gjones

Your average musician (who isn't a bass player) probably couldn't name the bassist in their favourite band. Bassists are invisible to everybody, other than other bassists. Sad but true

Last year I sold 3 basses but bought a John East J-retro. Does buying a guitar amp count? This year there's absolutely nothing I need bass wise. Count me in...

This... And when you're practicing playing with fingers don't bother plugging the bass into the amp. It's discouraging when you hear all the clanky noises and mistakes when you're starting off playing fingerstyle. Just get used to playing with your fingers first of all and when you start to get the hang of it, plug the bass in.

My niece has her own Indie band. She's been in the UK charts but makes very little money from selling her music (Her music has streamed ten million times on Spotify in the last 10 years but the annual income that has produced is the equivalent of the average salary of a lollipop lady). She can't play in the EU any more due to the visa restrictions and legal hurdles Brexit created, therefore she's had to apply for Irish citizenship (her grandmother was Irish) so that she can play gigs in the EU in the future (her band will have to stay at home because they only have UK passports). Making an income from original music is very difficult these days.

There was a band in Aberdeen, called Union Avenue, who used to do covers in the style of Johnny Cash.

I play a lot of venues where I'm going straight into a front of house PA. Any amp I have have onstage is just for monitoring. So I use my onboard preamp to tweak my sound before it gets to the desk. That means I have some control on how my bass sounds out front. It also means that when I'm not going through the PA I can go out front at sound check and adjust my sound from my bass, rather than have to go back to the amp to change EQ..

I've been in bands before where the female singer was not that great. But eventually it was resolved by making sure the songs were played in the right key for her range and that she could hear herself through the monitors. If the problem is that she just can't sing in tune, or sing the songs in your set because they're not suited to to her voice, then first of all get the drummer on side and break the news that the rest of the band just don't feel she is suitable for the stuff you do. It's never easy.

It really depends on the cab, as not all cabs are equal. I have an old Barefaced Compact and it is extremely loud considering it's only one 15 inch speaker. I've played cheaper 2x10 cabs and they struggled with a loud drummer. If you're economising then the more speakers the better.

I have carpal tunnel too. I had an operation on my left wrist (fretting hand)and I no longer have any symptoms. My right hand sometimes has issues but I wear a brace on my wrist and that keeps it under control. Have you considered an operation which would allow you to continue playing standard basses without pain?

A drummer with a van to lug all the gear around????

I applied a seventies style Fender decal on the headstock of a nice old eighties Mighty Mite neck. The original Mighty Mite decal was a water transfer which wore off years ago. The neck was originally fitted to a Mighty Mite body that I got rid of because it was just too bulky and heavy. I applied the decal for aesthetic reasons, as the blank headstock just didn't look right. The neck has been on a few bitsa Precisions and Jazzes over the years. It's not been applied very professionally so wouldn't fool anybody into thinking it was a real Fender neck.

I remember when Guy Pratt and John Illsley (from Dire Straits) were discussing their vintage Fenders, on Rockonteurs, and how ridiculous the prices had escalated to these days. They agreed that no musician would ever spend so much on an instrument and most of them end up with bankers, or Russian gangsters.

The G&L L2000 tributes are great basses and can get a wide range of sounds, They're within your price range secondhand. Of course there are also Sire basses and Squire contemporary basses which may fit the bill and are around your price range new.

I you might wish to sell the bass, at some point in the future and get your money back, then it's not a good price. But if you feel it's a keeper then pay what you think it's worth to you.

I recommend Mamas Gun bassist Cameron Dawson to those who like James Jamerson's style. He's a very melodic and fluid kind of player and reminds me a lot of Jamerson.

Dare I ask, what is the point of this....... thing? 🫤

Basses that don't have a Musicman style of truss rod adjuster. It makes things so much easier to give your truss rod a tweak now and again when you don't have to loosen strings or remove necks. Fender introduced that type of adjuster on their Elite range of basses but went back to the old style when they replaced them with the Ultra range.

In my experience there's no such thing as 'too much power'. You can buy small and light but these days small and light amps can be powerful too. I would recommend going for as much power as you can afford, while still keeping the amp small and light. I've played at too many gigs, over the years, when my amp has run out of stream trying to keep up with a over excited drummer.

Best bass sound I had was the same, DI into desk and through the stage monitor at the Blues Kitchen in Camden about 6 years ago. I was using a bitsa Squier P bass, with an old 80s pickup in it. The sound engineer there told me he hadn't had a day off in about 5 years, so he knew what he was doing.

Get the money up front before you set up..... Just like Chuck Berry used to

An old Peavey TNT 150 watt combo will be loud and cheap. It may be heavy but it will do the job. Check on gumtree in your area.

Harley riders are not your average bikers. The ones I see are usually retired (sometimes early) with money to spend. If they wanted my band to travel a significant distance, hire a van, stay overnight and bring all the band's gear, including a PA, with us, then I'd be wanting to make it worth my while. I'd be asking for a grand at least. I have friends who play at the Thunder In The Glens biker rally and they charge £1,000. But of course you may be desperate to play at a Harley Rally in which case you may charge less, it's up to you.

The worst is when a band, who have no idea what they're doing, want to record an album in one day. I have been in that band, although I did warn them it couldn't be done, was totally ignored and of course was proved right. Luckily I was just a hired hand and was paid a fee for the day so it was no skin off my nose. The band then had to spend much more money, than they originally intended, trying to get those dodgy and rushed recordings sounding halfway decent at the mixing stage, which was impossible to do. I'd prefer to to record one perfect tune in a day than 10 rubbish sounding ones.

I have basses I gig and basses I don't gig. The ones I don't gig are the posher ones I bought as investments and plan to sell at a later date. Because of that I'd rather not dent them, or scratch them for no good reason. My other basses are all players and have the odd dent and scratch already, so I'm not as precious with them. If a drunk got out of order, I'd have no problem whacking them in the gob with one, any extra dents they received would just add to the mojo

I had some similar work done on a bass of mine recently and I used JA Guitars. John fixed the wiring on a Jazz Bass of mine, which included soldering, and it was very professionally done and it only cost me £15. This is his web site https://www.edinburghguitarrepairs.co.uk/