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Engaging in this thread has had a deleterious effect on my bass playing (some might say I do not actually play the bass, however I will not digress further). I started to think about my right hand technique and subsequently things that previously had automaticity have become challenging. Sartre, although in a different epistemological context, provides a transferable existentialist insight on the matter of right (and left) hand technique "No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point". A pragmatic simpler approach may be found by paraphrasing Sartre - "Bass playing is a question of absorbing other people's techniques and adding some of your own experience". Anyway, I have had a good lunch, it is time to take my medication and lie down.

So, after Saturday's 70th birthday gig, onto last night's wedding gig. Nice pub venue, but an interesting load-in through a rabbit warren of passages (Hello Cleveland) and up two flights of stairs, with the added complication that Mr Drums is currently suffering from a severe case of L5 nerve root compression, so a) can't walk far, and b) can't lift anything. Fortunately he lives about halfway between my place and the venue, so it was easy enough for me to stop off en route and help him load his gear, then we all mucked in the other end to unload and get him set up. The room we were in is normally used as a restaurant, and while there was plenty of width, there wasn't a whole lot of depth, so the "dancefloor" occupied about the same amount of space as we did. As it was, most people at the event only seemed to be interested in pouring booze down their necks and shouting at each other, so the area available was just big enough for the few people who did actually want to do a bit of dancing. Onstage sound was a constant battle between the monitors and the cackling crowd, but out front it apparently sounded good, as did my "Baby Trace" setup of AH200 head + BLX-110 cab. As nobody seemed to be in charge of proceedings, we just made it up as we went along, kicking off at 8pm and doing an hour, then resuming at 9:45pm and doing another hour. We dropped one longish, very wordy, song towards the end of the second set as Mr Singer was flagging a bit, but apart from that and a handful of off-piste moments, everything mostly went to plan. One moment in particular stands out - as we launched into our traditional second set opener "Call Me The Breeze", the front three all stopped playing when Mr Singer realised he'd forgotten to switch his new-fangled radio mic back on, but me and Mr Drums just kept the groove going until switches were switched and normal service was resumed, amazingly at the right point! All part of the act, obvs... 😉 We also managed to get the Happy Couple onto the dancefloor for our rendition of "You Do Something To Me" which went down well, and then the night ended with the pub manager joining us to do harmonies on "Stand By Me" - very good she was too. As the pub owner has invited us back to do one of their Sunday afternoon beer garden gigs next Summer, she may well get to sing with us again. Obviously, the most fun we had all evening was loading-out through a slightly diminished crowd of folks who seemingly had no homes to go to, but everybody was very polite, and also very complimentary. Quick stop on the way home to help Mr Drums unload his gear, and that was that. Mr Drums has been told by his physio to take at least two weeks off even touching his drums, so we're now on an enforced break from rehearsing and working up a number of new songs, but I guess it couldn't have come at a better time as we don't have any more gigs currently lined up. Onwards and upwards next year then, L5 compressions permitting. Postscript: Just had the following message from Mr Rhythm Guitar:- "Out of the gigs we've done, I've never had so many people come up to me and say what a brilliant band we are, and quite a few said how refreshing it was to hear songs that other bands don't play, and we play and sing them so well." Case in point - the number which got the most people up and grooving, and got the biggest reaction at the end, was Mr Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". So, we must be doing summat right... ☺️

Bought this about a both ago…cash converters. Had an unoriginal neck. It was lovely…but then spotted a nice 70s Reissue P neck. Game on!

Tell me about it. You get up in the morning and drive the van round to collect the guys and the gear, then you motor over to the venue and unpack and set everything up. Then there’s the sound check and when everyone is happy you wander off looking for somewhere to eat. After that it’s a matter of killing time until you are ready to go on stage. As the evening wears on the punters get more raucous. The set is due to finish at 11.00 p.m. but the crowd keep calling for encores. Then someone wants you to accompany his granny singing Ten Guitars. You finally finish and then dismantle all the equipment when there are still bodies staggering about, getting in the way. Finally you escape around 1.00 a.m. drive home, drop everyone off and unload the gear. Back at your place you creep in the door not wanting to wake the family. You slip into bed and lay there exhausted. Then the wife slides her leg over your thigh and begins to nibble your ear. What a life!

Where's the loo? Couldn't hold on if I wanted to.

