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I'm knocked out that my band (Lutz) have had our album listed on a couple of these top ten releases of 2018 things; I'm assuming this came out of the New Music Saturday podcast and a few people have just picked up on it. At the very least, it affords me a little smile after what has been a fairly traumatic year in which I lost my father-in-law, my mother and my job. [Edit: I also emerged from the wreckage of losing my band, the band I formed eight years ago, to a bunch of fairly unpleasant interlopers.] 2019 has got to be better, eh?

...well in a somewhat bizarre turn of events, I interviewed for a position last week and the agency just called and told me I'd got the position and start on the 17th. Amazingly, I'd initially turned the interview down, largely questioning my abilities, but the agency were told the decision was unanimous and I was head and shoulders over the other applicants. Feeling a bit happier.

Drove up to fellow BC member FinnDave to purchase/collect a bass he was selling. Had a great chat for an hour; he's a top bloke...and the bass, an Epiphone Thunderbird Classic Pro IV with Babicz bridge and Gotoh tuners...wow, what a bass. It's immediately become my prime gigging bass. Awesome feel, action, sound, looks...the total package. And the neck's almost 2 inches shorter than my Burns Bison, perfect for my short arms. Thanks BassChat for hooking us up.

First Dates - will they be seeing each other again ❤️❤️❤️

What constitutes 'a good rig' could be debated until the cows come home, but I would agree... the best 'tone' or 'sound' or whatever you want to call it that I ever had was through an Ampeg SVT Classic with matching 8X10. Still chasing that sound, really. I'd use a fridge every time, were it not for the practicalities involved in moving the bloody thing from A to B. And back.

A good sound just makes you feel super confident and gives your playing another gear.

Weather at last improved enough to let me get some pics of my newly acquired California II TT4.

Blue note, Brown note, let's face it, we have the POWER

Saw them in the mid 90s at the Huddersfield stadium (whatever they called it then). Brilliant summer's day and Stipey was doing his stuff as the sun was going down. Magical. Tanya Donelly was also on the bill and I was a huge Throwing Muses fan at the time. The main support was supposed to be Oasis but they decided they had got too big to be a support. Beautiful South stood in... I don't really like them but full marks for jumping in at the last moment... and they had a full brass section... always a mighty thing... huge roar went up when they played an Oasis song. Back on topic... must start listening to REM again. I even went to Athens Georgia and had meals in Weaver D's and at the Grit. It's a very neat University town and every male student looked like Stipe... some of the women did too.

Put down the bass, pick up a triangle. Then listen to Reggae, an ting.

Ahh I should have said, Tom Waits is on the list! That album (and Closing Time) are absolute solid classics and I love playing them.

https://bit.ly/2KQT9WL

I think it might just be the light that is fooling you in to thinking the finish is shiny. I always try to get the bright sunlight light reflecting off the basses when photographing them to highlight the wood grain. Here is the latest one I finished:

Basses (or any other instrument for that matter) only sound good on a recording in the context of the arrangement and production of the music. Take a listen to any of the many isolated bass tracks available on YouTube if you want to hear how different (and generally not very good) the bass sounds once you strip away all the other instrumentation.

Good on you, pal, and all the best for 2019!

Thank you, Chris, it was a real pleasure to meet you and have a good old chat about life and all things bass. Glad to know the bass has gone to a good home, enjoy it!

I'm guessing it was a resonant frequency if it was only E - causing the speaker to oscillate at its natural frequency. But over to the experts!

Some of my favourite books for working on sight reading and some tips to maximise your practising efficiency:

There are so many, but on this subject this always pops into my head first. If I can actually make a decision I will post some other faves later.

