Huge Hands

Regardless of my opinions of Joe Dart or the bass, I will never have that kind of spare cash, so I won't be getting one. However, I just wanted to give props to Nate Smith in that video - amazing drummer!

I have a V7 and only use it in passive mode as I'm too lazy to keep swapping the batteries. That's only the first two knobs (stacked Vol/tone and blend). As per my user name, I have huge hands and I don't get too mixed up. I find the tiny volume know quite easy to turn under the edge of my hand. In all seriousness though,, I do put batteries in it and it is nice to occasionally switch in the active so I can add some mega bass boost from time to time!

I have used superglue before to cover tender fingers after blisters have popped (double bass). It was the difference between me playing and cancelling the gig, so a recommendation from me. I noted it did crack and flake off after every song or two, so would constantly have to apply it between songs whilst blowing on it like mad so it would dry before the start of the next one and not glue me to the strings. I have no idea how many toxins I introduced into my bloodstream that night but it got me through and I haven't had any issues in the 15 years since.....apart from my second head that grew out of my back...

I have a Tonebone Bassbone V2 to allow me to quickly switch between EUB and bass guitar on big gigs, which feeds into a Zoom B1Xon. I bought it as an option for some effects but mainly use this as a volume pedal for the EUB to try and emulate some sfz kind of stabbing dynamic effects in our concert band. My problem is, even when just running it all fully open and clean (no FX), I feel like I can hear the electronics saturating somewhere when I'm digging in. I hear a kind of compression, that I don't hear when going direct into my amp. I have never had time with my full rig somewhere to really go through it all and try and work out where it is happening in the chain. As a result I don't use it that often.

I agree. I saw it a few months ago on Amazon Prime. Some nice playing by Chuck Rainey, Bernard Purdie and my favourite guitarist Cornell Dupree.

Just watching it now on IPlayer - my God.....totally! Thing I don't understand is - apart from Carol, did no actual bass players audition? Why were both male bassists guitar players that were "consoled" with a bass player spot? I was talking to someone at the weekend who knows the guitarist in the hat in Lady Leshur's band and has played with him a few times - he said that all of his promo stuff now mentions the IoW....

I am not normally one to have a go at anyone individually or question people's talents, but I think to have made it work they should have gone for a certain basic level of proficiency and for me, the drummer in the wheelchair is not anywhere near where he needs to be. As said before, the way he came in way too fast in Angels and that comment about "I can't see her because I have my eyes closed to listen" shows he is way off the standard he should be. I guess he was kept in to impress the disability campaigners? I myself thought it was great to see until I heard him play..... I think they should have realised his standard and swapped him out, like the 95 year old was gracious enough to admit himself. I think the guy they have used to replace the 95 year old is much more solid and that band (including the guitbassist) is sounding much better. I think the lady bass player is a bit patronising but I don't blame her for getting mightily frustrated. I have played with many drummer with basinc timing problems and it reflects bad on the whole band, not just them. For this reason, I struggle to listen to them without cringing every time.

I quite like a lot of 10cc stuff, although I know Dreadlock Holiday wouldn't get played now. Was enjoying "Good Morning Judge" yesterday.

I am not convinced his lack of hi-hat foot control was the issue - it looked to me like someone who was incredibly frustrated at not being able to "get" the rhythm and looking to blame out for it. I have to be honest, when I was young and a drummer I would play along to reggae tracks with standard rock beats and could not realise what was not right about it. It wasn't until I heard and saw a pro drummer play proper reggae close up (a very young Pete-Ray Biggin) that it unlocked something in my brain and I finally got it and was able to play along quite well the next time I tried. It looks to me like that guy has never played or listened to anything other than what he likes.

Yeah, yeah @Dood 😁 - reminds me of the time I visited a guy at his desk at work to help with some tech stuff. His dept were being moved, so there were lots of packing crates everywhere. This guy had packed everything away neatly, except one crate he had "accidentally" left open - full of boxes of Durex. "Oh my, that wasn't supposed to be left open" he gasped theatrically, with a huge cheese eating grin on his face as he closed the lid..... A colleague did later point out that it would have been much more impressive if the boxes were empty....

Just to resurrect this thread - I note there appears to be hardly any live footage of Donny but I just found this: I am loving Willie Weeks' (assuming it is him) - green Precision. Fred White's (again assuming it is him) drumming is just so solid. I think this is the closest to the Live album lineup I've ever seen.

I remember playing a gig in central London with 3 sets. The start of the first set was fast approaching and the singer had not appeared. We kept ringing him, but his phone was dead. We decided to go ahead with an instrumental first set. Around half an hour in, he showed up, looking flustered. Apparently he'd been caught in a load of delays on the tube. Ever the professional, he jumped straight on and finished the set. Second set, we play the first song. He then stops the band and goes off on what he later claimed to be his first attempt at stand up, but what just came across as a expletive laden rant about TfL. This was especially weird as up to then I think I'd heard him swear once in 3 years.... At the pauses where (I think) the jokes were meant to be, there was just silence from the crowd and us in the band. After about 3 mins of this extreme awkwardness, he just looked at me, shrugged his shoulders as if to say "well, I tried" and then carried on with the gig which went well after that. To be fair to him, he was in the performing arts scene and had balls of steel to just try something like that off the cuff. I just found it cringeworthy at the time!

