked a bit strange to any eagle eyed punters to see a box of tissues on top of my rig, with the cover behind the cab half filled with used tissues - not exactly rock n'roll! It was actually a great gig in a pretty big packed venue, but I was relieved to get through it... 

9 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

Cool,

 

Pete my concern for Saturday is the heat. It's going to be in the 90s.

 

There's a bass rig on stage. I'm only bringing an instrument stand, bass and my pedal board. 

 

Daryl

My concern for the blues gig at the bike rally tomorrow is the high pollen count and what it will be like in the marquee @ 8:30pm...! I have played a gig before while having a hay fever attack and it's interesting to say the least! It is forecast to be in the mid 80s at the rally - not bad for the north of England. 

My missus wants us to camp out and stay the whole weekend. That will depend on how bad my hay fever is... 

40 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Maple Road will be performing at The Big Gig, Summerfest the worlds largest music festival this Saturday. 

 

Set time is 1:45-2:30 and then 3:30-4:15. We're on The Johnsonville Stage.

 

"We received 3 digital parking passes for Lot E today. Max and Rory, I will send you each one later today, Daryl will ride with us, and we need to be to the Lot by 11:45am on Sat."

 

We only got in because the band originally booked canceled. 

 

Daryl

That looks cool Daryl...! 

I'm playing a big bike rally with the 'occasional' blues band this weekend. It's a big event, but not anywhere as near as big as that! 

9 hours ago, Norris said:

That's one of the reasons I got an exercise bike. It's virtually no impact unlike running and a lot of other fitness activities. My exercise bike can connect to my tablet via Bluetooth and I run a free virtual cycling app which makes it much more interesting. No gym fees either 👍

I'm afraid that I find exercise bikes deadly boring. I really need to get out on the MTB again, even if its just on the canal towpath. The trouble is that I find even the slightest hill a bit of a problem now. 

Lifting weights is the best thing to do, especially as you get older and you start to lose muscle tone and your bones become weaker. I pay £16 per month in gym fees these days, which by any account is very good value! 

I try to lift weights three times a week. Unfortunately, I can't do the cardio that I used to do a few years ago (play 5-a-side, run, off-road biking, etc) due to a knackered knee and I could do with losing maybe a stone or so, but that's hardly unusual at my age (early 60s). The gear I use is lighter than it used to be, but not particularly lightweight compared to a lot of stuff around these days. I can still lift a Berg 212 cab (rather than an 810) at the end of the night, so no real problems. 

The issue I have is that even though I gig regularly, I would happily play twice as many as I'm doing currently! I certainly felt more 'match fit' as a player when I was gigging pretty much every week! 

I've got a couple of Xotic basses and I think that its pretty safe to say that isn't from the same stable. I'm guessing that it's a custom build superjazz - never seen that logo on the headstock before. 

31 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

And I bet it didn't sound "wrong?"

Of course it doesn't, it's Tim Lefebvre playing it. I'm sure that he wouldn't play anything that sounded 'wrong', or that the band wasn't happy with! 

Just looked at a recent version of them playing it on the Howard Stern Show with the great Tim Lefebvre on bass and he plays the A, not the G#...! 

Played  at the Cart & Horses in the East End on Friday night with the Zep tribute. If you didn't know, this is the venue where Iron Maiden cut their teeth, which of course you would never guess from the complete lack of memorabilia around the place, Maiden themed beers and wine at the bar and everything in the familiar IM font...! 😉 

A bit of an odd gig, as we had a dep drummer for the night, which as you might imagine is a tough gig for a drummer to dep. The guy we got in had been struggling at a couple of rehearsals we managed to get in, but he did fine. Not perfect, but not a disaster by any means! A smallish place so pretty packed, a great audience and Didge even managed to work the Eastenders theme into his keys solo! 

NB. the picture is of the soundcheck, not the keys solo in the gig itself...! 

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Kinda reminds me of discussions I've had with bandmates and deps around playing a part that fits the song vs playing the bass line / guitar riff / drum pattern of the song.

 

Must admit I really appreciate working with drummers who include the fills and nuances of particular songs we cover vs simply bashing out a rhythm and tempo that fits the song. Maybe that's equivalent to us just playing the root notes?

 

Sure it can be "fun" to keep things simple, and horses for courses, if that is all we want to be doing with our music - getting out and gigging can be massively fulfilling in itself! But equally if we don't have to settle for less, then why not aim to be the best musicians we can? And I'm saying that knowing I've got a very long way to go...  

It depends what you are doing and what your band is about. 

Are you playing covers of tracks where the performance is more important than the song? If I'm playing something like Hot For Teacher, I want the guitarist to nail EVH's guitar part note for note. Same thing for a Rush tribute, the performance is key, so play it exactly like the record or don't bother. It's a bit different covering many other types of bands, where the bass player(s) might have developed / changed the parts over the years, or never played the same thing twice. Then you have to get the feel and spirit of the original, rather than just play the part as the record. 

Of course, it also depends whether you are just playing the song, or covering a particular version of the song. Remember that keeping it simple is often the best option and not settling for less at all. The thing is that you should be playing a simple part by choice, not because you can't play anything different! 

16 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Not to them, but some of us might take a bit of pride in playing something the correct way, especially if the idea is to cover a certain version. Otherwise it’s becomes ‘our version’, which as we all know is musician speak for ‘couldn’t be bothered to learn it properly’  😂

 

 

 

I agree with that approach if you are trying to replicate a Jamerson, Billy Sheehan or Geddy Lee part. For something like the Black Crowes (who I love BTW), I would be aiming to get the feel right, rather than playing it note for note. 

6 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Temperature always in celsius for me. I can't grasp fahrenheit at all plus it has no logic to it.

I completely agree (or at least to the extent that the logic for fahrenheit is somewhat convoluted). Celsius is a far superiour system. But I still think of weather in fahrenheit and all other measurements of temperature in centigrade! 

21 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

For me certain things are ok in metric others not, but it’s not only metric. If someone says someone is 18 stone I can visualise their size, change that to the equivalent in pounds and I’m nowhere, both are imperial. Swap to sending an item via a courier and I’m good with kilos, pounds and ounces, well I’m lost. But basses, well they’re pounds and ounces. 

I'm the same, and it makes absolutely no sense? Long distances and a person's height have to be miles / feet and inches, but otherwise smaller distances have to be metric, temperatures should be in fahrenheit for weather, but otherwise in degrees centigrade and weight must be in kilograms, except for a human being, when I can only compute stones / lbs. Dunno if it's my age, but I'm caught halfway between imperial and metric, even thought I know that metric obviously makes more sense and is a better system! 

17 minutes ago, casapete said:

That’s the fella - He brokered a sale for a vintage amp I was selling, and was a pleasure to deal with as

well as being a bit of a character. He plays guitar in a punky kind of band, and likes a Les Paul Junior

so must be okay. 😁

Yep, a bit of a geezer with connections to quite a lot of Manc superstars of a certain time! Me and the guitar player (who used to have a guitar shop in those days) always used to have a chat with him after rehearsals. He always had an interesting story to tell and I remember his quite fascinating insider take on quite a controversial matter of the time that he had been innocently caught up in.

Very much a Les Paul Junior type of guy! 🤩