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I have a shaker board (Tecamp pleasure board) and a Backbeat. The board is brilliant, but it stays at home. The BackBeat (G2) is fantastic and I find it really odd playing without it, now. There are lots of ways to connect it depending on your use case but for me it's simply a case of using the Backbeat cable which sends a signal to the unit and provides a 1/4" output to my pedalboard. I have a Boss Katana GO plugged into the send on the BB so if I want to play somewhere other than my office (where I have a dedicated headphone setup) I can use that. Believe it or not, the makers of the Backbeat finally released an app which give you control of the unit. They have also added functionality for some different pre-set response curves which help tune the unit to a sweet spot. Weirdly, however, that can'r be adjusted via the app (yet) but with some trial and error it's a case of set and forget. The units seem quite reliable, when you consider the beating they get - and the customer support seems pretty good for those who have had issues. Keep in mind that the pack makes a bit of noise when it's shaking - not a problem live or with headphones but it might be annoying for a suppose trying to watch Place in the Sun whilst you're belting out phat basslines. Finally, the G2 is a significant step up from the original unit. It responds more evenly, it's lighter, lasts longer and has more flexible routing. Overall, I'd say they're well worth the money and the feel is a real game changer.

Too Much Monkey Business — Chuck Berry

Those Hal Leonard arrangements are very useful, and Paul Murtha seems to have a talent for keeping as much of the original feel as possible. The practice playlist in my signature is stuffed full of HL arrangements.

What are you doing when you first play a musical instrument? I'm not talking about the guys being sent for lessons on piano or violin, by enthusiastic parents, but the average guy who has probably been inspired by a band or some songs. You want to play those songs with the band, so you chose an instrument, buy one and play along. That either works or it doesn't. If it works, and you are struck by that bolt of lightening, you start playing along with other songs, as many songs as you can find. Which is pretty easy these days, with YouTube etc. Before you know it (in this case) you're a bass player. Lessons can come later, if you want to get serious. It took me over 50 years to have my first lessons, so whether lessons are relevant or not depends on your ability to work things out. I can't think of any player I follow or rate who had lessons.

However, this is really annoying: I can see three good seats in a row. I can't buy one ("There is a minimum of 2 tickets for this ticket type"), nor can I buy two ("Stranded single tickets are not allowed, please adjust your selection"), nor can i buy three ("You must select 2 tickets together") 😬 😖 🫠

Prices for London?

I like that! thanks for sharing! Yes, beefy, robust, reliable, meaty...all qualities that can be applied to a well made bass guitar graphite neck. I always get caught by that one if I'm not paying attention.

They have a good reputation in the pro/semi-pro sound reinforcement community.

Pic of the neck heel on my 450B, which is of the "chunky" type (same also on my 650B), so as suggested above I'm assuming the ebay one is probably a later model with a more sculpted heel. That's top dollar for a 450B, but I guess seems reasonable when compared to a Fender of similar vintage - and I know which one I'd prefer to have.

When I started to learn to read in my forties it was a game changer. It really did open up loads of playing opportunities. Just pitch up and play. No more worrying about if I had learned the wrong key or arrangement. There’s endless community music groups around and often it’s only the bass and guitar players who can’t read. Far more chance of getting the gig if you can. And it really is not difficult to get to a grade 3 level. 5 mins a day of proper practice on reading and that’s achievable in a year.

I got incredibly lucky with the waiting room and got an amazing seat for a price I'm happy with on the second night in London. Looking forward to it.

Not sure you’ve secured your position on the moral high ground there…

I felt like Martin Lewis banging the table for the plucky little guy.

Myself and Ash exchanged 2 fab basses, great comms and always a pleasure doing business with him, we both ended up with a great bass...

Definitely, for myself I was looking at buying a better acoustic guitar around Xmas, but then had the realisation that I simply love the one I have and love playing it, so why look to change. Similar with basses, I`ve my Sandbergs for their weight when with the band, but I have my fave bass already for home use, I get such a buzz from playing it that I just don`t get from any of the other basses.

