geoham

A 7lb bass would be ideal for me! What do you play? But absolutely - it's a lot of weight to carry. I don't especially consider myself to have a bad back, but it definitely does ache the day after wearing an almost 10lb bass for three hours+.

I think I’ve been of a similar mindset for years - heavy = better quality. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Like a solid oak table vs an IKEA flatpack. Though my hand made lightweight P sounds and feels better than any other P I’ve owned, so I’ve clearly been wrong. And it doesn’t strain my back!

You are probably right from a practical perspective. However, I couldn’t bring myself to do it - I have some emotional attachment to it! It was my first ‘proper’ bass, and my only bass for many years. It’s been modded a little along the way, and I consider it one of a kind now. It was stolen and I was really upset, and thankfully recovered a few months later. All of which now has me wondering how much I’d really get on with another Jazz!

I'd tend to agree with you. I've personally always found that strings and pickups have the biggest impact to tone.

Really? I'd never have thought that - just that they are slightly differently shaped. It may make my goal of finding a lighter Jazz that sounds and feels as nice as my current one - my main gigging bass for about 18 years - a bit of a fools errand!

The P neck is quite substantial - though the P is the lighter bass. Body thickness is a good point though - it's been hand-made by me, including carving out the curves and stuff - so definitely a huge possibility of there just being less wood.

I've made a slightly surprising discovery this morning. Pre-lockdown, I was doing about 20-25 three hour gigs a year, and often had a bit of lower back pain the day after. During lockdown, I lost some weight and improved my fitness a bit - and had no back pain issues since returning to gigging. Until this weekend! I'd been using the P bass I built on a course with John Shuker exclusively recently. But for a change, I took out my old Mexican built Jazz on Saturday. I used a luggage scale to weigh my basses this morning - it turns out my P only weighs around 7.5lb, while the Jazz comes in at 9.5lb. Given both basses are made of alder, with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, I'm surprised at the 2lb weight difference. I guess it's mostly down to natural differences in the wood. Can we infer anything about the quality or (dare I say!) tone of wood from its weight? It's kind of got me gassing for a light-weight Jazz... the wife will be pleased I'm sure! George

A friend of mine bid on a car once after a few sherries. Something like an 80's Cortina. Allegedly had no memory of it, but emails confirmed he had made the bid! Thankfully, he was outbid at the last minute.

I tend to agree - putting a token price on something is a sensible approach and keeps many timewasters at bay.

Giving free stuff away... what a pain! Gave a couple of things away that folk have very quickly gone on to sell. That really annoys me. I needed rid of a couple of sets of Ikea drawers quickly, so offered them free on a Facebook group. About a dozen people jumped on it immediately, most with sob-stories! I thought the fairest thing was to do was to offer them to the first person who commented on the post - I responded "I'll message you" within 5 minutes of their post, then dropped them an instant message. Four hours later, no response from them I move to the next person on the list who collect them within 30 minutes. A few hours later, the original person finally gets back to me and tried to arrange collection, gets very angry I didn't hold them for her. Her and some folk with the same surname publicly rip me to shreds in the Facebook group. How I didn't give her a chance to response, I was so unreasonable, left her kids in tears etc etc. I think I'll stick to giving stuff to the charity shop now. No shortage of them where I am! George

1 bass. (I've convinced myself I've need more than one in the past, but I really don't! Honestly, nobody cares if I play Muse on a P with flats or The Beatles on an active 5 string. I just use whatever I fancy on the night.) Line6 Helix LT 2 instrument cables (Also two XLR cables from the PA cable box) 3 plectrums IEMs & belt-pack iPad & laptop for controlling mixer. (Laptop ready to go on ethernet if the iPad or Wifi fails at any point. Never happened yet, but I don't quite trust the tech 100% yet) I play covers in city centre pubs, where nearby parking is often difficult and 'stage' space is at a premium. So, the less gear the better.

My view on Pino is that he had a very distinctive sound earlier in his career. It was clearly quite influential - the bass part on Nikita does sound quite like Pino to me too. But since then, he's covered such a diverse range of genres and styles of playing that I think most bassists would often struggle to recognise his playing. Especially on many of the radio-friendly pop tracks he's appeared on. This is in no way a criticism - he's being hired to do a job and he clearly does it very well!

McVie is a fantastic player - I don’t feel he gets the recognition he deserves. An ever present in one of music’s most enduring bands, performing the roll of bassist perfectly, whether playing 60’s blues rock or 80’s synth pop. To Rumours specifically, I think his finest moment is the chorus on Go Your Own Way - an absolute cracker of a bassline.

I’ve used SAP systems extensively in the past, and the one thing they have in common is a terrible user experience. There’s a Greene King pub we play a few times a year that’s asked us to start invoicing via Concur. Their previous system used to charge us a £3 service fee to use it. Does anyone know if Concur does the same? The mention of this usually sets me off on a rant with our singer who books the gigs (he would happily play 6 hour sets seven days a week for free). The gig works out a well below minimum wage for us and to charge us for the privilege of being paid is ludicrous. We’re all hobbyists with day jobs, but it’s not the point!

