gjones

I suppose it depends on your taste in music but I found some of my favourite bands on that list (not necessarily the headliners on the big stages). I've never been to Glastonbury but if somebody gave me a free ticket, I'm sure I'd have a great time there this year.

I've been in bands where the other members used our gigs as an opportunity to get slobbered. They actually played better when they were drunk (well they had a lot of practice). My playing, on the other hand, doesn't improve with alcohol, so I steer clear until after the gig.

I'm the same, it's silly really, as I've owned/own a few Squiers and I know how good they are.

I don't see any beer fridge....???

I recommend buying a Fender Rumble 100 V3. I bought one used and it's excellent. Stupidly light, good sound and at least as loud as a PJB suitcase. I have a Markbass CMD121P too but it's a lot louder, than your old Suitcase combo and, unless money is no object, is possibly more than you need.

I always heard the Police song 'Canary In A Coalmine', as 'Mary In A Coma'.

I have carpal tunnel on my right plucking hand and wear a wrist brace when I'm playing bass and working at a computer. I had to have an operation on my left wrist and I don't want to have one on my right. I use a weightlifters brace on my wrist while playing (it just looks like a heavy duty sweatband) and a velcro wristbrace, which I got from Boots, when on the computer. I've done this for the last 10 years and thankfully the carpal tunnel hasn't got any worse and doesn't hurt when I play. Prevention is better than cure.

The majority of the Basschatters on here are men of a certain age (between 45 and 65). They wake up grumpy and go to bed grumpy and then wake up two, or three times in the night for a pee, and are grumpy then as well. So feel free to ignore their attempts at humour 😊

As I've got older I get less optimistic that everything will run smoothly. I bring every conceivable tool know to man/woman, strings, batteries, spare amp, spare pair of underpants. In 99% of gigs my gear works perfectly but other band members gear malfunctions, batteries go dead, fuses blow, jacks cease to work, etc, and I am the savior of the day.

I have two GK MB amps, one is 500w and the other is 800w. When I gig I bring both of them, as they're not much bigger than a paperback and both are extremely loud. You can pick them up pretty cheaply secondhand.

I'm starting up a covers band and most of the suggestions are really good tunes, from Blondie to AC/DC. No Wonderwall, or Mustang Sally.

I bought a double bass about 4 years ago, as I felt I should learn to play one. It's spent most of it's time in the corner of my living room (which is the only place I have room for it) where it looks great. When people come into the house the first thing they do is mention the DB, it's become a conversation starter. Every home should have one.

I found that even just loosening your strings for 24hrs will bring the life back into an old and dull set of strings. When you tune them back up again they're much brighter.

I doubt he'll be joining a bluegrass band any time soon then?

Most of the pro musicians I know make a precarious living. When I say pro, I mean session musicians who play with No 1 UK chart topping bands. it's all pretty hand to mouth unfortunately.

I liked my Barefaced compact so much that I bought a Super Compact. It's a good sounding cab but it's not as loud as the old Compact. I can play my Compact with a loud drummer, using a 500 watt head and I have headroom to spare. The Super Compact needs a bit more power to compete with the same loud drummer. I had to upgrade to an 800 watt head.

I've owned a couple of Geddy Lee Fender Jazzes but I don't really like Rush - they're just really classy basses.

The band I was in before lockdown called it a day, because of the singers health. We'd been pretty busy for a few years but that's life I suppose. So I joined another, newly formed band, and started rehearsing. The two guitarists in that band, asked me if I would like to join a band playing rockier stuff with them and I said yes. So that's two bands all rehearsed and nearly ready to gig. Then the guitarist in my original band contacted me and said that the singer, his wife, has been miraculously cured and asked if I'd like to get back gigging with them. ...and of course I said, 'You bet!'. So that's 3 bands I'm a member of. Of course two of them have never gigged but it's going to be difficult once the bookings start coming in. My old band have lots of contacts and a good reputation as a crowd pleasing, competent band. So I expect we'll be getting quite a few gigs soon. The other bands will need to work themselves around those gigs (especially since me and the drummer are in all 3 bands). I've never been in 3 bands simultaneously before, it should be fun

5 years ago I bought a USA Fender Elite Precision, my first USA Fender, which cost just under £2000 (the only bass I've ever bought new). I owned, at the time, a Japanese Fender Precision and a bitsa Precision (Classic Vibe body,Japanese Fender neck, old USA 80s pickup). The USA bass is very well put together and is a beautiful thing, it sounds great and is very versatile, as it's a P/J with and active pre amp and it plays really nice too. But the Japanese Precision plays really great too and sounds fantastic, as does the bitsa. There was no logical reason to buy the Elite, as my other Precisions were more than capable. I just had an emotional urge for a USA Fender. My warped logic was that a USA Fender is the 'Real Deal', and all others are (however good) imposters.

One of the Amp options on the dial is bass and it sounds alright. Decent volume too.

I like all genres of music but my favorite is soul, by the likes of Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes. I play in a covers band, a rock band, a blues band and a country band but no soul band. There's a lack of soul bands in my area unfortunately, which aren't dodgy wedding bands (I hate playing weddings).

I've got a Yamaha THR 10, which I bought to play my electric guitar through. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it could be powered by batteries or mains and that it can also be used for bass. The tech blurb says it's 18watts and It's definitely able to keep up with acoustic guitars, as I've taken it to a few acoustic rehearsals with one of my bands.

I've been asked to lend my most rubbish bass, to a friend of friend, and I said nope. If I knew the person and was confident they'd look after my bass, I'd probably say yes. But I wouldn't lend an expensive bass, like a yours, to somebody I had never met.