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Guy in the crowd shouted 'bass solo' a couple of years back and the singer appeared to think it was a good idea. I didn't BTW Auditioned on DB at a studio in London for a singer/songwriter and her producer a few years back. We're doing this lovely mellow song that required little more than some root notes and the occasional foray towards the rosiny end and the guy suddenly shouts "BASS SOLO". Thinking on my feet I didn't play anything different to the previous verse and chorus but I lent forward, dug in and gave it a facial expression and posture suggestive of intense and deep musicianship. They seemed quite impressed 😉

Poppadom Preach - Madonna

An afternoon well spent at the Cropredy Fringe Festival. It was hot, so hot that the majority of the audience didn't venture out from the safety of the shelter onto the grassed area in front of the stage. It was a little off-putting at first, but we could just about hear the applause and the feedback we got after we played was all positive. On reflection, the decision to wear a hat wasn't one of the best I've ever made, but hey, we suffer for our art!!

Nice one ,Rubis ! Here’s one of my old Ampegs, perfect for gigs with acoustic guitarists. ‘Bout ‘65, this one.

Hi all, really thanks for your feedback's. I wasn't afraid to start with the right hand, and was thinking this should work out in some way, but in some beginners tutorials was told to use the pinky. I liked to know from artist, like you, if do they really use it. Thanks again, and now I will go for it.

Family photo Left to right: Zon, ACG, Fodera, Fender, Mayones. Fodera is the latest addition, came a couple days ago. The ACG came a couple of months ago too. The addiction has finally been fulfilled! He says....

Thanks for the advice everybody- the Fender is going up for sale, and a deposit is going down on the Tokai. I thinl the hesitation comes primarily from not often dealing in these amounts of money!

There was a well known bass player in Watford who had the imaginative nickname of "stumpy" due to having no little finger on his left hand and half a ring finger too. He played right handed and managed to adapt his style to suit his abilities. He was a cracking player. Similarly if you haven't already, check out Django Reinhardt who only had (I think) two useable fingers in his left hand due to a fire. He played right handed too. I'm sure you'd ably manage to play right handed but it's possibly worth looking at a shorter scale Bass to help with the reach until you develop a style that's right for you. Good luck with it all, you have my absolute respect.

NBD yesterday... Really, really, REALLY like my Excess 5 string. Now it has an older sibling...

Those of us who do not use our fourth finger, have a role model...

Do you mean annals?

Its my chapati and I'll cry if I want to - Lesley Gore

Lurcher - Gull

I generally like what he does eg: presents pieces of music in a way that can be appreciated by a listener or someone who wants to progress and learn some of his technique. If he was jumping all over the screen you wouldn't be able to see properly what and how he was playing. 🤣 As with all music it won't float everyones boat. I've said it somewhere on BC before that "Electric bass guitar appears to be the only musical instrument I can think of that it is frowned upon to progress and get better and you must limit the notes you play." 🤣 Pianist: "I've got 88 keys available to use" Other musicians: "Knock yourself out. Use 'em all if you want and as a bonus you can play more than one at a time! " Guitarist: "What about me? I've 6 strings and 120+ different note positions?" Other musicians: "Yep, no restrictions either, carry on, lets see what you can do. Wait.....only one restriction, no playing of simple chords or we'll rip you to shreds for not being complicated or accomplished enough" Bassist: "I've got four....." Other musicians: "STOP right there! You may have four strings but you should limit your playing to the lower 2 and then only up to the 5th fret" Bassist: "But....?" Other musicians: ".....and no more than 4 notes per bar played with fingers or a pick. Don't forget we're watching you!" Adam Clayton: "But when I do that you rip into me???!?!?" 😕🤣 As far as those who say "Jaco only needed four strings......he was but an amateur.....my Grandpop only needed ONE string and played one of these 🤣

