Muzz

I love it, and yeah, it’s why I play...always has been. The downsides can weigh a bit heavier now I’m older, but they can be addressed. While avoiding the drunks can be hit and miss (despite vetting bookings), with some thought (and expenditure), we’ve got the lugging down to very, very little (three trips to the car for the three of us and we’re done), so the heavy lifting’s gone, and we’re 30 mins to set up and soundcheck, and less to break it down and get it packed away. That helps a lot, especially on a three gig weekend like this one, followed by a 6am alarm for work tomorrow morning...

We played one of those all-day charity festivals a few weeks ago, and were asked for a rock set. We put Killing In The Name in, specifically to watch the singer having to bowdlerise the lyrics on the fly...'Flip you I won't do what you tell me' and 'Motherfluffer' don't have quite the impact of the original, but it was worth it to watch everyone laughing...including most of the kids 😀

What I meant was would you have done it for nothing? Because that’s what the Tattoo are wanting... I’m guessing not 😀

I wonder how well this would go down if the Tattoo was on a cruise ship for a month?

One of those as a bass...

To paraphrase Billy Connolly: "Don't tell me how to do my job, or what with...do I come to where you work and tell you how to sweep up?" 🙂

I think what doesn't help is the perception that playing an instrument isn't actually work; not like security, or building a stage. The perception that applause is validation in itself, and therefore full reward, for what a musician does... Wrong, I know, but I suspect that's what a lot of people who aren't musicians think. Add to that the chance to cut costs, and you can see why it's the musicians which get the sharp end...

You should worry - I switched to a new-to-me 12-string at a rehearsal once and nobody in the band noticed. Really. 😕🙂

Or somebody very talented could pass the audition for me, and then I'll turn up. That'll teach them. What're they gonna do, dock my wages? 😀

Unfortunately, they only have to find, for example, one bassist who'll fall for this, and their job is done.

Unsurprisingly, I couldn't find any profit figures...but with a turnover in ten figures, if they'd be seriously compromised by the wages bill for the band, I'll play my next gig for nowt...

Can't argue with that - I've got one on all my basses... 🙂

Tho the pedal, being an external device, takes away all the compromises with string tension, gauge, feel, setup etc that physical drop tuning can involve. Personally I like a higher tension string, so Drop C would be a bit of a faff. Plus, standard tuning for songs which require/suit it, is just a Stomp* away... * SWIDT? I'll get me coat... 😀

I'm gonna suggest that if the lower notes are the deciding factor, a good pitch shifter will allow a 4 down to that territory without compromise. Two of the bands I'm in have dropped tunings, and I simply have them set on my Helix. Job done. I've never taken to 5s because I can't be doing with necks much bigger than a Jazz...40mm is about my limit.

"The popular tourist event at Edinburgh Castle wants to double its turnover to £20m by 2025..." Like I say, skint...

6 hours a night for a month for nowt? When they're selling tourist packages for £500 and up? And they're also selling backstage passes? I think not. And even better, there's a £6.50 booking fee for booking tickets online. Aw, bless; they must be so skint if they can't afford to pay musicians...

I had the Stomp running for three hours yesterday while I faffed about with my presets and had a good long run down the rabbit hole that is trying to get a proper Wolstenhome-Hysteria/JJB-Anything tone* No issues, tho the box was warm. * You know how it goes: it's like trying aftershaves - after the 15th try, you kinda lose focus...

Never played more than a 4 on a function/pub gig, I'm afraid, but I've had a couple of pulled faces (from muso types) when I've used my Shukerbird for a bit of slap covering Luther Vandross' Never Too Much, and I once had a self-declared 'very experienced guitarist' just object to the bass itself at a rockier gig: he made the effort to cross the room to me during a break to declare "A Thunderbird with a Fender neck? That's just wrong...." I showed him a picture of JE playing his, which didn't help: "There you go: that's The Ox" "Who?" "Yep" "What?" "Oh look, we're going back on..." 🙂

Jean Jacques Burnel. 15 seconds into Hanging Around, and I knew I wanted to play bass. An epic bass tone that defined the band, and, for me, has still never been bettered. I've spent the last 35 years trying to get that sound juuuust right... 🙂

I'd say the series wiring is well worth a try - in fact Fender did this themselves with the short-lived S1 switching. I had one, and liked it* * Tho as I'm not a fan of bridge pickup burp or both-pickups scoop, I guess I would...

It's clearly a Write Only document from his POV... 🤔

Great stuff, and, much as I defer to no man in my admiration of Barefaced cabs, that Ashdown stack looks...right. And sounds it. 🙂

Yup, just like that, tho with a lighter, much browner board. I've some wood dye I was thinking of darkening it with, but it may do as it is. The VW was the main deal, as it's gonna be a one-gig bass, for a 30-year reunion of an originals band I was (and now am again) in. I had a VW 3000A back then, and this is close enough. The Boardwalk, Manchester, 1989...I had a better back, back then... 😀

Hokay, sooooo after a dalliance with a 1024X, which proved to be too heavy and too big in the neck department, I've got hold of a 414VW, and for what I need, it's much, much better: lighter, slimmer neck, and a P-pup as good as anything I've heard. The J-pup is nice, too, but this being me it'll never get used... 🙂 I might change the tuners for some Hipshot Ultralights, and if a bridge comes up the BBOT is getting replaced, but other than that I'm a happy chap. Oh, and possibly a brass nut...but it doesn't really need it; that's just me GASing for tweaks... 🙂

This.