ivansc

Sold my "the one " in the early sixties to buy a guitar. Couldnt afford both at the time. Here I am with a relatively poor substitute ( a 62 reissue P Bass) and my old knackered working bass which I was given in 1983. Have to say that over the years I have owned some nice playable basses but nothing that compared with the memory of that original 62 Precision. Wonder how much of it is distance lending enchantment? Oh and YES the "new" 62 sounds like the old one and almost plays as well. At least I could afford a case for this one. Old one traveled in its taped up fender cardboard box even after I sold it.

Beatles were primarily influenced by the polite end of soul. Berry Gordy etc. Hence folks in the south would be less impressed. I mean, Watts-Stax etc.....Muscle Shoals.... I was one of the Southerners in the UK who was not that impressed with them. Great tunes but not much to shake your butt to.

A well-known (and now sadly deceased) Country singer from the West Country once suggested that his bass player improve his sound by buying "one of those Brize Norton amps" True, honest!

(grin) 71 and retired a few years back from pro playing. I now have a fender copy of my original 62 precision because I can finally afford a decent instrument again, playing through a modern lightweight amp and cabinet because I couldn`t lift the old rig into the back of my estate car any more. Gig so irregularly these days I actually wound up with two blisters on my first and middle finger, right hand Saturday night. DId I mention I had to give up all dairy foods because my voice crapped out after years of abuse? Saturday night was also the first time of singing in earnest for eight months... sore throat hurt like hell Sunday morning. Am I a modern player? Hell NO! Do I still enjoy it? Hell YES!

Horrible syrup, though....

And of course it helps if you are gigging in the family`s band at some ridiculously early age... Have to say Victor W is absurdly talented AND a lovely guy.

A multi pocket laptop bag. One pocket carries guitar leads all coiled and velcro`d, plus mic leads the same. Next pocket has two vocal mics and pedals if it is a guitar gig rather than bass. Third pocket has the toolkit, tuner, spare strings and the medical mishap kit of surgical tape, plasters, etc. If I am doing PA as well, a large zipped nylon shopping bag holds all the necessary leads, again all coiled and velcro`d. My Dynacord PA head goes in another zipped nylon shopping bag. Speakers are a one-hand lift with built in plastic covers that double up as monitor stands AND carrying handles. A posh zipped keyboard bag carries the speaker stands, mic stands and a music stand. And of course the Markbass goes in *another* shopping bag. Biggest bit of kit is my 2x10 neo speaker. So, 1200 watt PA 500 watt bass rig and all the trimmings go in the back of my Mondeo estate with room for three passengers if need be. "travelling liiiiight, traveling light.."

The OLD DV247 was of course a completely different, UK-owned company. Unfortunately amid all the skulduggery that went on at the time of the sale, all the old staff got the push.

Are you sure it isn't his brother Bernie, or Schnorbet?

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1454339608' post='2968701'] Bass with Neck LEDs being played by a hot woman in a silver cat suit, while wearing a fez and Nothing else is cool. [/quote] FIFY

Anybody besides me feel the spirit of Chuck Rainey (when he was being a bass player & not the funkapotamus) in him? Nice player.

Normans old hat guitars is wonderful - Horncastle, so not too far away from you.

Oh dear. I am staring 72 in the face, come June 6th. Surely I cant be the oldest on on here? Can I??? (speak up, sonny, stop mumbling!)

I quit the MU years ago when the local secretary made it very clear that unless I was a pit player or in an orchestra/broadcast band they weren`t really interested in helping me, just taking my subs.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1453551113' post='2960447'] No idea how it works with theft, but if you buy a car for example, and it turns out to be stolen, it can be taken from you even if you bought it in good faith. Wouldn't that apply to everything or just cars, or am i also wrong about the car getting repossessed? I really do think that all these cash converter type shops are the biggest fences in Britain [/quote] Nope - I am ex Cash Converters and in EVERY case where a stolen item is purchased even in 100% good faith and "proof of ownership" from the thief, the shop STILL takes the hit financially as well has returning the stolen item to its rightful owner. So much for fences. The franchise regulations require full ID with every article sold to CC. Not worth losing the franchise and that much money to fence stolen £98 basses.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1452986685' post='2955402'] There's an interesting analysis of 'Sledgehammer' here [url="http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2013/analyzing-the-musical-structure-of-sledgehammer-by-peter-gabriel/"]http://www.ethanhein...-peter-gabriel/[/url] [/quote] Not sure about the interesting part.... I would hate to have MY songs dissected in such a clinical way. It is what it is, surely?

