super al

Strengths - Any new covers we do I listen to the song, learn it and then practice it until my fingers bleed. I hate being the guy who turns up for rehearsal and stops the song halfway through to ask "how does that bit go again". I prefer to tut and roll my eyes 😎. - I got pretty decent lightweight, small rig so my set up and take down time is pretty quick and I don't take up half the stage (I usually have time to help the drummer carry his case of doom) Weaknesses - BVs, I'm rubbish at them. Any hints and tips would be welcome, I'm trying to learn at the mo. - I can't read music - I don't solo very well (drums stop, very bad...) Overall - A solid, ok-ish, no frills bass player...any takers?

Ah, the Chilis. I remember watching a pre BSSM Chilis on a Jonathan Ross chat show doing Foxy Lady (I think!), Flea played the entire song hanging upside down!!! As for myself, I love playing a quirky cover version. I was in a covers band who played most songs as per the original artist but for an encore we did 'I can see clearly now' in a punk style complete with Sex Pistols intro. Totally ruined a great song but the audience always seemed happy!

A couple of bassists from my neck of the woods are in Edinburgh. You'll miss Grant Sharkey who's playing the Edinburgh fringe right now. He's a one man show of both comedy and music with a heavy dose of politics. About 5 years ago he threatened to go full time musician and release 2 albums a year for the next 20, so far he's kept to that threat 😁. T'other southern softie bassist is Dan from Hans Klammer. They're an Edinburgh based band who's influences are Can, Neu and Sigur Ros among others. Good luck with the move, been to Edinburgh a few times, lovely city.

3 words that, when put together, strike me with fear "trace elliot commando". Never had a knob like that on mine though, red too, that's not very Trace!

I'm a big fan of WRs Heavy Weather but for me Percy Jones with Brand X top the fretless bill (I've got the 4 CD set Nuclear Burn so can't decipher which album is best!).

You want to get yourself one of those envelope filters. Then step aboard the Mothership and suck up all that is Funkadelic, Parliament, George Clinton, Bootsy... When you come back down to earth, nothing will ever be the same again😎.

I used to love Grace and listened to it many a time. Whenever I scroll through the iPod these days I'll stop on Jeff Buckley and ponder for a second or 2 then think "Nah, Jellyfish and Jim White are nearby and deserve a listen". So poor old Grace gets overlooked on a "J" day

Another depping gig with The Flotonics from Amesbury. Same venue as before, The Duck Inn, Laverstock. Thoroughly enjoyable gig playing Motown and soul music. Not a big crowd but The Flos always attract a few of Salisbury's muso crowd. Tich from Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich was there watching. Word must be getting around about my bass playing😂

I love that 1st Dread Zeppelin album, the novelty never wears off in my opinion. I heard a rumour that Cher is going to tour with a Cher tribute act. The tour is called 'Cher and Cher alike'. I'll get my coat 😂

Definitely Uptight, great bassline (I got told off for not getting the intro right at rehearsal, extra homework that night )

Al Green's Take Me To The River seemed to go down well which surprised me. The band were playing the Talking Heads version and I was playing the AG bass line. I was depping and I assumed a soul band would play the original but it went well! They started with Sweet Soul Music which set the tone rather well. Ending with a couple of James Brown tunes, Papa's... And I Feel Good. Loads of Otis and Stevie in between and plenty of dancing including a conga during Love Train!!!

Just done my 1st depping job. Had the luxury of 4 months to learn 30 soul tunes and had 5 rehearsals with the band in that time. The regular bassist plays guitar in other bands mostly and I thought his style was very melodic with some neat fills so big boots to try on for a one off gig. I lived and breathed the material from the off, listening to original recordings and the band's versions of some of the tunes and practising as often as I could (dad of 2 young boys who think 'sleep' is a dirty word). I played it in my style and the band were very complimentary and surprised at how different a lot of the tunes sounded. I think I added some 'funky' to their soul and they appreciated that. I took a lot of confidence from a job well done too! My advice would be listen to the songs and learn them inside out. Then give a solid performance that serves the songs, nowt flashy. Oh and make sure you ask what the guys wear on stage, you don't want stand out

I think Wilton has high concentration of bassists then. On our road alone I've seen 3 other bass players. The middle school is in the next road to ours and is now a Plymouth Brethren school. 2 doors up from us are a couple of retired teachers from the school. When we 1st moved here I saw the giant Jim'll fix it badge but that has gone now!!! (Apparently the only giant badge given out by JS). I think the youth band are still going, we get a brass band going street to street every Christmas! No Toyah Wilcox though (thought I'd mention her to keep this post 'on thread' )

Thanks DorsetBlue, I'm not far from Broad Chalke in Wilton. Terry Pratchett and William Golding I seem to remember lived there. We went to the History Fest in its last year at Ebbesbourne, lots of very heavy downpours and Roman soldiers marching through the mud in sandles, it was like a Carry On film.

