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Charles B inspired me that learning bass would be fun, also highlighting in his videos just how easy it really is, so I bought a bass and started playing it. Wasn't long before I could play all four parts of any arrangement at once as well.

In terms of cost - the 'right kind' of charity shop (eg Oxfam book shop in posh area) is always worth a look in for sheet music including many grade books. I personally remember only ever getting the main pieces book and the scales and arpeggios one, and even there, I think if you just get the one for a higher grade it contains all the info you need for lower as a default. Meanwhile a single good book on music theory covers everything you need to know up to grade 5 theory for any instrument. Finally, any teacher my or my kids have had would provide photocopies of necessary/useful extras. I even remember using the local library for some stuff.

CB has put together a very nice arrangement of a Beatles tune, along with top playing as usual:

And she's arrived. First time using https://www.theguitarstoreonline.co.uk/, can't fault it so far, free next day delivery and 5% off your first order, that'll do nicely. Tonight shall consist of mostly alcohol and a potent mix of pleasure and frustration. Then i'll give the MXR a go.

They are designed for s specific job and are not readily available. Their primary use is slimline jackfields, Patch panels, patchbays, not connecting low impedance headphones.

I can only speak from my own experience. I used to use Evri as they were cheaper, and I could drop them at the shop around the corner. Several issues including one huge cock-up meant a massive delay. Add very poor handling, and added failure by me to properly secure a vital component, and a fellow BCer and I nearly fell out. This was the last of many "exciting" adventures with Evri for me. It is amazing that @JohnDaBass is still even civil toward me. The final straw was when taking a large parcel (well within Evri's maximum size) to the corner shop, I was told they would not accept it and I should take is to the Post Office 2 miles away. Don't get me wrong, RM/PF are a long way from perfect, but amalgamating the two parts of the business seems to make sense and will hopefully work for everyone.

I'm starting to realise more why Piano is sometimes seen as being a bit posh as to formally learn isn't cheap (and compared with Bass it feels like an instrument that does need formal tuition). Or at least ABRSM certainly know how to extract ££ from students! I'm already upto about grade 2 or 3 level so have been looking at the course books to do some practise before I have my first lesson in 35 years. If I were to get all of the Grade 3 books: Exam Pieces (contains nine of them, can also pay for additional ones on the syllabus) Scales and Arpeggios Specimen Sight-reading Discovering Music Theory Workbook Discovering Music Theory Answer Book Music Theory in Practice (practice exam papers) ...these are short books (e.g. 'exam pieces' is 16 pages) but they cost about £12 each new. It'd be helpful if ABRSM just put them all into one book per Grade rather than extract maximum £ from students. Probably not all are really needed, but most are - and not only are there lots of them, they've made it so buying second-hand isn't ideal. I've bought a couple on eBay and then found that: second hand workbooks have all been written on (have returned twice for replacements and they are still marked-up) so you ideally need a new one. the syllabus changes often so at least with the exam pieces you need to get the newest version. the 'Music Theory in Practice' and 'Music Theory' workbooks don't give you the answers, so you either need to assume you are right or try to look stuff up online or buy the answer books. So per-grade that is upto about £70 of course books + £50 Theory exam + £80 Practical exam = approx £200 total.....and that's before paying for lessons that are approx. £30 per lesson weekly = about £1,500 per year. If it takes roughly a year per grade then it's approx £1,700 per grade all in. So for me to pass grades 3, 4, 5 even at a fairly quick rate is perhaps £5k total. And my daughter is starting as a complete beginner so I can probably assume a similar cost/time per grade meaining £8.5k to get her from 0 to grade 5 in 5 years. On the other hand, it is less elitist as the days of needing a big house with an expensive piano are gone (I have quite a decent home piano keyboard that cost less than £300), and there are loads of free online lessons and piano books from second hand shops so it doesn't necesserily need to cost a lot to just learn. However, after 35 years of playing without lessons I haven't really progressed so it does feel that Piano is something that really benefits from some formal tuition and learning structure (as opposed to Bass for instance: I bet if you ask good piano players how many had years of formal tuition and passed grade exams the % would be much higher than if you ask decent Bass players on this forum the same question).

Are you thinking about replacing the tuners on the 735? Even on things like US made Fenders and other £1000+ instruments, the adjustability of the tuners is limited, unless the manufacturer adds components which are designed as "aftermarket" items (Hipshot or Gotoh for example). The tuners on my 4003 are pretty basic affairs.

No settee's were harmed in the making of this picture. 😄

And their incontinence pads don't work!

Moving the strings over is exactly what i plan on doing. Remove the low string, move each string over and replace the high string with a .035. I like the glue-baking powder trick so i may give that a go if there are any issues with the nut. Thanks for the responses peoples. Much appreciated.

I need to learn to add more interest to my bass parts. When we're jamming ideas in the rehearsal room, I keep it simple and solid and tell myself ill add to it later but then never get around to it. I need to be a bit more lively on stage as well.

Wow!!! What a lovely bass! it suits you well! 😀

Classic rock radio stations who play "all the classic hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's" All of those stations have around a dozen songs they play on repeat and all of them have the same dozen songs. There are hundreds of songs they could play that fit their description but nope, they're all playing that same dozen songs over and over again only broken up by adverts for funeral plans, over 60's cruises and incontinence pants because they know their listeners aren't young.

We've done this New Year's Eve Eve gig for a few years now and it's always a sell-out. It's in the small village of Twyford and seems that most of the villagers were there, probably for the excellent buffet! I'm glad I took the day off as we do it all again tonight...

Really enjoying this thread. Some interesting insights into how the bass brain works 😂 Dave