chris_b

Ry Cooder banned smoking at his 80's Wembley Arena gigs. It was a very early anti smoking stance which IMO improved the gig no end.

If you want dirt, get a pedal.

Back in the 80's I was in a great Chuck Berry/Dave Edmunds boogie band, and for many years we started the second set with Little Lisa, followed by Bad Is Bad.

This. . . . The playing, the music and the people are the exciting bit.

Network, network, network. Show up on time, have reliable gear and know your instrument. Practice until you can't get it wrong.

In my book a hobby is not "trade or professional use". If "commuting" to your place of work is allowed, I'd be interested in an insurance company's opinion about us using our cars to get to and from the location of a hobby. My guess is they probably wouldn't want to know when we drive a car full of friends to watch a football match (even if we accept some petrol money), or drive to a golf course. I know several people who drive to the local Unii to invigilate in the exams, for which they get paid. None of them declare it as a "second job" to their insurance company.

Probably nothing. When they are working I would imagine they get paid well enough to cover lay-offs. For what it's worth. . . . a quick search lists Darryl Jones net worth at $8 million.

Same here. I always carry spare batteries and fuses. So far I've supplied batteries to 2 guitarists and provided fuses for a guitar amp, and a PA. I've also had a guitarist and a coupe of drummers borrow the screwdrivers I always carry. Never used any of those for bass, touch wood!

My batteries last at least 12 months. I change them every year. A system simple enough that even I can make it work.

I don't do GAS. If I find something better than what I'm currently using I might buy it, but it has to be better, not just different or more shiny. For the last 10 years I've been using the best gear I've owned; a Mike Lull PJ5, Aguilar amps and Barefaced cabs. When you get to peak tone there is nowhere to go, so I stop looking and just enjoy what I have. My sound got a big thumbs up from the band this afternoon, confirmation that I don't need to change a thing.

Loved Anthony Jackson with Hiromi. HF is a great player. I'm jealous, I could memorize about the first 30 seconds of the first song.

Bought an amp from Martin. All good. . . . excellent seller. Cheers

Joan Baez's version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. I would have supported the death penalty for that one!!

I was probably listening to albums and tapes from the likes of Bobby Bland, The Blues Brothers, Robert Cray, Stevie Wonder, BB King, Albert Collins, Tina Turner, Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Eric Clapton, Tower of Power.

I'd like Chris May at Overwater to make 5 string Precision and Jazz basses that weigh 6lbs. Both burst and tort, obviously.

It's the Stones. . . . what do you expect? You can't beat long blond hair, 4" heels and a good cleavage when you're selling rock and roll. It's not going to challenge Honky Tonk Women in the sets of most covers bands. You can hear the big hole left by Charlie but I like it and you know who it is as soon as you hear the first chord. In their 7th decade. . . . good on them.

I spent Covid lockdown on a project to learn all the Stevie Wonder songs from his albums. A year later and I was asked, on stage, if I knew the riff from Master Blaster, because the band leader had a brain-wave to use it as an into and outro to a song. It worked perfectly.

John McVie was my biggest bass playing influence from the 60's and early 70's. I've seen him live more than any other bass player, first with John Mayall, then with Fleetwood Mac. I didn't see the second FM but have all the records. When Buckingham Nicks came onboard he stepped up and created some great bass lines.

Some of you guys obviously have a degree in the splitting of hairs and the picking of nits.

I'm rarely going to like a player if I don't like the band. If I don't like the band I'm probably not going to hear more than a few bars anyway. So not enough time to to like or dislike.

I think it is possible to know the ball-park tone of a bass from the wood it's made from. People know what Ash, Alder, Rosewood, Mahogany and Maple are going to sound like, and they know an Ash bass is not going to sound like an Alder bass. The electrics in passive basses amplifies the string vibrations but the rest of the bass ie wood, hardware etc is working to modify those vibrations. Maybe cheap or poorly made basses are different, but good basses are more like fine wine vs plonk or filter coffee vs instant. He's not wrong, but maybe Carl Thompson's statement is truer for the posh sandwiches of exotic woods that he favours.

Roger Sadowsky said that first an electric bass is an acoustic instrument, then you electrify it. Michael Tobias said he changed the material his bridges were made of because he preferred the sound of the new bridges. Pete Stephens told me that they recommended the woods for their basses depending on the customer's requirements, because the wood created the sound of the bass. So all these world class bass manufacturers don't know what they are talking about, and a bunch of amateur/hobby bass players know better? You guys kill me.

You want reduced weight, reduced number of cabs, more tone and enough volume. . . . check out Barefaced. I run 700 watt Aguilar amps into Barefaced cabs and I've never gone over 11 o'clock on the master volume even in the loudest blues rock band I play in.

"The one" certainly exists for me. When I was playing 4's it was my 1968 Fender Precision. Not the best example of Leo's work, but it was nice to play and got the job done. That was retired when I moved to 5's. Now I have a Sadowsky RV5 Jazz and a Mike Lull PJ5, owned for 8 and 12 years respectively. I own basses so that I can gig. They are a means to an end so I don't get fixated on the chase and ownership part.

This. Absolutely this.