Adrenochrome

Possibly not a popular bassist... but from what I've seen and heard Bryan Adams is a very handy live bass player while also singing.

Are you referring to the use of that particular word, which is based on an offensive term, or just deriding fellow musicians who play guitar? There are some character traits for electric, mainly rock guitarists, which are so common (eg too loud on stage, obsession with their personal tone above the band sound) that they are very widely recognised, and the mick-taking is at least partly justified.

None of my basses wander out of tune much at all. If the pub gets very hot they might need a slight tweak at some point in the 2nd set. I use a muted tuner to check about twice a set, which takes can be done well before the next song.

Most excellent guitarists I've come across have been excellent on bass. I suspect the idea that guitarists can't 'really' get into playing bass well might be a myth. Didn't Waters, Foxton etc switch from guitar?

[size=4]Yes I have. My first bass was an 80s Korean Squier Jazz. Best neck I have ever tried bar none. Even with the tone rolled off the bass and lower mids were really poor. I sold that one but with hindsight I think some good pups would have sorted it. It’s not that I don’t like a bright sound, I love the full range sound from jazz type basses, and my main gigging bass is a jazz type bass with humbuckers. I want the bass, the mids and the treble.[/size]

Great news! My mate sings for Memorium, and I have/had acquaintances in a few of the other bands.

It would be a very rare situation when you'd need more than the 4x10 surely?

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1493279135' post='3287027'] ...I hope it helps when those of us who do understand the technical side of things and who aren't selling anything pitch in... [/quote] Absolutely does, thanks!

My main band 'Guilty Pleasures' describes exactly what we play. It was supposed to be a working title only as it's not very original, but it just stuck. My acoustic project 'Roads' alludes to travelling and different experiences which hints at the breadth of source material we cover (60s pop to melodic death metal). Knowing our singer I think it will have been partly inspired by the film 'The Road'.

My main band is moderately loud (drums, keys, guitar, bass), and I dep in bands that have either 2 x guitar or occasionally guitar + keys, none of which are super loud. I’ve done most of my gigs in the last couple of years with a 1x12. How do I manage: [font=Symbol]· [/font]99% of the time my rig is onstage monitoring only [font=Symbol]· [/font]I work hard on my backing vox, so I need my bass to be ‘in the mix’ rather than overpowering [font=Symbol]· [/font]I roll off quite a bit of bottom end on my amp which aids clarity onstage (and probably helps the amp) [font=Symbol]· [/font]Don’t need the comfort blanket of a ‘big rig’ [font=Symbol]· [/font]I’m often singing at the front and side of the stage area, so can hear bass from FOH also Incidentally I recently did a gig with my 1x12 cab without PA support, and I toasted the speaker! It really does make a difference having the PA take the strain. When my bonus comes in later in the year I will be looking for a similar sized cab (retro TWO10?) for just a bit more ‘poke’ onstage.

Almost always!

Yes, a few times. My preference has been for 1 guitar, or singist who sometimes plays a bit of 2nd guitar. I found what fits best in the mix is not adding 'effects' but just bringing your chosen sound up in the mix (mine is overdiven as standard), and keeping the pauses and quiet sections already in the music. [b]chris b[/b] knows by the sound of it!

I'm sorry to hear that, condolences to his friends and family.

I've done all my acoustic gigs with a Trace Elliot Boxer 30 (1x10, 30 watts), including an outdoor festival. I've seen full rock gigs done with the TE BLX 80 (the one with the slotted front). Quite a few years ago everyone gigged with lower powered amps but loads of speaker area - it's all swung round now.

I bought a 4 ohm Warwick 4x10 cab from these pages, to pair with my Hartke HA3500. I selected mainly based on the stats, although I had heard an 8 ohm version. I wanted a single cab loud enough to play outdoor gigs in big marquees etc, and it's done that just fine.

No, luckily all my basses are worth very little on the open market, so even when skint it would barely have been worth the effort.

I'm in my 40s and had some heart trouble, now all fine - I just need new batteries every few years! I joined a new band (I already knew the drummer could play) which had a rule of only one full gig a month and almost always local gigs. This suited my current lifestyle perfectly. I do acoustic gigs once every few months with the 2 guitarists from my old rock/metal band. I also do a few dep gigs but of course I can pick and choose those. Nobody has questioned the infrequency with which my main band gigs, and I relish each gig now

So I’m not an expert in any style of Bass playing but my solid bodied electric fretless is what I use for all my acoustic trio gigs. When I’ve switched to fretless for occasional songs in various pop/metal/rock bands before, the benefits have been outweighed by the faff in changing instruments and all the inconstancies that brings to the band sound. It’s certainly versatile though, I loved the sound of fretless on an original metalcore track we played (Lesson Learned) about 15 years ago . Damn shame I joined just after they recorded that EP with the guitarist playing the bass parts.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1490178393' post='3262829'] I like your style! Ever play in the North East of England? [/quote] Not often, mainly based in West Yorkshire now as the travel and late nights was doing me in such that I had to pack in playing with Delirium my grunge/metal/hard-rock covers band. Played Acklam Steelies a couple of times about 9-10 years ago, admitttedly that was a more traditional rock covers set. My current main band is doing pop covers [a bit louder and faster than the original versions ] limited to about once a month, and then I fit in occasional dep gigs and acoustic trio gigs around that.

Whether you do covers or originals, IMO it only works when you can put songs across convincingly with confidence. If the typical pub setlist is your thing, then play it loud and proud! Don’t let people tell you that you CANNOT have successful paid pub/club gigs if you break away from the usual though. In recent years I’ve gigged songs by Opeth, Lady Gaga, Alice In Chains, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Black Stone Cherry, Flock Of Seagulls etc as well as a couple of original numbers, all with success and repeat bookings. But you can’t do material like that half-heartedly, play it like you mean it, take care of the details, get anyone who possibly can singing harmonies, don’t miss out the tricky bits of songs or take short cuts.

I eat about 5pm and never feel too full by the time the gig starts. I guess your schedule might not allow for that - protein bars could help I reckon (they do decent ones quite cheap at my local Aldi).

Yes, my acoustic trio has no percussionist, so I keep time. I see it as an itneresting challenge, although as has been pointed out above, the bassist can also be the main timekeeper when you have a wandering drummer ;-) Funnily enough, I found the more defined bottom end of my solid electric basses much better for this than my e/a bass, even though it looks more the part for the acoustic trio.

Even though I'm not very good at it, I LOVE playing Jonny B Goode on dep gigs as I never get to play older r'n'r songs or shuffles at any other time; it's outside my comfort zone

Yes, I love playing and singing. Most songs in my pop/punk/metal/rock sphere are very easy to play on bass (IMO). So I feel it’s the right thing to contribute as much as I can to the band sound include vocal harmonies, occasional lead vox if required, adding bits of keyboard parts etc. As stated earlier, clashes between vocal rhythms and the bass rhythms are often the challenging bits. One song I used to sing lead on I actually played g****r and let the singer play bass because it was much easier that way.