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Perhaps I can end this long-running topic by posting my transcription of what I played on Fool For Your Loving. Bilbo's transcription is pretty good, but having used the software/websites that separate recordings into bass, drums, vocals and 'other', it doesn't give a hifi separation of the bass part (though it's helpful) so is not to be relied upon 100%. I promise a video will follow - yes I know I've been promising that for years! More likely a play-through rather than a lesson where different sections are explained slowly. I have never claimed to be a virtuoso that can play 'perfect' lines at 1,000 mph so please look elsewhere for that. I try to play parts that suit the song, according to my own taste, if there is any freedom to do so. Fool For Your Loving NM tab.pdf

Here's my transcription of what I played on Fool For Your Loving, as accurately as I'm able. I hope it's useful! Fool For Your Loving NM tab.pdf

I missed out on a bargain sansamp from some bloke called Mick on Facebook.

Top glued and frets trimmed: Other than the cut at the rear to give finger room access to the tuner knobs, the next major task is working on the back wings - working out the weight relief chambers, the cable runs, the control chamber before routing them before they are glued into place - so a few days on the drawing board rather than cutting or gluing wood. The adage of 'check 3 14 times before you cut or glue anything' springs to mind

Did this wee bass cover of Daft Punk - Around the World this morning

Looks better.

Isn't this just the most amazing thing, @neilmurraybass himself posts a transcription. It really doesn't get much better than that. One of the 3 ultimate bass heros of my youth - Neil Murray, Mars Cowling (sadly deceased) and Glenn Hughes.

Not immediately!!!

A mistake, which in a way proves that it's a partly improvised part.

“Do YOU need a 5 string?” Five string basses are funny things. A lot of guys I know who played them felt it made things ‘easier’ in the sense that a player could remain in the one position on the neck and have access to many notes all within that position. An example - If you consider playing in the key of C off the E string 8th fret you’d rarely have to move from that general area to find all the notes for the song. The point those players were making was they felt things could get ‘boring’ as it could be easy to get comfortable in these one position zones but it was also quite handy as some songs could be quite easy to play and require little shifting about. One of my mates is a singer/bassist so he loved the 5er for these reasons - minimal position shifting when singing. I played with a 5 exclusively for about 5yrs on a gig where most songs were transcribed into different keys (it was with a choir thing) and having the 5 string was great in keeping the bass lines sounding like the originals and being able to keep things ‘low’ and not playing way up the neck to keep the patterns playable! I also experimented with BEAD on a four string and really liked that too. I’m back on a standard tunes four string now and don’t miss the 5’er but that’s not to say I’d never own one again...I might just go BEAD first rather than the classic BC excuse of “I’m in a new band which NEEDS a five string so sell me your bass!” A tip I learned when moving to the 5er was to play it exclusively and don’t think of it as a four sting with a few extra low notes. Take songs you already know well and shift the starting notes/patterns to the B string or higher up the E string i.e like I mentioned above if the song is in C play from the 8th fret E string and incorporate the B string and the notes in that position. It’s a great way to get familiar with the fretboard as we can sometimes ignore this area up about the 7-12 frets. You might find that having all the notes available in ‘one position’ really opens up the fret board in a way a four string didn’t before rather than it feel like things are boring. Just don’t fall into the trap of just throwing notes onto the low C and D “just because”... there’s always a time and a place and good tasteful playing will always sound better over “lower because I can”. Another place where a 5er really shines is the slow ballad or going low on a key change when the rest of the band modulates up. That’s where a good player can really make the 5er fit in and work in the band.

This happened while I was away from here. The top is a beautiful piece of camphor burl, the body is walnut. It’s an incredible instrument to play. It features W&T’s moveable pickup system, the wonderfully figured ebony covers for it were crafted by Robin at Manton Customs, who I highly recommended if you want modifications carried out on an instrument.

As I understand it (and I could well be talking out of my fundament)... If you’re going up to the fifth you’ll be playing the major 3rd, 4th, flat 5th (the “blue note”) and 5th which will work nicely in a rock blues setting so long as the flat fifth is just a passing tone. If you’re going to the root you’re playing the 6th, flat 7, major 7 and root. Again, that flat 7/major 7 in a rock/blues context works nicely as passing tones before resolving to the root. In both cases, you’re introducing a note that clashes slightly before resolving it on the fifth or the root. Theres probably a better explanation but that’s how I’ve explained it to myself....

One of the above posters suggested one to one lessons. It will make lessons more interactive for you, providing instant feedback, and most importantly of all they will provide some direction, inspiration, and hand holding which is important when you reach a plateau. I probably wouldn't recommend this method forever because of the prices, but they're a good way of getting you out of a rut so that you have a clear direction of where you want to go next.

