The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[Drago]

In modern times I've played a working mens club and a pub, albeit a historic, globally known pub. We didn't get beaten up, so Enter the Hamster did something right. A wedding reception in March is our next gig, so I'm learning a few more modern indie numbers and a few 60s and 70s classics for that one. I'm particularly looking forward to Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

 

[RMFrance]

I approached The Wharf a couple of years ago (and used to work in Tavistock) for a possible date, and at the time their programming was dominated by tribute bands, which is a bit endemic, even at arts centres. I know it's likely to get bums on seats, but things can stagnate.

 

[DCBassman]

I approached The Wharf a couple of years ago (and used to work in Tavistock) for a possible date, and at the time their programming was dominated by tribute bands, which is a bit endemic, even at arts centres. I know it's likely to get bums on seats, but things can stagnate.

Still much the same; as an overgrown pub band, we did well to play so many gigs there.

 

[Drago]

My outfit is a pub band. We play, we drink beer, we go home, we do it again another day. I'm oldest being in my 50'sm keyboardist is in his 40's, drummer 30's, guitarist 20's... were all old enough that we know theres no hope of Simon Cowell throwing money at us so we play for the sheer love of playing, the beer, the occasional brown envelope, and the adoration of the groupies.

 

[DCBassman]

My outfit is a pub band. We play, we drink beer, we go home, we do it again another day. I'm oldest being in my 50'sm keyboardist is in his 40's, drummer 30's, guitarist 20's... were all old enough that we know theres no hope of Simon Cowell throwing money at us so we play for the sheer love of playing, the beer, the occasional brown envelope, and the adoration of the groupies.

If you've got the adoration of the groupies, you're beyond 99% of all bands, pub or otherwise!

 

[Dave7]

My outfit is a pub band. We play, we drink beer, we go home, we do it again another day. I'm oldest being in my 50'sm keyboardist is in his 40's, drummer 30's, guitarist 20's... were all old enough that we know theres no hope of Simon Cowell throwing money at us so we play for the sheer love of playing, the beer, the occasional brown envelope, and the adoration of the groupies.

I only 'found' this thread today.....very interesting.
I was chucked out of the school choir after just one session for being tone deaf.
Some years ago I decided to learn guitar so booked some lessons.
Got through "Yellow Bird" and accepted that yes, I am tone deaf.
My son i Law is singer song writer in a group called 'Tick no Tock' and had some played on local radio so i go to some of the 'gigs' and enjoy the whole thing.
So.......
Good luck to you, a great thing to do.
Oh.... btw. Re' the young chicks, if Welshie turns you down please send her my way

 

[Drago]

A good couple of hours bass practice today. Ordered a Queen music book as Mrs D wants me to play some Queen songs.

 

[delb0y]

Latest video from me. Arpeggio studies on All Of Me:


View: https://youtu.be/0bNREA0pWW0

 

[Drago]

Well, Mrs D wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday so I've given her a list of acoustic basses.

 

[DCBassman]

Well, Mrs D wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday so I've given her a list of acoustic basses.

Nice to have, useless in the real world. Unamplified bass, you want to learn to play an upright. If you have to plug it in, might just as well use a solid. And it takes up less space.
I got a Warwick The Alien free as a prize. Glorius piece of decoration. At the time, I also had a Fender Kingman acoustic bass, about a fifth the price of the Warwick. Blew the Alien into the weeds in every way. But nice as that was, there was no point, really.
And one more thing: if you've a dodgy right shoulder, having to crank your arm out over a big acoustic body can be very uncomfortable.

 

[Drago]

I want to try some acoustic folk stuff, and no matter how sensitive I am with the controls a solid bass won't cut it. They're very much a one trick pony, but I'm cool with that.

I do indeed have a dodgy shoulder and elbow (well remembered!) so I'll have to see how I do.

 

[Oxford Dave]

Well, Mrs D wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday so I've given her a list of acoustic basses.

I bought an acoustic bass (guitar) about 3 years ago. Played it twice, eventually sold it as it was taking up room and gathering dust. No used at for playing along with acoustic guitars (or other non-amplified instruments) unless you plug it is, which rather defeats the object as they are cumbersome and awkard to play. If you're going to plug it in to an amp anyway, why not just use a regular electric bass? The only vaguely acoustic-is bass I've enjoyed playing was a couple of Epiphone Jack Cassidy's that passed through my hands - wish I'd kept one, to be honest.
Here's the last one I owned:

 

[Drago]

I'm confident I'll be using it quite a bit.

 

[ColinJ]

Ok, I am going to have one last try to learn to play the guitar!

I have owned classical and/or steel-strung acoustic guitars for over 50 years but got too focused on the destination (trying to become a good player) and forgot about enjoying the journey (learning).

As a teenager I set myself a stupidly ambitious set of targets which I stuck to for 3 months but then I struggled to keep up. Rather than slowing down, I carried on beyond my competence level. I ended up packing in after 6 months. Then O-levels came along, A-levels, work, booze, women, university, more work... I just never made the time to get back into it.

In the past 30 or 40 years I have only picked up a guitar a couple of times a year for about 15 minutes at a time. Barely enough time to get back to the poor level I was at 6 months prior to that!

Anyway... I was watching Stewart Copeland's series on music the other night and he was chatting to his old mate/adversary Sting. Sting described his approach to songwriting and picked up his guitar to illustrate it. I had the sudden feeling that I probably had a few songs in me and would like to have a go before it is too late. And let's face it - starting again at 64 is cutting it a bit fine!

I also liked the mention of Scarborough Fair, so I will have a go at learning that. It shouldn't be too difficult. Not sure about singing it though...



I still have my steel-strung acoustic but find that a bit hard on my fingertips. I'd rather do most of my learning on the classical guitar. The problem was that the classical guitar didn't have a full set of strings on it. The reason why it didn't have a full set of strings on it is that I was annoyed by how high the action on the guitar was compared to the other guitar and couldn't be bothered to set the guitar up again. But last night I suddenly realised why the action was so bad...

Years ago I lent the nylon-strung guitar to my then girlfriend's brother. I got it back 6 months later and noticed some annoying scratches on it. What I didn't notice was that the bridge had been replaced and the one he had put on it was double the height that it should have been! Turns out he had gone to replace the strings but lost the original bridge after taking the old strings off. He found another one somewhere, but it was too high!

I had a very cheap 3rd guitar given to me a couple of years ago but it is falling apart. I was going to sling it but spotted that the bridge was much lower than my Yamaha's troublesome one so I just took that bridge off and put it on the Yamaha. Wow, what a difference! I confirmed that the remaining strings don't buzz so it looks like a goer. I cleaned the guitar and just went on eBay and ordered some new strings.

This time round I will concentrate on enjoying the learning process. If I do, great - it doesn't matter that I will probably never be a particularly skilled player.

I just want to get good enough that I could twiddle around and try to write some songs. Maybe, just maybe, I might be tempted to go along to a local open mic night one day...

 

[DCBassman]

Maybe, just maybe, I might be tempted to go along to a local open mic night one day...

Once beyond a certain level, not too high, try and find someone to play along with for one song at an open mic. You can move on in leaps and bounds, confidence wise, playing with others.