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Played a Studio 8 session for RTE 2fm today. Got t cplay in the legendary studio 8! Sounded unbelievable. Beautiful EBS Neogorm combo

I'm proud and excited to share that I will shortly be heading off on an extensive 22 date, 5 week, European tour, playing bass for US blues rock sensation Dudley Taft! Hugely looking forward to it... and to catching up with some of my European friends!

I have the onset of OA in the fingers of both hands and have found fingerless compression gloves help when it starts to flare up. Can still play with them on. I do find the ladle gets in the way sometimes.

That sounds like the old Tommy Cooper joke Doctor, my arm hurts in two places. Well, don't go to those places then.

If the band are good its a foot in the door for that area. "Build it and they will come". Played a gig in Methil Scotland about a 2 hr drive for me each way so nowhere near as horrendous as @cheddatom but first time was around 50-60 people in a club that holds approx 180-200. 2nd time was sold out so its all about getting in the door and showing how good you are. That was just after pandemic and that had a big effect on how many people wanted to socialise. Not so sure i'd drive 5 hrs each way tho. That's a long haul especially on way home after a gig. Dave

Played with The 77s at Market House in Maidstone last night. It was our last gig with our outgoing drummer, I thought it might be a bit awkward but it turned out fine. The place was packed, and we had a really good gig. It’s my favourite place to play locally, I have been playing at the weekly jam night that is held there, but it was nice to play a full gig there. There were a couple of the other “big” local covers bands playing at other pubs in town, but it didn’t seem to affect our attendance. we have a dep lined up for our next gig in March, and then nothing currently booked until June whilst we sort out a new drummer. The only downside was having to load out in torrential rain.

Started the first 2 gigs ( of 4 in Eastern England*) at Norwich Theatre Royal on Thursday. Due to a number of reasons we hadn’t played this wonderful venue for a number of years, so was great to return here. Lovely crew and facilities, and a great sell out crowd of 1,300. Gig went really well although I was feeling a tad under the weather - dropped a couple of silly mistakes but styled them out ( I think!). Friday saw us drive up to The Cresset Theatre in Peterborough. One of our regular gigs, about 3/4 full and a nice crowd again. Decent 2 hour drive home too, so in around 1am. * The other two gigs are this coming Friday 23rd in Newark, and Saturday 24th in Kings Lynn.

I once owned a lovely metallic purple Music Man Silhouette Special, that I unfortunately had to sell when money was short after my car needed replacing. It was a lovely workhorse with a fantastic neck and a huge range of sounds thanks to some interesting wiring on the 5-way switch, but at the time I often favoured my (much cheaper) Squier MIJ E-series Strat so it made sense to let it go. It was shipped off to Finland, never to be seen again. But a certain level of seller's remorse always lingered... 10 years went by, and then suddenly a whole collection of high end guitars appeared for sale at the same time from a single seller: PRS, Gibson, Fender, Taylor, Godin, and several Music Man guitars - including a metallic purple Silhouette Special. The asking price was quite high, so I didn't bother inquiring but I did follow the ad. All the guitars gradually got sold, except for that Silhouette Special and a modded Fender USA Strat... I have been following that ad for 1.5 years, and it remained unsold for all this time! Finally, last week, I couldn't bear it anymore and sent an inquiry. I got chatting to the seller, asked for some better pics (which showed a pretty concave neck) and made an offer - under the condition that the neck would adjust well at the turning of the truss rod - and the seller accepted. So to cut a long story short: Turned out the seller was a widow, selling off her deceased husband's collection. She'd had many lowball offers, and was happy to finally see it go to someone who appreciated it and she loved my story of The One That Got Away. It's a late 90s model, just like my old one, with the only differences being the rosewood fingerboard and hardtail bridge (my previous one had birdseye maple and a trem). The neck responded well to my adjustments (almost a full turn of the truss rod) and plays like a dream. I hope this one will be a keeper for a much longer time than the previous one!

This Saturday in Devizes, Wiltshire - our 50th show!

