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Had a fantastic day yesterday in the company of Billy Sheehan, have been in contact with billy for a number of years, always had great chats with him etc, he arranged for me to meet up with him yesterday in Glasgow, just can't put in words how cool that experience was, i take part time photos of bands for fun, and billy asked if i would take some shots, Mr Big are a very slick set up!! Pro all the way, i was listening to Billy's onstage sound which is just incredible he has the smoothest low end with just the right amount of grunge on top he is an expert at sound control of a bass guitar , he can manipulate that bass to sound any way he likes it, so happy i got the chance for this experience, great bunch of guys too, i took a pile of photos if anyone fancies a look. cheers Geo Billy Sheehan pics here https://www.flickr.com/photos/139327844@N08/

Nice work Norris - and it's only gone and changed 'penile' to 'puerile' on your last post!

Just as well you added that caveat, otherwise the previous poster might have felt very hurt.

Muchio respect for Billy... Very personable and a great raconteur. Not sure I've heard anyone with a more refined right-hand. His solo on the Stanley special is probably the best... and Stanley's response at 7:40 is hilarious... Second vid is Bill showing he can cut it in jazz which we know from Niacin.

Okay, I want to test something out. Ahem. Steve Harley and pink torpedoney Rebel. S.P.

... to impress people they don´t know.

another device to get people to buy stuff they don't really need with money they haven't really got

Sure - he's not for you. You are in no means in his demographic. You may as well spend your time getting annoyed with TV adverts for CBeebies. As a guitar manufacturer. And also as somebody who has worked with Davie504 - I think you're missing something very important. People like him are VITAL in getting young people interested in playing the bass. Kids (largely) don't care a stinky poo about what famous rock star plays what bass. But what kids DO do is watch a lot of youtube. I have kids coming to my stand at guitar shows *specifically* because of Davie. So what that recent "The Guitar is Dead" article https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.ce7968ff795a didn't take into account was the effect that these youtube players are having on sales. Just my 2 cents. **EDIT haha. love the censorship applied to my post. "stinky poo"

I imagine it would go something like: "I enjoy playing bass, i'm alright at it, I made some videos, list them with a title that fairly accurately relates to the content, some people watch them". I'm almost certain that he doesn't have the time or inclination to defend himself against those in his extended community (bass players). He's happy, he's helping infinitely more people than he's hurting. Again, good luck to him. Si

Oh gawd! I can't remember the last time I had one of those. You should hear him perform on the brown paper bag too.

Wouldn't surprise me, I've been misunderstanding a lot of stuff lately. I think I went to someone's house today for Thanksgiving because I thought I was invited. Now, I'm not sure if I was really invited. Great food. Blue

I presented Billy with a malt whisky from JURA which is not too far away from where i stay he was over the moon with that he is taking it home to Nashville.

I'm sure there's been a few threads about this but oh my god, this kind of hyperactive attention whore-ishness represents everything I hate about the internet. I see that annoying face and the awful clickbait every time I look at YouTube, there is just no getting away from it. You search for anything to do with bass, and bang, there he is, with 4 thousand novelty party trick videos, pulling stupid YouTube faces and pointing at 12 string novelty basses. "Finally, a funky fretless 19 string slap bass jam! Leave a comment, like and subscribe LOL etc smiley face" ad infinitum. Jesus christ. Yes I'm sure these guys are all very talented and special, but when I see this stuff, all I see is a bunch of ballerinas prancing around for attention. Anyone remember a time when people got laughed at for being attention-seeking show-offs? Those days are long gone. Now I know this is a rant and I'm being rude, and I'm obviously in the minority, because 1 million followers blah blah, and I know it's a 'business model' blah blah.. but it annoys the living crap out of me personally. Stock Aitken Waterman was also a business model, and their pinnacle was 'The Reynolds Girls'. Just because something is a 'business model' it does not mean it's good. There are people like Adam Neely out there who also have a trillion followers, and they're not resorting to this stuff. No disrespect to anyone who loves it obvs, just my personal view. /end rant (I also hate 'Remco Hendrix', and that german guy with the ridiculous massive beard, and every other o.c.d. novelty internet show-off out there).

