Gasman

My three months between bands early this year were hard to take, especially when finding a new band seemed impossible; yes, motivation to practice was hovering near zero and I was thinking “is it worth the hassle of gigging any more?” (driving two hours, setting up, some dodgy venues, the exhaustion on getting home at 3am etc) but then I got gigging again with a band with 50+ gigs this year and I’m back on a high! I’ve gigged for over 50 years and i realise it’s part of what I am, that’s the crux of it, being a performer in front of a crowd who like what you’re doing is the ultimate buzz and I was lost without it.

I'd agree with Chris7273 - transferring the four neck holes accurately from the neck to the body wouldn't be a trivial job. whereas spotting through the three holes in the body into the neck would be easy. My first Fender bass was a hybrid like this; someone had mated a three-hole Mk1 Tele body with a four-hole '60s Precision neck. The fourth hole in the neck was just visible (could have been filled but wasn't) but no matter - the joint was as solid as a rock! Lovely bass, but a bit of a shoulder-buster at around 11lb!

Breaking into the pub scene in my area is very, very difficult unless you know a landlord or a landlord happens to hear your band and like it while they are at another venue where you are playing. Why? Because they like bands with fans and a track record of playing music that will get drinkers into their bar - and that’s fair enough. For a previous band I canvassed ten pubs in the area with links to recordings and video, offers to play a trial gig for expenses, but zilch. Finally got a breakthrough after playing a local festival- a landlord who had totally ignored me got in touch and offered us a gig saying he loved what we did. I had to refuse because ironically that was the band’s last gig before its break up...

Duplicate!

Good advice here - thank you, guys!

The JMB user interface is so much more logical and easy to use than BM, but in the end they are both clogged with old ads that should have been taken down months or years ago, and also replete with dreamers, Tosseur’s and vague-mongers. However, sifting regularly through JMB has provided me with a regular ska gig on sax and three longer term bass gigs (one after the other over four years) including my present covers band, for which I am very grateful given the scarcity of opportunities down here in coastal Dorset... I soon realised that I had to be flexible musically and be prepared to travel 40 miles or so to rehearsals and gigs if I want to keep playing, which of course I do as it’s been part of my life for over 50 years, so don’t lose heart!

The band I’ve just joined is definitely a covers outfit, but performs anywhere that will pay us a decent wage, so maybe that makes us a function band too! Last weekend we played a pub, this weekend we did a private party, followed by two daytime gigs at a countryside festival, with another 40 gigs in the book through to NYE. The band has a good local reputation and features a very popular female singer, which seems to be the key element...

Or the Sax in the Web forum - https://www.saxontheweb.net - probably the biggest sax players resource of all. As a sax doubler, I find it very helpful for advice on issues like this

Absolutely agree, Mr Zilch. If my covers band decides to add a new number to the set, there’s unlikely to be any sheet music available, but a version of the essential chord charts are usually available onlIne as a starting point, as are the words. The skill of non classical musicians like us is to hear the whole number, deconstruct it into the various parts using whatever tools (including our ears!) we have, then rebuild it as an exact copy or an interpretation as suits our purposes. Post-modern Jukebox are masters at the latter! Funny thing is, although classical instrumentalists are superb technicians at reading parts and masters of their instruments, not many of them can or want to play by ear, busk or do the decon-reconstruct tricks that the rest of us do. My dad was a concert violinist, but could never get his head around a 12 bar blues...

Good old Audacity works for me. Tempo change retaining pitch, pitch change retaining tempo, looping, lots of other options and it’s free! Very useful last week getting to grips with ‘Echo Beach’...

Oh yes, a Trans Blue Ricky 4004 Cheyenne 2, the only bass I’ve ever bought new, imported from Germany, Bass porn perfection visually. It looked great on the wall and on stage, but somehow the sound and ergos just weren’t right for me so down the road it went and a Fender jazz plus took its place...

Many thanks for the tip - I'll definitely look at those strings!

Hi! I bought my first five string bass during lockdown (a Fender Jazz Bass 50th Anniversary edition) from Andy Baxter. It's mint but of course has the five-in-a-row tuners, which I understand is not the best config, especially for a responsive B-string and that's been my experience so far. Before I offload the bass for something else I'd like to give it a fair chance, so as the strings that came with it now urgently need replacing I'd be really grateful for your recommendations for the best balanced and responsive set of strings to try. Many thanks in anticipation!