peteb

Yep, that's the big difference between a lot of bassists who can play a bit and the real top guys.

RB was tapping comping parts when I saw the Robben Ford & the Blue Line trio about 30 years ago!

I've seen a lot of great bass players play live, and he could well be the best...!

When it comes down to it, it is difficult to convincingly recreate rhythm guitar or keys parts on a bass guitar. Of course there are exceptions - check out the great Roscoe Beck, who started tapping out organ parts on bass when he played an early tour with Robben Ford because they couldn't afford to take a keys player out! On the flip side, I have seen an interview with Philthy Taylor and Fast Eddie where they said that they developed the classic Motorhead sound to compensate for Lemmy playing more like a rhythm guitarist than a traditional bass player (creating a whole new sub-genre in the process)! Also, listen to early DLR era Van Halen, where Michael Anthony will often play busier parts during under the guitar solos.

No, @chris_b is right. I've mainly played in rock bands with just one guitar over the years and you just develop a feel over the years on how to fill things out. First of all you need the right tone and attack, but being in a three piece can give you the opportunity to play a bit busier at times (particularly under solos), to work on your note lengths, you might throw in a few octaves or sometimes you just embrace the spaces in the music (someone mentioned Robin Trower above, which is a pretty good example). However, you are never going sound the same as if you have a rhythm guitar or Hammond or whatever playing, but a three piece can still sound great! I'm playing in a pretty busy Zep tribute these days and I certainly don't use any effects or change my EQ every time there is a guitar solo! You just find a way to make it work.

That's awful mate. Not much you can say, but best wishes to the family.

I agree - it's just a lazy, patronising label to deride perfectly legitimate top quality musicians. It also has a slight whiff of racism about it! Quincy Jones produced polished RnB based pop music with strong jazz, soul, fusion and rock influences, which everyone praises to the skies. Toto produced polished rock based pop music with strong jazz, soul, fusion and RnB influences and all the would be hipsters form a queue to sneer. Quincy even used the same players, not to mention that Steely Dan used guys who played on Aretha Franklin hits (as well as QJ records).

The trouble is that you're completely wrong! As a producer, Beato worked with a number of punk and garage rock bands. His big break was co-writing a number one country hit, which led to him working with several big time country songwriters. One of the things I like about RB is that he has a pretty wide background in lots of musical styles - he might love Steely Dan, but he also sees the value in The Clash. He used to be a lecturer in music, so he does come from an academic background, which is probably what you don't like about him. For me, he seems likable and is very enthusiastic / knowledgeable about lots of different types of music and I generally find his content interesting. Each to his own...

F***, Bruce is starting to look his age! Dunno about calling it a day, but perhaps a younger drummer along with shorter sets and tours might help them to keep going a bit longer. I was never a Maiden fan - I was always more impressed that Nicko had played with Pat Travers in his earlier career. I never met the guy, but I was sat next to him on a train once! Him and Bruce were busy chatting to some girls who were going to a show that night. He seemed a nice enough guy.

A mate (of sorts) of mine is a very good bass player and used to tour with Paul Carrack in the late 90’s among others. He says that he had this discussion with Pino Palladino many years ago. Apparently Pino said to him “Everything you’ll ever need can be found in the playing of Jaco, Jamerson, Aston Barrett and Bernard Edwards and there’s a lifetime’s work there”. That seems fair enough! Having never really studied any of those guys, I would say my top four were: Mars Cowling, John Paul Jones, Alan Spenner and Boz Burrell (you could also add Neil Murray and Andy Fraser). I suppose that kinda shows what my personal tastes were when I started playing.

I would say that a 1x15 would not be enough for a loud hard rock gig. The ideal would be a 4x10 (or even a 6X10), but a good 2x12 would work as well.