I'd say that the current Epiphone is so good on a price/quality ratio that you'd be a fool to buy the Gibson. Better (to my ears anyway) pickups (how tired and old are those TB+ pickups sounding, Gibson?), better bridge (two piece with tailpiece vs. the dreaded 3 pointer), similar construction (I don't see what going from a 7 ply neck to a 9 ply on the Gibson brings to the table other than being a bigger number) and just look at all that lovely chrome on the Epiphone. Your call, but I wouldn't give a current Gibson Thunderbird houseroom right now. I had a recent Epiphone Thunderbird and thought it was great, just didn't care for the ergonomics so sold it and got an Embassy instead (same pickups, different body, set neck instead of thru). The Thunderbird was fun though and looked great at the gig - I felt quite rockstarish playing it 😎

Gravy's in the Heart - Deeelite

We seem to have wandered off a bit from Al's first post but it is great to have a place to discuss PA Just something to think about really when discussing putting the PA at the back behind the players. It just isn't a great idea really. I'm a pragmatic person so I'm not saying it can never work, I will say it is never the best solution in terms of how your band will sound. Two reasons for this. The PA is louder than the human voice. If it isn't why would you use it, just sing. If you have anything other than an acoustic band the band is likely to be louder than the vocals and even though the mic is much closer to the singer than the rest of the band it will pick up everything in it's line of fire. I have meters on all channels and those vocal mics are busy all the time even when the singer isn't there. A hit on the snare registers at the same volume as the singers voice. You need to get a clean sound from each musician to get a good mix so moving anything away from the vocal mics is good. Don't put the PA at the back, keep it in front where as little sound as possible leaks into the vocal mics. Point everything back line away from the mics if possible. I've mixed for bands that are so loud on stage that there is no point in the set where the singers voice matches the instruments in the vocal mic. Secondly there's a thing called 'gain before feedback' link. It's basically very simple, how loud can you turn things up before feedback. There's loads of components to this from the acoustics of the room, pickup pattern of the mic, how flat the frequency response of your system is, how loud the rest of the sound is and so on. It's quite possible that with a singer with a loud voice you can turn down the gain and they can go into the audience. Or turn down the gain and just be quieter. Or just be in a perfect room with no little acoustic problems but eventually if you turn up loud enough your PA starts screaming. A column may well have a flatter response than a poorly designed horn and a more predictable dispersion but that's as much about the quality of the system. A good horn system will beat a poorly executed column. Putting the speaker at the back was a bit of advertising from Bose written by the marketing people. Putting anything behind the vocal mics just decreases the gain before feedback over placing them in front. Something you can possibly get away with but never a good idea.

So many players out there don't use their little finger. At least you have a genuine excuse! Go right handed - it will feel much more natural than trying left handed.

I'm relatively new to this forum, or at least being active on here. I joined recently to sell some gear and 48 hours from listing 2 basses I had sold them. Just a note to say that this is a great forum full of like minded and generally sound people and I will be trying to get into the stuff that goes on a little more over the coming months. it's a great place to do business and with such great people. Just to be transparent, I work for Yamaha, my role being to sell Yamaha, Ampeg and Line 6 products. Any help I can offer in that area, then I will do my best, I might even be able to run a few prototypes past you for some opinions here and there. Obviously this is not an official connection, it's my personal account and not endorsed by my employer, due to legal compliance there's only so far I can go with matters, but i will do my best. Thanks Basschat, impressed.

More than a Filling - Boston

Pilau Talk - Sylvia

Doner Lee - Jaco P

Tikka Chance on Me - ABBA

Mama, He's Bacon Eyes At Me ～ Lena Zavaroni

My process for the monthly Composition Challenge runs as follows: Stare at picture for somewhere between five and ten days. Hear something, somewhere, get inspired (waddaya mean, "pilfer"?) Grab nearest stringed instrument and thrash out basic chord sequence into phone voice recorder. If no strings to hand, hum tune into phone voice recorder. Hum something more recognisable into phone than the out of tune farrago that was the first attempt. Think about lyrics. Pick up stringed instrument. Spend hours and hours and days and days fleshing out, re-writing, moving bits about, re-writing, moving bits back, re-re-writing, adding something else and taking out that bit that never really fitted in the first place. Find drums from Looperman or program own effort using Hydrogen open source drum machine. Or, record bashing machines at work, pots and pans, tables, chairs and tin cans and spend far too long trying to make that sound half decent. Think about lyrics. Once drums down, usually rhythm guitar next instrument, but not before spending an absolute age mucking about with pedals. Then bass with, sometimes, keyboard to follow. Hey, this one will sound great with a brief interlude of Syrian oud! Reach for Syrian oud. No, still can't play it. Put Syrian oud back on stand. Think about lyrics. Guitar solo? No problem! Shouldn't take more than...two days. Argh! Think about lyrics. Am I happy with that solo? Answer is you'll never be happy with that solo. Like Elsa, let it go. Then, either a) finally write lyrics or b) sod lyrics, add extra instrument (saz, bouzouki etc) instead. If a), 'sing' (HA!) and then fail miserably to get the vocal to sit in what I suppose must be called 'the mix', although this mixing business remains elusive thanks to my hamfisted, lo-fi approach to all of this. Post final effort into monthly Basschat Challenge with little time left until deadline for entries. Rest for a week until voting is finished then repeat process. I wouldn't have it any other way.

