Rich

Not me personally, but it was embarrassing for the band as a whole and the drummer especially. It was my first really good band back in the 80s, at our very first gig... we were a rocky-synth-pop band, sort of Duran with more guitars I suppose, and we had an intro tape... an ethereal synth piece with a bass drone, which gradually rose to a crescendo and then four clicks as our cue into the big opening of our first song. Unfortunately the bass on the intro tape used to cause a massive sympathetic rattle from the snares on the drummer's, errm, snare drum, so to avoid this he disengaged the snare strainer to drop them away from the head. And then forgot. Yes, you can see what's coming can't you... the intro rises to its crescendo, four clicks and BLAM the big dramatic intro, drummer hits his snare and instead of a gunshot "crack!" it goes "BOING!" like a timbale. Drummer realises what he's done, fumbles to re-engage the strainer and thankfully we are only treated to a couple of BOINGs before normal service is resumed. Alas the damage is done, and our big intro sounds more like "what if A-Ha played samba?". Thankfully the rest of the gig was an absolute belter, but it took a while for the drummer to live that intro down.

Part Of The Union - The Strawbs

The Lone Ranger - Quantum Jump

Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan

Break Like the Wind - Spın̈al Tap

Child of Mine - Carole King

...for nothing

If I wash my hands before I play, I can wave bye bye to my callouses very quickly indeed. I recall reading an anecdote from John Giblin of a session he did, where the artist made him change his strings after every second take.

Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

And he wrote Shipbuilding, Robert Wyatt's version of which is possibly the best piece of recorded popular music ever.

We Don't Need Another superHero - Tina Turner.

Pass The Peas - The JBs

Yes it is very short-lived, but you can get an extra gig out of a dull set if necessary. It doesn't work a second time! I don't boil strings any more, as I'm an Elixir user, but when I did I put a few drops of washing-up liquid in the water -- careful of the suds, it goes mad -- and waited till the water was at a good rolling boil before putting the strings in and turning the heat right down. 10 or 15 minutes is all that's needed. Do NOT, whatever you do, make the same mistake as a friend of mine did... become engrossed in a TV programme and completely forget they're on the stove, and allow them to boil dry. It scorched the bottom of the nice stainless pan and the marks have never come off, not matter how hard he scrubbed, and my errm I mean his wife will never let him forget it.

You Take Me Up - Thompson Twins

My word yes, he was very popular. Still sucks, though.

Ditto

Pills & Soap - Elvis Costello

You've obviously never seen me play darts. If I threw a dart at Wales, the bash would end up in Rotterdam.

Manic Depression - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

I guess this is my signature bass... my Shuker J. With the benefit of years of hindsight, were I to commission it tomorrow it would look broadly similar but it would be 32" scale, and headless, and would have P/MM pickups.

Aww man, I do love Sally she's a cracker.

Washboard. Spoons. Or with himself, perhaps. Anything other than a guitar. Then I wouldn't have been subjected to him at various points during my life. (And if there's one thing I've taken away from this thread, it's the pleasure of knowing that I'm not the only one who finds him mindbuggeringly tedious.)

I bought my Wal Pro back in '86 because I desperately needed a good bass, and I was in the right place at the right time to snap it up. I knew sod all about Wal and didn't know of any of their name players at the time. All I knew was that a.) I could afford it and b.) it was (still is) a fabulous instrument. When I bought it I was in the process of saving up my shekels for a new bass and had my sights set on a very lovely Pangborn Warlord I'd played at the Wapping Bass Centre (RIP); part of my reason for trying it out was that I had seen Mark King playing one and loved its looks. At the time I thought he was god, but I didn't want a Jaydee because I didn't want to look too much of a fanboi Buying the Wal instead saved me a shedload of cash and has proved to be a good long-term investment! I bought my Status fiver because I'd always liked Status basses (nothing to do with their Mark King connection) and I wanted a good five string. My Yamaha RBX was nice but the Status kicked its arrse. I bought my Sire V7 partly because of the Marcus Miller connection, which was what made me notice them in the first place, but mainly because I really fancied an active 5 string Jazz and they represented really stupid value for money. Bought it totally sight-unseen and was not disappointed. I'd very probably have given it a punt even without the MM connection. So... a couple of very tenuous artist associations in there.

I steer away from Rickies because I've played one