When I played (finished gigging 20+ years ago now) guitar in bands we only did pubs and clubs, and we didn't get fed. But I must admit, these days if I was faced with a big meal before a gig I would be asleep on my feet! I do recall one memorable occaision at Barrow Hill club (I think - it is 30 years ago now) when half way through the second set we were blasting away through something when the power went off to our stage gear, only for the concert secretary (do they still have them?) to mutter through his mike "T'pies 'ave come!". Virtually the whole audience left the concert room whilst we were powering up the amps hoping they hadn't been shafted to go and buy pies from this block who brought trays of them in from a van. What a classy place that was. They did provide half a dozen "broken" pies and pasties in our changing room though, which we scoffed whilst they were doing the bingo and meat raffles between our second set and last set. The delights of working men's clubs and Miner's Welfare clubs. What pleasures they were.

Eddie Jackson with Queensryche on the 'Operation Mindcrim'e album - particularly the tracks 'Eyes Of A Stranger' and 'I Don't Believe In Love' - Gorgeous grinding Spector NS2/GK800RB tone! Tiran Porter with the Doobie Brothers - classic flatwound/pick thud, particularly on the albums Captain & Me, What Were Once Vices & Stampede. Guy Pratt with Toy Matinee. Ocatved Stingray goodness and groove for days!

Why do vegans and vegetarians feel the need to make themselves sound special? I dont like fish or gammon for example so I'd just avoid it at a buffet, it's a buffet so you just take things you like, aren't allergic to or have moral issues eating. If there's nothing you like get a McDonald's on the way home! 😋

Yes, here's one https://www.guitardaterproject.org/epiphone.aspx Yours is in there, but I'll not spoil the surprise !

Supporting The Dualers in Glasgow on Saturday... lots of fun.

I can testify to this as I had the same and it easily bossed in my punk band. Swapped this ST for Two10s and still the WA has no volume issues for me.

I'm beginning to come to this conclusion. Since using Class D and light weight speakers for the last 10 years or so, I've never been totally blown away by the sound and I'm so tempted to go back to a 4x10. Not sure what though. The last rig I used was a big old TC Electronic 4x10 and an old BH500 head and it sounded amazing. Before that, I used an Ashdown Rootmaster head and Ashdown 1x15 and my Precision seriously sounded incredible. Just not keen on the extra size and weight that comes with it compared to my MarkBass LM3 and 2 x NY112 cabs.

Yer man from Incubus, Ben Kenney, used to tour with a couple of WA rigs - combo and ext cab beneath - see the link. It would be a pricy rig for us mere mortals http://mesaboogie.com/artist/ben-kenney.html

Takes about 10 seconds to get used to fan-frets when you actually play one.

That's a great explanation ....thanks. I knew it was ghosts all along!

the king of sublime

Aha! I was out running along the river and stopped on a park bench to listen for ages to that gig. Open corners on the ground gave us quite a clear sound for miles

There's another WT500 in the classifieds.

Yes you did, I should have re-read it lol I would do a New Amp day thread but unfortunately it is faulty and being returned for a new one. Sounds mighty fine when working properly though

On Friday I spent the whole day recording a mate of mine on drums in my studio. He's only 19 and he's the best drummer I know. Limitless creativity, all the chops, but totally musical. Anyway, after 8 hours of watching him I was totally inspired to go and get behind my kit at The Old Town House in Warrington. We'd never played in Warrington before so didn't really know what to expect, but this venue is ace! Really lively crowd too. It wasn't packed but there were enough in for a good time. My mate had given me some of his sticks to try, really big things like 2B or something (doesn't mean a lot to most of you I know) and they were brilliant. I hadn't played that well in ages. I don't know if it was watching this amazing drummer all day long, or the sticks, or the venue or what but we were super tight Saturday was a small indoor festival and to be honest I wasn't really looking forward to it. I always like to play, but I know this venue and crowd a little too well. It was way better than I expected. The sound man looked like the same guy, but he acted totally different. He was chatty, friendly, and did a brilliant job! Not sure what was going on there but the sound was ace! The crowd with extremely inebriated, sang and danced, and we generally played well despite some very amusing distractions. I wasn't driving so had chance for a couple of beers, and I was home by 9pm! Brilliant weekend

Anyone know when the WD will be out in UK?

