gjones

Turned up in a taxi, at the venue this morning, with all my gear. As I was standing outside I got a call from the guitarist. 'Filming is off! Sound engineer has had a positive covid test and he and the whole tech crew have to self isolate for the next 2 weeks'. Rescheduled for a week on Sunday....apparently. Well look on the bright side, we can have another rehearsal. Hopefully with the bloody drummer this time.

Had the rehearsal tonight, the drummer didn't turn up. Got a text to say he's fallen asleep on the couch. FFS!

We'll see. It sounds a ridiculously short time if you ask me but I'm not in charge. There'll have to be a lot of waffle between songs,

P basses sound good recorded and live out of backline but I've rarely heard a good sounding P bass, if it's put through a desk and into a PA. Sound engineers tend to emphasise the bottom end too much and make them mushy.

The only gig I have on the horizon is this Thursday. My band will be filmed, playing a 40 min set live, which will be streamed in July for The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. We have a 2 hr rehearsal tonight to get us up to speed, after 15 months inactivity 😲 We also have to use IEMs for the first time, which I'm not looking forward to. But it will be good to get together again and get the place rockin.

I've mostly played in 3 piece bands, over the years. Dynamics help give the impression that the energy of the song has gone up instead of down. Bing the volume level down before the solo starts and then bring it up when the guitarist goes into the solo. Another trick is for the band to stop for a couple of bars, just before the solo, then when the band come back in and the guitarist starts his solo, it gives the impression that you've gone up a gear rather than down a gear.

Yes, Fender didn't have it for long. Within about about 3 years, they reverted to the previous type.

Back in 2018 I bought an Fender Elite Precision, from Guitar Guitar. It was in a sealed box, straight from the factory. When I removed it from the box the setup was fine and because of the little Musicman like truss rod wheel, at the end of the neck, the action was really simple to adjust. I'll get me coat......

I take spare batteries and spare strings, which have come in handy. I have started taking a spare amp head to gigs, after one of my heads went a bit weird on me at a rehearsal. But, at the level I play at, it's just too much hassle to take two basses to a gig. Edit: Although you jinxed me now haven't you? My bass will probably explode in flames at my next gig

Out of the blue my band have been asked to play a gig for The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. It will be filmed in June and streamed in July. No audience, unfortunately, but I'm thrilled to be back playing with the guys.

Heft Quilter amps GR cabs are the new 'craze'.

What's good to one person might not be good for another but if you're after loud and light, you can't go wrong. As a one cab solution to gigging, a secondhand 10 year old Barefaced compact (about £300) might be all you need.

She's not singing out of tune, she's 'Jazz Singing'.

I was asked to join a band, a few years ago, and the drummer was shockingly bad. I've endured rubbish drummers in other bands but I decided I wasn't joining this band if I had to put up with it this time. I brought the issue up with the guitarist and he texted me the next day to say they'd got a better one........RESULT!!! If the singer is going to be an issue, bring it up now, or regret it further down the road.

Dave Swift uses IEM and stands on a vibrating plinth type thing, which vibrates along with the notes he plays, to mimic the sensation of standing next to an 8x10 with the volume at max.

Who'd they wheel in to do that, Pino Palllidino, Nathan East? It sounds like a sequencer.

You should have given it to me.... 😲!!!!!

I recommend going for a G&L L2000 tribute. I've owned every variation of P bass, Jazz and i own a Stingrays too but I was really impressed when I bought a G&L L2500 (which is the 5 string version). It's insanely versatile, as it has two pickups which can be played in series and in parallel mode. On it's own it sounds great but I've played it with a band too and it really has a great bottom end and clarity too. It's new price is well under the £700 you were wanting to spend. This is a video of the USA version (the Tributes are made in Indonesia).

i played through one of those combos, at a gig a few years ago, and was seriously impressed by the power it had and the sound of the thing with a P bass through it. The sound engineer said it was the best bass sound he'd ever heard (he possibly didn't get out much).

I remember going to some guys house, to check out the Hartke 410 combo he had for sale at a ridiculously low price. I had the cash burning a hole in my pocket but first I decided to check out how much it weighed. About the same as a small planet. I left without it.

Used in a subtle way it's fine. Such as when a vocal performance has a better feel to it, than other takes of the same vocal part, but has a few pitch imperfections. On the other hand there's Katie Price.

Bass strings are expensive to experiment with but they do make a huge difference to your sound. Sound is subjective and what one person loves, another will hate. I do love Elixirs though.

Root and fifth old chap, root and fifth.

It's a great bass. I have the 5 string tribute version and it sounds fantastic and is extremely versatile. I own top of the range active Fenders and an EB Stingray but nothing sounds as good as my L2500.