Ooh Aah... Just a Little Brit - Gina G

Around the turn of the millennium, I was in a 70's disco themed band. We were successful weekend warriors doing 2 to 3 gigs a month and had build up a good reputation locally. We were a 7 piece outfit with one male and two female singers. The male lead singer wanted to bring his girlfriend in on backing vocals and the band just said No - so he left. We then replaced him with a far better male vocalist who took us up by several levels. He started getting us a few more gigs - but further afield. We were doing gigs alongside fully pro show bands, and putting on better shows than them. He kept telling us that we could be fully pro and eventually it came to a band vote on whether to pursue this option. I had a good, well paid job, mortgage, kids etc and although I wanted to go for it in my heart, my head (and wife) said No. The keyboard player also had to leave. It was a real shame as we were the longest serving members of the band. It had been pointed out to us at the band meeting that we would all have to have our equipment, stage clothes etc in the backs of our cars in case we got a call saying we had a gig that night in any given part of the country. The rest of the band did try but it didn't work out. The drummer who was only in his mid 20's ended up having a nervous breakdown. He would sometimes get home at 4,00 am and be expected at his day job at 6.00 am. People seem to overlook the gap between performing one, maybe two gigs a week, and getting up to five a week, regularly. You need to maintain the day job whilst building up the reputation and demand. The band broke up shortly afterwards, and I still feel a gap as no subsequent band that I've been in has given me the buzz that this one did. Looking back, not going pro was one of the best decisions that I made.

Mr Phillips has done for luthiery what square wheels did for transportation.

Immersion in hot water helps with both my thumb ip joints to the point I can begin to bend them slightly without excruciating pain. The pills and potions haven't worked for me. Thankfully this condition hasn't affected my fingers, yet. Sorry can't be of any further help.

We drove from Stoke to Margate on Saturday. 5 hours with a couple of stops. Olby's Soul Cafe is a brilliant venue! Great PA and the engineer was brilliant too. Unfortunately the choice of some unknown band from Stoke to headline a night in Margate didn't work out so well. The old story of a local support band bringing most of the crowd, then taking them with them after the set. All that way, writing off two full days, to play to less than 50 people... still, at least we got paid and had a laugh

@SimonK I am definitely guilty of letting off steam in this thread because as church musicians, we all know that playing in church can be equally rewarding and frustrating. Yesterday I led the sung worship, I was on bass and lead vocals, we played I SPEAK JESUS and whilst we have played it countless times before, for some reason it really resonated in the hearts of the congregation. There was a huge and very vocal outpouring of love for Christ and it made the hairs on my arms stand up, it was a honor to be a part of it and it made me love what I do even more. I'm still buzzing this morning. Yes, I moan about playing in church but, I love it too 😁

I tried! I failed! But I failed well, and will try again. I managed to strum the songs at home, and plugged into an amp via a tuner and chorus pedal, to get used to the sound and work out how to set up the kit. On the day during the practice, we couldn't find a channel to plug into, and I couldn't hear myself in the foldback. Sound levels were painfully loud as the band played on, and it was easier to step down from that morning's service. However..... I learnt that I could still play guitar; that it was fun; that it was hard work and very physical - and my fingertips hurt! I will play again with the guitarist and his tame pianist and am comfortable that I will hold my own. But for now, I remain a bassist.

Now the core has replaced a number of pedals my boards looking a little lite. Probably gonna take the Ricochet off the core has pitch bend and once I get the midi adaptor from Source Audio will get the C4 on there too and need a dual foot switch for the core too

Another morning after the night before post for you My mob Yellowhouse played the Essex Riviera with a dep singer. She's done a couple of gigs with us over the last few months with us and it's getting better each time. I think this is the best bit of video I've ever seen of my lot. The sound is great and the vocals are immense. It's an old Skunk Anansie song which I've always wanted to play and Susie blows the doors off here.... (Cort A4, Orange 4 Stroke, Laney Digbeth pre on the tube setting and a couple of Barefaced Big Baby cabs for the geeks)

I’ll be playing at The Cart and Horses in London with Stray this Saturday.

