TheRev

I played in London on Sunday night - that was a personal first. Otherwise it's just been the south west. The band has aspirations to play north of Gloucestershire, but as our genre is very west country specific, I'm not sure if that will happen.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364897801' post='2032241'] None of the Rockabilly/Psychobilly bands that we play with ever have a problem with the double bass player being boring on stage. [/quote] I am NOT standing on my bass..... I'd flatten the bugger.

Could be a lot of things- Fingering: make sure you're using the tip of your finger rather than the pad as that will give you a cleaner note. String height: If the nut slot is too low, the string will buzz against the board. You can raise the string with a bit of card in the slot and see if the buzzing goes away. Fingerboard re-shoot: there should be a slight dip carved into the fingerboard to allow the stopped string room to vibrate. If this is the case, you'll need to have the fingerboard re-shot by a luthier. My money is on the fingering technique - if I haven't played my Eminence (which has higher tension strings than my regular bass) for a while I get loads of buzz on the E string. 30 minutes spent on my left hand technique sorts it out.

I've been thinking about this recently as apparently I look a bit miserable on stage. Thing is, I can't exactly jump about and stalk the stage with a double bass, so what do I do?

Heron Music is still open in Bristol, you could give them a call and see if they can remember what it might be? Back in the 80s I remember seeing a lot of unnamed Fender clones in the shops, probably from the same factories that produced Encores, Hondos et al.

The Fuelled by Cider West Country Invasion hits Camden on Easter Sunday. The venue is the Fiddler's Elbow in Camden, the bands are: Dana Emanuel: Banjo driven, Irish tinted folk. The Shinkickers: Bristol pirate folk. The Devil's Rejects: Rockabilly The Surfin' Turnips: West country cider punk. The Skimmity Hitchers: The Wurzels on crack. Doors at 5:30, there will be proper west country cider and crowd surfing badgers.

Hey Bert, You're right, the magic times outweigh the car crashes these days. Most of the time I look back on my 25 years of playing and appreciate just how far I've come as a player and, dare I say it, a musician.

Some days I can play or write something brilliant and it seems effortless. Then there are days where it seems like I can barely string 2 notes together. What frustrates me us that I clearly have the ability to be the player that I want to be but I can't seem to access that ability on demand. It's probably linked to tides or some similar sh*t.

I'll be sending these to Alistair Sutcliffe tomorrow. They will be sorely missed.

I often use mine to soak up spilt cider and to break the fall of p1$$ed punters who trip over the monitors.

Ehrlund pickups are getting a lot of love in the DB world. It's a stick on bug type - should work just as well on an acoustic bass guitar.

My main band has a country'n'western/Johnny Cash sound. My other band is a jazz/soul sounding trio. My preferred listening genre is post-rock, completely different from either of my current bands.

I'd be inclined to make a stand against the agent's bully-boy tactics. Saying 'meh' sends the message that its ok to take revenge on the venue by squeezing the balls of any band that want to play there.

[center][/center] Tonight at the Dorchester Corn Exchange, [url="http://www.fuelledby.com/fuelled-by-cider/"]Fuelled by Cider[/url] celebrates it's launch with the West Country Invasion: a night of 4 west country bands, to get yer boots stompin' and the cider flowin'. Featuring: [url="http://www.skimmityhitchers.com"]The Skimmity Hitchers[/url] The Inbredz The Devil's Rejects The Shinkickers. Doors open at 7:30, first band on at 7:45. £8 on the door. The West Country Invasion continues at the Thunderbolt in Bristol on March 30th and the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden in that London on March 31st.

Regarding the Thomann basses, there's a guy on the Talkbass DB forum called Mikman, who's the font of all knowledge regarding the Thomann 1 2 and 3 series basses which are rebadged Strunals. Out of the 1 series, he recommends the 1E TN, which has an ebony fingerboard and laminate tineo wood back and sides. Tineo is particularl.y resonant, apparently and cheaper than maple. Personally, I don't think the quilted maple model is worth the extra money, unless you particularly want a pretty looking bass. I'm currently fighting the urge to buy the 2E TN bass....

I want one.

Three minutes in.... It's bad enough when people in the audience talk during your solo, but when your own band are having a chat during your solo? Someone needs to have a word Does Miles get away with cos he's Miles?

You might pick up a second hand Bassix or Bespoke Superlight or an Aria SWB for that sort of money, but they don't come up for sale that often. Keeping an eye out on eBay and Gumtree is the best way to find something.

Breakbeat era's ultra-obscene Tricky's version of black steel For a more trip hop vibe, the first Sneaker Pumps album and Big Calm by Morcheeba have some great tunes.

Someone once said 'It takes a great drummer to be better than no drummer' No idea who it was- I think it's someone's signature either here or on Talkbass. Anyway, if you really don't like him and really can't play with him, then one of you has to go before it gets violent. It's the only way I'm afraid I walked out on a band five minutes after we finished our first gig as a trio. The Drummer was a really nice guy but just couldn't play and actual rhythm. The guitarist and I had been together for a year or so but he was starting ot get on my t*ts as his timing was rubbish, he never listened to anyone else and because he always sang uber-loud (people often said he sounded like Eddie Vedder so he started to believe the hype.....) he would regularly wreck his voice and we would have to cancel gigs. All of this added up to a complete waste of my time and a sonic embarrassment, so I ran away.

The Genz Benz 3.0 10T is a belter of a combo for double bass, but I believe they're discontinued now so you might have to move fast to find one. If Markbass and Genz Benz are out of your budget range it's worth keeping an eye on the for sale forum - there are bargains to be had if you're patient enough to wait for them. The Ibanez Promethean combos might be suitable for DB - 200W with a 1x10 is a good setup. Also worth considering is the TC Electronic 2x10 combo. I had one provided as backline at a festival once and was pleasantly suprised.

I'v only got 2 real basses plus one electric and an acoustic bass guitar. I feel inadequate.