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I have been thinking about the difference between baroque and modern rhythm music. I think (this may be a very narrow viewpoint) that the old music was more about melodic patterns, whereas we should aim to the rhythmic content and decorate it with suitable notes and sounds (I find the latter also of importance). This does not exclude melody, but still the main point is to carry the base with the drs/perc and leave the melody to the solo instruments like brass and keys. Therefore simplifying the melody may drive the song better than very ornamental playing. Overplaying, who? Me? But where are the places where I should do like in the old proverb: when in doubt, leave it out? What's the note that is not important for rhythm or melody? How to simplify my line of eights? Should I listen to the singer, or other players, or all of them? Help!

Hell's Bells - Bruford

Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be - AC⚡DC

Blue Pile Sadness Supercramp Bream Theatre Moody Glues

I've got one of these, and yes they are amazingly good for £400. I wish there were basses as good as these for the equivalent money when I was starting out. They really do sound like a vintage Stingray. Mine weighs 9 pounds three ounces, which would be pretty light for a vintage Stingray. If you want to shave some weight off there are some lightweight tuners (Gotoh?) that are a direct retrofit. I thought about getting some myself but can't really be arsed. For £400 I'm not too fussy.

I picked one up this week and pleasantly surprised! Firstly, the finish! WOW! The sparkle is gorgeous! No idea why other manufacturers don't offer that many sparkle finishes? (Cost?) The sound? Fabulous. Not quite as good as my sterling 34 but pretty close. The price is phenomenal based on the build quality alone! Only draw back is the weight. Surprisingly heavy! Anyway, What's your thoughts?

I get that it’s modelled on his original P bass before modifications. But surely if it’s meant to be his signature bass, then it’s exactly those modifications which make it different from a bog standard P bass? Seems a bit “couldn’t be arsed” on Fender’s behalf. At least the Dave Murray black Strat reflects his World Slavery Tour-era HSH modded Strat.

All The Good Girls Go To Hell - Billie Eilish

I picked one up this week and pleasantly surprised! Firstly, the finish! WOW! The sparkle is gorgeous! No idea why other manufacturers don't offer that many sparkle finishes? (Cost?) The sound? Fabulous. Not quite as good as my sterling 34 but pretty close. The price is phenomenal based on the build quality alone! Only draw back is the weight. Surprisingly heavy! Anyway, What's your thoughts?

Moving the bridge will alter the tone. Fitting a new nut will change the scale which will also play havoc with intonation surely? Learning to swap around is really the best way. The note you get when your thumb hits the neck heel is a good cross check but electric bassists manage without it; good intonation depends on accurate position changes which is something well worth practising (over and over!). I borrowed a 3/4 D(ISH) neck bass while my 4/4 Eb (ISH) neck bass was being mended. It was no Biggie. But I realised that using the neck heel as a reference was a bit of a crutch.

Yip...it was a mixed crowd but he was playing mainly for the younger ones.....that said he played some stuff from TTF which was out in 1993!! But folk started leaving when he went on after us. There was still enough to finish the night with although we had to drop a few songs to take it up to finishing time at the pub!

Fair enough! 🙂 I'm not very handy with electronics so swapping the preamp is a bit (a lot) beyond my capabilities anyhow. I only make subtle use of the EQ in any of active my basses, and if by "dimed" you mean everything on full, that's just not me. One question though. Why get a HAZ clone? Why not get a HAZ? Will they not sell them? Talking of attack, wasn't the problem with the TonePump that it had a bit too much enthusiasm in that respect?

And they think they're more important than the band. Full of themselves too. Dave

Sounding great Stevie. Dave

I have spent the weekend building a larger waist height spray booth from my version 1 as it was a little too small to be comfortable. The dimensions now are 150cm wide x 100cm high x 80cm deep with a 6” extraction fan. Made from 18mm MDF. The front bottom panel is on hinges so I can open it up to be horizontal when spraying to aid airflow and a barrier for floor dust. It is also a handy place to mix paint and thinners. There is also a front top panel so that the front opening is restricted slightly. Extraction is on the bottom left of the back panel with a baffle to hopefully encourage downwards cross flow across pieces. The jig is a Billy Boy. i also upgraded to a used Devilbiss GTI PRO LITE 1.4 CLEAR with T110 air cap which is my dedicated clear coat gun now. It is a massive improvement over my budget guns and the finish results are so much smoother. One of the old guns will be my base coat and the other set up for primer. Air is from a SIP QT 100 litre compressor with 16 CFM displacement and 13 CFM FAD. The compressor is only about 63dB so much quieter and more efficient than my previous one. Finish-wise, I am using nitro paint and clear, 1k polyurethane clear and am going to try some 1k acrylic clear on a future build. It’s too dangerous to use the 2k stuff without a proper air fed respirator and certainly not in a garage attached to the house!

I've had a couple of days with the Kawai ES-60 and am impressed, especially when considering the cost. Decent sounds, keybed, speakers, built quility. I think this review is very accurate. Something it should have though is a USB sound interface given that the main market is home practising and the popularity of apps like Simply Piano and Flowkey I think it's a big omission. e.g. I could plug the CK-61 into the iPad via USB to send midi, the Simply Piano app would then send both the backing track and piano audio back to the CK-61 where headphones can be connected for quiet practice. That's not possible with the ES-60: Can send midi via USB to the ipad but the backing track audio doesn't get sent back - and as ipads are annoying and don't have headphone outputs (the only in/out is the USB being used for midi) you can't get the audio all on playing together on one device. I added a USB interface and sent the line out from the keyboard to it and ipad USB out to the interface - that works to hear what is being played on keys and the backing track but it means there's no way of getting the midi into the ipad and if you are playing with headphones that means the app can't hear you.

The more I look at these newer headless basses, the more I feel tempted. Especially the ibanez. What has actually reignited the interest in these in recent years?...pardon my ignorance. Some really lovely headless basses out there now.

Cad Religion Glenn Muller Glenn Filler Glenn Killer Glenn Tiller

I've got 6 with LHZs in, one with a Legacy and one with an EMG BTS. I took the Legacy out of one and put an LHZ in. It was very different. I've swapped between a Legacy and an LHZ bass every day for the past couple of weeks. Playing about 30 minutes, switching, then playing another 30 minutes and switching again throughout the day. I'll be swapping out that Legacy for another LHZ soon and putting the Legacy in the one with the EMG BTS. The LHZ is a clear winner for me but I love pickled breadcrumbed herrings too! It's totally subjective but I will say that I run the LHZ "dimed" and I can't get that same sound or responsiveness to attack with the Legacy; it's quite different. The other spare Legacy will probably end up in my Hamer B12L (EMG 35DC). It's more versatile and nicer than the BTS that's in there