peteb

I am guessing that you would have bought it from Ray Allen Music in Shipley, where I got my first bass about a year earlier. As a teenager, I used to live just up the road...

This is rather pertinent at the moment, as my mate Tony is closing down his small independent music shop at the end of the month. Unfortunately, despite keeping going for years against the odds, he just can't carry on any longer in the face of competition from online stores, the fallout from the pandemic, falling footfall, higher costs (rent, rates, etc), declining interest in music and the appalling way that many of the big distributors treat the smaller shops. I used to say that if he could stock stuff that he needed I would buy from him rather than online, but he said that he just couldn't put in big enough orders to get the gear that I would want. I did buy a Les Paul Special off him a bit ago (a commission sale), which was cool, but he just couldn't get the turnover to keep the shop viable. It is a shame to see a friend lose his business, but that is the way of the world for many smaller independent retail businesses these days. When I was a kid, there were quite a few, reasonably large music shops around. These were places that we would all go to hang out, try out gear that we would then save up to buy, meet new friends and potential band mates, get advice and ad-hoc lessons from older musicians, etc. You don't get that from the big online box movers...

If only that were true. Many of the most successful people I know have the right contacts and bucketloads of self-confidence, which quite often has little relationship to their abilities...!

I think that you are overthinking it. The point of a jam session is to play with different people, take a few chances and take yourself out of your comfort zone. Sometimes it will be quite magical and sometimes the wheels will come off. Inevitably you will make mistakes, but the idea is that you learn from those mistakes. It's not a bad idea to just watch a couple of times to get the feel of it and get comfortable with the people there. But don't let it put you off getting up again when you're ready. I've been in the house band for lots of jam sessions over the years, playing with everyone from Texan blues semi-legends whose albums I had bought (scary, but fun) to guys who have never played on stage before. For the smaller ones, part of the fun is to get guys without much experience and see their confidence grow as they get better each time they get up.

It's all about establishing yourself and then networking. You have a build up a reputation as a decent player and, just as importantly, being reliable and not being a d1ck to work with. I'm looking to move abroad in a few years, so gawd knows what will happen with bands then. However, even out in Spain, I have a couple of friends who used to be promoters and who have got involved with the music scene in Andalucía. There is also a well established English guitar player in the region who has played with someone that I've played in bands with, so obviously I will be getting in contact with him (even though I've never actually met him).

it's not just bands on the level of Metallica - I haven't auditioned anyone, or done an audition from an advert or whatever for 30 years! Generally, you know people by reputation or you get a call from someone that you played on the same bill with somewhere. The last time I did anything like an audition was for the solo project for a guitar player who is in a household name old pop-rock band. I was recommended by the bass player, who was leaving his band. He had four guys in the frame (all recommendations), which he whittled down to two At that point, his old bass player decided that he wanted to re-join the band, so that was that!

Always loved this, but certainly somewhat eccentric...!

It's a perfectly valid point and there's no reason why you shouldn't put it forward for discussion. I agree that if you wait and look around there are some reasonable deals out there.

Or you could look at it as a player rather than an investment, and accept the d-tuner and hi-mass bridge as genuine upgrades. I've already got a late 70s P bass, but if I was in the market (and I'm not ruling it out in the future), I would be popping down to Bass Bros to have a serious look at that one.

I wouldn't go that far. But, what they are, is vastly more consistent. I've owned a great 70s Precision and played several really nice ones, but I've also owned and played really bad 70s Fenders.

I've always liked Del Amitri, a great live rock and roll band, and he is a really good songwriter. We can only hope for the best for him. Obviously, it is very upsetting, not least because a good friend of ours (the wife of my best man), has got Parkinson's as well. She is trying to put a brave face on it, but it has affected both of them quite badly. If anything, he is struggling more than her, which isn't helping him with his own medical issues (non life threatening, but serious arthritis in both knees - not great for a drummer who still has a manual job). I know it's all part of getting older, but it all seems so unfair, not to mention heart-breaking.

The very same, except we call him Phil.

Funnily enough, Rhino Edwards (the other half of the Quo rhythm section when Rich was in the band) currently plays in a Free / Paul Kossof tribute band with Terry Sless (Koss's singer in Back Street Crawler).

I have gigged with not one, but three former members of Gerry & The Pacemakers at various times. However, I never with more than one ex-pacemaker at a time. I bet that you're all really impressed...! 🤩 I also used to dep for a singer who once did a Spanish tour with various members of the original Whitesnake line-up, and I am currently playing with the original keys player from British AOR titans FM...

I believe that Sean Hurley says that he usually ends up playing the P bass with rounds, but quite often producers will go for the flats option (but its nearly always a Precision). From what I remember Sadowsky saying in an interview, producers wanted an idealised version of the Fenders they were used to working with. He started off modding Fenders for session players, but started building his own when the models he recommended started becoming scarce.

The first song I ever played live, many years ago...

I assume that you are aware that there is a rather famous bass guitar version of this? Still not sure that it is the best thing to play at an audition for a pop / rock band...!

But is it just about fame? Iggy Pop is famous, and is also, very influential. But he didn't sell that many records and therefore has never got the call. Similarly, someone mentioned the Ramones above, who didn't get indicted until after all the original members had died. On the other hand, Foreigner are pretty famous, sold tons of records, yet never got critical acclaim and have only been nominated as they finally undertake their final tour and the BL / last original member has just been revealed to have some pretty serious health problems. The whole thing is nonsense and seems to be based on what a certain type of cowboy boot wearing, 75 year old thinks is retrospectively cool. As you say, it will remain on my ignore list, unless of course, they invite me to the ceremony, where I will be there sitting at the same table as your good self...! 😉

Maybe, but he is undoubtedly a "Rock 'n' Roll Star" and he's never sort of an opinion. In this instance, he may actually be right! I will take the RRHOF seriously when they unanimously induct the likes of Kim Mitchell and King's X. Until then, its just a shallow marketing exercise and no real indication of quality.

He's got a point!

Dunno, you could say pretty much the same for Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Mariah Carey and Ozzy. They are all big household names, especially in America...

Rather a strange admission from someone with such a punk rock background...! 😉

Don't worry, it can't have been her - this was 40 years ago (about 83)...!

In the early 80s, I was in a band in London with a very good girl singer that had a bit of interest, but there were a few personal tensions and we split up. Me, the guitarist and the original drummer decided to resurrect the band without keys and started looking for a singer. We held auditions over a couple of days in a rehearsal studio in the Elephant & Castle. The first session turned up a couple of possibles, but the second one was less productive. One girl turned up in a leather mini skirt, dressed up as if for a night out and looked great, but unfortunately she didn't have a great voice. The guitar player later rang her up, saying that she didn't have the right voice for the band, but she had something if they could find the right project for her. He ended up talking her into going on a date with him, which obviously was the intention all along. However, the best was saved for last. A Welsh girl (who I remember was a nurse) turned up about half an hour late, just as we were about to knock it on the head and go to the pub. It was pretty obvious she wasn't going to get the gig, so we take her for a drink. After a couple of beers, she was still wanting to sing and she obviously wasn't short of confidence, so we head back to the studio. We try to teach her one of our songs, which she just couldn't get. She then reaches into her bag and pulls out a Black Sabbath songbook and decides that she wants us to play Paranoid. We had been taping the auditions, so the guitarist discretely turns the tape off, only for me to flick it back on. She wasn't great, in fact she was awful and singing so flat she was nearly coming back in tune an octave down at times. At this point, her boyfriend comes to pick up her up and she's giving us her details, confident that she's completely nailed it! I must have played that tape to everyone who came down to my gaff for weeks...