Right then, the best would be: Thumpinator – a high pass filter for getting rid of low frequencies that you can’t normally hear. I’ve played a few venues where there is something odd going on with the low frequencies on the bass guitar, so you end up having to take out all the bottom end leaving you with a less than inspiring bass tone. When I’ve played the same places this year, the Thumpinator seems to have sorted that out at a stroke! Caveman preamp pedal – a bit of a luxury and it’s not as if you couldn’t gig without it, but a quality piece of kit that sounds great and gives you more options, both live and recording. Not cheap, but worth it. The worst: MXR octave pedal –I was thinking of getting rid of my existing octave pedal but decided to keep it just in case. Then I saw a MXR going cheap secondhand and now I have two octave pedals that I don’t use. It’s a really good pedal, but I never use it! There’s got to be some other use for it other than playing ‘I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down’ in soundchecks! NUX C-5rc wireless system – it’s not bad, but I have had a few issues with it and I’m not going to use it at bigger gigs. It will have its uses, such as rehearsals or jams and small gigs where I don’t want to bring my pedalboard that has the Shure GLDX receiver on it. It is what it is – OK but not great. Jury still out: A stripped late 70s P bass – looks cool and sounds great, but it isn’t going to replace my other 70s P bass as my go-to bass of that type. I didn't pay too much money all things considered and I’m still getting to grips with it. Jon Shuker is going to do some work on the frets to get it just right, so it will be a player (as Jon said when he saw it). However, if anything really cool came up that I just had to have, then I suspect that this would be the bass that would have to make way (I could be wrong though, lets see what it is like when I get it properly sorted out)!

Which, as we all know, is of vital importance playing in a U2 tribute act...! 🙂

My 78 is bang on 10lbs, which is OK for me. The 79 I got recently is a little bit lighter, as was the 77 I owned years ago (but a pretty cr*p example of a 70s Fender). The worst, weight wise at least, was a 90s Jazz I owned that was over 12lbs.

Dunno, its like any 70s Fender. I've got a got a couple of P basses from from that period that are great. I've also owned one that was f***in awful. While there is no one who is genuinely famous who is associated with playing an Antigua Fender, Ian from SBL and a couple of other guys who are playing as sidemen for reasonably well known guys who are using them. I'm no expert, so it will be interesting to see if @briansbrew's friend gets what he has been advised they are going for. My only comment is that me and my mates all hated that finish when it came out, but there does seem to be some sort of interest in those basses forty five or so years later!

I remember when I first started playing, when I got my first Fender and that finish became a thing. We all hated it! That seems to have changed in the past few years from what I can make out! Rarity seems to trump aesthetics...

I think that we're all really glad to see Rob is back.

I've just checked, my hands are exactly the same size as yours! My little fingers are quite short, so when I play a run I will often (but not always) move my hand position up and down the fretboard rather than play vertically. It depends on what feels comfortable. I actually prefer 70s style P bass necks (is that about 41mm at the nut), but I'm not too fussed and have a couple of jazz basses with narrow necks that I'm quite comfortable with. You just adapt to the bass you're playing really.

Jim Rodford always played a full size P bass, and he wasn't a big guy!

What are those GR cabs like (how do they compare to Bergs, etc) and exactly how robust are they on a gig?

I think that the thing with doing a tribute to someone like Adam Clayton is that he isn't really associated with a particular bass, giving you licence to use any bass he might credibly have used. The guys I have known in U2 tributes have generally used a P bass of some sort, and they always looked and sounded right. If you like that red Precision, then I would use that - it will work just fine.

Not so much at the time. As I said, the band I was in were doing very well and playing loads of bike rallies and such like, including a brief and rather bizarre run of playing high-end functions. I wouldn't have minded being part of the U2 thing a few years later, when they were playing to large crowds on outdoors stages in Cyprus and coming back with stories of staying at and playing in luxury hotels in Dubai...!

I reckon that even the songs you think you don't know on that list, you will actually know...!

That is a great set! I could never understand the negativity from some musos / media figures to U2, a truly great band loved in all corners of the globe. So The Edge can't play like Alan Holdsworth - he's still one of the most influential guitarists ever, copied by every 80s / 90s session guitar player on countless hit records! I was once asked to join a U2 tribute many years ago. I turned them down as I was in a pretty successful cover band at the time and couldn't do both. They went on do really well, playing all over Europe and beyond. They're still going (same singer, but with their fifth or sixth different line-up) and still really entertaining!

I doubt that you would turn down the Queen gig though! 🙂