petebassist

As long as you have the front-person performing appropriately, I don't think you don't need every band member hamming it up, as long they look professional. Luckily, in my current band (swing jazz n blues) it's not expected. I have to hold my hand up and admit to being of the Bill Wyman school of stage presence (AKA Everybody's Favourite Undertaker). If I try to smile too much at the crowd, people look like they're about to call security or the door man I'm afraid. As to theatrical chops. I occasionally lift my right hand an extra couple of inches if I play a long growly note.

I've looked into this myself and two instruments that stand out are the Eminence (which is strictly not an EUB, it's a small bodied acoustic instrument with a pickup that amplifies the acoustic sound), and the Yamaha SLB, which has electronics to mimic the sound of an amplified acoustic upright. They ain't cheap though but hold their value better ;-) The cheaper instruments seem to either require a lot of mods to make them usable or have quality issues, but they're cheap as chips and easy to buy.

Love the tone you're getting on that SC clip. What strings have you got? Any tone-shaping or is it clean into the recorder?

I was even wearin me Geordie jeans !

Maybe I look a bit dodgy too - remember Harry Enfield's Bugger All Money ;-)

Better than 0 gigs mate. Keep playing and enjoying the music.

How about, could you ask your colleague to come over? I need some professional advice. Music shop staff are a mixed bunch, but I think it goes with the territory. When I go to my local big music store in the South West, I always look for same guy, who has great customer service skills, and treats me nicely & professionally. I have in the past dealt with other staff there who were/are drongos, one frustrated musician type who apparently just wanted to show off knowledge and personal musicianship, and a younger untrained person who locked onto me like a hawk and wouldn't let me out of his sight while I tried some high-end guitars (I assumed he hadn't met or spoken to someone from the North East before ;-).

Maybe you could pick up what you want to know from the internet, or books, instructional CDs etc - that's all I ever use as I'm tutor-averse and have always taught myself stuff. And TBH there's so much out there why pay £40 an hour for the privilege? I learnt my basic upright bass technique from Ed Friedland, not Ed in person, but his DVD lessons. Good luck with it.

Ronnie Lane can hold his own too, had to nick this one from the Faces Live 1972 post. https://youtu.be/SLhoLkTyNkM

And the amazing Kenny Jones on drums, this must qualify as a super-group. Stupendous !!!

Of course mate, especially in the jazz venues ;-)

Not many around, and I didn't know that Bill Wyman could sing too back in his hey-day - came across this picture disk album in London at the weekend. Interesting track list too ;-). I'm not a huge fan of his singing but my all time favourite rock bass line is Bill's tour-de-force on Miss You, and it's gotta be the extended version.

I got a 3/4 size Fender Precision style bass for my son from Gear4Music when he started for around £125 - great little bass, which I use myself now to noodle around on and take to rehearsals when I don't want to take my upright.

It's the same scale length as the NS Design Omni upright (34 in), so I guess it's competing with the Omni? Wouldn't be for me unless it had an end-pin and adjustable bridge. Nice looking bass though, if you just wanted to play upright and weren't bothered about the difference in scale length between this and a standard 3/4 acoustic bass.

Agreed the pizz is raspy and sounds almost like s synth in places, but I like the arco bits, especially where it veers towards distortion. Only 34 inch scale though...

Start another band alongside this one, and see which one is more successful, and leave/disband the other one. As Warren Buffet said, sometimes you have to kill off your favourite children... ;-)

Good advice. I find it much easier to play upright for long periods if I've put in a bit of gym time, or even just a few push-ups (I'm making a mental note to start doing this again...). @Jezyorkshire I hope you get your arm & shoulder back in working order mate.

Choose a different song if you don't like the lyrics. Looking at the lyrics, high heels, backdated, you for my mum (at least I'd get my washing done), isn't that also sizeist, ageist, and sexist?

I remember seeing Brian Johnson interviewed a few years ago, and he said something along the lines of 'all the best musicians I've worked have also been great guys'. I was surprised at the time, I'd assumed they'd all be a$$holes.

I tried one in Hobgoblin Music in Bristol, stunning bass and superb craftsmanship. I didn't get to try the amplified sound, which is where they shine I'm told. Very nice !!

Didn't Hendrix play a right-handed Strat re-strung as a left-hander? Which also enabled him to manipulate the volume and tone controls with his upper wrist while playing, hence getting his amazing effects - that's another innovation they might want to include.

"Rick: I know, let's put Neil's speaker in front of the door! Neil: Oh, not that speaker! Jimi Hendrix once pi$$ed on that!" The Young Ones - 1982

I think it's a great investment in time if you mean to perform, and I find it fun , completely absorbing, a bit like sitting down to enjoy reading a book. Also, you never know when you might need it. A few months back I arranged to try out/audition with a jazz orchestra, and I told them beforehand that I could read basic bass clef (i.e. not up the dusty end), if very slowly, but I mainly played from memory having first learnt the parts. No problem they said, just come along and do what you can. When I did turn up, someone plonked a music score on my lap and we were off. As the bass lines were relatively simple, I just about managed to keep up note wise, and also remember the notation symbols, having read a book years ago about how to read scores. It could have been a car-crash two hours, but I managed to leave at the end with at least some dignity...