chris_b

My bands are getting louder. I can tell, the dB number on my ACS plug filters is creeping up. A friend lived in a village near Newbury. In the 70's they had an influx of people from London. Straight away the incomers started complaining that there was no street lighting and the pavements were inadequate!! The locals hated them even more after that. The Bull's Head at Barns, a music venue since the early 60's, had the Met Police garage next door. When that was sold to a developer, the pub had several meetings where they informed the developer and counsel that they were a music venue and there was noise, and the builder should take that into account when they designed the flats. Everyone, including the builder, agreed that that would be done. Basically the developer agreed not to put a window in the wall over looking the pub. Guess what? That's exactly what the builder did. As soon as the flats were sold the owners started complaining about the noise! Under current rules the pub had no comeback, and had to spend thousands on noise insulation.

I dislike noise as much as the next guy, my neighbour is a particular nuisance when he starts drilling into the party wall at 7.30 in the morning, but you don't move next to the M1 and complain about the traffic noise. You don't move next to a pub and complain about drunks. . . . etc etc

Wilton Felder played a 1968 reissue of a 51 Precision.

Too late for many gigs.

. . . . and Bobby Bland's Reflections In Blue, which Wilton Felder shared the bass chair with Chuck Rainey and Scott Edwards. All fantastic players.

Have a listen to Bobby Bland's albums, Dreamer and His California Album, on which he shared bass credits with Max Bennett.

They were the size of house bricks in 1965. Well. . . . nearly!

The only thing cheap basses don't always do well is pickups. Cheap pickups will make any bass sound less than perfect.

With advent of CNC machines quality of cheap basses has gone through the roof. The QC that Asian manufacturers achieve is down to the contract and how much the brand owner cares about quality.

The new price of my Fender Precision in 1969 was £120. That's nearly £1700 today. Within 3 years I'd replaced the nut (broken) and frets (worn down). I'm not sure prices are that bad these days. My guess is you get a better made bass, at all price points, than I did.

Yes. One of my favourites.

Don't buy a good amp and then cheap out on the cab. Do some homework and find out about Barefaced 2x12 cabs, the Super Twin and the Big Twin 3.

I guess his name isn't well known amongst the general public, but as a 1st call session player in LA, he wasn't unknown or underrated by the music business. I first heard him in the early 70's when I bought the 2nd Crusade double album. His bass lines were simple, effective and musical.

Powerful bass sound, powerful, relentless playing. I like that.

Many years ago we were trying out a new drummer. He was a bit of a name around here, and he announced he wanted to dep out the rehearsals and only do the gigs!! We told him to do one!!

No backup bass? Tut tut!

I've fitted Dunlop Strap Locks to every bass since the mid 80's and have never had a problem with any of them.

D!ckheads, idiots, narcissists, tw*ts, I've played with them all, and it can become very tiresome, but I've been gigging solidly via word of mouth for the last 20 years. You can't do that sitting at home, so I've learnt to live with the 10% of people I don't like in order to do the things I do like with the other 90%.

I bought my first set of Dunlop strap locks in the late 80's. I'm still using the same set on my main bass.

Tab, Bah humbug.

A month or so ago I saw Marie and Rosetta in our local theatre. Beverly Knight was incredible, but her co star, Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, was just as good. The two of them made a couple of hours pass like minutes.

i love the drummer and drum sound on this . . . .

How many times have I envisioned myself doing that!!!

No drummer beats a bad drummer every time, but why does anyone put up with a bad drummer? Play with a good drummer and your workload is halved. Play with a bad drummer and your workload increases 10 fold!!

There are always examples of players who can excel when being busy, but that's not the same thing as overplaying. A good player like Jamerson does both simple and busy. Overplaying is almost always negative, and comes with a lack of rhythmic ability, lack of good note choice and clarity of execution. Jack Bruce and Francis Rocco Prestia are more examples of very busy players who got it right.