gjones

I'm the opposite. If I'm asked to do a dep gig I always do a lot of preparation beforehand. The last major dep I played, I had to learn 34 songs in 2 weeks. I made up cheat sheets for them all, just in case they were needed. In the end the band only played about 20 of them. Sometimes I'm better prepared than the bands I occasionally dep with. Sometimes they have to use my cheat sheets

I think we will all need to start playing care homes for the elderly. There's a willing and captive audience, who were in their prime in the 60s and 70s, and who are sick of daytime TV, and bingo. My band play a mix of rock n roll and blues. We were playing in a venue during the Edinburgh Festival, and after the show a guy came up to us and said he wanted to book us for gig at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. A few months later, when we arrived at the venue, we found out that it was for an over 65s group that meets once a month in a room at the Theatre, to listen to various genres of music. Tonight's genre was Blues and Rock n Roll. The good news was that it was a full house of 150. The bad news was, that when the audience arrived, there wasn't one that was under 75. Well we played our usual set and our female singer flirted with an eager looking 85 year old, who was sat near the front. The old codgers loved us, and we got a standing ovation (well from the ones who could stand without help) at the end of the gig. I'm telling you, the over 75s are desperate for a good rockin night. Whoever taps this vintage seam of oldies but goldies who are growing old disgracefully, will make a packet.

I know the feeling....

I hate wedding gigs but have reluctantly played a few. I remember once turning up at the venue, to find out that it was the estate of the groom's father (filthy rich banker). We went up the grand steps to the front door, to be told by the housekeeper, who opened it, to go around to the 'Tradesman's Entrance'. We were told that we would be having our tea with the housekeeper, groundsman, cook and various maids, in the kitchen of the big house. I remember it well, it was stovies and a cup of tea (look up stovies if you aren't Scottish). The guests and the bride and groom were all obnoxiously, brash, filthy rich and privileged. Eventually, after one pished, braying, stockbroker type, in the obligatory red braces, clicked his fingers at us one too many times, while asking us to 'play a f***king fast one!', or ' Play a f**king slow one', we went on strike. Packed our gear up and headed off, but not before we grabbed our cheque from daddy. Who was lying pished in his bed. I have no problem with the seriously posh, they usually have very good manners, and are usually quite poor (distressed gentry) but the nouveau riche bring out the Bolshevik in me.

Make sure you tell us if you buy it!

I was in Rudy's in October. Lots of very expensive vintage stuff. Including this Precision, which was in suspiciously good nick for a 56 year old bass. I think it was going for about $7,000. http://rudysmusic.com/used/vintage-1964-fender-precision-bass

And a very good job you did as well

I have a drummer friend, who told me about a gig he played at a social club, where they wanted a trio but the guy who hired him only played guitar and sang with backing tracks. He'd played the week before and they told him they wanted a band the next week. So he hired a drummer and guitarist to just stand and mime all night. Whilst he sang and played over his backing tracks, exactly as he had the week before. Nobody noticed.....

Buy a secondhand John East J-Retro and forget about the pickups. Let the J-Retro pre amp do all the work. Just slot the loaded control plate into your bass. No soldering. All connected up in 15 mins. Trust me, your bass will sound epic.

If I were you, I would spend a bit of cash getting your bass set up by a local tech. A bass that's easy to play makes a big difference and will encourage you to play more.

I use the memo recording app on my android phone all the time. It's very, very useful when I'm learning new songs. The sound quality is fine for what I use it for.

Macca never makes a mistake ☺ But have a listen to Lennon playing bass on Long and Winding Road. He's all over the place.

Is that a mistake by Paul at 1.12? Or was it just Jazz.

I bought a set of pickups, for £40, from a guy that had taken out of a Road Worn Jazz. I put them into a MIJ Jazz I have and they have a really nice deep, dark, warm sound to them, that I really like. I constantly get compliments about my sound, from other bass players, when I play that bass. Recently I bought myself a Road worn Jazz and the bass sounds very similar. If you can find a set of pickups from a Road Worn bass, I recommend them. They have a really nice vintage sound.

Put his bass amp out front. He doesn't need to hear it, unlike you who uses your amp as a monitor. If he insists on having it near him, therefore interfering with your bass sound, then he's obviously a tosser.

All the best musicians have 'feel'. Which is a difficult quality to define. Those with feel are not necessarily the most technically adept, and those who are technically adept, may not always have feel. .

Fender are concentrating a lot of their resources on promoting to women. They're reaching out to a lot of, guitar playing, women and are offering them endorsement deals. My niece plays Fender electrics and has never paid for a guitar. She has a house full of them but has never had to buy one with her own money. Her first electric was her dad's MIJ Telecaster. Since she signed with a record company, Fender have thrown guitars at her willy nilly (at least half a dozen so far). She's over in LA, recording her 3rd album, and I was with her dad when he called her to see how she was doing. Where was she when she answered? ...... the Fender factory of course. Where she'll no doubt be picking up another freebie.

I own a GK MB500 which is extremely loud through my barefaced compact. I own a Ashdown ABM 500 and an Ashdown MiBass 550 and the GK is significantly louder than both. I recently bought a GK MB800 which is significantly louder than the 500 watt version. GK appear to make very, very loud amps.

The Jeff beck version just sounds like an excuse to do a lot of guitar widdling, over the top of a very boring musical backdrop.

I love this video of John Lennon and Chuck Berry. Especially the bit where the sound engineer switches off Yoko Ono's microphone, as soon as she starts wailing.

Google 'Freakpower'. Their first album Drive-Thru Booty is a great jam along album for bass players. It will teach you how to groove. Curtis Mayfield's album Superfly, has some superb groovy bass on it.

This is how you review a bass. Ed Friedland doing it right.

Of course, she is a pro bass player. In my experience, pro bass players are quite happy to keep down the low end and play the root note all night, if that is what is required. In my experience, diddly widdly bass players don't get much pro work. The guy I saw the other day at a jam, who slapped and popped his way through a segue of 3 U2 songs (I kid you not), spends most of the day waiting by his phone that never rings.

She wrote this note, for the super advanced, freeform jazz, bass soloists out there in Youtubeland, who didn't agree with her video. This is it: ' 'Note from Yonit: Hey everyone! Thanks for watching the video Just wanted to make a few clarifications! * This video is for beginner / intermediate bass players * Obviously, there’s exception to all my tips (which are not rules!) but these tips should help you when playing with your band. Of course you can play open strings if you can mute them (which is a difficult technique to master if you’re a beginner), of course you can play fills that are well practiced, on time, from the bottom to the very top of your neck and so on. * Always play the root - in the beginning of the bar - you can obviously play any chord tone / mode tone you want after. But not straight at the top. We establish the root and then venture out. Of course you can play inversions but that changes the chord, and you probably should make that decision with your band-members. * I may have said ‘never’ and ‘always’ but this is really me just trying to make a point, don’t take it too literally fellas * This can be applied in many genres, but mostly for mainstream genres such as pop, folk, rock, funk etc. Yes, if you’re playing a progressive-jazz-fusion-hardcore-metal song this might not be the video for you. * Here’s a 6 tip for the brave ones who read all of this - make music to be happier and have fun with other human beings. That’s the point of everything, including this video Peace, love and many low frequencies, Yonit'

Just received a lovely P bass from Rich. Excellent deal and great communication throughout. Buy with confidence.