meterman

I went from 5 or 6 basses to no basses a few years ago. I was desperate for funds, gig money wasn’t quite enough and I didn’t have much else I could sell. I think I was without a bass at all for maybe 6 or 7 months when I found a half-size kids Tanglewood Precision copy in a charity shop which I bought for less than a fiver. I was so grateful to have a bass again, even a little 25.5” scale kids one. I hope things turn around for you really quickly and you can get another bass again soon. Best of luck 👍

I’m all done too. Got a Squier CV Mustang with flats and a Squier Affinity Jazz with flats. Those cover everything I need to do in the studio. I reckon the Jazz would handle live work no problem. Only issue I have is the Mustang is Olympic White with a tort guard and the Jazz is Charcoal Frost Metallic with a tort guard. I’m not the biggest fan of either colour scheme. But that’s a minor quibble. They’re great basses. Oh, I almost forgot - I’ve got a 25.5” scale Precision copy with La Bella flats. It’s a kids toy really, but I’ve done records with it so it counts. Wouldn’t gig with it though, it’s flipping tiny 😂

I bought the cheapest bass in the shop when I was starting out, and never changed the strings for about 15 years but I absolutely played the heck out of that thing. Only upgraded to a cheap 70s Fender much later, but buying a cheapie never held me back. I did records with it and everything. It was just the need to get going that spurred me on. Had more money been available I’d have spent it originally but £65 was all I had, so that’s what I spent. Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, but when this is the cheapest bass in the only shop in town and you’re skint... I polished and babyed the Shaftesbury!

I’d get it setup, clean anything off it that looks like it might be botulism or something, and keep it forever. Reminds me of the type of thing Lee Sklar might have owned 😎 Very nice bass!

😂 exactly!

I know, at first glance it seems daft, but I’m down in the South Of France and although down here they produce their own bubbly in the same manner as the Champagne region (and local vineyards argue about whether their method predates Champagne becoming the more well known fizz) they can’t call it Champagne. But I’ll belt it down anyway. I’m probably still wrong aren’t I? 😂

Absolutely rat-ärśêd blind drunk on a combination of local champagne and bipolar meds. If there’s any change left over, maybe some more champagne. Or a plectrum or something?

I have an electronic kit, a reasonably high-end Roland one. I only bought it to make doing remote session work easier. With samples I can choose to make it sound like a 1950s Gretsch kit, a 60’s Ludwig kit, an 80’s Yamaha kit or whatever my clients need. The preset kits in the module are not to my taste but they are modifiable in terms of tuning, muffling, room sound etc. There’s also loads of classic Roland 808 sounds, 707, CR78 etc, which I love. I doubt I’d gig with it though. I think it looks daft 😂 But it is very handy to have.

As long as it worked and didn’t have any strings missing I’d probably not be too fussy. Never played any fan fretted instruments so can’t comment on them but otherwise, I’d buy anything if you’re paying 👍

And no, I wouldn’t allow hot food or energy drinks or much else in the control room. Small bottles of still water, maybe. Once I was in a band that got signed and the studio owner where we recorded our single arranged for the local newspaper to visit the studio to photograph us celebrating the event and do an article on us in the paper. I opened a bottle of champagne not knowing that one of the other guys in the band had shaken it up before handing it to me. When the cork popped, the bubbles sprayed over the mixing desk, monitors, talkback mic, etc. I was mortified. The look on the studio owner’s face was priceless. Probably so were the repair fees. We got banned from there the same day and the paper never did an article on us.

I think “Family Affair” by Sly & The Family Stone pipped “Space Captives” by about a year or 18 months?

Can I ask you a question about Logic? Is there a way to get into using it in a similar way to Garageband, like not getting too involved with the DAW technical stuff? Like, just setting up a mic and recording live playing in real time? I only kept Logic for a few months but never got too into it, and carried on using Garageband. As I use it basically like a digital portastudio (with a few extra bells and whistles) I sometimes think, hmmm maybe I shouldn’t have deleted Logic just in case..?

In 1989 I was singing and playing guitar in a band and we’d had a single out already and we had a studio session booked, then the week before the session our bassist and drummer quit. Initially me and the other guitar player thought “büggèr”. But then we remembered that drums were both our 1st instruments, so we could cover the drum parts, and just went to the local music shop and bought the cheapest bass, a Shaftesbury Tele bass, for £65. Decades old flatwound strings and all. We took turns at muddling through on bass, but I kept at it and loved it. Might not have bought a bass if our bassist hadn’t quit. In a way it was a shame because he was excellent.