I think the last bit should read, 'You slip into bed and lay there exhausted and totally unable to fall asleep as you're still buzzing, analysing the gig, and thinking about how you played, how you could of played better, how the audience reacted, how your bass sounded, what new gear you should now buy, what someone said to you, how you're never going to play there again, do I need a wee, how you're going to tell the singer what you think, the girl on the left of the stage was super cute, why does the guitarist never lug any gear unless it's his own, what time is it, why does the drummer never buy anyone a drink, I definitely need a wee, why can I never hear myself on stage, when's the next gig, why can't I fall asleep, I'm going for a wee' 😂

It's home. First impressions - exactly what I was hoping for. The output level is INCREDIBLY loud - too beefy for my practice amp. So I'll have to dig out the big rig to give it a proper shakedown (and maybe make a video). Any riff requests? Interestingly, it has a big dose of that Wal flavour (it's got that "complexity" in the upper mids), but it's also retained some of its Music Man-ness, probably because the pickups aren't in the Wal positions.

Original and Copy:

Exactly. We’ve all typed out a message on a mobile and realised it’s full of mistakes later. Not a big deal! Here’s my new strap, anyway!

Short scale MM added...enjoy!

I blame my mother for my poor sex life. All she told me was 'the man goes on top and the woman underneath.' For three years my husband and I slept in bunk beds. Joan Rivers

My love for old peavey gear is getting out of hand! this is super clean, I’m gonna be taking it out of the flight case as that adds a lot of size and weight but can’t wait to plug this in alongside my 2x215 peaveys and my custom 215 when one popped up I had to grab it!!

Fixed 😂

Raven - Buddy Holly & The Crickets

I've got a few 31.5" ACG 6ers, and a 26.5"... . I have tuned the 26.5"er B to C, and it works, but I find it cool to have something tuned a little differently around too.

It's television. None of it is real.

The Needle And The Damage Sewn ～ Neïl Young

Should have brought her in a McDonalds seeing as she’s hungry 🍔

Or a prats?

Thatis scarily accurate

Sitting in a silent, empty, shop demoing basses is not for the faint hearted. The last time I did that was in my local Guitar, Guitar on a wet Wednesday afternoon. I was playing my usual bluesy, jazzy stuff and just for a laugh started to play the sailors hornpipe (it's actually a good warm up routine). At which point all the shop assistants burst out laughing. They listen to you, you know..... Every note. They probably have score cards n all.

I'm liking playing with my thumb these days, something I started doing when trying to emulate the feel of a double bass albeit on an electric. I find it slows me down, simplifies what I'm trying to do, makes me more attentive especially to the drummist, and at times produces a tone I can't get using any other method. Of course, this opens a whole new can of worms as to the correct placement of my fingers 👍

Clean everything with contact cleaner, including the pots, tube sockets and tube pins.

Gigging on Tuesday but which behemoth do I take with which cab? 1971 P Bass with flats - Shure Wireless - Cali Big Box Comp - Russian Muff - Sansamp BDDI = Perfection 👌 *still setting up home studio so pics not up yet.

I am with the posties, and the rest of the current striking workers. There is plenty of money in the system but most of It is in the hands of a few obscenely wealthy people, and their friends. We have raging inflation but it is caused by corporate greed, not inflationary wages. Most people are worse off in real terms than they were in 2008, and it looks like they have finally decided to fight back.

Boom. This is it. My brother used to work on reality TV shows (The Apprentice being the biggest one) and they used to spend hours setting up the spontaneous stuff, waivers, etc.

The people who bring the things in are actors. Otherwise how do they know which ‘experts’ to have in hand on a filming day, and make sure the show isn’t just people handing over DVDs?

Hi, Thanks I'm not convinced it's the same Bass that J.D. thinks it is but, it's still a very early one. Apparently the wood is Zebrano which John was using quite a bit in the early years. I suspect that they have seen an increase. When I took mine in to be serviced, I was told that they had 200 jobs on the books. I don't know whether they are all new builds. I suspect it includes refurbs, refinishes, repairs etc. I believe they're planning to turn the existing workshop into a woodwork shop and that Toby is joining Jaydee full time rather than operating independently as T Dog to cope with the workload. They're certainly not short of work.

Talking about floating thumbs and fingering techniques and the like, I remember reading an article in Ozzie Razorback hunting mag "Baconbusters" (as you do) which discussed the various ways of separating fighting pig-hunting dogs. They came to the conclusion that the best way was to distract 'em by slipping a handy digit up doggy's jacksie. I suspect one might have to wash one's hands before playing bass though.

Could be worth giving it a second chance, perhaps not on a gig! just to try to localise the problem? Mine had a slightly noisy volume control when it arrived, mainly up near maximum volume. I opened it up (I wanted to see inside anyway),took the volume board out for better access and gave it a quick spray with servisol and it was perfect from there on. Not what should be needed with a new bit of kit but effective. We don't know how long these amps have been on the shelf and we all know that pots tend to get noisy if not used, regardless of the make / cost etc! and still a bargain at £150!