To be honest, I’m not sure. My guitarist dealt with it at the time. We also put the same video on Facebook, and it stayed up, so our followers still got to hear our effort.

I've been asked to confirm the equipment is PAT tested a few times, all by hotels for wedding gigs. None of them actually followed through and checked the equipment or asked for certificates though. The band's guitarist was an electrician, so it wasn't a problem for us anyway. While the country was locked down, my current covers band remotely recorded a cover of a popular song, and put it to a video slide-show of some band photos. It was taken down by YouTube in a matter of hours. We're quite good, but nobody was mistaking this for the original! I was very surprised by this, I didn't think recording a cover would be considered a copyright issue.

I feel exactly the same. The venue for them in Glasgow seems ideal - quite small and intimate in the grand scheme of things! ZZ Top's gig in the same place was one of the best ever. But, the thought of being out of pocket for a gig that has at best a 50/50 chance of going ahead has prevented me from buying tickets so far. Already missed out on Nick Mason, because the first re-arranged date wasn't suitable. I gave up those tickets - losing out on the substantial 'booking fee', only for it to be rescheduled again. I'm hoping to see Tarja Turunen at the third attempt come February. I'm not holding my breath. I had tickets for Nightwish in Birmingham, for it to be postponed again, until next November. I was able to move my hotel date for this at a bargain cost of only £100... On top of this, my 17 year old kid has really gotten in to music since the start of lockdown, and has few gigs he wants to go to. I'll need to accompany him due to his autism. Starset and Sabaton tickets purchased so far - again, both early next year. I was in two minds whether to purchase them or not, but he'd be devastated if he missed them - so I had little choice but to take a punt that they'll go ahead. Regarding my own gigging experience - it's mostly pubs that I play in, and honestly they seem as busy as they ever did. Though I suspect this weekend may be a different story...

About 15 years ago, my mother got in contact with a long-lost cousin who had emigrated to Canada as a kid. He eventually visited us in Scotland, and brought over a huge box of 'Ridley 3-way picks', that his son had invented and got a patent for. Basically, two plectrums together at slightly different angles. It could sound quite nice on acoustic or jangly electric, though didn't really work for bass. I don't think they ever really took off, but this post did remind me of them a little!

Just finished watching the third part. I think my favourite moment of the whole thing was Ringo sheepishly playing Octopus's Garden for the others, then George coming to piano to help him with the chords.

So far I’ve only seen part 1. I agree it’s probably a little too long. I had to split the episode in to two shifts! However, I’ve rather enjoyed it. My takeaways so far…. - It’s great watching these legendary songs being built. Such a great insight. - I rather like the early, less subtle version of Get Back’s lyrics. - McCartney is a genius. A fantastic songwriter, leading the band while remaining positive. - I loved seeing Harrison playing bass like a guitar, and still knocking out a quality bass-line. I might need to buy me a Bass VI! - Harrison seems remarkably chilled and agreeable, content playing 3rd fiddle to the others - despite the fact he wasn’t exactly lacking ideas, creativity or talent! Obviously bottling quite a lot up, leading to him just unexpectedly walking out. - Lennon doesn’t seem especially engaged, often verging on being negative or unpleasant. I don’t think he’s filmed more than arm’s length away from Yoko at any point. I’d have struggled to tolerate this as a band mate, and it’s interesting that the others basically ignore her presence. George

You were just at 99 subscribers, I hit subscribe and it took you to 100. Hopefully stays there! Interested to find out...

We bought the XR18. £425 from Amazon, and the ability to split the bill in to 5 payments with no interest It’s a great device and just works. I’ve dedicated an old laptop to controlling it. I was a bit concerned about how using a computer as a remote control would hold up live, compared to just being able to quickly grab a fader - but it’s great. I’ve set keyboard player and I up with IEM and the rest with their own wedge. A huge difference - the vocalist has mostly himself and a tiny bit of band in his monitor and no longer constantly asking to be turned up. He did miss a cue once because he had the keyboards down a bit too low… so still a little work to do. We’re still running without amps, which is great - especially in space restricted venues. The guitarist still makes the occasional comment that he thinks we’d sound better with cabs on stage, but he’s otherwise behaving!

Certainly looks an interesting device!

Or at least how he thinks it goes. But generally an attempt at a bassline at least!

Sounds a bit like my singer... he likes to sing bass parts to me! We're a covers band, and he'll occasionally throw in a suggestion at rehearsal of a song he wants to do that very minute with a view of gigging that weekend. Some things you can muddle your way through with root notes and watching the guitarist and keyboard player. Others are a bit more tricky and I'll say I don't know it, but can learn it for next time. For example, I explained The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down has quite an important bassline and I'd need to spend some time to get it right. He proceeds to try and sing the part to me - "You do know it - it goes dooo do doo dodoo...". He's tried it a few times mid-gig to, to accommodate requests. As much as I'd like to do that Thunder song to make that punter happy, I've never even heard it before! "It's easy, it goes..."