Graham S

What is it about that number? We have to do it time & time again all over Limassol. I feel I ought to have a bag over my head in case anyone I know sees me playing a Neil Diamond song! On the other hand, the professional side of me says, if they want you to play crap, and they're paying you to play crap, then you have to put good taste to one side and play crap. You don't have to enjoy it, though.

NNOOO!!!! Every b****y gig I do here seems to have to include this. It's a bad enough "song" in its original form, but really - do I HAVE to....??

I don't know about the basses, but I had a Columbus Les Paul for a while in the late 70s and it wasn't all that great. I replaced it with a Hohner Strat, which despite being plywood was a far superior guitar.

I never thought I'd say this, but probably my HH Bass Machine. I wouldn't want to cart its weight about now, though. The other amp I'd dearly love to re-live, as I've mentioned in another thread, wasn't moved on but stolen - a Selmer TB50.

I usually wear black, unless it's an informal gig such as a social event at a friend's or friend of a friend's place. Paid gigs, always black. Graham

Funnily enough, I have an oldish Telecaster copy that I'm setting up for slide, and I was considering going steampunk on that. Having seen the bass, I'm glad I didn't - I sprayed it sparkly metallic blue instead.

My first bass was a Top Twenty, bought from Kay Westworths in Cherry Street, Birmingham. My first amp was a Dallas 30w valve "combo" - combo in the sense that the amp lived upside down in the top of the speaker cabinet, and to play you unscrewed two bolts, turned the amp right side up, seated it back in place and screwed it down. If I recall correctly it had an 18" speaker. Happy days..... Later I acquired a Selmer TB50, which got nicked. It was a cracking little amp, and I'd love to find another one now! Graham

Rubbish! An hour and a half drive each way for an audience of about 30 where you had to join hands to try to contact the living. Learned not ever to go THERE again!

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1476050593' post='3150905'] I hope I'm still playing at 63 [/quote] No reason why not; I'm still gigging at 71.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1508951165' post='3395595'] Funny how we endlessly agonize over our basses and what they look like, when generally your average punter can't tell the difference between a bass guitar and a banjo at three paces. [/quote] I've worked in bands with so-called musos who had that problem!

One of the instruments I play - and occasionally get paid for playing - is the melodeon. Not exactly a mainstream instrument - you may have to look it up to find out what it is. Still a bass player first & foremost, though! Graham

Last night was a bit bizarre - a fundraiser for a dog rescue, I played in 3 bands, none of them on bass. I played guitar in a country quartet, a blues trio and a rock n' roll quintet. Weird,but fun....... Graham

I haven't sold anything for a while on Ebay, but a number of items on my watch list have buy-it-now or best offer options, so the feature's still there somewhere.

No contest for me - a Jazz every time. For one thing I have quite small hands [i](no comments please!) [/i]and the slimmer neck suits me better. It's also more comfortably shaped and better balanced, at least for me, and most importantly has a more versatile tonal range than a Precision. I've had two Ps and six Js over the years; any time I've been down to one bass, as I am at the present time, it's been a Jazz. Graham

I don't know about the "wrong" band - I currently play off and on with several bands, and in none of them do I play bass, so I guess in that sense I'm in maybe 4 "wrong" bands, in that I'm primarily a bass-player but play guitar and one or two folk instruments well enough to get away with, while the "right" band would be where I'm playing bass. I did a stint with a hotel lounge keyboard/guitar/bass/drums outfit but I didn't really enjoy it for both musical and personnel reasons. The bands I work with now are all pleasant, easy-to-get-on-with people, but one's a country music quartet, and country music's really not my style, one plays blues, which is OK, on'es a covers band, which again is OK, and one's an Irish/Scottish folky band that does stuff like St Patrick's Nights and Burns Nights. Is any of them the "right" band? No - I'd rather be playing bass in a Fairport/Steeleye Span/Jethro Tull style outfit or an out-and-out rock'n'roll band. Is any of them the"wrong" band? Well, I don't know; I'd rather be playing than not playing, even if it's not necessarily what I'd choose to do in an ideal world. The punters like what we do, so I guess I can roll with it for a bit longer. What I think I'm saying in a rather long-winded way is that "ideal" and "less than ideal" are probably better terms than "right" and "wrong". Graham

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1506957561' post='3382300'] And they think that they have to arrive literally 5 mins before they go on stage. [/quote] Or minutes after, in one band I worked in!

[quote name='Kebabkid' timestamp='1506978520' post='3382535'] Having played in a Greek function band for many years, bassists are largely obsolete apart from in the more pro bands. In the olden days, guitarists handled the bass notes (think the den de, den de bit of Zorba The Greek, root note and chord) but for some time now, bass lines have been handled by the keyboard players who simultaneously play them and their chords and melody lines. Heathens! Troodos is lovely. Love Platres. [/quote] The fact is, there's very little live work available at all here. All the bars that used to book bands now have open mic nights, karaoke or a singer with backing tracks. A guitarist friend of mine took a cruise along the Limassol "strip" a week or two ago and not one single bar, pub or restaurant had live music. Work's really down to private functions or self-promoted gigs. Graham

We're about 12 Km from P.latres.

Thanks for the welcome messages. I'm in the Troodos, about half an hour northwest of Limassol. Nice quiet little village - 4 tavernas, 5 wineries. Now remind me why I moved here! Graham

At the risk of sounding ancient, tapewounds were the norm when I first took up the bass. I'm pretty sure they were intended to sound as much as possible like a double bass. I changed to roundwounds pretty much when they started to be generally available - Rotosound Swing Bass, as used (and some say designed) by John Entwistle to begin with, though now I usually go with D'Addario or Ernie Ball. I agree there's a big difference between flatwound and roundwound, but then they're designed to do different jobs. If a double bass-like sound is what you're after, then tapewounds will do the trick; for a more general "electric bass" sound and a wider tonal range with more punch then roundwounds are the way to go. I'd guess the great majority of us use roundwounds these days. Graham

Hi all I've been a bass-player for donkey's years and only just discovered this forum. When I lived in UK I played in all kinds of bands - rock, pop covers, social club, folk, jazz - whatever came along of a reasonable standard and played by friendly people. Since moving to Cyprus work has been very thin, and I'm reduced (some might say promoted!) to playing guitar in a blues trio and a pub covers band. My setup is and always has been very simple - currently a Fender Jazz and a Gallien Krueger 150MB. Though the brands and models have varied over the years it's always been a 4-string bass (usually a Jazz) aand a straightforward combo or amp/cab. Looking forward to some interesting reading. Graham