Bassfinger

What is this "job" thing whereof you speak?

Ah! Might that explain the user name?

Me round my friends house, posing with my then new bike, trying hard not to look out of breath and sweaty after the 3 mile uphill ride. I do have a couple of me playing but can't seem to find them on this device, so this'll have to be a placeholder. Edit: Found them. Me with the band posing for a FB photo... Me in the studio laying down my tracks. The Eagle eyed will note how I chose to go DI.

I've worked in Finland and Iceland, and went out with a Finnish lass for a while (she's now a government minister, so my influence must have been a good one ) and its true to say they do like their heavy metal. And not just run of the mil, metal, but often quite extreme forms of the genre. On the plus side, the UK has more boy bands and Britons Garotte Takent wannabes than it ihas people.

My solicitor shall be demanding my increased share of the money.

Yes. Both personally, and on behalf of the band. Their customer service is, in my experience, first class. On the occasions we've had issues and had to do returns etc it's been painless and refunds swift.

Im glad im not the only one! It took me a good while to learn that one as well. A great song to do live, IMHO one of the best pop songs of all time.

Plain titanium wedding band on my fretting hand, causes me no issues whatsoever. I wear a medic alart bracelet on my other hand, and bought a paracord one to wear when gigging so as not to scratch any basses, but otherwise don't ever notice that either. My Prince Albert, on the other hand...

I lug a spare, a cheap and cheerful Harley Benton MB4 bought for that purpose. Being an compulsive fiddler it soon ended up with Wilkinson tuners and bridge, and a Warman pickup, and became a superb sounding, very decent bass in its own right. That being the case, depending on the gig and the set list, I may occasionally use it as my number one and my usual Sire becomes the backup. Being a cheap bass I've not been as careful with the HB as perhaps I should and its a bit battered, a genuine roadworn patina. A couple of bullet hole decals add to the effect and its a good looking beast, a very capable and worthy backup.

I'm still heavily into it. Sure, I have days or even weeks where I'm not digging it so much but I plough on with the practice and always come out the other side as keen as ever. I like gigging, but there are limits. I'm nearer 60 than 50 now and even the best gigs are an effort, not helped by being my own roadie. Our singist didn't want a heavy Christmas gigging calendar so after two gigs in early December we called it quits for the year, and I was secretly quite glad. That said, we resume the weekend after next, big corporate awards evening gig, and after a month off I'm hot to trot. I guess its a case of finding a balance, and as life and enthusiasm changes the pivot point for that balance is constantly changing as well. I only have one sprog left at home and don't have the pressures of work etc that others might face so I can see how others might already have their bull***t cup almost full to overflowing before they even start thinking about playing.

I took up mandolin about two years ago. Like some of you guys I findnthe standard mando fretboard a bit tight, although that didn't stop me buying two. Like you Graham, found the octave mandolin to be the answer, an Ozark in my case. I tune mine in pairs. But now I've got to grips with that I also fancy an Irish Bouzouki as well...

I have the Fender hi mass on my Squire CV transition P bass. It's a great bit of gear for the money, although having to by the correct mounting screws (Fender Product no.: 9000-0006-2935 if anyone is looking for some) separately was a ballache. One hopes they sell them with the screws these days.

Yes, their customer service has an excellent rep and as a repeat customer I can only echo those sentiments.

My favourte tuner is Tascam. As for machine heads, whichever works best in whatever particular style I'm considering.

Home - either Orange Crush 50 or Tascam GB10. Live - I run through the PA.

I don't think I'm known for my association with any one piece of gear, but a helluva lot of non musicians ask questions or make admiring comments about my seafoam Sire precision. That being the case I'm probably recognised as the geezer with the green bass.

What's a car?

Did a free gig last night to support a friend of the band who's just opened a pub that does quite nice food. Hes a good chum to all of us, and the timing of his business opening coincided with his house buring down so we all agreed to play for free to help out a mate. We did one longish set rather than our usual two sets with a break in the middle as his entertainment licence was only until 2200hrs. Was good, really enjoyed it. We got paid in free drinks (full fat Coke in my case) and gourmet pub burgers (he's employed a proper chef) which was very nice. Atmosphere was good, a lot of folk from the village turned out so a fair few faces I knew. One chap was a music promoter, a friend of our rhythm guitarist, and he was telling us a few interesting stories about some big name bands. Nothing salacious, just how much they make for playing gigs, festivals, that sort of thing. He thought we were great, our typical middle aged USP of turning 70s and 80s pop pap into hard rock songs went down well with him, although we all agreed the chances of a record deal were zero! 😛 Only Ballache was the usual - couldn't pack the gear away until the pub was sufficiently empty, which meant waiting for closing. Didn't flop into bed until 2am and feel nacked this morning. Don't care how much anyone is paying, couldn't do it for a living.

In our band only one has a proper job. Three of us are retired, one is semi-retired.

One. Behringer because it does the job and is cheap, but I don't especially like it.

Supertramp are my 12 year old daughters favourite band. The lass has taste.

I'm 55 and we did a gig in a huge marquee a few weeks back and the combination of lugging gear miles from car to venue and back, and playing in awful heat left me feeling nacked for days. Even if I could get 6 gigs a week that laid on like that all year round it would probably kill me.

Full fat coke, no ice. I like the grog but as I get older even moderate amounts give me awful headaches so I'm off it for good. It's really annoying, because our regular rehearsal venue is a bar at a football club and we get free booze in exchange for a free gig from us ince a year. They open the bar, lock us in and come back three hours later, by which time our rhythm guitarist is so blasted he has to leave his car there. Meanwhile I might sup a can or two of coke, or perhaps Schwepes lemonade.

Some of my favourite bass playing is from a musician who only picked up a bass to finish the album because their bassist had been taken ill.