Always gonna be different viewpoints on this one. Theory or not to theory. I did take lessons for approx 18mths at which the teacher said there wasn't much else he could teach me. It was time to go out and pick it up yourself now. How wrong that was. There was a lot more i should have been taught. I have a basic knowledge of theory and can read music but not sight reading. Its been a bonus for me in that i have always written out almost every song i've ever learned. That for me meant i learned it by ear and could remember it and also writing it out allowed me another avenue of recall when playing it within a band. I would always recommend lessons to start with and depending on where you want to go with it either learn by ear, tabs or whatever you can to learn a song. I'll literally use anything i can find to learn a song note for note. I've never been asked if i could read music and its never been mentioned in any band i've ever played in but it allows me to understand music better and following other musicians in a band. Knowing scales and correct fingering technique can help reduce strain in the long run. As an aside i suffered hand / finger issues a few yrs back and decided to go back and perfect my technique again and the strain was gone. Reading isn't for everyone but its a good starting point for many. I would also ask your teacher to try songs you like and listen to and that will maybe give your interest a little boost. Dave

Nice! (and just realised my auto type changed 'Truth and Rights' to 'Truth wave Rights' for some reason 🤨 babylon getting to it!

In a market economy, we must conclude that that’s the price at which the demand for Marcus Miller matches the supply of Marcus Miller.

Some sayings can be useful, others less so. Years ago I had an issue that was eventually pinned down to an interaction between two medications I was on. I would wake up in the middle of the night feeling really nauseous, jump out of bed in fear of being sick, then black out on the floor. Not pleasant, and it scared the Bejeesus out of the missus. I was given all sorts of blood tests, a 24-hour blood pressure monitor, and a ride strapped to a thing called a 'tilt table' to check for variations in blood pressure and the function my inner ear in different orientations, all to no avail initially. On seeing the Consultant to assess the results, he said, "So, you wake up in the middle of the night feeling sick, jump out of bed, and pass out?" "Yes" I replied. "Well, if you wake up in the middle of the night and feel sick, don't jump out of bed!" Monty Python came to mind...

Play with other people. If you know any guitarists, see if you can join them for a jam. Maybe try a jam night or an open mic night.

See if you can borrow a short-scale bass to see if that helps. If movement is the issue then less movement than usual might be beneficial.

Sorry to hear that. We have exactly the same problem. We can get a fairly decent crowd locally, but outside of our "area" we're pretty much unknown. Still, at least those 50 people will have enjoyed it and hopefully will get some interest coming your way in future.

They're quite good. They don't have the thermal capacity of the Deltalites but they have what really matters, xmax. At 5.2mm the 2012 has more output capability than the 2512 with 4.9mm. I run a 2012 in my personal JackLite 12 cab and it does the job nicely, while weighing almost nothing.

I knew I would like this community, and hopefully it is a bit more "English" than all the Americans on Talkbass who can't help mixing politics into their discussions (and for the record I only want to talk about music here - I can get the politics/theology elsewhere!). Here was this week's rather abnormal setup for me. Next week will be back to bass duties on the rather lovely Trace in the background (I can tell you the story of how I rescued it from certain death at another time!):

Plug the hole with some suitable sized wood (cocktail stick?) glued into the hole. Wait for glue to dry then drill new pilot hole for screw.

The Hulla band rehearsed for a gig I can't make last night. The dep bassist (from within the band) took on the bass role so I stepped behind the mixing desk. We use an X32 and our regular sound man (on holiday at the moment) has set it up using the scene option so that all I had to do was press the correct button. And yes, I did successfully press the correct button! 😃 It was good to hear the band from a different perspective. I've taken to using IEM simply because in such a large band (13 assorted instruments) the monitor speakers are competing with the live instruments. From the front I could see how everything worked and how much work our sound man has done to get everything mixed nicely. Rather worryingly, the dep bassist (a gifted multi-instrumentalist at only 16 years old) was good. She may have to go.... 😂

It's one thing to split. Another altogether to recombine. There's a whole raft of stuff I wrote on this back when I was doing it, so it's all on the other side of the Atlantic centric forum. Short version. Distortions and chorus among others return the signal out of phase with what went in. This is of no consequence when pedals are in series full range. Different story when reblending an effected return with its original low end to send to the amp. At the crossover frequency they cancel one another out. It's more complicated when you run multiple pedals and some return out of phase and some do not and sometimes you have more than one running at the same time. Leaving aside the fact that some pedals are some other degree of delayed than 180°, two phase flippers in series returns an in phase signal. I had a very complicated arrangement of a bigarse blender with phase control on multiple channels so that I could always have a full lush result. Rolls sx21 crossover did the split.