Years ago I played in a blues band that played mainly obscure covers and originals. We got booked for a gig for a London borough council at their local offices. I remember helping the organist get hs heavy Hammond up the stairs - not fun! As we started - it soon became clear that we had been booked to play the council's Christmas party. Apparently the council leader loved blues music and had seen us play so booked us for his own gratification. I could see him at the back of the room slowly grooving away with his eyes closed. Unfortunately, between him and us were about 100 council employees - including a load of young staff all looking at us as if to say "what the f**k is this?". At the interval, I pleaded with the band to try and jam through some Christmassy tunes for the second set, but they gave it the "we're too cool to change" bit. We went back on and did our standard set to even more silence. It was such an awkward night....

Funnily enough my brother is a heavy drinker and occasionally used to "sleep-wee" in his bedroom, in his wardrobe, on the stairs etc after a skinful. After a few of these instances, we reckoned it always seemed to be on the nights where he'd had salad for dinner before going out.

Years ago, in the early 90s, as a teenage drummer still at school in my older brother's band (everyone else was 18-28), we got a gig in Hartlepool Hospital, playing in a bar they had on site for doctors and nurses. If I remember correctly, it was a school night (a Thursday I think). We borrowed a Sherpa van from someone, drove down from Gateshead and set up. We played two sets through (Commitments type stuff as it was around the time of the film). The bar was packed but no one so much as looked up or acknowledged we were there. There was a buffet, then bingo being done by a cheesy DJ. We decided to at least have some of their food and pack up after the Bingo as otherwise we would have to load out in front of it all and we were already deflated that no one seemed to like us. As the bingo finished, the DJ said "Did you like the band?"---"Yeah!"----"Do you want to hear them again?"----"Yeah". We went back on and played the exact same two sets again to exactly the same crowd. This time they were singing, dancing and we went down a storm. I think, instead of the expected 11pm, I got home about 3am! That night taught me that bingo, s**t buffet food and drinking a pub dry of alcohol can make all the difference to a gig crowd.... My other big memory of that freezing cold night was that god awful Sherpa van, having to sit in the middle seat with my legs in the passenger footwell, while the bass player had his feet on the dash. (He was a serving police officer at the time!)

Apologies. My poor defence is naivety - I have been on standard full time PAYE contracts for years (I bet that is out of date too). I think the most I earned from gigging in any one year was about £300.... Last time I dealt with HMRC was before 2005.....

I would say when the money starts getting declared to the Inland Revenue....😀

Whilst I wish it was down to my looks and my renowned allure to the opposite sex, I think it more likely I have often been admitted to bands because of my experience of sound engineering and my love of driving vans......

I recently saw an interview with his brother Martin who said that Gary couldn't play anything, but they needed a bass player and they got him in because he was the best looking kid they knew.

As an example, I played a link from someone's post in Basschat a few years ago out loud in the office at work. It was to Anderson.Paak's NPR Tiny Desk concert. I won't repeat what he shouts repetitively at the start, but a black colleague got really upset and asked me to switch it off (which I did). This started a discussion around how normalised the rap/music scene has made these words to the point where most of us (of various ethnicities) hadn't even registered or noticed the words being said. I know he for one (of Jamaican and before that African descent) regularly pulls up younger people in the black community if he hears them using those kind of words. ...and he isn't my only example.

I have met plenty people of African ancestry who still think it is a slur, regardless of who says it - and find people of African ancestry throwing it around as a casual term just as offensive as if a white person did it.

I had it all going at school - ginger, fat, glasses, squeaky voice, braces on teeth...etc etc. The only thing I don't have now are the braces..... The only saving grace for me was around 16 I suddenly had a growth spurt and ended up 6'3 whilst still stocky/fat. It was too late for school but helped me gain a presence to stop some (but not all) cowards being silly and having a go later in life. I also moved around a lot from the age of 18 so was able to reinvent myself each time. One kid at school in particular was horrible - I recently I saw him pop up on FB as the boyfriend of a girl I know that we both went to school with. It brought all the feelings and anxiety flooding back, and my hackles still rise when photos of them appear on my feed. I think you learn to deal with it, but you never get over it.

Whoops - duplicate post!

I thought Peter Jackson's point was that if you look at the footage, you can see if from another narrative to the original film - yes, there were arguments and disagreements, but there was still a lot of good times. The thing I took from it was it seemed to be their lack of a disciplinarian figure like Brian Epstein. His passing had obviously given them the freedom to do what they wanted, but there was no one to say "that's enough messing about" when they needed it in these sessions. Due to that, it all looked very haphazard and left some (Ringo and hangers on) bored. How they held on to Billy Preston for so many days baffles me (I can only assume he got paid well)..

I was really liking the look of the 5 string slab....and then he said the price.......