Bassnut62

Change of The Century is still one of my top five perfect albums, even 25 years after I first heard it. And like the OP, Scott LaFaro is one of my fave bass players too......although not with Ornette, his work with Bill Evans on the Waltz for Debbie LP is probably my absolute fave perfect album. Anyway RIP Ornette Coleman.

Hmmmm....for a moment there I thought the OP might be the bass player in my band......I set up and manage the band and get the gigs and we have some really good gigs that pay well and get everybody dancing. I am also playing guitar in the band (not bass for once) and have only been playing six strings for a few years. I reckon I am genuinely good on rhythm guitar and have recently started trying a few solos. Most of the band say my solos are fine and just need a bit of improvement on timing; but I know they aren't really good enough yet to be aired n public. If my experience is anything to go by, I reckon that if your guitarist has gone to all the effort required to put a decent band together that gets gigs and people dancing, he will already know that he has work to do to get to the level to which he aspires. So he will probably appreciate the honesty and an offer to give him the space in a jam to work on his soloing. Ultimately he is likely to want the band to be as good as it can be, as a direct reward for the huge effort he has already put in.

[quote name='danbowskill' timestamp='1432563392' post='2782678'] .....without a blend I'm not a huge fan of the sound....gets lost in a mix [/quote] Run it after a decent compressor and it is a thing of great beauty and stays very present in the mix; and of course only use it with a passive bass. Don't know how close or good the clones are though......

Saw them at Koko a few years back with Rocco on bass and all the right horn players. Great gig!

My band played a bar in Nottingham in October last year. Two people who we have on video dancing to the first song of the night, later assaulted two of us, tried to steal some equipment, damaged my car and one exposed himself and worse. This one is expected to be going down for considerable time when he is sentenced on Fri 5/6. the other hasn't yet been identified. We were only trying to entertain people and did a good job in difficult circumstances. When we arrived the bar manager said sorry we've double booked, we're showing the boxing tonight. Some of my band had travelled considerable distance. They said can we play after the boxing is over. We will never play there again or any other sports bar, that is showing a big event before us. I think this show massive disrespect from the venue and they did not do enough to secure the band's safe departure.

OMFG.

I have a hard enough time knowing what I'm doing with standard tuning.....so none of the intonation issues should be a problem for me anytime soon....Excellent!

Its a wrap around with the lightning stripe bridge (see pic); so at least the string pivot points on the bridge are set in about the right place. You can do quite a lot of adjustments on this bridge too and the previous owner, who was a classical and Zappa fan and also v particular about intonation said he found he could maintain good intonation quite easily. But I know what you mean and I am a bit concerned about the reliability of its intonation too. However it's such a rocking guitar that I am pretty sure I won't be worrying about it too much. It seems like an odd choice of guitar for someone (previous owner) who was into playing classical; but I guess the twist of Zappa makes it more understandable.

Bootsy used a Jazz when he first joined James Brown's band....all those funky-ass groove monster tunes from JB's heyday in the late 60s / early 70s were probably played on a Jazz Bass.

Thanks chaps! Got an hour and a half on it last night....think it might be time to [i]Give Up The Funk[/i] and start rockin' out with some good ole boys!

Scored this pretty little USA 2010 Gibson LPJ today. At last I have a guitar with a P90 in it. Plays beautifully, perfectly balanced, nice neck, sounds great and I never knew you could so many different tones out of such a simple guitar...... Has a tummy cut on back too, which is v comfy!

Keeley compressor is the only pedal that has held its place on my board for the last 8 years or so, whether playing bass or guitar. It's not on all the time, but I do use it a lot and for different purposes. Sometimes it's just about maintaining a particular place in the mix. Sometimes it's full squish for some funky hip-hop style. Sometimes it tames spikes on a wah. Sometimes it cleans and tightens signal going into a synth. Sometimes it maintains the bottom and presence in front of a dirt pedal. Sometimes it's just improving the tone of my signal. Sometimes it's adding boost and creating it's own slightly dirty valve like squish. It is always the most useful tool in my box and only impedes my dynamics when I want it to. Can't imagine not having one to hand.

