gjones

Learn to play guitar and to sing. I may sound like I'm being a smartiepants but I have a friend who is a professional bass player but got fed up being a sideman all the time. He picked up a guitar learned a few songs and now plays solo gigs to supplement his income from playing with bands. He can get a solo gig midweek gig much easier than he did playing with a band.

Good choice. I own a Rumble 100 V3, it has a great sound, it's loud enough to play live with a quiet drummer and is ridiculously light.

Tears for fears - songs from the big chair Prefab sprout - steve mcqueen Sade - promise

Well I've got 10 basses, 3 amps, 3 cabs, two combos and I now know what works for me and what doesn't. GAS is a distant memory now.

Ed Friendland has had a set of Labella flatwounds on his Precision for over a decade. He says they're just settling now Personally I can't wait that long, the set I got was replaced by roundwounds within a week.

Should have stuck with the Yammie. Saw him playing it recently on YouTube, so he still owns it.

Played The Howling Wolf in Glasgow last night. It's unusual, in that it's a bar that only has Blues Bands playing and all the piped background music is also Blues. It was a fun gig, the place was pretty full and the audience had a really good time. We're a pretty hard hitting blues band so we fitted the bill. The manager was a happy bunny and asked us back but the times they had available didn't really suit our guitarists work schedule. We'd all like to play there again but we'll have to work something out.

Just listen and play along to some BB King, Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker and you'll be alright.

Ideal for those of us with OCD.

Is that Freddie Starr in the background?

That'd make an impression at the Dog and Duck on Saturday night 🤣

It all seemed to be all on one level, with uninspiring chords and no hooks. When there's no financial incentive to write decent new music why bother? They make their money selling gig tickets these days and people only want to hear the old stuff.

I recently left a band because of the behaviour of the guitarist. Weirdly, within a couple of weeks he asked me to join two other bands? I declined the offers (he obviously just didn't get it that he was the problem).

Yes

6 months ago I had trigger finger in the morning when I woke up, where my finger would not unroll after going into a fist while I slept. I started to put tape over my finger joint every night before bed and it has worked very well and I haven't had any further major issues with it. Prevention is better than cure.

That's a very valid question I really fancy playing with a Soul band, as that's thing I'm into but there's not many of those around these parts.

They sound very good. Is this a songwriter's band? I ask because when a band has a leader, who is also the songwriter, then the other musicians can slot in around them and any new members know the score. When an originals band have multiple songwriters within it, then it usually means there's friction, especially when one songwriter is head and shoulders above the others. All the bands I've been in, which have played original stuff, had one main songwriter. It definitely helps with band harmony and longevity of the band. Good luck.

You only have to be one page ahead of the person you're teaching

I have 3 friends, from Edinburgh, that completed music degrees. One is a piano tuner in Berlin. One is the drummer for Texas. One went to Nashville to be a session drummer and ended up in a boyband (as the singer). He left the boyband and got himself a publishing deal and will soon be putting out an album under his own name in the US. They all seem to be happy but their income situation (including my Nashville friend) is pretty precarious.

I have a feeling if all that ancient electronic gubbins was bypassed and the bass put through the Tech 21 and one of those GKMB800s, I doubt Steve Harris would notice the difference. He's probably deaf by now anyhow

Sometimes my mind will wander off to think about the pizza I'll be getting after the gig but that's about as near to an 'out of body experience' I've ever got.

That's great, I hope you will actually get some use from your Hartke. Most of the players with amp endorsements, that I can think of, play on a silent stage and use IEM to hear themselves and the band, so lugging an amp and cab around is no longer strictly necessary. One rather famous player, who endorses a high end amp manufacturer (who I won't mention), uses a Porter and Davis kinetic transfer platform, to feel and hear what he is playing because his amp is turned so low onstage and he can't hear anything directly from the amp he endorses (he's endorsed by Porter and Davis as well). You should see if you can get Porter and Davis to endorse you https://www.porteranddavies.co.uk/products/kt-platform/?fbclid=IwAR1D4Q7s17-kK0QSbSM64t7t19raQ0XZ11I-L7tb5nhP8U8bGH2yFEnxdyc

Is that Creme Brulee?

Technically challenging, mostly due to the stops, starts and changes in time signatures but, although I like a bit of Rock, not my cup of tea. I like Geddy Lee though - he seems like a nice fella.