Norris

One thing I've found is that you can always improve your playing. I've been gigging regularly for over 30 years and think that my playing and technical ability is better now than it's ever been. Songs that I really struggled to learn and play all the notes in time a few years ago, I can now play with ease and even think about nuance too. If you stick at it, without going overboard so that you get fed up & frustrated, it will come.

About 2 years ago I bought the wood to make a telecaster from scratch. Around about the same time I bought my lad a Squier strat. They cost the same. Two years later my telecaster is nearly finished. It has bought me a lot of enjoyment making it, and to be fair it's not your average telecaster either - bookmatched and carved flamed maple top, chambered ash back, birds eye maple neck, etc. It's been a labour of love. However I can fully understand that people don't have the time, patience or skill to make a guitar from scratch (and believe me I had very little skill when I started! ). A kit is an ideal way to make a guitar your own, to put your stamp on it. It's not always about the end result either - it's the journey and sense of achievement. I will post up some pictures of my guitar when I'm done. I know it's not a bass, but I thought I'd gain some skills on a lesser instrument first. I have my bass in my head and it will be made from scratch - but I can't say when I'll finally get to play it - when it's ready

A micro fibre cloth is good at removing dust. My local supermarket sells packs of about 5 in different colours for a couple of quid

I usually wear jeans and a shirt. However with my "wild man of rock" hair (I'm lucky enough to still have a full head, so exploit it) everyone knows I'm in the band

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1509712690' post='3401099'] The drummer's stage wear is memorable... [/quote] I once met him in a pub and rather immaturely ripped him to shreds about it He's more famous than I am though

I've had a frozen shoulder which was more inconvenient than painful. It took a few months of doing exercises that my doctor gave me to free it up. I've also had tendinitis in the index finger of my left hand. Luckily I managed to sort that through resting it and massaging the affected joints. I've got off lightly so far

There was the time I made my own FM transmitter. I think it was a Maplin kit which I built into an old Colmans mustard tin. I calibrated it by tuning the Bush hifi to 108MHz and then manually tweaking the inductor coil on the transmitter until I got a cleanish signal. That was back in the day when 108MHz upwards was used by the emergency services!

My first bass was a Kay short scale SG copy with action you could drive a bus under. Before that I'd been playing on a battered old acoustic guitar fitted with a cheap clip in pickup. My first amp was a little 5W open backed practice amp - Futurama brand iirc. From there I progressed onto a 1x15 cab that my dad made me, fitted with a ripped speaker "mended" with tissue paper and wood glue. That was powered by the valve based internals of an old record player. My mum never did discover how one of her dining room chairs got a scorch mark

A couple of spots of CA (superglue) will hold it plenty firmly enough. You may need to remove it in the future so don't go too mad

Hipshot d-tuner?

I think Bilbo has amassed those pens in preparation for the hoardes of fans wanting his signature

I'll definitely listen to them. My guitarist plays with Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash) and they have been on the same bill as The Strawbs on a tour a year or two ago. I'll ask him what he thought of them

Key, who starts, rhythm/tempo (if it's similar to a song I know). Maybe chord sequence and middle 8 if it's a tricky one. And maybe how it ends if there is a custom arrangement instead of a fade out on the original

We play in similar venues - pubs, clubs and occasionally outside, and use a pair of second hand Mackie (SRM?) 450s. Plenty enough for vocals and kick, fairly light and compact. As they are powered it saves having a separate power amp, and fewer cables to plug in. We then have a Yamaha 8 channel mixer - job done.

Clean your tip on a damp sponge then melt a blob of fresh solder onto the tip. The fresh solder will contain flux, which helps, plus the fresh solder will improve the surface contact

I think to count as a gig it should be pre-arranged. A jam is ... well a jam. Having said that I suppose you can still jam at a gig. Certainly I don't think an OM counts, but then if you want to tell your mates you gigged, I'm not going to stop you. Time for a drop of JD methinks

[quote name='JohnFitzgerald' timestamp='1508516942' post='3392742'] I did a gig earlier in the year. My band played, then another two other bands played, (David Cross, from King Crimson 0 then Ray Wilson) then ARW played. ARW are Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman. They now go out as YES. There would have been around 5,000 there. What's the least you'd have played our slot at such a festival for ? Or if I might ask that another way. If we'd pulled out with a week to go, and you were offered the slot, for zero fee, how many of you would have taken it ? All I'm saying is, the pay or reward doesn't always come in the form of money. (We consider ourselves massively fortunate to have had the opportunity, so please don't misunderstand me). I'm well aware that this is different to the original post, but I'm talking about the circumstances in which the actual cash fee kinda doesn't matter any more. [/quote] Being on the same bill as Yes is a different matter. I'd have happily done that one for free - free gig with backstage pass init?!

The only "exposure" you're likely to get from this gig is as a band that will play for free. You'll certainly get plenty of offers - for other unpaid gigs. Fair dues for legitimate charity events, but this one doesn't seem to be one of those

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1508240364' post='3390719'] Yes. It reads 18 ohm in the one direction, off the scale in the other. WOuld that indicate that the issue is elsewhere? [/quote] Yes - you need to keep looking

If it's a diode, have you checked it both ways? Swapped the positive and negative leads around? Diodes allow current one way but not the other

If you play in a band regularly you are not going to have much of a weekend social life outside of it You don't need an expensive bass (certainly not nowadays) to make a good noise The groove is more important than the actual notes

A school hall in Munster, Germany. Around 1983 aged 17. A diabolical Kay SG copy through a home-made amp that also had guitar and vocal going through it. We played the two songs we knew - both originals.

Titebond and as many clamps as there's room for. No need for dowels

Maybe we are unusual in still only putting vocals through the PA and using backline amps. There again for the pubs we play in you really don't need a multi-kilowatt PA. So many landlords tell us it's refreshing that we get a great sound without taking the roof off or spending 3 hours sound checking in the Dog and Duck.

I'm lucky enough to have never been nervous about playing. I suppose it's because I don't think too much about it beforehand. When I get in the car I become a musician on the way to a gig - that's about the extent of my preparation, a mental switch away from the day job and family life. Arrive, set up, have a shandy. Eventually it's time to step up and do your stuff.