chris_b

I just did a rehearsal at a venue in Chelsea. Thankfully back line provided. Unfortunately it was an old Ampeg combo that sounded like a goose farting in a fog!

6 minutes ago, Belka said:

. . . .  I think a lot of producers/artists judge as much with their eyes as they do their ears. . . .

That's why Roger Sadowsky basses were always FSO's, because the NY players wanted better basses and the producers wanted Fenders.

2 minutes ago, Belka said:

I remember a story he told of how he was sent home from a session after turning up with a Yamaha attitude Billy Sheehan sig and being told to check out vintage gear.

A situation he should have been able to predict.

Sessions range from bringing your own gear and playing what you want, to playing the notes the producer wants on the instrument the producer wants. If you see interviews with US A list session guys, they bring 5 or 6 basses, from a Hofner Club to a Precision with flats. They say they usually end up playing the Precision/flats basses.

12 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

. . . . Her oft-used quote is, 'Always trade up,' which is something I've consistently tried to do.

Same here. . . . always upgrade to something better.

I'm having a tough time improving on my Mike Lull P bass and Sadowsky Jazz.

17 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

The 100 Club has/had  a rear parking/unloading bit, which is useful (you have to carry gear downstairs to the venue) & the Marquee (Wardour Street) had a useful rear mews.

I don't think I'd even contemplate city centre gigs these days ...

The last time I played there I got a parking ticket behind the 100 Club. That was the first time I ever saw a warden back there!!

Since Covid I'm doing more gigs in Central London, and, most of the venues have provide the back line.

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

. . . .  Basses I don't play get sold.

My thoughts exactly. I have several basses and an amp sitting around, bought on the off-chance, that haven't "made it".

They don't match up to my "players" so will be sold at some point.

It seems it's just not a good time to be selling at the moment.

Let me see. . . . a musician is having some success and the Basschat massive isn't happy about it.

Well there's a surprise. 

No.

I played the same bass for 26 years and I've owned my current 2 for 12  and 8 years. I played the bass before these for 14 years.

I need to be a better bassist and owning more basses won't achieve that.

Back in the 70's John Wayne bar room brawls were pretty common. The advice we always got was, keep playing and they'll ignore you. . . . we did, and they ignored us. The only punch up I've seen on a gig in the last 20 years was a fight in a pub in Dove and that was pretty tame in comparison.

I'll gig anywhere. In the last 10 years I've played in Largs, Belfast, Cardiff, Prague and all over England. Many times I've driven for 2 hours to get across London for a Friday night gig. I had a band leader call me at 10 am on a Saturday and ask if I could be in Devon by 4 pm for a wedding  gig. Of course I could.

Travel to gigs is what it is but what's with this weekly rehearsal business? I really don't get that.

Sounds like the old days.

Many years ago I did a great gig on a boat in the Thames. Easy parking, easy load in.

Load out was an issue, though.

The tide had gone out and I had to carry a 90lb cab up the gang plank at an angle that was close to being a ladder. I hurt for days after that.

ACS every time. I have PRO17's and PRO26's. Which one depends on the band but I never gig without them.

1 hour ago, peteb said:

 

He's got a point! 

 

No. He's a ignorant foul mouthed moron. That's it.

Call Paul Herman in Leatherhead. He makes them.

If you can't get to him directly, go through Charlie Chandler in Hampton Wick.

I'm always inspired by the bass players who have worked with Keb Mo:

Hutch Hutchinson

Reggie McBride

Freddie Washington

11 minutes ago, gjones said:

. . . . . Music is too subjective . . .

But success, which is the whole point, is not.

A pat on the back for a successful career in music seems like a good idea to me.

If we're taking about pointless things, calling something crap, just because you don't like it, is right up there.

On 26/02/2024 at 21:09, deepbass5 said:

 

Thats funny, another local bass player i know in jazz circles always said when lost or haven't a clue stay low and play D. why D I don't know he had something there.

Another hack, told to me by a Jazz db player, if it's a walking bass line and you don't know the changes, just play a different note every time. You'll either hit the right note, a harmony or a passing note.  Turn the bass up the volume down. . . . and it works.

1 hour ago, thodrik said:

I have had NYXLs on my Sadowsky NYC 5 string for about 8 months. Owing to home renovations/studio construction I haven't really been playing as much, but the strings have actually held up pretty well.

I put a set of NYXL's on my Sadowsky Jazz in 2019. I was going to change them but Covid came along and the gigs stopped.

I have a new set of NYXL's ready to go, but there is still enough top end in the old set to give good definition and the mids and lows are now sounding nice and mellow. I currently have no plans to change these strings, even after 6 years!

My Sadowsky RV5 Metro, from 2006, is just about the best playing and sounding bass I've picked up. I have a bad back and the 9 3/4lbs (I know that's not heavy) is an issue so I stopped playing it for awhile. I've just started bringing it to gigs again, because it sounds so much better than the basses that I bought to replace it.

A few years ago I compared it to several chambered NYC basses they had in Guitar Guitar and I preferred the sound of my Metro by a mile.

Everything is a package: you, your sound, what you play and how you play it.

Some bands don't care but the better bands will notice all these things and will care.

If someone can damp 4 strings they should have no difficulty damping 1 extra.

There are plenty of YouTube videos about this subject.

The US and UK are poles apart when it comes to enthusiastic audiences,. The US has them and we don't.