My 1st gig of the year was on Saturday night depping for the Flotonics. Their singer is our function band's ex singer and asked me to dep about 4 months back. It's been 4 months of slowly absorbing 30 old skool soul numbers. The 2 rehearsals leading up to the gig impressed me. The guitarist has a cellar full of equipment so you just bring your instrument and plug in (drummer has the choice of 2 kits). We rattled through 28 tunes in about 2hrs and then chat over a pint in the pub. No other band I've been in has that work rate. Gig itself was in Laverstock just outside Salisbury. Nice, friendly boozer but with a hen night on as well (mmm...pub rates with a party going on!). During soundcheck one of the party seemed very drunk and started making herself known to the band, telling us to keep playing and asking us "do you know any Queen?" She must've passed out soon after as I didn't see her again all evening. Once we started the hen party were right there dancing and only stopped for fag breaks and the bit where the hen kisses/gropes/tries to purloin a pair of pants from a punter. Odd venue for a hen do but in the end they were our crowd and enjoyed it most, everyone else just watched. 1st gig playing 5 string (ibanez sr1205), 1st gig depping. Very good musicians so I really worked hard for this gig. Drummer Ley was in a band signed to CBS in the early 70s and you could tell, his drumming was some of the best I've had the pleasure of laying down a groove to. Singer is ex pro too. Guitarist and keys are of equally high standard with fantastic BVs. They seemed to enjoy my take on some of the basslines and were very complimentary (I hope they weren't just being nice). Anyway, job done. I'm happy, punters were happy, rest of band happy. Looking forward to their bassist dropping out again .

Sadly not in the documentary, declined to be interviewed as they fell out years ago over that hairstyle. Talking of hair, as my hair drops off the back of my head I'm a great admirer of old rockers and their barnets. Ronnie and Rod's hairstyles caught the eye, cool old geezers

I was getting the cutting out thing too, just thought it was our old telly! Watched the late edition (grumpy dad through lack of sleep this morning ) and will now seek out some of his albums. Previous knowledge of JB is of his distinctive sound on tunes he's guested on (Roger Waters, Stanley Clarke, etc) and Hi Ho Silver Lining at the local disco when I was a teenager. I must admit I was welling up when he played Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, one of my all time faves, so sad. That's 2 big artists I'm checking out this year that I've sadly neglected and only just discovering (after 46yrs on the planet). Otis Redding is the other.

Mark King inspired me to pick up a bass but I soon realised that I was all fingers and no thumb! Playing with musicians who are better than me and love what they do inspires me. Frank Zappa, Prince, George Clinton, Julian Cope, Neil Young, Tom Waits, David Byrne I could go on but these guys are always pushing forward with their art (ok, 2 of them are pushing up daisies instead these days). Inspirational in their work rate, their output, live performance as well as the great music. Just to have a smidgen of their drive and vision keeps me going. Sad thing is... I'm only playing covers at the moment

Whereabouts are you (I'm not a stalker, honest). A few years back I was told that Bob n Toyah lived just outside Salisbury in one of the many posh villages. Just a rumour like, never actually saw them in Waitrose or owt (just the drummer from Dodgy, which was good enough for me)

I must check Clint's film scores, I loved PWEI back in the day, I think the comedy element overshadowed the arrangements and production sometimes (but they were kind of the Black Country Beastie Boys). XY&Z should've been a bigger hit, love that tune. The incidental music from Withnail and I I always enjoy. I think David Dundas scored it. I like a bit of Lalo Schiffrin (is that how you spell it?) too!

Looks like the North Korean Johnny Cash tribute act are fighting over who plays the band's only instrument again.

"Apparently Trump has challenged you to a duel with this thing"

I had this problem with a well known brand of flats. The D and G strings went really dull compared to the other 2 strings after a couple of plays. I had trimmed the ends of all the strings (I like to be neat n tidy ☺) and thought maybe that caused my strings to suddenly 'die'. Now I've learnt that one should bend the end just before the cut as there might be a bit of slippage between the core wire and the string wrapped around it once you've trimmed a bit off. Does any of that make sense or am I being fed BS? I might dig those flats out and try 'em again.

My Fender MIM has a Gotoh bridge and nut to the inside of the bridge upstand measures 893mm

I've heard that if your "jazz bass" is on the short side you're classed as a guitar player 😁