Huge Hands

Maybe. I was a drummer in my teens before turning to bass and never had the money to buy shiny new stuff, so don't know much about the drum market. I gigged that kit on and off for 10 years before I even realised it was that old, so probably didn't treat it as carefully as I should have. I think it is also due to the sound - I was gigging it a lot around the 90s hip hop and Portishead sampling type music, so should have been in demand. I remember a university project I did at the time (I did a recording degree) where the lecturer turned his nose up and went "but that drum sound is really old". I replied "no s**t, that's why I drove a 5hr round trip home to get my vintage kit instead of just using the one in the studio...." Unfortunately ill health means I don't get to play it any more but used to love the dull toms with internal dampers and the bass drum sound. Not one for the rockers methinks!

I note the drum market doesn't appear to follow guitars, I assume because they usually get a lot more abuse. I have a 1965-ish Premier jazz kit slowly rotting away in my loft but every time I've looked into selling it, I always get offered a fair amount for the snare, but the same amount for the whole kit as they usually just want the snare. I've had a few offers over the years which either suggest there is just no real market for them, or they are trying to low ball me and take advantage of my lack of knowledge. P.S. I'm not looking to sell ATM and not trying to circumvent the forum rules on selling, I just thought it was relevant to the conversation.

I play bass guitar in a concert band (brass/woodwind) and they are following this constantly with obvious interest. Although everyone wants to be safe, I think they are in consternation about the separation of "professionals" - as if someone being paid would be any less or more likely to transmit the disease? I'm not into the committee rubbish so am only on the fringes of it, so don't fully understand it all anyway. As a covid/ventilator survivor, I'm not in too much of a rush to get back to the dingy rehearsal hall anyway...

I think for "missing root at end of blistering fill" - I would probably be bankrupt alone. I know plenty of 'bone players and those ones are true too! I know what they all do for a day job!

I worked with them as a sound engineer on a one off gig around 2002/2003 with 3 original members. The "mad drummer"(Dave Finnegan) was singing, the ginger drummer that quits in the film was playing drums, and the bass player was playing guitar. I think the same Alembic guy was with them then and I didn't think it sounded right either. My friend worked with them about 5 years before me and it was most of the origInal film band but with the singer Andrew Strong's dad. He said dad was an even better singer than his son.... Dave Finnegan currently tours the UK with his own band doing Commitments stuff as the singer. A former bandmate of mine plays keys with him.

A personal fave of mine is T-Bone Walker's "Going To Funky Town". Some really tasty blues piano fills all the way through.

Happy to be corrected @TrevorR - I always thought they were too similar to be a coincidence, but there you go. I know what you mean by the Soviet anthem too!

I played drums in a church band as a kid and was amazed that there was a song that started with the words "Give Thanks, to a graceful God" which I later found out was a blatant rip off of "Go West" by the Village People. I realised when the Pet Shop Boys released their version of Go West and thought they had nicked it from church til I was put right! Our bass player was a basic root note only basic player but my brother was the piano player and we used to try and mix things up a bit where we could. Unfortunately we were backing a small group of well meaning and passionate but not very good singers (my mother was one of those!) so we couldn't get too experimental. I'm sure other churches are a lot more advanced than we were!

When I used to gig regularly with my NS Design NXT5 EUB, I used to love listening to the "What the f**k is that?" comments from the crowd while setting it up. I was always surprised that I would get a lot of bass players come up at the end and ask about it but would always back away if I asked if they wanted a shot on it as though it was some scary beast that might kill them.

It looks like I was right after all. This is the BBC concert with only Melvin from his usual band (he does allude to people being missing). You can see Melvin guiding the band at some points. The leather jacket is there though! Nothing against Benorce, butI do like some of the licks and fills this guitarist plays on this.

Probably get to see him in action more in this one, but you'll just end up watching James Gadson like me!

I was wrong - the classic leather jacket (and how could I forget tartan trousers sitting cross legged!!) uber coolness was from OGWT with James Gadson and his amazing "pyjama suit".

Found this recent interview with Melvyn but he doesn't get as far as mentioning his time with Bill: https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/melvin-dunlap

That was usually Joseph "Lucky" Scott on Curtis' recordings. Another hero of mine.

I wouldn't dare to count how many times I've listened to that album. There is live UK TV concert footage knocking around of Bill playing (I think where the still in your video is from) with Melvyn sitting looking so cool with his long black leather jacket, playing his early P-bass with his thumb. Most of his band at the time is missing (James Gadson included) but it is worth a watch anyway.

