gjones

I have found, through experience, that you are only as good as your drummer. You can be Pino Pallidino, Marcus Miller or James Jameson but if you are playing with a crap drummer, you'll sound crap as well. And if the drummer makes the bass player sound crap..........the rest of the band will sound awful too. The drummer in my band is, from tomorrow, on tour with the proclaimers for 6 weeks so I'm having to go through the same pain as you at the moment.

Why don't you ask Gregg Wright himself. He toured with Michael Jackson for years and played this tune hundreds of times. [url="https://www.facebook.com/greggwrightkingoftherockinblues"]https://www.facebook.com/greggwrightkingoftherockinblues[/url]

yes not bad.........these young whippersnappers will go far.

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1350154697' post='1835312'] I don't like the way they play, sounds pretty good though. [/quote] Necks can take a bit of getting used to.

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1350153009' post='1835288'] Because I want to hear myself and I cant rely on guitarists to sort their sound out. Its how I like to play. Geddy Lee's tone cuts through and sounds awesome. [/quote] You said you didn't like Geddy Lees.

If the graphic on the ampeg is what attracts you to it try a boss GEB-7 graphics pedal with the ashdown while you're in the shop. It may be all you need. Although I did play through an all tube ampeg recently and it was the dogs bollocks.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' timestamp='1326969312' post='1504359'] Are you sitting comfortably?....... Long, long ago...... I was contacted by exiled Geordie Alan Rogan (Guitar tech for The Who among others) who told me Pino Palladino was seeking a Precision bass in order to change direction after becoming aware that his fretless sound was being cloned in quite a few recordings at the time. Being based dahn sarf it was felt he would be paying a premium for a decent bass in the likes of Denmark Street and that better bargains could be had up North. That was true then (pre-internet and all) so I was asked to track down a pre-CBS bass as I had my finger on the pulse as far as North-east basses were concerned and had already done deals with Alan involving early Fenders so he knew I would be able to find the right piece. Sure enough, I found THAT one - a fiesta red re-fin, all hardware original and priced it at £450.00 IIRC. After speaking to Pino directly, it was parcelled up and sent to him after I re-strung it with La Bella flats. This was in the belief that he would be going for the 'old school' sound and those strings were best suited to a 60s Precision. It turned out that Pino changed to rounds pretty quickly but then reported a few days later that he thought I was right after all and put the flats back on. The rest, as they say....... Quite proud of the connection, but it's ironic that, being retired now, I couldn't even afford one of the tribute models based on the one we dealt. [/quote]

I believe this is an urban legend. Does anybody own a Mex Geddy Lee? Edit -[size=6] I've just eaten my hat [/size]look at the made in mexico stamp on this geddy lee neck......yikes!!!! [url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-Fender-Japan-Geddy-Lee-JAZZ-BASS-NECK-J-Maple-Black-Block-Inlays-/360481926930"]http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-Fender-Japan-Geddy-Lee-JAZZ-BASS-NECK-J-Maple-Black-Block-Inlays-/360481926930[/url]

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1350042289' post='1833869'] Just what I was thinking! [/quote] I was trying to be as diplomatic as I could be. But what I really meant was that if you play for free (unless it's for charity) and the promoter/landlord thinks you are too crap to bother paying and you accept their judgement and play anyway. Then it must do very little for your self respect.

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1350041910' post='1833864'] What a sad little life you must lead if you can only feel valued when being paid. [/quote] I hope your boss doesn't use that line when your next months salary doesn't get paid into your bank account.

[quote name='paul torch' timestamp='1350040922' post='1833847'] I do value myself. Not everything is measured in by financial gain. [/quote] But it's a good place to start.

If you play for free, it means you don't value yourself. Maybe you feel you are so bad that you don't deserve to be paid. But if you are good and you do value your skill and the hard work you've put into achieving that level of musicianship, then It's demeaning to you and the fellow musicians in your band to accept being asked to play for free. Of course sometimes, if you're playing original material, you may need to be pragmatic about the cash side because you need to build a following before you start asking for decent money. Saying that, any originals band I've ever played in never played for free.

Their brass section on Valerie sounds like a brass band.

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1349819475' post='1831083'] I literally only enjoyed between 1:03 and 1:05.. basically just that tapped bit. They are both far more talented than me, but I don't find it musical. [/quote] Yeah me too.

Use a pick on some songs. For the Phil Lynott sound. I like rock but bands like metallica have such a white noise kind of sound that a lot of the time you wouldn't know there was bass player in the room.

The guitarist in my band recycles his (stolen) licks a million times. To the amusement of the rest of the band (he'll whack a line in a swing and then put the same line in a minor key slow blues). He expects people who know their stuff to realise where he's getting them from and sees it as tribute rather than a straight copy.

[quote name='pietruszka' timestamp='1349854921' post='1831238'] An extremely good point, however a promoter my band has played for couldn't even get a crowd at Europes largest travelling fair. Really, full car parks everywhere and there was about 10 people at the stage. Each gig we've done for him, no one has been there. And we don't even get £5 of expenses. Dan [/quote] You've done more than one? Why?

I was playing a gig last week where the electricity was provided from a generator. I noticed that the lights were flickering on and off and my MiBass head was as well. Strangely, the guitarists valve amp wasn't affected and neither was the vocal PA. It pissed me off mightily (as I was worried about damage that might be caused to my amp) and was very close to switching my amp off and walking off stage.

[quote name='slobluesine' timestamp='1342873279' post='1742144'] anyone else here totally pissed off with musicians who play for free? [/quote] Yes! But if you pay peanuts you get monkeys........and probably end up going out of business.