Congratulations. 🍾 It’s nice to hear of good things happening to good people.

Ha, remember them well. Pie and peas, often served with mint sauce instead of gravy. Also hot pork pies, where the jelly oozed out when you cut or bit into them. Also in Hull there was a bloke nicknamed 'Supercockle' who used to do his rounds of the pubs and clubs on Saturday nights selling all manner of seafood in small polystyrene tubs, which you ate with a cocktail stick and had a bit of vinegar sprinkled on. If he came in while you were playing, you ended up performing to a queue at the side of the concert room. ( Also the same thing happened when an old guy came round selling 'Green Sports Mail', which was a special late edition of the local paper containing the football and racing results from that afternoon.)

Sennheiser HD201's cheap as chips 3m lead sound great with bass Mine are about 5 years old and are still going strong

The feel comes from playing in front of or sometimes behind the beat. It makes the bass drum and snare stand out by not cluttering up the sound but also serves to give the music a swing or lilt. Don't be afraid to leave spaces either, especially under the 1st and 2nd beats of a bar and you can offset this with clusters of notes under beats 3 and 4. This is what I've found, although opinions may well vary.

Bootsy!

My vote - gorgeous breaking up P-bass tones. Plus everything else is incredible too - songs, musicians. Stuff of legend.

I love this album so much and the bass sound and where it sits in the mix is wonderful to my ears. Any track is great

The newer Class D power modules (the D800, Magellan, etc) are very good, and a different animal from the older ones.

Maybe start playing church organ, it will be easier for the sound, not the transport. 🤣