I consider myself pretty well-rounded/versed when it comes to musical knowledge & listening experience past & present but there's always been a big Beatles-shaped hole in my knowledge. I've got massive appreciation for what they represent musically & culturally, but just never taken to them & so have never taken the time to seek out their tunes or do much reading up on their history generally. However, inspired by a combination of a recent BBC4 show which explored the musicality of Sgt Pepper, Blue's detailed declarations of worship on here & my daughter constantly bigging their songs up, I've rinsed each of their albums from Sgt Pepper onwards in the car throughout the week & thought I'd share my thoughts on em. Cos there's simply not enough examples of people sharing their thoughts about the Beatles on here, or anywhere So, for no particular reason & all IMHO etc... They did lots of amazing, groundbreaking stuff both musically & just sonically, & should always be respected for this alone. They had some really, really great songs (Here Comes the Sun, Come Together, Sgt Pepper (both the first one & the reprise), While My guitar..., Let it Be, Day in the Life to name some, basically the well known ones from Sgt Pepper album onwards. Hey Jude & so on. They had some shocking songs that others consider sublime. Mostly Lennon's stuff. Lennon's songs annoy me, they're either sneery or just all over the shop in a bad way. Strawberry Fields is a massive exception here. Lennon just annoys me full stop. McCartney is a fantastic bassist in both his approach & execution, an excellent all-round musician & an often-genius songwriter. However he's guilty of dicking around with whimsy & styles too much on a lot of tunes & it's annoying. George Harrison really blossomed as songwriter late on aye, but his geetar solos were second rate. Their entire catalogue is ruined by sh*te drumming. "It wouldn't have been the Beatles without Ringo" blah blah blah...if Ringo had raised his game, they'd have still had him & they'd have sounded better. I can't comment on stuff before Sgt Pepper, I realise it was game-changing stuff but the sound leaves me cold. Anyway, there's my two pennorth, & I can now comfortably pursue the remainder of my days in the knowledge that I've contributed to the greatest debate that no one actually wants but ultimately can't resist in chiming in on, ever

I may well steal adopt this idea

Do you prefer something like that: ?

People think my head is so far up The Beatles arse nobody takes me seriously. As for Ringo, do drums even matter when you have songs that great? Blue

That guy 'old mark' who says he really likes the white one isn't me, by the way.

Another stupid craze that that originated in the USA.

He was at the London Bass Guitar Show in 2016, quite tall as I remember. I use YouTube to find things I am interested in. The recommended videos are often really useful. I'm not forced to watch anything, I type in or click on what I want to watch.

Well it's just a ligh-hearted anger fuelled rant really, it makes for a good discussion. I'm not actually sitting at my computer red-faced and screaming at the screen whilst watching YouTube. But it does bring up interesting issues on a wider scale, about how we see the future of music, and about how we quantify musical value in this age of stupidity.

Cracking pics and giving him a nice bottle of Jura the elixir of life to me. Well done sir and thanks for showing your pics. Dave

Hmm. Speakers don't just blow. Usually something drastic has to happen. However, whilst looking for a better picture of the driver, I found this on t'other low end forum... https://www.talkbass.com/threads/trouble-with-my-gk-neo-112-ii-cab.1085139/page-7 Much food for thought here, and some checking of manufacturing stickers.

Re. stand, I bodged a stand for my Stag that actually works pretty well. The donor was a tattoo leg/arm rest - took off the pad and it gave me this quick release jobbie. Once it is folded up it (nearly) fits into the bow pocket on the carry bag, too.

This is my Mrs' birthday. Hope she enjoys herself!

If the kids misbehaved in the car, I used to put Flowers of Romance album on. It ensured a quiet journey after that! ? Great album but they really didn't appreciate it!

Hi Stu, Welcome to BassChat Join in the discussions whenever you can - enjoy

I have never seen anyone make it all look so easy. Why is he not a member on here???

My tin is pretty corroded and the track-sheet disappeared at some point but the vinyl is still flawless. I have Second Edition too, but the bass extension isn't even close. 45 rpm for the extra 6dB of win! For some reason though, I tend to play Flowers of Romance more often even though there's no bass on it.

I remember asking a drummer at an audition whether he could read. He blushed a bit and said he could, but not very well even now, he'd had to have extra lessons at school.......................................

