Crusoe

On 10/05/2025 at 12:28, Wolverinebass said:

 

 

Miming live is fraud to me. There's something that's been lost by all this and that's spontaneity. None of these clowns can play on the hoof. Like listen to a live album and you hear things being slightly messed up. That's gone now. 

I was watching an Art of Guitar YouTube video about mistakes in recordings, today. Stuff like "Cannonball" by the Breeders. A lot of bands these days would have removed the incorrect slide up on the bass at the beginning, for example.

I'll not get a chance to listen to it until later, but is it more "Looking through Robert Smith's eyes..." or "She's got Robert Smith's eyes"? 😄

Many happy returns!

I'm sorry to hear this. RIP Sam

Welcome!

I have the Spark Go. I haven't used it with the bass yet, but it's dead handy for guitar. It sounds ok, but when you play through headphones it sounds really good. Spark have released a set of headphones for silent practice. I'd be interested to find out what they are like.

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

This is a good point. I see many 'musicians' saying how they wont play for free etc, but quite of a few of them really should as entertainment wise, they are worth bugger all 😇

I can remember a duo in a bar once, one on keyboards, the other singing and possibly playing guitar, doing Oasis covers. The singer made Liam Gallagher sound like Pavarotti by comparison.

16 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I’ve experienced a good few musicians on the punk/Oi scene gigging Mex Fenders, Squiers, Epiphones. Most of them seem to do so as they don’t want to gig expensive instruments, a few having had some uncomfortable days awaiting the return of their expensive Gibsons/Fenders from airlines who had sent them to the wrong countries.  

I was watching a Trogly YouTube video yesterday, where Aldo Nova appeared to be playing a Chibson copy of his own Gibson signature guitar. He was working on a cruise ship, or something like that, so Trogly reckoned he probably just didn't want an expensive guitar getting damaged/stolen by a passenger or damaged by a salt water atmosphere and had bought a cheapie and fitted his hardware of choice to it.

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Actually - this thread has dredged up a memory.

 

At one gig for the Music Trust for the younger students one of the about 15 years old students from the rock band came up and said "Our bassist is sick and can't come. Can you fill in?"

 

I said "Depends whether you've got the sheet and I can muddy through, or if it's something I know already" They had played a lot of new modern metal stuff I'd never heard before.

 

He said "It's from a really old song called "Enter Sandma....."

 

I said "Don't worry, I've got this."

While dying inside at the "old" song bit!  

 

(Obviously the 15 year old drummer was better than Lars  )

That was released 34 years ago. When I was 15 a 34 year old song would have been "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley 😭

Tina Turder

Just keep fiddling with them and your seat and finger gunk will probably do it for you. 😄

"I bought an £88 Ali Express Warwick Bass so that you don't have to..." 😄

7 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

 

That works, as a band name. Simple, familiar, quirky without being weird.  And a brilliant band name when it comes to naming your albums!

 

Sock it to me - the funk album. 

 

Pop Sock - an album of chart-friendly tunes.

 

Sock for Christmas - the inevitable Christmas album.

 

Lost Sock - the collection of rare B sides, demo tracks and live versions. 

 

Sock 'n' Soul

I might start a band called "The Unique Names"...

On 20/02/2025 at 21:14, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

For the last six months or so (might be longer) I have been using a band name for one of my ongoing projects which is fairly obscure reference to something that will probably be meaningless to anyone who didn't grow up in the 70s in the UK.

 

 

Is your band name "White Dog Poo"? 😁

14 minutes ago, geoham said:

A quite funny example - I was in a covers band called Loose Cannon. I'm sure there's plenty of bands with that name. We received an angry Facebook message from an American guy complaining we played too loud in the garage next to his elderly mother... aggressively suggested we keep in down or find somewhere else to practice.

 

You could have been really mischievous and caused all sorts of trouble for them by telling him to f**k off and slag his mum off. 😆

17 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Let's not beat around the bush, there are down sides to miming but, thinking less emotionally about it, your hands a free to do all kinds of other fun stuff and you don't have the pressure of hitting a bum note. If, say, you were attacked by a rabid bat during a song, you're the guy who's got two free hands to swoosh the bugger away. The other lads are going to hospital for a series of painful injections. Advantage: you.

One hand free to hold a pint and the other free to scroll through social media on the phone.

9 minutes ago, neepheid said:

IMO the Meteora is compromised by the regular old Fender headstock.  They didn't have to reinvent the wheel, I reckon the Starcaster headstock would have complemented the body shape well...

 

I like that. Make it and I won't buy it (because I'm skint). Maybe move the G tuner somewhere else.

11 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

The Meteroa looks Jaguar-ish to me. Also as far as specs are concerned the only new (to Fender) feature I think I spotted was the switchable mid frequency. Great to see the return of the S-1 switch though. 

Hmm, good point.

3 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Agreed but it’s not three times better, and I object to paying three times as much. The average punter is going to look at these basses, vaguely recognise the shape, maybe read the headstock and take a another slurp of beer 

 

above 700 it boils down to “I want” no one else than a fellow bass player is even going to notice and that is where vanity starts 

Is a Rolex going to be better at telling the time than the £70 smart watch I wear? My watch might actually be better at it, as it synchronises with GPS satellites etc. A £250 bass that has been properly set up will play better than a ten grand one with a badly cut nut and strings set so high you could drive a bus under them (yes I know that instruments that expensive shouldn't be badly set u, but it happens).

10 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Fender and Gibson.  The masters of reinvention.

 

New year, same old shit.

Genuine question, when was the last time Gibson brought out a new style of guitar? Fender have brought out the Meteora recently and the Acoustasonic (albeit it's based on their traditional electric guitar shapes).

Much as I'd love to see the original Sabbath lineup, along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax all on the same bill, I just can't afford that sort of money for tickets and accomodation

1 hour ago, uk_lefty said:

Those photos really don't look real to me at all. The acoustic guitar appears to be bent, it's exactly the same picture of the orange idiot reused in both images. And anyone stupid enough to buy one would not have access to $10k+

I think one of the photos may be real and the other photoshopped to save having to take two photos, but the guitars definitely are real. There are reviews of them on YouTube.

My wife has the power to have people sectioned and sadly, had to use that power this week on a client. ☹️

16 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I met him in Glasgow in 98 or 99. I don't know if they still do it, but Stiff Little Fingers used to play the Barrowlands in Glasgow every St. Patrick's day without fail. He was just walking through Queen Street station and obviously, one had to have a quick chat. He was a really nice guy.

They do still play Glasgow every St Patrick's Day. Obviously, Bruce hasn't been in the band for a few years now, but I was lucky enough to see him play with them quite a few times.