thepurpleblob

Anyway, it's a bass guitar... how many tricks do you need? 😎

We're clearly in the world of, "very clever guys but there's no way am I going to listen to any more of that!" 😄

For some reason the rest of my band like to turn up about 3 hours before the gig. I have better things to do so they're always set up when I get there. I just shout at them. They probably think I'm an derrière! If the hat fits etc. 😄 😄

I've never understood this. Guitarists are even worse for it. The best bit of advice I ever had - set up, plug in, tune up, play a couple of notes to make sure it works, PUT IT DOWN!!

Once again.... you're supposed to change strings? 🤨

Absolutely - I in no way disagree with you in that respect. I'm just suggesting that if you have the urge to play a 5 string I think it's a bigger challenge to find a 5 that suits as there is more variation. If you don't care (and I sympathise as there is a hell of a lot of stuff I have neither the time nor the inclination to give a stuff about) then it doesn't matter at all.

I wonder sometimes if the Fender Precision/Jazz is the staple of music videos because that's "the look" they want to go for rather than the instrument normally played. I prefer to play a 5, but it's party laziness. I'd be quite happy to play a 4 string something-or-other with a Hipshot thingy for a couple of songs -- but then I'd have to learn to play in drop-D properly 😂

This - life is too short 😄

One or two - we are a new-ish band so we don't exactly get the pick of the "good" places. But we're also all quite experienced so we're not going to keep digging a hole. We played a Chinese restaurant that was also a bar with live music. The average age must have been about 15. No point going back. A couple of others playing to two people. That sort of thing....

That's really interesting. Now to watch all the rest !!

We play that in our covers set. I give it the three notes it deserves. I may be being a little unfair... 😄

Nah - I think you're wrong. What I do think is that 5 (and by extension 6 string) basses have a lot more variation. There are, effectively, de-facto standards for the 4 string (Mr Fender's creations) but these don't exist for the 5-string basses. Although I can't prove it, I'm going to suggest that's it harder (== more expensive) to produce a good 5 string than a good 4 string. Really, the E-G strings shouldn't be any different from a 4 and the B is what sorts the men from the boys. After sifting through quite a few 5s, you should come and have a go on my Yamaha TRB5 or my Lakland 5. They took some tracking down and the Lakland (USA) was a lot more expensive than I might have liked.

The band I am in was formed in 1979. I am the third bass player. The first one is now the lead guitarist. The second one left and was replaced by me. The others are all original. It's quite scary. They all know what each other is thinking after all that time!

I can't stand football. I'm not even sure this is a football song. But it's great

Who?

Nowadays - life is too short and I am too old - I would only join a band that is actually gigging. I've reached a level of (in)competence where learning a full set of songs doesn't really phase me. In fact I quite enjoy it! The whole sorry business of starting a new band from scratch is too horrible to think about.

It depends what your goals are but for me playing in a band is about playing gigs. That requires putting in some time at the "coal face" to get a set of songs together you won't look stupid playing. You can soon tell if that's not going to happen in my experience.

I think there's some marketing going on. Whether it's true or not, older instruments are perceived to be somehow "better". They are probably rarer (where do all the old basses go?). There's nothing quite like being all beat up to announce "I'm old". So a beaten up old Precision announces that you can afford something from the 60s. They have hardly changed so how would you know otherwise? At the end of the day, you have to pick up a bass, plug it in and see if it's for you. It's still just a lump of wood with some strings attached. It's similar to "why would anybody pay for a Fedora when a Squier will do?". Because they do. Taste and fashion is a funny old thing 😄

If we're going to be all sexist. Where she goes "Ooooh" along with the song as 1:29 😈

I can't stand / don't understand football. However, the current heatwave is stopping me doing pretty much anything 😄

I was quite the Genesis fan as a teenager (back in the 80s!). I was listening to stuff like Trick of the Tail the other day and it all sounds rather twee now. I think I may have moved on. A lot of stuff from the 70s is incredibly badly recorded by today's standards. A lot of 'The Who' albums are just dreadful. Which is a shame...

I can sight read drums and percussion effortlessly. For some reason, I've never got there with the bass. And I'd much rather play the bass. In fact, that's all I do play now.

He's one of those players... I know his name from these forums. But I couldn't name anything he's done.

Well... I suppose I'm not their target market in the first place 😄

It always worries me in sales of vintage Fenders and the like when people take off the neck to show the matching serial numbers. If I was buying it, I think I'd be a lot happier if they left it alone!!