musicbassman

Ha ha - many years ago I had a run of gigs with a Welsh comedy showband doing cabaret around the clubs. The band used to play the same half a bar over and over again at the end of one number to imitate a stuck record, and then the singer would produce a comedy sized inflatable hammer and whack it down on the bass amp, at which point we'd abruptly stop playing. On numerous occasions punters would laugh and jeer - but I suspect not because the idea was ridiculous and funny, but because they genuinely thought we were miming to a record. Maybe they weren't the sharpest tools in the box, mind you.

Yep, he's the biz. Here he is having a laugh with the lovely Rossanna Carraro. 😊

She's obviously about to attempt a new World Record in Female Weightlifting (Senior Class)

Yep, this is true. Flats can sound OK for slap with a bit of EQ tweaking, but not the best. I do deps for cover bands, and usually find that I might need to use slap for just a couple of numbers out of a whole evenings playing. And I'm not going to change from my usual PJ with flats just for the sake of a couple of numbers ! By the way, the most common covers I come across that really do need slap are Forget Me Knots, or Somebody Else's Guy (Jocelyn Brown) or Never Too Much (Luther Vandross)

Cardiacs? Yep, we know, they were like Marmite, love 'em or hate 'em. Ludicrously complex music, and very few covers done of their material for this very reason. And the few that are about are generally well meant but pretty poor. But here's Joey Frevola and a few mates doing an excellent cover of 'It's a Lovely Day' I bet they didn't learn this in a couple of hours. Enjoy.

Absolutely brilliant interpretation! 😊 ...and here's the original:

I think that getting ANY gig will be a major achievement for the foreseeable future. If wedding events are allowed in 2021 then I guess there'll be a short lived shortage of decent bands for these due to carry-over of cancelled events from 2020, but apart from that, I'm sorry to say I think the club/pub scene is pretty well over. You all know the reasons, they're well versed, and Covid has been the last straw. And I can't imagine what form of 'social gathering with music' will replace this, if anything. 😳

Robert Fripp and Toyah - to an outsider possibly one of the most unlikely pairings you could imagine. But they're obviously doing something right - they've been together for 35 years. If they can still happily mess about like this then things must be really good between them 😉

Well, she's singing something about l'amour, and that's good enough for me.... Absolutely delicious.

What an interesting isolated bass track. I'm amazed at how much he pushes and pulls the beat, and there's so much damping going on. Re the 'ponkiness', I'm sure that BC ers could develop a whole dictionary of words to describe certain bass sounds. So, maybe Ricks go 'dang, dang' Old Jazzes go ' ponk, ponk' and maybe P's go 'dom, dom', (or 'tm, tm' if played with a pick)

I beg to differ, I wasn't being serious Trevor ! Re pipe lagging, I have tried this in the past, and found it much too dense unless you want a full-on palm mute effect all the time. Hence my suggestion of good old scourer sponge, which seems to be the best compromise. If I want a palm mute effect I simply do a physical palm mute, but obviously understand this isn't possible for those who can't or don't want to play with a pick or thumb.

Well done mate, that's a tough one ! 🙂

Hi Mick - did you ever see his one-man show? Sounds like he was a fantastic raconteur and wit. How many of his books were published? 😉

I don't understand it. I've tried to follow James Jamersons hot sauce recipe exactly as he first made it... But somehow it just doesn't taste the same as the original............

Elvis Costello - a fine musician, excellent songwriter and he displays extremely refined taste in choosing other songwriter's material. It's a shame I've really never liked his voice - always sounds to me like he's just recovering from a bad cold. 😟

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? Yes, used to play with a Peddlers style trio in restaurants in the 80’s, always sat for these. 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Ha ha – I arrived at a little club gig a long way from home to find that I’d somehow left my bass behind. Someone from the audience went home and fetched their Strat copy and I played ‘bass’ on this for the whole night. 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? Yes, back in the day. 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? Yes, quite often when I’ve been last minute depping. 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? Yes, it's confusing. 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Yes – the most recent dep gig I did, just a couple of months ago. The drummer was one of the loudest drummers I’ve ever worked with, not surprised he couldn’t hear me. I couldn't hear me either...

Oh , come on Stew, your answer is yes , apparently, so please tell us what happened? Great idea for topic, by the way! 🙂

The 'Lionel Digby' referred to was actually a real agent based in Torquay. The very first proper band I played in which was Exeter based used to do work for him occasionally !

Well, err, obviously...... Methinks maybe you're missing the whole point of trying to learn or break down something like this....

Rickroll yourself in the privacy and comfort of your own lockdown. You've got plenty of time, which might be handy as this could take you a while to nail. Surprised I've never heard anyone talk about this on BC, it's an amazing bassline that really does think outside the box. And it sounds so weird in isolation, yet it all clicks together perfectly when it's enmeshed in the song. Loads of damping required, so will check out your skills in this area as well ! This could be handy, isolated bass line:

C'mon guys - your sponge damping is not supposed to look smart!. My road worn sponge is actually cut from a piece of caravan upholstery from the 60's, so there ! So it's pre CBS and everything.... The Jamerson vibe is immediately obvious to the discerning listener.

There you go. One of these. Slice off the green scourer bit at the base with a Stanley knife (Careful!) You'll have to experiment a bit to find out what thickness of sponge you need to suit both your bass and the amount of damping you want. Edit: Forgot to mention that I've found you may need an additional thickness under your B string on a 5'er.

Nick Beggs - Kajagoogoo? You remember.... And I think many would agree he wrote possibly one of the greatest opening bass lines ever for 'Too Shy' He was just 21 at the time, apparently. I'd no idea that this leisurely and lengthy interview would reveal him to be such a talented and thoughtful guy. Worth a look.

Just before you head for bed............. 😊

Harley Benton = HB = Hernia Beckons........😨..