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I have severe arthritis in the little finger of my left hand. So much so that a couple of years ago it started to cease being straight and align with the ring finger next to it. As it got worse (and the knuckle more painful) my little finger elected to head off in a different direction and folded underneath the ring finger next to it. As time went on I began to lose the use of it and it started to get in the way too. I'm right handed so my accuracy on the fretboard started to diminish with a useless little finger waving around as my left hand moved up and down the neck. More recently I've been through the investigation process and very soon I have an appointment with a hand consultant at my local hospital to discuss amputation or permanent fusion. Should make playing bass (and keyboards) interesting !😂

I've had excellent results using Boswellia extract. Both thumb ip joints are now pain free, took about 2 months to kick in. Snake oil? I dunno, I'm happy with the outcome.

Been working my way through videos of the show. Haven't watched it all yet, but Gojira slayed, Tool smashed it (loving Justin's "bohemian caveman" look these days), Halestorm were fantastic, loved Jack Black's video contribution with Scott Ian and Tom Morello's sons, Metallica were, well, Metallica. Good, but you know exactly what you're going to get, and the two superstar jams were probably the highlight outside of Ozzy and Sabbath - Nuno Bettencourt didn't miss a note the whole day. There's a man who's done his homework. Sammy Hagar and Steven Tyler both sound amazing for 77, and the tune with Whitfield Crane, Nuno, Scott Ian, Frank Bello and II from Sleep Token was probably my highlight from the whole thing (Frank's new Spector sounds the b0llocks). That Yungblood bloke was pretty bloody good too. The only set I couldn't get through was G'n'R's - was not impressed. More to watch, but what an event. Jealous of those of you who got to go.

"Slinky as raccoons in the roof" it is - pretty standard Robert Smith behaviour there! On "Give me it" by The Cure, he sings about slitting cats open like cheese... so it could be worse. Not quite a song I'd choose for a wedding bash though.

Which, let's be honest, is how 99.9 % of the population would view it.

That’s the level of insight I get!!

yes you're probably right, I like listening to songs by artists where the bass is more prominent, Stranglers, Jam even the Beatles on some of their tracks, especially the remixed versions, even Status Quo up to but not including Rocking All Over the World, the bass drove the songs along instead of just adding low end

Finished up at the bluegrass festival this afternoon in very heavy rain. Full 5 piece band and we had a good rehearsal before our set and then found out it was shortened to 30 minutes instead of the normal 45-55 minutes. Not much playing and a two hour drive each way. Yesterday we played at noon and the band was in good form and we were very tight and did a beautiful version of Seven Bridges Road, the acapella part was wonderful four part harmony, a good set and the crowd enjoyed it and our leader and lead vocal was back in good health. Usual festival set up, Czech DB with Nux wireless into Traynor amp and DI to PA, excellent sound guys and we sounded good.

Turmeric is a well-proven anti-inflammatory which is also cheap and free of side-effects. A teaspoon a day in a smoothie would be worth a try although obviously might turn out not to help in any one particular case...

Busy weekend, after a while of not doing anything. Had an hour slot at a local festival, Party by the Parrett, and got the 6pm slot which was nice. We had played a wedding and a party at the venue, and the guy that run the club liked us. Very well organised (stocked fridge back stage and everything) and handily the two main sound guys were the guitarists friend and one of the guitarists in my other band. We had argued a bit trying to get the set list down, we had been asked to do mainly rock (there was a more poppy band and a ska band on after us, so we stuck to the rock mostly) seemed to go down well and we managed to get it down to 1hr and 3 minutes, so went over a bit, which messed stuff up a bit but not too bad. We had quite a few dancers . My guitarist / sound guy did a video from the side WhatsApp Video 2025-07-05 at 18.45.55.mp4 Today we played a pub, outside, on shingle which is a bit of a pain for getting dust everywhere and trying to stand your drink up. Also not good for wasps (or well, good depending on if you are a wasp or not!), back to the normal 2.5 hour set. To be honest I wasn't really feeling it as my hand hurt for some reason but it went well with only a few notable mistakes, like going to do the organ backing section of Brick in the wall, and not realising I didn't change my patch from the backing track of Baker street (which is like a bell), which was quite amusing. We had a request for timber which we hadn't done for a year or so but the singer couldn't remember how to play it! Glad to get back to work tomorrow for a rest!

https://www.bassic.de/kleinanzeigen/vigier-passion-ii-1988.62867/ Well-played Passion II on bassic.de in a very handsome blue for relative buttons. Should anyone be on the lookout…

Thanks to @stevel my quest for a Aerodyne has been fulfilled. A cracking bass in as new condition and good to meet a fellow Basschatter.

Did a really lovely gig by the seaside near Swanage and, as well as a large fee, was allowed to order anything form the menu, which included this £70 lobster. Would have been rude not to!

Had a great day. 12 hour drive each way so it was quite a trek. Tickets were still available on Ticketmaster on the morning of the event and these were not showing as re-sales. I did notice a surprising number of empty seats. My weekend away was a retirement gift from my children so I did not have to delve into the budgetary aspects of the trip (other than parking and some fast food). I have read some reviews bemoaning various aspects of it but I liked the variety of bands, the quick turnaround times and the general vibe. Live music doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun. An unforgettable gig.

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is a mishmash of Noel and Paul Stacey playing bass. Noel plays Go Let It Out.

I've never been a fan of Oasis, but I'll admit I always used to watch that video when it popped up in MTV/VH1 because of the bass and the rare chance to see a 4005 in the wild! Did Noel actually play it on the record? It's pretty fuzzy but it does have that Rick neck pickup airy quality to it.