12stringbassist

XTC Nonsvch.

I have been hosting a jam night every Sunday for about 10 years now. I often take one of my 4 Rickenbacker 4003s to the jam. Mortals use a Squier if they need to borrow a bass, though. I will sometimes crack out my Gretsch White Falcon if I want to play a guitar. I always keep my good gear safe and secure and don't worry at all about using it anywhere I play.

A great bass is a great bass. A room full of also rans is just frustrating. Life's too short to play crappy guitars.

The problem with 'hating songs with a passion' is that someone else likes them, so if I don't like something, well that's MY problem ..

Anything a tribute band does that isn't correct is wrong and asking to be picked apart by those who expect slavish attention to detail. You either do it right or wait for the criticism. The two tributes I would see again and again are the Bootleg Beatles and T.Rextasy, because they go the extra mile to get everything as near as possible. The point made above that if you don't try to get as much as possible right, then you're just a cover band concentrating on one group is exactly correct.

Finally, a 12 string bass pic.

The UK got zero points for the public vote. Time we stopped wasting money on this farce.

I've read that there will be more. The first series' main purpose is to establish the characters, apparently. I thought the crowd on stage thing (and the sudden influx of decent gear) was a bit odd. It was a good watch on the whole.

Fender P and Jazz copies by companies like Lakland and Sandberg et al. Why don't they have the imagination to do their own body shape designs?

I just went for the Ian Hunter 2LP set.

Blackstar. Utter garbage bass gear.

The new Ian Hunter album.

I've had that happen years ago. It was in a pub with really old and beautiful etched glass windows. I mentioned quite pointedly that if they kept doing that to bands they were very likely to lose them. He promptly went upstairs and found the cash.

Don't get me started...

I'm extremely sad to say that Chris Allen (aka Chris Cross) of Ultravox passed away on March 25th. His bass guitar and synth parts were always fabulous.

There are loads of bands I just don't get - and therefore not their bassist, but I wouldn't post who they are. It's the listener's problem, not the band (or their bassist).

I've had experience of taking an old drummer and an old guitarist back after splits in the past. The old drummer was fired because he had an ego the size of St Paul's Cathedral and getting back with him didn't work out and I'm happier not to speak to him these days. The guitarist worked out better (not perfect as he has his moods at times) and we're 8 years or so into this round.

Brewdog, until they pay their workers a living wage. And it's really painful to me to do this... https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/business/finance-strategy/row-brewing-as-brewdog-backtracks-on-wage-pledge

We've just had two weekends of not gigging (except for the weekly Sunday jam night that we host). The pub in Bolton that we played at made us set up in an inadequate little alcove last time, but this time they moved a few tables and let us set up in the spot we are used to. It's amazing how quickly some rust creeps in, even though we're usually out all the time. Our guitarist flubbed a line of lyrics in Purple haze and just came out with something phonetic to keep the tune going. It was hilarious. I played part of a bass line in the wrong key partway though one song, as my mind was totally elsewhere. I gave my bass a look as if it was the bass' fault and some people laughed at that. A nice, relaxed evening and not too far from my house.

You're going to get the odd place that might seem a bit of a challenge at first. We tend not to knock venues back as we have 'a work ethic' of sorts and we are quite fond of getting paid. I think we're on 110 bookings so far this year. I don't think that any of them are at places where the setup is awkward. We had a great night, even under slightly cramped conditions, and our return will see us at the other end of the room, which will be ok.

THE BASS PLAYER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.

Last night's gig came in a couple of weeks ago and was a welcome party for the new landlady at a pub near Bury, Lancs. The place was absolutely heaving when I arrived a little before 8pm. I was a bit dropped on to see the rather tiny space that we had been left to set up in, but I've learned to count to ten, calm down and just get set up on a postage stamp-sized stage before now, so that's what we did. We had a great crowd - but only about a third of the crowd could see us, though everyone could hear us - and it was far too hot, with a rammed pub and punters a couple of feet away - but our set went down really well and we will be back (and we can set up at the other end of the room next time). https://www.facebook.com/reel/1453302941967728