So final update for this. after watching a clip of Kinga Glyk playing her Jazz bass and listening to her lovely tone I resetup my Yam. Straight neck; 0.15 mm relief from 1 to 24th fret at 7th fret. And set the strings from 2mm down to 1.4mm. obvs redid the pickups and intonation. this is how the bass should be, and it sounds killer now so glad i didn’t defret it. I would have been really pissed. I spent a lot of time trying and failing to get rid of fret noise when all along half the sound i wanted is exactly that. anyway thanks to all who contributed and common sense prevailed I think, maybe, or was it just dumb luck. Idk.

Wow. Much as I love/loved Rush, that’s a lot. I’ll wait for the eventual DVD, because the sound and the view will be better. I don’t have a particular problem with new drummer/keys players, but that’s a lot of money for something I have found mostly unsatisfying when going to stadium-sized gigs in the past.

Its not getting what you want, its (still) wanting what you already have, thats the secret.

Very interesting topic and one size does not fit all as what works for one may not work for others. I think the first thing you need to decide is, do you want to learn to play bass or be a bassist as they are two totally different things. Learning to play bass is just a tick box and is very much like learning to drive a car, you might pass your test and get from A to B but still be a crap driver. Being a bassist is like being a racing driver, extremely competent, understanding the dynamics and physics and technique along with understanding ones own strengths and limitations. When I started out playing bass nearly 40 years ago, I literally saw U2 at Live Aid and said, that's what I wanted to do. I then got into more music, got myself a bass and then spent the next two years learning to play every bass line to every song I could get my hands on. Some I could easily play and some were way above my ability but I improved and got there. I drowned myself in everything bass, watching music video's, reading magazines and studying as much as I could. The best advice I was given was don't limit yourself to one genre, be open minded and learn to play everything, even if you don't like the music or genre, there is always going to be something that the bass player can teach you. You basically need to be open minded and be a sponge and certainly don't form any prejudices, for example, anti pick, anti slap, fingers only, hate pop, hate punk etc. After two years or locking myself away, I came out, joined a band and learnt my craft from being on the road. I did have two lessons but they were a complete waste of time for me. The rest is history as they say and I went on to be signed, have music on TV and adverts, toured, work with some big artists and have a great career. I put my success down to simply hard work, commitment and being open minded. My goals when I started out was to be a fretless bassist, have a song played on the radio and go on TOTP's. I did all of that (except TOTP as it had stopped by then) and way more. That is however my journey and things are very different these days but the basics are still exactly the same in my opinion, the more you play, the more you commit and the more you listen, the better you will become and the more you will learn. The good thing these days is there's so much resource out there, YouTube is such a valuable resource and tool for learning that wasn't available when I started. I had to record TOTP and The Tube on a Betamax and rewatch it again and again to learn. Lessons can work and do work but in my opinion, they suit a certain type of person and certain way of learning. They can even be too restrictive and hold you back but for others, its the perfect way to learn. I would still personally put the best way to learn is to throw yourself in, open minded into studying all things bass by listening to as much as possible, watching as much as possible, read as much as possible, learn to train your ear, and play as much as possible, every day if you can. What I would do different, I would learn to read as that would have opened many more doors for me. I would also understand gear more. I was always a Jazz bass into an amp and that was in. I wished I'd discovered pedals sooner and the different ways to record bass.

Anyone here use a Back Beat haptic thing? I was watching a Kinga Glyk video and she was doing Q&A and it came up in that. I had been thinking of building a ‘shaker board’ but this looks like a much better option. Would be interested to hear from anyone with any experience and also how they connect up etc. thank you.

I don’t mind tapes, I’ve got a set of La Bella Gold White Nylons on my Lakland 55-01 that are cool. They are very low tension and, as mentioned, livelier than you’d perhaps expect. The acoustic sound of those strings on my 55-01 is very clattery and clanky, but the amplified sound of them is great. If you have a light touch, then you’ll likely enjoy them, if you have a medium or heavy touch (or play with a pick), expect to have to change the way you play, and perhaps the basses setup, in order to avoid choking notes. Honestly though, I’d just keep an old set of flats on an old p-bass. Want to try some tapes? Get a cheap Sire P or similar and chuck them on there first. Si

Very good, and the audience sounded like they were really up for it

£300 on the floor. More than I guessed but I was out anyway.