Gasman

I'm living even more in the sticks (well, 300 yards from the sea!) in West Bay (Bridport) and I feel lucky that there is a basic music shop here for those odds and ends like picks, stands, etc and beginner instruments but TBH they and any other small town shop couldn't survive cashflow-wise holding high-value stock hoping for that one customer wanting a '63 Precision to wander in. I've mainly bought and sold through Andy Baxter for more expensive stuff. and through BC for getting rid of some excess gear (eg my Bassman 135 cab sold here for just £1 to make some garage space!) while buying buying some very nice effects and less expensive basses on here too...

I wonder if Wilton Felder ever gigged a Fenton Weill bass...

I did try a hard reset - it worked for a while but I couldn't afford the continuing cost of Viagra...

Yes indeed, I use a Talman 5-er on flats for the more soothing first set, then a much-up-modded HB PJ Mustang-alike 4-string on rounds for the noisy stuff in set 2 I've sold all my decent longscale basses, my small hands with their arthritis don't like long necks any more...

I thought this would be about getting the band members to pay their share of the rehearsal space hire. -sometimes just as difficult...

Phoenix Rising! I had another full-gig dep with my old band at a nice pub in Gillingham (Dorset) on Sunday afternoon. I don’t think the pub's name (‘The Phoenix’) was inspired by my gently-reviving bass career, but who knows? Mrs G came a long as it was a 4-7pm daylight gig in the pub garden, on a very pleasant sunny day, with free drinks for the band all afternoon and a good crowd – whoopee! I took the H-B Mustang-alike along with my usual AG700 and Darkglass 2x12 through an Aguilar boost pedal. It’s nice how my set-memory sprang to mind after months of not playing bass, even down to those unfortunate (but thankfully occasional) bum notes. I unwittingly added a little street-theatre to the second set – the KB player uses a bespoke drink-glass holder screwed to his mic-stand. This works fine with normal beer glasses, but the pub was (for some reason) using stemmed glasses with a C of G was a lot higher than normal, and his drink-holder had a gap in its circumference neatly judged to allow the stem of a glass to fall through. During an enthusiastic bout of pogo-ing I managed to swipe the glass with the head of the bass, the glass fell through the holder and upended a good ¾ pint of beer all over and into the KB - cue some interesting electronic noises and a mild ‘bang’. The KB-ist started laughing, removed the KB from its stand then stood in the street pouring beer out of a vent in the side of it, left it to dry in the sun, drove home (nearby) and got a replacement KB – back on the stand after we had done 20 minutes as a four-piece to cover – what a trouper! Here’s hoping it dried out and just needed a fuse… I did my usual sax-set, we finished at 7.15, Ms G and I were back nursing a cup of tea and an upset cat (‘What time do you call this?!’) by 9.15, then we slept like whacked haddocks. ‘Yes’, I thought just before starting to snore, ‘this gigging is as exciting (and tiring) just as I remember it! ‘ ZZzzz…

Does any of this Telecaster nonsense actually help Andy to manage his situation?

Another totter along the pathway to full-on gigging on Friday, but (spoiler) alas not on bass. Leader of my former band couldn't find a dep guitar player for the 5-7pm slot she had been given at a mini-festival in Shaftesbury. Dep number 3 in her little black book could do the first set, so I got the call to do the second set on sax. It felt like a good idea as up til then the furthest I'd driven post my stroke op and recovery had been a 30 mile round trip, so the chance of doing a 90 miler in daylight and getting some pay for it was nice. Mrs G came along too... The traffic was very bad most of the way (it's getting to peak holiday time down here in Dorset) so we were a bit late arriving at the venue, which was a de-frocked church converted into a social event centre. The stage was set up amongst the gravestones, (in the dead centre of town?) and was rather impressive, being an inflatable shell over a proper raised playing area, with a pro sound guy and a full PA with massive speakers and foldback monitors - top marks! We sat and listened to my old bandmates doing their first set,after which the guitarist packed up rapidly and exited to get to his next gig. With just my tenor sax to set up and radio mic to plug in we were ready to continue after a few minutes with set 2. If you're a sax or brass player you'll be familiar with the need to transpose chords and melodies when playing with keys and guitars; I'd been used to playing most of the numbers in set 2 on bass without this embuggerance, but this time I was busking 9 out of 12 for the first time, which was a bit of a challenge especially with 'Sweet Caroline' and 'Country Roads' both played in B concert = C# on the tenor, with 7 accidentals to manage in the root key, and no chance of cheating with a capo... Anyway, it went OK 95% of the time and the punters seemed to appreciate the different sound of a sax-led band for a change, so I was able to successfully chalk up gig 3 after my 5 month medical lay-off - however, I was cream-crackered today!

Funny old thing, just a week after tentative return to gigging post-stroke with my old band (just for a short sax set at a local mini-festival) I got an urgent call from them to play a private party not far away for a full gig - their replacement bassist couldn't make it... I spent an hour the day before playing along with an Audacity recording I'd made of the band, sort-of got my fingers and brain working together again, so it was off to the gig yesterday evening, fingers crossed! It actually all worked out OK, a few dodgy moments that didn't seem to be noticed in the new numbers introduced by the band since my hospitalisation, but I managed to stay on point and upright for two one-hour sets (thank you, Red Bull!) and got nicely paid, so in all a good way to ease back into gigging, with the promise of some more to come. Must say though, I was cream-crackered today...

Thank you for the likes, it all helps me on the road back! This really is a very supportive and worthwhile community!

After having a brain-bleed stroke at the beginning of Feb, followed by 5 weeks in hospital and 7 weeks recuperating at home, I actually managed to get out and play half a gig last Sunday. I'd stepped back from my band ('Mustang Sally') simply cos I couldn't drive nor stand up for very long. They replaced me on bass for the time being by a guy with 5 years more experience than me (he's 80!) but as the gig was actually an outdoor mini-festival in West Bay Dorset where I live they invited me to play the 30 minute sax set with them that I used to do. I have to say it was very nice to get up on a stage and belt out One Step Beyond, Geno and some rock'n'roll without falling over, running out of breath or having another Julius (Seizure!) It was also interesting to compare the new guy's bass sound (vintage Vox Phantom long scale and TC Helicon gear) with my Mustang and AG700/Darkglass set up - his sound throughout was a band-leading Jean-Jacques Burnel Stranglers clang while mine is mostly much a more nuanced thump with the occasional clang where needed... Let's hope a few 100% gigs come along before Christmas!

I'm now a one-man band (that's what I am, nobody knows or understands) after being forced to leave my covers band through illness (stroke) So my unique points are: 1. No gigs, no audience (except my cat who doesn't rate me at all) so readily available 2. Unique wobbly sax tone (embouchure shot) 3. Quietest bass sound ever (headphones only for occasional practice with Youtube) Perfect for funeral parlour mood music,,,

My next solo act name..."Stingray Jack Socket"...

Maybe it's an attention-span deficit in the audience's young'uns - jazz is about exploring a melody, chord sequence, harmonies, over a reasonable number of choruses, but usually a lot fewer than guitarists belabour in a 'Red House' rock/blues jam and a lot prettier...

Just so I understand - what value is this lot adding? Is it an April Fool's joke?