I once advertised a cheap combo cab as "collection only" but then a buyer persuaded me to ship it for him, even though I didn't want to. I had just bought my new smaller cabs, so thought I would hack up the boxes to make a big one. Once I had spent ages doing this and taping them up, all the extra polystyrene padding made the dimensions a size that made shipping more expensive than the cab itself. In the end, the buyer agreed to me packing it just as a cardboard sleeve over the cab to get the dimensions down for cheaper delivery. I seem to remember it was a giant cost difference between a few cm in length/height. However, it meant I had to go out buy a load more gaffa tape and spend a whole night cutting/taping up more boxes. I think he had only offered about £10 over the postage amount for packaging, so I'm pretty sure I ended up making a loss on the postage costs if you totted up all the extra stuff I had to buy and petrol to get it etc. I also accidentally went through the cardboard to the carpet with the Stanley knife which cost me later with my landlord when I moved out... I was massively panicking over the cab getting damaged with such a thin layer of packing. It got there and the buyer contacted me to say it was dead. Luckily it turned out to be that a spade connector had fallen off, but shows the knocks it must have had in transit as I'd never had that happen before. I'm not blaming the buyer as it was my first time doing this so was a learning curve for me, but what I learned was never to do it again!

You called? I would like to point out that I am definitely not the subject tinkerer of this thread. I did defend him earlier in the thread as I thought people being snidey about his level of actual playing went too far as there are all levels of ability in this forum. However, I have no issue with his level of dodgy bodging being highlighted to protect others. Interestingly I would be interested in a guitar with wide spacing as I have tried to play guitar before but struggled due to the size of my banana fingers. I think I'll pass on this gentleman's products though....

Have told this story before, but without a doubt - Paul McCartney. I originally played drums but watching the "I Am The Walrus" bit in Magical Mystery Tour made me realise that Paul looked so much cooler than Ringo (no offence Ringo - I love you too) and without doubt meant I would pull more girls if I played bass. 28 years later, I'm still waiting for the ladies to fall at my feet.....

Welcome back. Hope your band mate/BFF is ok. Sounds horrible.

I love the worn look on my basses, but that is because I can point at most dings and say "that it where I clipped the doorframe in '92 when getting on the bus with it", or that is where the strap broke in 2004 and I caught it, but still did that". It tells our (mine and the instrument's)" story, especially around how clumsy I am. When I see old basses for sale covered in dings and scratches, I love to imagine what those stories might have been with their previous owners. I'd feel I'd been cheated if they were faked and added on. Of course, this is only my own opinion, no criticism of others intended.

Totally agree. To continue further, maybe not all read music, but many have a copy of the script and make notes about who comes in where, which effects get played when - basically anything they want. I have done a few theatre shows in my time and the script was vital to remember everything. I have also done FOH on many band gigs and had notes written on a copy of a set list - I.e. which effect number to dial in for a certain song, remember to turn guitar mic 1 off in that one etc. I worked in a venue mainly, so didn't really get to know bands well enough to write scripts - that was probably the "playing by ear" analogy. I don't think there is anything new to be invented here, although you youngsters probably have it all stored in a digital desk now....

I play in a concert band with lots of wind and brass instruments. I learned to read with this band (they were very patient at first). As Bilbo says, you only get faster and better at sight reading the more you do it. I still struggle with anything faster than quavers! In terms of the rest of the band, there are a lot of players whom I've noted can read well, but can't adjust if the timing goes awol or hear that the incidental they are playing is flat. As the only bass player (the tuba players are intermittent at showing up) I like to add a little improv to my lines if it is a non-classical more modern piece to try and get the rhythm right for the original. I think that is my right unless the MD notices it and tells me off. He recently thanked me for adding bits to an Elton John arrangement to make it sound more like the recording. I'm not sure many of those that have only ever read and play ensemble instruments could do that as all they have ever done is read. I also note where many use dots to learn a piece - in our case, although we rehearse to learn the hard bits, I I doubt any of us would be able to play any of our pieces (no matter how many times we've played them) if the music was suddenly removed and we had to play from memory. It is almost like a different technique - you whizz through the music without really taking a lot of it onboard.

We eat at our local PE a lot. You can exchange your Tesco Clubcard vouchers for payment for the meal, so regularly eat a £60+ meal for the price of drinks only. I think this constant allowance of vouchers and discount deals is reportedly what is making their business fail. Not sure I'd be happy spending the full price for a pizza meal, but there you go. Coincidentally, I was asked to dep in the Soho one later this month by my old band but wasn't available. It is their first time playing there, so can't comment on what it's like, but as others have said, parking nearby is a nightmare/impossible.

Thanks WoT, of course this all just my personal opinion! I was on the side of tBBC against Janek's huff all them years ago, so I am probably not consistent.....

Agreed, which is why I choose not to post any videos of myself (although others have from my gigs) but in the interests of this being an inclusive forum with a wide spectrum of playing abilities, I would hope this forum would know better than to be a slag fest against other bassists playing and own music, I would have thought it doesn't encourage beginners to want to stay around if it is all a bit elitist. Perhaps the Youtube vid itself would be the better place to comment on that sort of thing if someone really wants to have a direct pop at his playing.