Sounds like you might just need to hold on a little longer... from the horse's mouth: 'Musicians in Poland are also waiting for the R-400. The hold-up is the wooden box - it is difficult and time-consuming to do this. I asked the musicians what they thought about the version without a wooden box, and there was only one answer - everyone wants only in a wooden box. My plan is to finish the R-400 by mid-January.'

I've had my QC for about a month. Band is ampless with IEM. Amp sim, Parametric, compression, chorus and noise gate are all I'm currently running. Output 2 is set to fully dry. Man this thing rocks.

OK, seems I've priced this a bit high. Minus £1 anyone?

Different world now, with crowd-sourcing and loads of freebies on that there Internet thingy. If soundmondo didn't exist then the Reface DX would be an awkward beast supplied with a wide range of fairly useless sounds as standard. A couple of hours on soundmondo and I have every sound I am ever likely to need (playing in general covers bands and a specialist soul band) and all with no need at all to learn how to 'tweak' any parameters, still less actually program anything.

You had me until the last bit which made it unbelievable. Dave

Buying from a shop is pretty much impossible for me. The closest decent one is about three and a half hours drive away. Even then, the stock is limited. I mostly buy basses mail order (usually Thomann) based on looks, price and reviews. Then just simply adapt my playing to the feel of the new instrument. I've never yet had a bass that I've felt the need to return because it's too uncomfortable to play. They're all pretty much of a muchness as long as you're adaptable. 4, 5, or 6 string. It doesn't really make any difference as long as you're willing to spend some time getting used to it.

On three occasions I have spent £1500 - a Gibson Thunderbird, asecondhand Red Rickenbacker (my main bass) and a new Rickenbacker years ago when they were cheaper. There was a 1978 Fender Precision many years ago that may have been around £1500 but it got sold when I got divorced a few years ago. It'd be worth a lot more now. I sold the first Ric as at that time I felt it was a lot of money to have tied up in a bass (I did one gig and recorded one song, losing only £50 in the resale). I then relaxed and the T-bird and the Ruby Red Ric have seen a lot of active service. Potentially, if I could afford it, I would potentially spend a LOT more if I really wanted something but until I get my retirement payout in a few years, that won't be a reality. I think as long as you are not getting into debt with anything, do as you will. I was happy with just two Squiers for years. I've only ever spent this much when i have had money.

My two SVLs were £2,500 each (at artist rate). That is a lot to pay for what is, superficially, a fairly bog standard design etc. What I was happy to pay for was the craftmanship involved in creating them. For example,. how many Precisions have wiring of that standard in them? I doubt the Custom Shop are that meticulous. If I buy another bass, it will follow the trend that seems to have started. Both of my most recent purchases have been early Tokai or Greco basses at around £600 each. They are truly excellent instruments and so I am minded to look for Tokai/Fernandes/Greco basses, if one comes up.

Indeed! I've got a mate who's head of equities for a major bank... He pulls a 7 figure salary with bonus to match and completely agrees that it's a house built on sand, though government bail-outs exist if they really c0ck it up! He takes the money happily - his justification is that if he didn't, someone else would! Each to their own, but as I say to him Come the Revolution etc!

My thumb has always been rooted to the pick-up cover. Fretting hand thumb is generally on the back of the neck but not exclusively.

That bass is absolutely lovely. I love the slimmer body, it looks quite wieldy and elegant.

Swords of a Thousand Men - Tenpole Tudor

The tuning bridge always seems a bit exposed on conversions, like it could easily get bashed hanging off the back of the body. I had a Hohner Jack headless (damn, why did I sell that again?) that had strap buttons either side of the tuners, so you could still lean it up against an amp etc.

Doesn’t matter the reason, any professional company worth their salt will get things proofread. Even more so if your aware of a problem that could affect the outcome of the post. A web presence is the face of your company for many customers nowadays. It’s a shoddy post no matter how you look at it. Should it make a difference, that’s not the point, it does make a big difference to many people. It smacks of an unprofessional, uncaring attitude.

The cause is a combination of sky high fuel prices, that impact almost everything that needs transporting, and sky high energy prices. The fact energy companies are making record profits means the price they are charging the public is simply profiteering. Nothing to do with wages. How can any country can claim to be first World when ordinary people have to use "Warm spaces" because they cant afford to heat their homes, and working people have to rely on charity, food banks, to eat. Its a disgrace. A change is needed.

I don’t believe you. I challenge you to a chew off. Don’t try and wrigleys out of it either.