Investigating the bass a bit further, a guy on TB said that Grover Jackson used an improved poly with improved UV additives which means the white doesn't yellow and the neck stays quite a pale colour, whereas some earlier basses end up with quite amber coloured necks like on my SB1. Makes sense... Might as well add another pic whilst I'm here though (sorry, but I'm really taken with this bass!)

Totally agree. This "deal" is a rush-job. BJ was banking on a deal with Trump, until Biden put a wrecking ball in the mix for them. So the past month has seen BJ on his knees for a deal, any deal!

I've never played music for a living, pocket money yes, so I've never just focused on one instrument, flipping between bass, fingerstyle acoustic, electric guitar, drum kit and assorted hand and stick drums. I've never believed in formal music education, being of the view it's something that should be instinctive. I prefer to learn tunes not drills. I've heard many great musicians from developing countries in African and Latin America etc who learnt to play from family members or others in their communities. No such equivalent as Berklee in Cameroon.

Over the last 6 months or so I've been creating a little home studio is the tiniest of rooms (about 8 times as long as the lower bout of a concert sized acoustic body and about 4 times as wide, so its small!!) It currently houses 16 guitars/basses, 3 amps, a drumkit, a full Cubase recording set up with midi keyboard, monitors, vocal mics, ukuleles, various percussion items, a Helix LT etc etc. So everything one needs to record almost anything! And a fair bit of my Lego collection! Just for funzies, has anyone else shoe-horned this much into a tiny room? Everything, including the drumkit is direct into DAW, so the sound quality of the end product is actually surprisingly good! I mean, its not quite Abbey Road quality, but it's far from terrible!

Wombling Free - The Wombles

Shh. That doesn’t fit the argument.

Not all goods coming into the UK are consumer goods. You need to think about the wider picture. My employer, a electrical equipment manufacturer based in Leeds, buys components from China and the East, but they get shipped in, in containers from the EU. The other issue is many UK manufacturers and suppliers of UK made/grown goods will be depending on EU carriers coming to UK to take their goods over to Europe - this is because carriers don't only take goods one way. They bring goods and collect British goods to take back with them to make the trip worth doing. Sure you can buy a different brand of tea. Have you tried finding an alternative source of electronic assemblies that needs to be of a given design and size as well as fitting a budget?

There's a guy in Leicester who has stockpiled Sansamps...

Looks quite good satin black but I think I’ll do the high gloss clear coat.

Currently I have a corner of a small living room, so I’ll be able to dance and stuff... having to do it piecemeal because of funds and time. Hopefully, summer will be the finished article

I most definitely will. Not have an amp in the house won’t stop me playing 😂

Let me give you 2 examples (pre and post Brexit) Private purchase Pre You pay £1000 on the BC forum to a seller in Germany. They send you the bass and that's it. Post You pay £1000 to the seller and you then get a bill for VAT on the 1000 + delivery cost + the £10 handling fee. Let's say delivery was £30 - you end up paying £1216 (£206 VAT plus the admin). Business purchase (not Thomann for this purpose) Pre You pay £1190 + £30 delivery (yes, German VAT was 16% for 6 months but that's not important for this illustration). The total is £1220. Post You pay £1000 (the net value) + delivery + handling. The cost is as above £1216 The net effect is that the purchase through BC now costs you a lot more.

Or maybe you just need to think bigger That would be an FNA Jazzman, not a Corvette - even though they look the same. For some reason, they named it differently. It was originally called Altus, but they had to change the name because there was already a violin manufacturer by that name. Legend has it FNA stands for "Formerly Named Altus" or even "F***ing Not Altus".

Get the new neck. Then get a new body, bridge, pickup, pickguard and other bits & bobs to add to the neck you removed.

Checks youtube. <refresh> <refresh>.. well?

I can throw some light on the Decimax subject.I designed these amps after leaving my post as Technical director of Trace Elliot.I designed the original Trace Elliots and all subsequent ones up to the mk 5 series. Decimax amps had programmable graphic eq and levels plus a midi interface to control and memorise any external effects along with your chosen eq and level.A separate smaller manual graphic allowed for tweaking to compensate for room acoustics without needing to re programme your settings.Main models were D300 and D600 which were 300 and 600 watts respectively. Speaker cabs were either 1x 15 or 4x10.Both featured rear porting.These amps had no connection with Carlsbro at all and were built at our factory in Essex.

