Any Bassists, Guitarists, Drummers, Keyboard Players Here?

Stefan Mikes

Stefan Mikes

Well-Known Member
Region
Europe
City
Mazovia, Poland
Until e-biking has become my favourite activity, I was fond of photography and, yes, making music. My most successful phase were years 2011-2017. I founded a PUNK supergroup called SZMATA (The Rag) that involved several well-known veterans of the 1970s Polish PUNK, the major stars being Robert "Afa" Brylewski (dubbed "the Father of the Polish PUNK and reggae") of KRYZYS, Izrael and numerous other major bands, Bogdan "Plexi" Rzeźniczak of Deadlock, Paweł "Kelner" Rozwadowski of Deuter, Izrael, etc and several others. Younger musicians, specifically of the band ZWŁOKI (The Corpse) supported us as session/gig instrumentalists. After Robert Brylewski was killed by a madman in 2018, the wind was taken out of my sails. I occasionally practice playing the bass.

I'm not a guitar collector; although I own several good instruments, there is only one electric guitar and one electric bass I'm really proud of.

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The 1979 Pearl Custom Export electric guitar and the 1978 Greco Electric Bass in a trick photo.

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In concert with Plexi (2015).

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In a gig dedicated to Robert Brylewski when we thought he would survive the outcome of the attack (2018).

SZMATA - ZAŁAMANIE feat. Afa.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
One of the last recordings we had together with Robert. He's singing, playing lead guitars and tambourin here (2016).

Now you: What instruments do you play? Describe your gear and the genre you play!
 
Are you sure you are on the right forum? I thought this was an E-bike forum. Just kidding mate! ;) I like your "1978 Greco Electric Bass" Had a bass back in the day that looked almost identical. The Fender Precision Bass with a maple neck and identical looking machine heads with a white body. Had a great 70s rock sound with the correct setup. Thanks for posting. Cheers!
 
bob armani said:
Are you sure you are on the right forum? I thought this was an E-bike forum. Just kidding mate! ;) I like your "1978 Greco Electric Bass" Had a bass back in the day that looked almost identical. The Fender Precision Bass with a maple neck and identical looking machine heads with a white body. Had a great 70s rock sound with the correct setup. Thanks for posting. Cheers!
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I am also on a bass forum that has a bike thread! I “play” bass and guitar. Fortunately I don’t ride a bike like I play or I would ride like the Laugh In tricycle skit. My genre is 60’s mainly so have a Hofner and Rickenbacker as well as a Gibson SG bass, Strat and Epiphone Casino and Martin acoustic guitar along with various others I have accumulated.
 
I am a member but haven't visited the Forums for a long time. Nothing more to learn there 😊
Once, I had a G-K Fusion head with G-K 410 cabinet. At that time, I thought I would have never performed live and sold the gear; a mistake. Now I got me the Orange Crush Bass 50 as the practice amp and still keep a Brunetti Maranello A-Class boutique guitar amp.
 
I don't play keyboard, I play US made pianos & organs. I have a 1982 Sohmer 40" piano I bought new and a 1941 Steinway 39 I broke a hammer shaft on. I have a 1968 Hammond H182 organ that I put 77 capacitors in to sextuple the volume and reactivate the attack & string bass functions. I've reactivated a 1980 Allen 300 organ for my church that went silent in 2017 for the previous owner. That was down to 2 watts/channel, now back to 100 like it is supposed to be with ~50 new capacitors.
I played classical as a child trained by my teacher; was fond of Ernesto Lecuona, Hector Villa Lobos & JS Bach in my teens. After I bought the piano in 82 I set to learning the 2nd & 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata that every student plays the first movement of in their fourth year. I spent 10 years learning Moussorgski's Pictures at an Exhibition getting it down to about 10 mistakes before I went over the handlebars in 2017 and tore a shoulder tendon. Was playing that for the church yard sale 2018 when I got evicted because I was driving off the customers.
So, what the church people like is country music. I can't abide George Jones & Kriss Kristopherson, but I can meet them in the middle. Took up Autoharp just like the Carter Family played. Bought one for $43 and reseated 2 loose pins and replaced 3 missing strings. Have done Carter Family Keep on the Sunny Side, Will the Circle be Unbroken, Hank Williams I Saw the Light, Thomas A. Dorsey Precious Lord Take My Hand (covered by Elvis). For the last one I was complimented by the lady that threw me out of the yard sale, one of her favorite hymns. So you can please some of the people some of the time.
I play Scott Joplin, Jonny Mercer George Gershwin & Cole Porter for church dinners. They don't throw food. The Sunday before Christmas I play songs for the people at the charity dinner that meets in our church hall. 7/8 the hymns in the book plus 20 or more commercial Christmas songs out of the Reader's Digest collection. Last year some friends from the church near my summer camp came into town & sang with me. I stop playing when the cleaning crew spins up the vacuum cleaners.
Can't really do much heavy metal except on phonograph, but have done 4 or 5 Elton John songs on the piano, 4 or so Beatles songs, have monkeyed with Joan Jett and Lynyrd Skynyrd on the organ particularly the heavy bass parts with the pedals. (15" 40 W speaker on bass on the H182).
Tried guitar in the 80's with a church junior choir, but I could never graduate up from nylon strings to wire. My skin is too soft, I can't grow calluses on my fingers. So guitar hurts too much. Won't fit in the pannier bag of the bicycle either, whereas the Autoharp will fit nicely.
 