Hi all - just joined this forum as for some reason I had been on the US centred talkbass for years without twigging there was a UK one! However, the US one does have tons of church musicians to chat to, which is one of my main musical outlets at the moment. Last two weeks we've been without a drummer so somehow they convinced me to play Cajon instead, which this morning was with just keys plus a bunch of singers. Worked fine during the four or five songs until they threw in the classic Welsh "Guide me o thou great redeemer" at the end of the service when our keyboard player suddenly went all organist on me. There were so many pauses between, and even within, verses that after one or two practices before the service I just gave up on this one and joined the congregation! Next week back to full band and playing bass again!

MK1 , MK2 and BH2 are "fake Barts", produced by Ibanez. So as Doug from Bartolini told me. They're not produced in USA and just co-designed with Bartolini. As long as the tone is on the spot for the player it doesn't matter anyway. I don't like BH2 but I like MK1. I like high end pickups as much as the cheap DX5 on my old '99 Ibanez. No judgement here, just to share infos I got from Bartolini directly (I'm in contact with them to get Bart's for my future projects). Cool you've found the issue and fixed it.

Just bought @theplumber Godin Classic Shifter 4 tonight. One of two he owns. I was offered the black burst with rosewood neck version. The other had the creme brulee finish with maple neck and that actually felt better to play but not much in it. Both are pretty impressive tho. Known Stevie for a good few yrs now as i took over his duties on bass when he left the punk covers band Emergency Exit. He even delivered the bass to the house for me but i reckon he just wanted to play with the toys in the bass cave. Bass is in perfect condition as i would expect from Stevie. It just needs a little tweak of the P pick up height to balance the volumes across the P and J pick ups and its good to go. I'll fit a new set of Elixir nickels ASAP and ready to gig. Neck on these basses is pretty impressive and i'd compare to the Sandberg MarloweDK that i have. Very Jazz neck feel to it. No rough fret edges and no fret buzz at all even with quite a decent low action already set up Tones are quite different from the 4-position selector switch and the tone knob has quite a wide change to it. (1. bridge, 2. both series, 3. both parallel, 4. neck ) Controls and tuners all feel pretty good quality and sturdy with smooth actions all round. Got a rehearsal on Sunday with Glam band which will give it a good trial run pre-gigging. It will either be a back up to my Sandberg VM4 or possibly a main bass in the Glam band as its passive there's no batteries to worry about. All in all a good day. Dave

The trouble with the term "music theory" is that it has a lot of unfavourable connotations for many. It can conjure images of poring over dry textbooks, having no fun, being rapped over the knuckles by the teacher, etc, etc. All of that is to do with the way it is taught in some quarters, not the subject itself. The reality is a lot different. It's all about demystifying how music works and learning why some things sound good and others don't. Some knowledge of it cannot fail to improve your playing. Even if you never intend to read music off the page, it will make you a better improviser, because you will have a better idea what to play and what not to play. bass_dinger sums it up very well when he observes that his 7 year old daughter learned in 3 years what took him 30 years to learn. There's no downside. You don't have to go the whole hog and learn how to compose for a full orchestra, but it's mad not to learn anything at all about it if you're serious about playing.

7.x volts means the battery is history! Plus it’s just a PP3, replace it already!

The cock filter has been scaled back, thankfully. It means we can refer to Dick van Dyke and not Penis van Lesbian.

Spacewasters gig at The Trinity Bar, Harrow last night, as part of a Shake Some Acton event with four bands on the bill. Very small stage that, now we’re a 5 piece was cramped to say the least. Being so small onstage sound was poor but having heard the other bands we knew sound out front was good - kudos to the sound man, he was attentive to all the bands all night and didn’t blast the volume to max or make bass drums sound like explosions. Went very well, lots of applause and cheering, which is always nice, and was home before midnight. Forgot to mention, the rig I used was a Hartke HA3500 into a Trace Elliot 4x10, was easy to get a very decent sound from it.