I saw Gerry play in Ravenshead Village Hall near Mansfield in Notts the other day. His band Hogan's Heroes was gigging with Albert Lee up front on vocals and mind-blowing rock n country guitar. Great gig and loved the sound of the pedal steel with old Peavey amp.

You can work a day job as an employee, paying PAYE and have a business of your own on the side; but be clear about the boundaries of each job and whose time you are working on. Some employers may not want you working so hard at being a muso that you're too knackered to do the day job. Re tax in this situation, you would definitely need an accountant to complete an annual tax return, which will now include employed income and PAYE, and self-employed income & expenses. You can usually get away with about 5 years of running losses on the band (after all expenses, incl depreciation on equipment purchased), before HMRC will consider you're muso business to be a failure and you just a hobbyist trying to offset his hobby against tax! In an ideal world of course you will make money at the muso business (even after all expenses) and you will of course have to pay tax on the net profits. Being on this exact road, I would say that it will probably take 3-4 years at least to start turning any kind of real profit and if we do that, we will have been very lucky. I am running the band as a self-employed person (on top of an employed day job) and paying the musos as sub-contractors. I will not pay anyone, unless they provide a proper invoice with NI number if necessary. One thing to bear in mind is that if you are trying to get proper paying function gigs, your client will be given a lot of confidence to deal with a properly registered business or self-employed person, who works to a contract, provides a proper invoice, carries PL insurance, is fully PAT tested, etc. In fact many will not deal with anyobody that does not do this. Guess I better get back to the day job......

Register self-employed and write off cost of your equipment over 5 years to offset tax on earnings. If you're clever you might make enough losses to get a tax rebate on your day job. You can charge other expenses like transport too. If you're serious about making it a business, don't forget to get your gear PAT-tested and carry PL insurance.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1230751395' post='367372'] AWESOME! My one still has flatwounds on it. The best neck I've played(carlsberg moment) If you're in a band what do the rest think? Most comments have been "too wooly" [/quote] Used to have one too and regret selling it. The neck was fantastic on mine too and the bottom was at 10 on the Richter scale; but lacked top end and cut through. I was tempted to put a J pup near the bridge, but didn't want to mess up the originality. I got ripped off on the swap too, turned out the P Bass I got was a bitsa, not an original 70s as claimed. I have since got another telebass though: an '89 G&L Asat Bass with Leo signature (like this pic) and that has every sound in the book and plenty of presence in any mix, or can be made to shake buildings like the old 74 Tele, if wanted.

Gumtree is pretty good usually; also Join My Band

I only owned/used one bass (old MM Stingray) and one amp (old Fender Bassman 135) for over 20 years in numerous different bands/musical-situations and it taught me to get different sounds of the bass with fingers, slaps/pops, plectrum, palm muting, etc. I played with fingers most of the time and even just the angle of attack of finger to string could make a huge difference in sound. So I reckon one good bass (as long as it's not a Ric!) and one good amp plus some worn-in fingers should do the trick in any situation.

I hate performing Play That Funky Music. Why do so many punters love it so much?.....And yet they would probably run a mile if you played something really good by The Godfather of Soul, Mr James Brown, apart of course from the usual I Feel Good. Having said that, because the punters love it, I have learnt to enjoy playing Play That Funky Music.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1430481983' post='2761838'] Is there any lip synching? [/quote] Just a little lip action! It's better synched if you go straight to Vimeo to watch it, rather then via BC or FB, etc It is our recording in case anyone thought we were miming to someone else!

Ok, at risk of being shot down fast, esepcially for out of synch footwork.....here's our new video demo: [url="https://vimeo.com/125894753"]https://vimeo.com/125894753[/url] BTW - I am playing guitar not bass on this. Feedback of any flavour is welcome, as long as it is polite and constructive.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1429602403' post='2752955'] My bass demoing technique is nothing compared to my guitar try out routine...I clear a space in the shop by moving the other guitars to one side and play bendy rock solos on my knees with the amp on max volume and cathedral reverb setting... sometimes I cry through the sheer beauty of what I'm playing and let the tears roll down my face... [/quote] Ha! That's what I do too.

Went down this GASpath a year ago and ended up with the TC, due to toneprints and real estate. Very good functional pedal with good sound, though maybe a little too perfect.