What is most impressive about the Beatles, and is rarely mentioned, is their recording output lasted only seven years. The depth and breadth of their songs in that short space of time is truly staggering. To go from Love me Do to, for sake of argument, Helter Skelter or I am the Walrus is inventive genius.

I've had my Barefaced Two10 a number of years now and I am very happy with it. I bought it from @chris_b on here in 2017 and it was virtually brand new. I've probably done around 300 - 350 gigs with it now and its still in mint condition with no peeling tolex or broken handles. I can't see me ever changing it to be honest. I also get a lot of compliments on my sound since having it.

Wonder if there is a similar post on BanjoChat... I only have the 10 normal fingers... recommend me a Banjo...

Just reminiscing - which I do a lot nowadays (can't say the same for remembering unfortunately!). When I bought my first bass in 1964, I knew nothing about scale lengths, string spacing or indeed anything else. As luck would have it, the only bass our local guitar shop had in my price range was a s-s Watkins Rapier. When I later understood that s-s was my thing, the WEM was followed by a series of Gibsons. My point is that, if I'd started on a standard scale, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have persevered with the bass to become the player I am today: vastly experienced but still mediocre 🙂

Honestly, its worth keeping just for a line like that

Albert Tatlock - The Skids

I know “it’s all you fault” from Hot Club of Cowtown, who also hail from Austin!

Ampeg PF20t with my DIY B15 cab and my YOB '64 P bass, this is still making me smile

C&P from the dusty end of basschat circa 2014: Basschat fans everywhere will remember this thread about the Blockheads bassist selling his Fender Jazz on eBay So Norman gave his guitar to Andy (Baxter) to sell, who lists it on eBay the link gets posted on Basschat (thanks to BC user thebrig!) I show the link to my bassist pal Matt Matt shows the link to his dad and bass tutor Laurence Canty Laurence shows the link to his ex-student Colin Colin contacts Andy and puts a deposit down, and subsequently buys the bass. And that's the story of how Colin Greenwood out of Radiohead bought Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy's 1962 Shoreline Gold Fender Jazz bass. Also, (different story), after John Giblin playing a Takamine TB-10 with Kate Bush in her 2014 shows, I decide to find a Takamine TB-10 for myself somehow. Time passes, stuff happens, yada yada, I've now got John Giblin's Takamine TB-10 from the Kate Bush shows.

Get A Poligrip On Yourself - The Guildford Four

Tell me about it. I love Western Swing, too. Fiddle used to be my main instrument. I was fortunate enough to get the call to play for Herb Remington when he visited the UK many years ago - did a few dates and a Radio 2 session. I was a little nervous, to put it mildly. His fiddler back home at the time was Johnny Gimble. I tried on several occasions to get a Western Swing band going here. The problem is that you need serious chops to do it right and those who have them aren't interested - Western Swing seems to be viewed here as being hokey and a bit naff. Which it most certainly isn't.

His best work was with the Beatles! 🤪

Typo fixed.

Just Beef Good To Me ～ SOS Band

Rain dogs - Tom Waits

Thanks for the responses to this post, much appreciated. The last couple of years have really slowed down any development and plans for new products from Yamaha / Ampeg recently, as soon as I could share anything I would love to get the opinions from the forum. OK, that may be a little dangerous as I'm sure I'd get a healthy mix, but the feedback would be really useful. Dave.