I asked the teacher, a full time quality musician and bassist, specifically about expanding my creation of bass lines beyond major and minor scales. I said I have books with all the modes etc and I could parrot fashion learn them but I want to know how and when to deploy them. I sent him recordings of recent gigs so he could hear my playing and so the lesson was geared instead around how I can create more within those songs, study what the original player was playing, get out of bad habits, rather than learn a load of scales and modes and then be more confused about what to play. I've really benefitted from just one hour with a much better bassist, but luckily he is a great communicator too who can quickly understand what I really want to know and how to get there. I don't think a prescribed course would do that for me.

I have bitten the bullet, and I hope you don't mind, Bilbo, but I've used your transcription as a basis to adjust to something that's as correct as I can make it - unfortunately it's a steep learning curve regarding the notation software I'm using, and frankly it's much easier for me to play it than notate it! Bearing in mind that I have played Fool For Your Loving perhaps a couple of hundred times in the last 20 years, in my mind it is played in a definite way, sticking close to what's on the record, as I've had to play every note as strongly as possible given the volume that other band members play at! So I have to eat humble pie a little when listening to the original over and over, as some parts could indeed be classed as 'clinkers', in that they're not executed 100% perfectly as I would hope to do these days. However, the hunt for 'perfect' execution means that one plays safe, whereas when Fool was recorded I was 'going for it' (and trying to put some Jack Bruce influence into the bass part) so it was better to have a one- or two-take partly improvised performance rather than a part which was worked out note by note from beginning to end. On Live In The Heart Of The City, I go overboard trying to go one better than what I did on Ready An' Willing, and while some parts are impressive, a lot of it sounds too 'over the top' to me nowadays - very unrelaxed. It'll take some time to produce finished notation to my satisfaction, but I'll put it up on Basschat when it's done.

Picking Up The Pieces - Paloma Faith

Sang to “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis”

If Thomann stop selling to the UK, the next largest stockist of Harley Benton is ' @stewblacks Bass Emporium', so all is not lost.

This will also include items coming from around the world that may come VIA the EU, not always FROM the EU. UK based manufacturers may not have a great number of options available when buying components. In short, the UK has shrunk it's access to the world's market, not expanded it as promised.

There is actually a brand of tea grown in Cornwall. Seriously. https://tregothnan.co.uk/ A mate of mine, who used to import a sh!tload of ornamental plants from Darjeeling brokered the deal with a tea nursery out there. The constant mizzle of SW Cornwall is similar to the cloud forest environment tea thrives in.

Purchased a bass from @fclef4life just before Christmas and it got through the border patrols and customs officers by a hairs breadth. I’ve never given a bass a name but I’m thinking of Steve McQueen for this one 🤣😂

A loop switcher is indeed what you need to turn on/off 2 or more pedals at the same time with one footswitch. Bright Onion pedals are good for this. I got to a similar situation about a month ago (9 pedals) and I got something slightly different from them worth considering: The Bright Onion dual reverse looper https://www.brightonion.co.uk/dual-reverse-looper/ for £65. It was handmade and sent to me within a few days (you get to customise your LED colours). It's good. I have octave, chorus, envelope filter in one loop and distortion pedals in another: can get a couple of pedals in a loop ready to be switched on/off with one footswitch rather than tap dancing, and cuts pedals out of the signal chain when the loops aren't activated. Plus you can reverse the order of the loops with a footswitch - that opens up a lop of options. I heard good things about the Boss ES-5 which can do all that with 5 loops, but that costs £330 and I didn't feel I had enough pedals to justify it.

You do realise that choice is a good thing? Without choice, you get monopolies.

I would hope he was flaccid. Oh, you said placid. 🙂

So, will you be selling any good stuff? (Well someone had to ask!). Actually I'm in a similar position to yourself. Barely picked up a bass in the last 6 months. Playing concertina (Anglo) more than anything these days.

Go Away - Living Colour

It really doesn’t matter what you play - I choose bass just because it’s what I felt/feel (I played tenor trombone as a kid) my Dad played trumpet, wife plays alto & tenor sax, daughter plays flute & Keyboard. We all get a huge amount of enjoyment of just playing music which is what it’s all about. We’re all doing different things in different ways and we’re all at different levels but we’re all getting the same amount of enjoyment from this thing called music.

Forgot to take my phone so pics will have to follow. Had a very productive day today: - Trimmed the fretboard flush with neck - Reshaped the neck (slimmed down 2mm) - Scalloped the fretboard to match the headstock - Radiused the fretboard - Rough fit the nut - Got really frustrated trying to make the maple veneers - Gave up and ordered maple veneer in the correct thickness (0,6mm) Just the side dots, lots of sanding in various grits and 6 coats of finishing oil to go.... plus tinkering of course.

"Origin locates itself in a workspace and makes continuous real-time adjustments while the user is cutting. The result is precision — wherever you need it." What happens if you want to make a jazz bass? I'll get me coat.