All Activity

As a nipper I'd been to my mates with a bunch of friends - my mate played bass and guitar in the school orchestra and the rest of those present, bar me, played instruments and or sang. I was handed the bass guitar when we started to jam. I liked being part of 'a band' and shortly after saw a bass guitar in a second hand shop. It was £17 - I have no idea what it was. By the time I'd saved up it had gone. Then, for my 16th birthday my dad bought me an electric guitar. I taught myself to play it and by the time I went to college I was writing songs with my best mate from school, who was a drummer (and had been with me on that jam session several years before). I played guitar in the first three bands I was in (playing predominately originals) but they got nowhere and I began to realise that everyone played guitar better than I did. And also that we always had problems with the bass guitarists. I was offered a chance to play in a covers duo with another mate - he wanted a bass guitar player and by this time I'd picked up the 'bassics' while recording originals. I enjoyed the bass and when he suggested getting a drummer in I was suddenly in a band. Since then (that would have been about 1993/4) I have mostly played bass in the bands I've worked with. Occasionally I'd take on rhythm guitar duties and during a 3 year period in a 5 piece I'd swap bass and rhythm guitar roles with another member of the band. But I always came back to bass an always described myself as a bassist who plays a bit of guitar. I still have some of the fire - it depend on the music I'm playing and the people I'm with as I tend to feed of other people's enthusiasm. I'm currently learning a set of covers for a one-off dep for a mate and I'm struggling to get any 'fire' as I don't know most of the songs and none of them really inspire me to play. I changed in terms of attitude from 'whatever' (when I first started in a cover band - it was the attitude of the guitarist/singer to playing songs properly and it rubbed off on me as we were very busy) to 'I want to play my best on this' which is my approach to everything now. In terms of basses all that really changed was my self confidence in playing a big bass as I'm only 5'7" and in the early days I thought the 4-in-line headstock basses looked silly around my neck. Now I don't care. First bass was a Colombus Jazz which I used for recording and the occasional gig. Mine was a great bass - I loved the sound on tape and it played well enough that I learnt all the basic stuff on it. My latest bass is an Ibanez GR300EM, light weight for longer gigs and as a partner to my GSR205 5 string.

I’ll have to check this out. In which way would you say it’s coloured?

I want to warm up the tone of my genzler Magellan rig. It’s the 350 head so doesn’t have the drive channel like the Magellan 800. I just love warm, responsive, creamy tone that’s responsive to fingerstyle playing. Say in a solo environment or in a more forward role in a band. For example of role. Paul Jackson when he played with the headhunters with herbie. So in the jazz, fusion, rnb, Latin realm. Nothings rock or hardcore. I don’t play that kind of music.

All Cried Out - Alison Moyet

Ok - Krivo on its way.. Will report back 😊

Tears dry on their own. Amy

810 cabs used on their side. NO! Single cut bodies

oh this is interesting. What pedals have you tried and how does the rat differ?

I’ve seen the tc electronic pedal near me. The videos on YouTube show the hard overdriven tone which is not what I’m after tbh. More Motown, very subtle warmth. Would you say it’s capable?

I've never understood why people want to sound exactly like their heroes. I always took little tidbits from their techniques, like Rhino's creative use of very musical, but varied fills, Mark King's two handed semiquaver slap ideas, Victor Wooten's double thumbing and harmonics, Marcus Miller's parallel right arm slap technique, etc. But at the end of the day, I incorporated all these into my own style. I sound like me. You're never going to sound like Pino Palladino. "But if you spend £90 on our magic strings, you just might..." Yeah, right.

Scunthorpe!!

Nope, Jazz bass straight down the line. I’ve got a P for the odd occasion when I feel like a change, but for me it’s Jazz bass, Jazz bass and thrice Jazz bass.

That's quite the evolution. Makes mine seem quite tame!

Yesterday I broke my left collarbone. I'm having surgery in a few days and would like to start playing again as soon as it's possible, but the bone itself might still be fragile for a while. So I was thinking to carry my bass on my right shoulder. Is there such a contraption, preferably one that is available in Europe? I found the Sling Strap which looks great but has to be imported from the States. Does anyone here have other tips?

Purchased Thanks

Started out on passive 4s and exclusively now play active 5s. Won't even look at 4s now.

Never Tear Us Apart - INXS

I have an NT AND a BO Warwick 5 and neither B string is better or worse than the other one. So I would say any German Warwick 5 based on that as I've owned a few in the past for comparison.