Stub Mandrel

If you think that's disturbing:

Rehearsing with Taffman and Daffodil tonight... so we'll have a go at the theme song...

That's about 30% more stretch!

You need a 'proper' jazz pup pair to get the full range of jazz sounds. That's why PJs don't cut it.

Here's the evidence...

I've just received a Kay Gremlin from Lee - don't ask why I love these old, bargain-basement instruments! It was packed brilliantly well, better than described and Lee was great to deal with, as said above he's a credit to the Basschat community.

I use 1 finger per fret all the way to the nut... even on a 35" scale five string. I do have fairly long fingers.

Crikey you're all in the wars... I hope it isn't catching. Speedy recoveries @Bluewine and @Gasman!

5* OOMPH rating.

It's always a buzz when people come because of your reputation.

My approach varies depending on how well I know the song (in a general sense). I recently learned Jean Genie. I've busked it at jams a few times and know the structure simply from having heard it a lot. I had to learn the proper details, especially around the chorus but it was fairly straightforward. On the other hand although I 'knew' keep on running it was not well and I was surprised by the complexities in the verse and chorus... especially the changes in syncopation. Plus there were several different tabs so I had to decide which was most accurate. I broke it down into sections. I did one ir two play throughs at half tempo to make sure I had the rhythm right. Then it was brute force... start at the beginning and see how far I could get. My two rules... 1) if I keep making a mistake stop, slow right down and get it righ. Practising a mistake is never a good idea. 2) walk away, ideally sleep on it. You will always be better on returning to . Combine the two approaches. Accuracy at the expense of speed, plus a chance for your brain to process the learning = much faster and more accurate next time around. So my learning is usually many songs in parallel, rather than one at a time. Currently learning 34 songs - a soundcheck, two 15 song sets, and 3 encores. Luckily most I already know or am familiar with and many (but not all) are reasonably straightforward.

Open a burger van?

It was odd, perhaps we hit a bad weekend.

We spent a weekend in Manchester but the only city centre music venues that had gigs had either (cheesy type) jazz or drum'n'bass DJs. On the other hand, we saw five bands in three days in Brighton. Over in South Wales still lots of venues but marginally more closing than opening.

Cow Wow Wow

So I understand.

Billy Cobham would 🙂 And Dave Mattocks, possibly the most in demand session drummer you've never heard of (if you're not a Fairport fan).

Making music and bringing joy to an audience, that's a huge buzz.

In the 80's/90's I always used the effects loop. Don't use it at all these days.

That doesn't look like factory wiring and there's a suspiciously 'battery shaped' space in the contol cavity.

Lots of Rory fans about. Massive annual festival in Ballyshannon and check out Band of Friends with Brendan O'Neil and Gerry McAvoy.

Meep Purple

Don't forget blues was fading in the USA until their leading lights came to the UK and sparked the UK blues movement.

I'm 62. It's tempting to give a very long answer. I'll try and be concise. From my teens I found live music awesome. Until my early 20s I was just a ragged guitar basher, then I discovered bass and found I could play it reasonably. I got into a covers band, followed by two originals bands. Then I got married and for about 22 years did no more than the odd noodle every year or two. As divorce became inevitable I started playing for my own pleasure, put in liafs of effort, then signed up for a "weekend warrior" scheme. I discovered thst I was actually a reasonably good player with a good ear. I also rediscovered how making music was fundamental to who I am. From that scheme arose a band. We only gigged twice, then covid and the divorce finished, and I came back to Wales to look after my dad just over four years ago. Since then... I joined two bands, one, three piece blues, I am still in. My first gig with them I met a lady who is now my partner and as obsessed with live mumusic me! The other band, I left as try just weren't serious about gigging - three in two years. I founded another band, five of us playing classic/ heavy rock we all love. My dad passed last year. With the BL of the blues band finding success with a young indie band, and all if us in the other band having multiple bands I haven't had as many gigs as I want. Iwas maling up dome of the slack with dep gigs and open mic/jam nights. Then a friend has decided to resurrect his old band with new members to record a new album, and I've joined up to what is a one album and a few gigs project. Then a band I know have asked me to take on bass as their bassist has moved to keyboards. They are a really good old-style rock band playing about 30% CCR and a great bunch. So my answer: It keeps me sane and happy. My partner is super supportive. All the bands have great musicians. who are also friends. But most of all I love jamming, improvising and learning new material.

Melvin Harty? Doing a ten stretch in Winson Green for impersonating a Garfunkel.