My first paid gigs were in a Jazz band playing banjo. I borrowed he banjo from the clarinettist. Never have actually owned a banjo, but I am now getting tempted. IF I can find one cheap enough. Depends if I can still play, as I can buy kindling locally quite cheaply and of course I have the obligatory accordion for fanning the flames.

In 1963 I bought a 1962 Fender Precision for 60 UK Pounds. Had to sell it a year on, so I could afford to buy a guitar for the gig I was offered t the time. Early to mid 1970s. Orange 120 watt "graphic" head into a 2x15" Orange parabolic reflector cab with Altec Lansings in it. Bass at the time was a Rickenbacker 4001 - swapped for a Travis Bean bass in the late seventies. Sold the Orange stuff on when I moved to the USA .

Mind you, the French are in general a VERY appreciative audience for live music. I split my time between East Anglia and the Morbihan & LOVE the french audiences.

2 Comments: "Yes, provided we get paid enough to preserve the illusion that we are professionals" - My buddy Bernie who worked as a full time pro from 1975 until fairly recently. "Well it beats having a proper job" - (grin) also Bernie Both very true. And I hate to say it but the best money I ever made in the UK was touring as a solo act and later as part of a duo. I retired from "serious" full-time pro stuff in 2006 and find it pretty sad the way work in all areas has dried up since. Been a very long time since there was enough real money out there to support even functions bands

Blue: read the book "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" which is where drTStingray probably got his info. Someone sent it to me along with the accompanying cassettes (!) when it was still in the "trying to raise the money to do a proper version" stage. Interesting stuff. I was one of the early bass guitar players in the UK and it was interesting to see how events developed very similarly over here. Stuff I recorded in the very early sixties I got told was "too busy" Who knew? Got to say it has to be Stax and the Philly sound all the way for me. Most of Motown's output was much too bland and polite for me. One little gem is "Boogaloo down Broadway" by the fantastic Johnny C. On the Phil-a-of-Soul label originally.

[quote name='kusee pee' timestamp='1450462433' post='2933153'] MK's playing is undoubtedly hugely skilful but the fact that he sings over the top is even more impressive. I read somewhere that he'd only been playing bass for six months or so before recording the early work - so to be able to play something like Foundation and Empire at that stage was amazing. I saw a relatively recent interview where he was asked how often he practised and his response was that he had better things to do than practice! The dep drummer in my band played with MK in Level 42 for a couple of years and says he's a lovely guy. His music certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea and sometimes I'm not in the mood for it but overall he's a great player and an inspiration to many players. I have no doubt that he could branch out and do more session work if he fancied as he definitely has broad abilities. But if he doesn't fancy it then who are we to judge? [/quote] And in another interview I recall he said that he wound up playing that way because it was the only way he could keep it together singing and playing bass at the same time. Makes sense when you think about it - almost strumming like a rhythm guitar player - much easier to strum than pick when singing. Bet he is dynamite on a ukelele!

Just my 2c worth Jaco was from the heart, Stanley Clarke - not. Whether or not you like the pseudo-jazz wanderings or not, both of these guys were capable of playing great pocket when it suited the gig. Just that Jaco's stuff spoke to me a lot more than Stanley's. And again JUST my opinion, but pretentious rock and roll guitarists should have been painlessly destroyed long before they were ever allowed to pollute jazz and turn it into the endlessly twiddly looking up its own backside thing it has become these days. Even most sax players wound up not being Charlie Parker.