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[b]Rio [/b]is a good one. Never played it with a band but when I got an Aria bass about 25 years ago I tried to copy some JT lines, one of which was Rio. Can’t remember if I ever nailed it, but it’s the only bassline I’ve ever tried where I think having only a thumb to play with actually became an advantage – it could work like a plectrum but with none of the unwanted noise and, if kept close to the strings, could even dampen notes as a plectrum maybe couldn’t. It’s a major disadvantage for octave work though. [b]Everybody Dance[/b] is one we may be asked to do by request for a wedding (awaiting news on that) and those double octave hits – at that speed – will be close to impossible.

Obviously I'll give the above first dibs on this, but if they're unavailable try us: lefunk.co.uk - we currently have that date available.

Just thought of another too, although as I’ve never tried it I can’t say just how difficult it is – [b]Boogie Nights[/b] (Heatwave) has been on our suggestions list for a while but I really don’t fancy that intro! Is it as hard as I think it is?

Set lists can be very unpredictable though. I can pick out songs X and Y and two gigs with an almost identical audience. At gig one, X will pack the dancefloor but work like a fire escape for gig two, other way round for song Y. We try to put as much thought into it as possble, but in the end it might as well be guesswork.

A big stage every time for me, much prefer it over small venues, not least because it’s a rare treat. In the 4 or 5 years of this band I reckon we’ve had a big stage about once a year. There’s good and bad about relying on in-house PA but, as an inherently lazy git, I’m quite happy to leave our PA and lighting rigs at home. As for actual performance, I love having all that room to muck around in and, thankfully, we’re so familiar with what we play that if we move out of sound range we still know what’s going on. The disadvantage for us is that myself (bass) and the guitarist do a heck of a lot of backing vox, and there’s little worse than finding yourself 20 feet from the mic at the point when you’re supposed to start singing. A few years ago we did a scouts/guides festival at Tatton Park on a lovely big open-air stage. Yes, the crowd was behind barriers but they still went bonkers for us – not because we were good, but because they were there to watch the bands and to enjoy the occasion. At pubs you sometimes feel like an intrusion. While very enjoyable for us, a Christmas gig we did at the Pavilion in Llangollen showed why big stages aren’t always great. The PA cut out completely during set 2 and it took the in-house guys quite a while to fix it. This was also before I went wireless, and my lead kept catching on the corner of the drum riser.

Luckily her school embraces all types of music from classical to rock and provides all the necessary gear, including recording facilities and a rehearsal room.

I seem to be posting quite a bit of stuff today – tbh I’ve got some brain freeze as regards my normal work so I’m just relaxing while the synapses try to become active again. Anyway, here’s another one… She’s only 15, but my daughter now has a Fender Squier Jazz bass, an acoustic bass (some cheap thing, but it’s only so she can practice without making noise) and a rather lovely Ibanez semi-acoustic 6-string. She’s putting plenty of effort into both, but when she goes to uni in a year or so she’ll be forming a band and wants to be the bassist. It goes without saying that I’m full of fatherly pride. Do you have offspring who are following/have followed you into the dark world of 4 strings?

Ooh, SpaceChick - give me a 5-string and Little L and I'll be in bass heaven!

One of the great things about the bass is just how sloppy/noisy you can be but how much of that gets hidden in the mix. Can’t remember which one it was now, but I found the original bassline to a Duran Duran song on YouTube; it’s a great line but it sounds terrible when isolated. The playing is tight enough but there’s a load of fret noise and pickup hits, even a very clumsy punch-in edit. But put the whole musical package together and it sounds great. We get away with quite a lot! On the subject of Hysteria, sometimes the open strings become the problem, for me anyway. Instead of trying to hit every note I do a load of hammer-ons, but there are points – in pretty much every verse phrase – where you’re forced to change the hit/hammer-on rhythm and it really catches me out. Given more time I’m sure I’ll nail it (or get close). Perversely, and simply because of my, er, digital deficiencies, I find the chorus harder than the verses, just can’t move the thumb quick enough.

Aw. I thought I was telling a guitarist joke

Yes, I have a file like that, which raises another subject. In a 'democratic' band you probably reach consensus when it comes to choosing new songs - there are quite a few in our list on which I was heavily outvoted, so week in week out I'm playing some songs which I really despise.

Quite a few mentions of personal bête noirs on this thread! [b]Hysteria[/b]. Not that I’ll ever play it live but it’s one I’d love to fathom. Like others I’ve found some of the YouTube guides not quite right. For me (playing with only a thumb) the hard part is that there are one or two pull-offs, very difficult to do while keeping time. [b]I Want You Back[/b]. The band has just about given up on this, mainly because of the mid section. Marrying up drums/bass turned out to be near impossible. We’ve also got [b]You To Me Are Everything [/b]on the list and, so far, it’s plain awful. Drums, bass & keys sound like they’re playing different songs.

Drummer Bill Bruford writes: "[i]Surprise, attack, understate, or overstate, but whatever you do, avoid the two cardinal sins of being either boring or predictable[/i]." Seriously? OK, Bill, can I just point out a few things? In a band you have something called the rhythm section, which comprises drums and bass guitar. These combine to form the backbone of the band’s sound and, as such, they should work together – each should know precisely what the other is going to do, otherwise it can get messy. You may be thinking, Sir Bruford, that you can combine mahooooosive ego and chosen instrument and that these will produce a God before whom all should kneel in worship. But no – that is the guitarist’s job.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy playing my band’s material, namely covers of classic funk, disco, soul and motown, but none of it will ever find its way onto my MP3 player in the car. On that you’ll only hear post-punk or similar by the likes of Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Deaf Havana, Muse, Sugarcult etc etc. Is that in any way unusual? Anyone else here have musical tastes very different to what you play live? And if you happened to find a band playing ‘your stuff’ and looking for a bassist, would you be tempted (maybe you shouldn't answer that!)?

While agree the mark might add provenance/character, sadly that’s only true up to the point of resale (not that it’ll be sold any time soon) – then it becomes a blemish, ergo an unwelcome discount. BTW Andy’s right, it is a great bass, certainly in terms of playing; faster neck, and far lighter body than the Dean Edge I was using beforehand. It’s not all great though. As the tone pots have no markers I keep them all dead centre so there’s no awkward fiddling about on stage, but the A string has far less punch than the E. E/A on the Edge bass are more equal.

Thanks for responses guys. Andy's comment is interesting, makes me wonder if there's any mileage to asking the shop where I bought it if I have grounds for having the guitar replaced? If not, back to the felt tip pens...

This is something that appeared after I had a re-string / set-up a few weeks ago - I am definitely NOT apportioning any blame to the shop that did it the work. The bass is Ibanez SDGR500. A patch of bare wood has appeared as in the pic below. Being the consummate pro, I used some brown felt tip pens to cover it up but, as you can see, it's reverted to how it was. This area of the body doesn't get contacted by anything - it's well out of the reach of fingers and strings. Has anyone else had a similar issue, and what's the best treatment? [attachment=183441:SAM_0672.JPG]

Hi all After a heck of a lot of practice I think I'm getting fairly close to the Hysteria (Muse) bassline, and it would be nice to also get close to CW's buzz synth sound. I certainly don't want to spend serious money though. My bass is an Ibanez SR500 and I keep all the pots dead centre as I don't like tweaking sounds from song to song. I also use light gauge - 35-90 - strings. Is there a reasonably priced FX pedal that will get me anywhere close to the Hysteria sound?