Thor

We’ve got 21 gigs booked for Uncle Jack - there may be another odd one out two that make their way in, but I’m also looking to restart the other band, Sarum’s Lot, with a new guitarist following the recent passing of ours - he wanted us to carry on so it seems the right thing to do. Last year I did 44 gigs, 21 isn’t enough for me, can’t stand Saturday night TV.

La Villa Strangiato is another one I find tricky!

Most definitely!

I've never tried on a short scale - but that makes sense to me! 🙂

Rory Gallagher - Top Priority 👍

I've got the Oly White version - it is a really nice bass to play with a fairly shallow neck. It's among my go to's

I couldn't agree more 🙂 I am glad it's not just me that encounters such issues though, and it's quite interesting to hear what others find tricky 😄

So my latest fingering headache has been learning Atomic by Blondie - I’ve been preparing for a NYE gig and it was on the set list, anyone else struggle with it or is it just me?

I’ve been asked to dep for a covers band and at first glance of their set list I thought to myself I know 90% of what they're doing, but among the songs was She's Not There by The Zombies - I've never played it before but found it really trick to learn. I've now learnt it but what a tricky bass line I've found it to finger. That got me to wondering if you guys find certain songs awkward to play and if so, and you don't mind sharing, what are they?🙂

That would certainly get your jeans flapping!

My story makes me laugh now - I'm a mechanic by trade and did some work on a mate's car prior to him going on holiday, when the job was done he asked me if he could pay me at the end of the following month as he was taking his Mrs and kids on holiday and wanted some spending money - me being all heart said of course. 12 months later I still hadn't been paid despite polite, monthly reminders from me to him, so I paid him a visit, asked for my money and was told he was a bit short that month, so asked if I 'd be happy taking goods to the value of (as long as it wasn't the telly or his stereo system!). So I walked away with a Peavey TNT150 and a Vox P type Bass (Vox Standard?), tuner and lead. All of the aforementioned kit stayed under the bed for a year or so, then I set about learning how to play. A guy at work heard that I was playing bass so pleaded with me to help his band out when their bass player did a disappearing act (they later learned he was banged up for 18 months!), so after about a year of learning to play along with some of my favourite songs, I played for 'Situations Vacant' at The Horse & Jockey pub in Stanford in the Vale - I was really nervous all gig, barely looked away from the fingerboard, but obviously got bitten by the gigging bug and have been gigging ever since.

Bittersweet gig for Sarum’s Lot last night, we played at Qudos Bar in Salisbury - probably our favourite venue in Salisbury, it was our guitarist’s last gig with us as he’s been battling cancer for the last 5 years and unfortunately the time has come that he just can’t carry on gigging any more🥲 Such a shame as he’s a thoroughly decent bloke and a bloody good mate, and the band has been a breath of fresh air and exactly what I prefer to play. Here’s a cheeky photo I managed to take at the end of Highway to Hell and a snippet of Smells Like Teen Spirit… 70D5C01E-553C-4DF0-883C-04F37B7CB340.mov

Any preference as to what I should bring along from the list? I won’t bring the 412 cab as my van is currently poorly in the garage so will have to shoe horn kit into the car. I’ll bring something along for the raffle - worst case a bottle.

Yeah, I shouldn't be so lazy on the weekends, but when you've been getting up at 04:45 for the last 10 years, it does become quite tempting to have a lie-in, particularly when getting to bed in the wee small hours (in our house 08:00 is considered a lie-in)😄 Sorry, missed your question - in Salisbury, The Huntsman's Tavern

I've been umming and ahhing as to whether or not I can drag my backside out of bed (as I'll be gigging the night before and it'll end up being a late one) but put me down as confirmed - can't take it with me 😄

Uncle Jack played at The Foresters Arms in Andover last night, it’s one of those venues that can either be really really good or indifferent, with punters disengaged - thankfully last night was really good! A good sized crowd continued to swell as the evening went on, the gremlins that seemed to plague my IEM’s last outing didn’t manifest so that was cool, and gratefully no excessively oiled up punters spilled beer over kit - so all in all a great night. We all played well, the singer (who is depping for us from the second band I’m in) is starting to enjoy himself and is familiarising himself with how we’ve changed certain song structures - it’s probably the first gig I’ve really enjoyed in the last 4 months with that band😊👍🏻 A little snippet taken by our rhythm guitarist: https://m.facebook.com/groups/49274076451/permalink/10159806882926452/

Agreed - shame really, I do like these and regret parting with mine🙄☹️

Sarum’s Lot played at The White Hart, Bishopstone near Salisbury - they had planned a Sausage and Cider fest (what’s not to like?). We ended up playing inside since the weather was against us (seems like pretty much everywhere has rain yesterday), a god turn out, got rebooked and had the offer of a couple of private parties which are always welcome, thoroughly enjoyable despite us not being quite at our best.

A good weekend for me, Sarum’s Lot (classic rock covers) played at a Pizzeria in Salisbury on Friday evening, played outside under a gazebo due to the usual British summertime weather - unusual place to play and all a little last minute but we advertised it well on all of the usual social media outlets and had a good turnout, quite a few of our regulars were there and by the end of the evening the crowd around the market square has swollen to around 150 or so, we all played well and have been rebooked to play another couple of Friday evenings there, so that’s cool. Saturday night Uncle Jack (jukebox band) played at The Constitutional Club in Chippenham, a completely different affair to the night before but great fun nevertheless, 130 tickets sold so we had a good night, I had a few technical gremlins with my IEM’s but got through it unscathed.

His playing is seriously cool.😎

The Hamsters - what a great band they were👍

Some proper Bassface going on in that! 🙂