Which brings up another point (can't remember if it's covered in the videos above)... If your left hand fretting is inaccurate and you're stopping the string too far from the fret, there will be a natural tendency to use more pressure to avoid fret noise.

It's interesting how folk include browsing digital media in their set of social skills to the detriment of being able to hold a real time conversation when needed. They think they are better off socially. How many shops have I visited where I thought they would appreciate my business only to tell me to go online before going back to their smarties? And they wonder why high street shopping suffers. It's ludicrous. I have taken the time to visit the shop and they have told me to go elsewhere. It's a polite way of telling you to Foxtrot Oscar, nothing more and nothing less. Grrrr. Can't we go back to the days when shop counters were populated by bright young things who were just in the crucial stage of decorating their nails when you inconveniently presented yourself before them? It might mean less nail bars taking the place of music shops where you can go and buy strings right off the shelf for one thing! Bah! @ the OP; It's only the Internet at the end of the day if that's of any comfort to you. Just pull the plug if it irks you to that extent.

Thanks for that..nice but sad trip down memory lane..anyway reckon we ought to get back to the thread...ah yes now drummers....

It might help if the finish wasn't so bland. Would look a lot better in strident Gibson Cherry Red, for example.

What an Album ! What a package ! Blew my Nans speakers out too ( so much Low end ) 38 Years ? where the hell did that go ? Tomorrow will be an all PIL listening day Top Ten Album for me ( hell , top 5 ! ) Gary

I see nobody has replied yet, so I'll start the ball rolling. I have an NXT 5 - photos here: Warning - it's LEFT-HANDED! Pros: very very portable; looks great; extremely easy to play, as its action can be set as low as that on a bass guitar, and it's got DOTS! Adjustable bridge height makes bowing perfectly comfortable too; extremely easy to set up through holes in the back plate, without the need to remove the cover; has a fully adjustable tripod stand that eliminates the need to balance the bass on your body while you play - it stays where you put it and you can walk around it. Cons: doesn't sound like a double bass, even with the corresponding switch activated; doesn't 'feel' like a double bass, and offers much less of a physical experience, because it's so small and thin you can almost play it like a bass guitar; the tripod is rather horrid to look at. Er, that's it for the cons... I do like my NXT a lot; then again, a normal size double bass is bigger and heavier than me, and a lefty is practically impossible to find and try before buying/ordering one from scratch, so EUBs are just about my only option.

Just in case, remember a fender jazz has long/short pickups, but Warwick basses are long/long pickups. The bridge pickup may have a different length than you need.

+17 for Mick Karn, one of my favourite bass players, as you say, well under appreciated. It's a good point, would he have existed without Jaco? His influences were so peculiar and left field I choose to think he would, but then, Jaco did change bass playing fundamentally. Ach, who knows, just great to remember that wobbly Wall deliciousness. Japan on the drive home then.

you'd be surprised what OM night attendees will tolerate and still cheer wildly

This ^^^^ it comes down to what falls to hand and seems right for the part you are playing.

Also, the best bass for the thing you want to do is the one you're about to buy...

I went to see him doing a one man thing , may have been the Bass Centre in Whapping ?...any way He was completely out of His tree ,& just played a load of nonsense , I was a huge fan , but as they say "never meet your Heroes"

I'm amazed this is a thing! ha ha ha! It's a bit like saying that an able bodied person prefers walking with their left leg rather than the right.

I released a solo album on 1st September 2017 featuring bass guitar and some acoustic guitar. Having started playing in 1981 the album is typified with influences by Mark King & Stanley Clarke. All tunes are original compositions. The style is pretty chilled out.

... he played all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.

I love the intro to this tune. And Tiran Porter's bass tone on the opening section is pretty much my idea of Aural Heaven!!!! This is hard to beat as well... And finally... The fabulous Mr Gustafson (RIP)

...and sometimes some people take the internet a little too seriously. These things come up on our recommendations cause click on them. If we didn't click on them YouTube's algorithm would soon give us many other recommendations. That guy seldom comes up on mine but he will now that I have looked at him once. He's good at what he does and a lot of people watch him. He must be doing something right.

It doesn't play well, but looks cool:

My just acquired TM4 It's wonderful! Such a huge sound and an easy neck. Build quality that Fender can only dream about.