The Major's Bass Boot Camp - Session 1 The reading of music and the understanding of music theory are closely bound together, and although there are many genres of music where reading is unnecessary, if you want a long term and varied career as a bass player, you really need to be a fully proficient reader. All sorts of work areas will open up to you including Theatre / Concerts / Film, TV and Radio Sessions and college-level teaching. So I am devising some articles to help get you going. Major Scale Triads / Compound Rhythms This is the first in what I intend to be an occasional series of articles aimed at the aspiring bass player (both BG and DB), bringing together technique pointers alongside related music theory and reading. These "sessions" will not be graded; I intend to dip in and out at various levels of difficulty. Firstly, download and print out the pdf: [attachment=38961:MBBC1.pdf] Now listen to the mp3 file while following the printed part. [attachment=38962:MBBC1.mp3] (SEE ALSO SESSION 1a IN NEXT POST BELOW) If you are an advanced player, you may just want to add the examples to your warm up routine. Teachers - please feel free to use these sessions with your pupils if they tie in with your own methods. However, if you are new to music reading and theory, please read the following: For this 1st session, I am assuming you have at least some basic music knowledge. (I will also be doing some further sessions for complete beginners). But please ask me questions about anything you don't fully understand. This will also help me to decide on the content of future sessions. All the examples on this 1st page are in the key of F major. This fits in nicely with playing in the first position (half position on DB). I have pinpointed the key signature, which is 1 flat (Bb). The little flat sign is written around the 2nd line up, where you would write the note B, thus converting that note to a Bb. You will see that I have used a "guide accidental" on the Bbs in this first example. That is just to remind you that Bs are flattened in this key. Normally you would just have to read the key signature before starting to play. The key signature applies to all the music that follows it. In some music genres, the key signature can change often during a piece. So it might start in C major for, say, 32 bars and then change to Db for a further period and move finally into Ab for the Coda section. Having said that, the vast majority of "popular" songs are written in just one or maybe 2 keys. A future session will tackle multiple key signature changes within a piece. Notice that I say "key signature changes". Many songs actually change key within the song, for instance moving (modulating) to an unrelated key in the bridge section. Usually the key signature stays the same throughout the written bass part, using accidentals to create the new key if and when required. Because this session is about Major Scale Triads ( 3 note chords), I have chosen to write the first three examples in the "compound" time signature of 12/8 ie 4 sets of 3 quavers (8ths) in each bar. You can see how the notes are grouped in threes with a bar across the top of the stems. There are 2 types of time signature: simple and compound. Simple: This means that each main beat (foot-tap) is divisible by 2 (or 4 or 8). Say out loud: "one and two and three and four and." You get the idea ? Compound: This is where each beat is divisible by 3 (or 5 or 7, but we will discuss this in a later session). Say out loud: "one and a two and a three and a four and a." Variation 3 and the sight-reading exercise are in 4/4 (simple time) - the notes are semiquavers (16ths) ie 4 notes to each foot-tap in Var 3, and a mixture of note lengths in the sight reading. You will notice that each example is at a slightly differing speed. Its important to realise that the time signature does not indicate tempo or speed, but just the way in which the notes are grouped and organised to make reading easier. Don't worry if the sight reading exercise seems too hard. Have a go at playing along with the mp3. Try to figure out the different rhythms I have written. As you can see, I've based the bassline on the triads as they appear in the earlier examples but this time one per bar (one bar equals 4 foot-taps). On the mp3, the kit plays an upbeat into each new section ie he plays the last 3 quavers (8ths) of the preceding bar in the 12/8 examples and the last 4 semiquavers (16ths) before the 4/4 examples. In the first example, you will see that I have written a triad (3 notes) on each of the notes of the F major scale. Each group of 3 notes creates the chord whose name I have written underneath. When the chord name is simply written as F or C for example, this means it is a MAJOR triad. When the chord name has a small m (eg Gm), this means it is a MINOR triad. I personally dislike the method of using a - (dash) to indicate "minor" but as it is often used, particularly in the jazz genre, you should be aware of it. (eg G - or F - ) The penultimate triad is marked as Eo. The "o" means it is a diminished triad. (The "o" should be raised up to the top of the "E", but I don't know how to do this except in music software !). This all probably means little to you if you are new to music, but, for now, try to get used to the differing sound of each triad. We will go into more detail in another session. What may seem like gobbledegook is in fact the bedrock of musical understanding and you need to get to grips with it in order to progress. But, for now, notice how each triad (in what we call "root position") is either all in the spaces or all on the lines. If we were to move the first F (for example) up one octave, it would then be on the line, making it easier to spot as a "first inversion". A word about my bass guitar fingering system: Many players (including Jaco P) use a similar system to mine. Having started on DB and 6 string guitar, I worked out that the best method on bass guitar was a combination of these two systems, using DB fingering (1,2 and 4)in the lower reaches and, from 5th position upwards, using guitar fingering (1 finger per fret). There was little in the way of tutor books when I started on BG in the '60s (and those that existed were often written - rather badly IMO - by guitar players), and there was certainly no consensus as to the best way to play, so we all had to develop our own methods. Luckily for me, my methods are commonly used by many of today's professionals. Now I don't expect everybody to use my system, especially if you have outsize hands (mine are average), but I will endeavour to justify my method. For instance, in the exercises in this first session, I would be very surprised if many players could use guitar fingering without serious injury to hand muscles, especially if they are played round and round in a loop fashion. You will see I have written "repeat" signs on each exercise. Normally this would mean playing the exercise twice.(To use less file space, I've recorded each line just once). But I suggest repeating many times, until the hand tires. (Sometimes on written parts you will see "repeat r+r" or just "r+r". This means "repeat round and round", usually till a cue to move on, or maybe "till fade" if its a recording session.) As I've used a lot of open strings in these examples, you will need to ensure that you damp the strings as you go. For instance, the first open D is followed by an open A. A little flick of the left hand fingers will damp that D before the A is plucked, or you will get 2 notes sounding at the same time and this will sound muddy and wrong. So, let me know what you think of this. Sensible and intelligent comments only please ! And ask as many questions as you like. Session 2 follows straight on from this one and is geared more to the advanced players.