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I am a drummer too. I saw RIngo on the Jack Paar show and the Ed Sullivan show when I was 10 and knew right away I must do this so I started right away with books on a coffee table playing along with Beatle records. Nowadays I mostly play to put myself in a trance. Indianjoe a ukelele will fit in your panniers.
 
i sort of dabble in a lot of things (guitar,bass,keys mainly) but am a master of none! due to the worsening state of parking near the practice space that we used, i started to bike in using my surface604 colt and a cheap 20" wheeled trailer from amazon. taking a guitar, a yamaha reface (the EP) and a microkorg as well as a 70's farfisa organ, everything seemed to survive ok on the ride over but i could really hear each pothole rattling away the parts of that old farfisa. however, upon returning from practice that farfisa was WRECKED - you would play a major chord, it would come out "minor" - everything out of tune, some registers not even voicing on certain keys. i guess the ride back at night it was harder to see the potholes and the organ just took a pounding eventually knocking some of those old large components out! afterwards i took a closer look and thought that maybe the culprit was a horribly trued trailer wheel but i haven't been brave enough to try it out since then (and the farfisa is still getting fixed sigh)
 
hewstigator said:
i sort of dabble in a lot of things (guitar,bass,keys mainly) but am a master of none! due to the worsening state of parking near the practice space that we used, i started to bike in using my surface604 colt and a cheap 20" wheeled trailer from amazon. taking a guitar, a yamaha reface (the EP) and a microkorg as well as a 70's farfisa organ, everything seemed to survive ok on the ride over but i could really hear each pothole rattling away the parts of that old farfisa. however, upon returning from practice that farfisa was WRECKED - you would play a major chord, it would come out "minor" - everything out of tune, some registers not even voicing on certain keys. i guess the ride back at night it was harder to see the potholes and the organ just took a pounding eventually knocking some of those old large components out! afterwards i took a closer look and thought that maybe the culprit was a horribly trued trailer wheel but i haven't been brave enough to try it out since then (and the farfisa is still getting fixed sigh)
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Needless to say the trailer has no suspension? I have one like that and I wished I had a top of the line Thule with suspension but I use it so infrequently I cannot justify the upgrade. Nevertheless I could not sqeeze my drums into any bike trailer known to man.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Until e-biking has become my favourite activity, I was fond of photography and, yes, making music. My most successful phase were years 2011-2017. I founded a PUNK supergroup called SZMATA (The Rag) that involved several well-known veterans of the 1970s Polish PUNK, the major stars being Robert "Afa" Brylewski (dubbed "the Father of the Polish PUNK and reggae") of KRYZYS, Izrael and numerous other major bands, Bogdan "Plexi" Rzeźniczak of Deadlock, Paweł "Kelner" Rozwadowski of Deuter, Izrael, etc and several others. Younger musicians, specifically of the band ZWŁOKI (The Corpse) supported us as session/gig instrumentalists. After Robert Brylewski was killed by a madman in 2018, the wind was taken out of my sails. I occasionally practice playing the bass.

I'm not a guitar collector; although I own several good instruments, there is only one electric guitar and one electric bass I'm really proud of.

View attachment 48709
The 1979 Pearl Custom Export electric guitar and the 1978 Greco Electric Bass in a trick photo.

View attachment 48710
In concert with Plexi (2015).

View attachment 48711
In a gig dedicated to Robert Brylewski when we thought he would survive the outcome of the attack (2018).

SZMATA - ZAŁAMANIE feat. Afa.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
One of the last recordings we had together with Robert. He's singing, playing lead guitars and tambourin here (2016).

Now you: What instruments do you play? Describe your gear and the genre you play!
Click to expand...
Stefan is there such a thing as Punk Polka ?
 
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