I’ll admit I’m biased as I’ve used Garageband since 2018 to make records with and put radio shows together with and I’ve earned actual money from it, despite it being supposedly super basic. I had Pro Tools and hated it. Had Logic and rarely used it as it was way more feature packed than I need, and found a lot of it got in the way when all I wanted to record some drums and guitars and bass, etc. I’ve never bothered with any of the drum samples or virtual instruments in Garageband but only because I play drums anyway and I’ve got all the keyboards I need. Occasionally I’ll re-amp an organ or synth or something but otherwise I just plug in and record with as little fuss as possible It might be a bit wonky but I recorded an album in a day on a 4-track, and then a UK label heard it and put out a 7” EP of songs from it. And it was mixed and mastered in Garageband. It works for my needs 👍

If you’re definitely going to stay with Windows, there’s Ableton as well as Reaper, which is as easy to use (or as complex as you need). Many musician friends I know recommended Ableton to me when I was changing laptops. Otherwise, just get a reconditioned MacBook Air from Back Market or another online dealer and a get a used Focusrite Scarlet and crack on with Garageband. It’s not really an expensive solution 👍

I have 3 of those (excellent) Hiscox Liteflite cases and for touring purposes they’re fantastic. If my phone camera wasn’t kaput I’d take a photo of them stacked, as each of them still has a strip of masking tape at the body end with marker pen denoting which instruments they’re for. Telecaster #1, Classical, Acoustic, a trick I learned from searching for the correct cases in the basement at Vintage & Rare. Never thought of doing the matching strap-to-case thing though, that’s new to me I must say! Even though I no longer tour, I still keep the cases with the guitars stored in them. No idea why, as gigbags would take up less room. But Hiscox cases are ace 👍

Air just announced they were reforming to tour “Moon Safari” again and I saw a list of dates online, then the next day I saw the same list and all the dates were sold out. Depending on who their backing band was they could be excellent live or a bit half-äršèd (looking at you, Phoenix). I’d still go and see them again though I think 👍

I found a box of old CDs recently while having a clearout. Singles, albums, EPs, promos... stuff like: Royal Trux Super Furry Animals Boards Of Canada the “Super Discount” remixes Air “Moon Safari” Sebadoh Sparklehorse Eels Primal Scream “Echo Dek” ...plus loads more. Will put the albums or tracks I like on a hard drive and take the CDs to the recycling centre. Great listening to it all again though 👍

Yes, it’s this lot: https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/the-bees although I toured with them when they’d morphed into this: https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/06/77-78-jellies-review-heavenly And I still DJ with one of the guys and we’ve done a record together so we’re all good. I didn’t really fall out of love with playing live, I’d got to the point where I was playing decent gigs with artists I loved and the pay was usually good, sometimes great. But my last band gig was in December 2019, and then I didn’t have any tour dates pencilled in until March / April 2020, by which time covid had happened, so everything got cancelled. Then in November 2020 I emigrated to France, to an area that’s not overpopulated with musicians. I did one solo gig last year but that probably will be my last. The other major deciding factor was my wife reaching stage 4 of cancer, and I’m her primary carer. I barely have time to chop firewood or make soup, let alone go on tour. I still make records as that’s my only source of income, but I can do those when I get a spare moment without leaving the house. And I still get offers to tour but it’s not feasible given my family situation. I’d love to do the occasional one nighter with mates, but that’s unlikely now. Can’t complain though, I’ve had a decent crack at it 👍

The last band I used to play with in the UK have just announced tour dates for next year, with tickets online. Massive demand, sold out album, etc. I think even if I was still in the UK I’d struggle to make it to a rehearsal let alone the likes of Islington Academy. I’m just done. Finito. I’d go and see them live if it was possible though, and have a pint with them, but the thought of the slog of touring is pretty much an instant soft-on now.

I remember being told about the ‘holy trinity’ or ‘magic triangle’ when I was just starting to do sessions. It’s basically you do the gig or session if: 1: the money is right 2: the band or artist you’re working for are musicians you like or respect 3: you like the music (even if the artist is a bit of a 🔔🔚) 2 out of 3 would mean you’d probably do the gig / session. But only 1 out of 3 would probably mean you wouldn’t. All 3 together is golden. I’d try to remember to keep that in mind when I was a nipper.

I started turning down the ‘not worth it’ gigs nearly 20 years ago. Gigs where the money doesn’t make it worthwhile, or where the travel is 4x the gig time, or the ‘bar takings only’ gigs, or the $h1thole venue gigs... There’s plenty reasons not to play certain gigs, and if you’re in a band they’re less than if you’re a paid session player. Venues, promoters, managers, ‘name’ artists, etc will often try it on, but once you start saying no to people often enough, they’ll get the message that you’re not interested in them taking the Fosters, and either eventually pay you properly or go elsewhere on the cheap.

Aston “Family Man” Barrett for me. Not super fast playing, just great tone and grooves that people will still be copying years from now. Vibe for days. Love it 👍

Good question 👍 My mum listened to Bollywood soundtrack albums, eastern and western classical music and opera and also liked Greek folk music. My dad liked fairly skronky avant garde jazz, Albert Ayler and things like that. Occasionally he’d play tapes of Charles Mingus or Thelonius Monk or Miles Davis. There was no pop music in our house unless it was on my pocket radio and I listened before and sometimes after school. When I first started buying records in the late 1970s with my paper round money I bought mostly disco or punk rock. Chic and The Ramones. Salsoul and The Saints. Sylvester and the Ruts. None of the music I heard at home when I was a kid had any influence on my playing at all. I like some of the jazz that my dad used to be into but you’d never know from my playing.

Interesting topic, this. Personally I think I’m crap - I never really learned along to records (except punk ones) and I can’t understand tab, plus my left hand technique is appalling. But - if I’m asked to play on a session I’ll usually get away with it. Maybe being a drummer first and foremost helps with my timing, and always aiming to be nailing lines that don’t get in the way of the song? I’m definitely not much cop! Most bassists on here would - quite rightly - laugh at my playing 😂