skej21

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1329493303' post='1543358'] 9/10 drummers I know would hate this suggestion but it would certainly go some way to helping! [/quote] True, but similarly I hate having to rehearse in a box room with crap equipment/sound because it's cheaper but we all have to make sacrifices sometimd for the 'greater good'...

Make the drummer use hot rods for rehearsals. It'll decrease the volume of the drums whilst allowing for a realistic bounce, unlike brushes.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1329298803' post='1540110'] This means that, unbeknownst to the two of us, we have inadvertently met at some point! It's a small world, and all that. [/quote] I've only been working there since mid-December, so maybe not. If not, hopefully bump into you soon!

Nice to The Civil Wars picking up two Grammys. Outstanding act with genuine talent and great musicianship in their original material and the occassional cover.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1329258233' post='1539841'] Banks is on Lendal, next to where Jamie Oliver is opening his new restaurant. They won't have more from than a dozen basses in - mainly Ibanez, Fender and Epiphone. [/quote] Correct. At Banks we currently have the following; Fender - Marcus Miller Jazz, Mex Jazz, Mex Precision. Ibanez - SR1200 Hofner bass and a couple of acoustic basses. Couple of Squiers/budget Yamahas/Ibanez. I'm hoping when I'm not the 'new guy' I can start to try and get a better selection introduced! We do have a good range of Martin and Taylor acoustics. Also have a Gibson hummingbird, J200 and J45 and about 40 Gibson electrics and a collection of Fender guitars. If you just fancy a chat with a fellow basschatter, drop by Edit: Whilst my sentiment is genuine, I'm not in on Friday so won't be around to say hello :s

LEDs in a bass are like electronic tags for criminals. Probably not necessary but a great way for other people to know your a total tw@t and to stay well clear!

Try doing a bass version of a track from the Charlie Parker omnibook for bass clef. Arrange the chords and put the melody in too. That would show off skills as a player, reader and arranger and will be quite comfortably in the 'high standard' category

Tried them out as potential replacements for my Aggy GS112s and instantly found they didn't improve on the sound I loved from my GS112s... Real shame, because they are so well put together I really wanted them to be great. Unfortunately just weren't for me. Sounds like the same thing happened for you!

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1328534974' post='1528566'] Oops - gotta go, a man is at the door with a Fodera sized package under his arm. . . [/quote] Sounds more like he's giving you a Godin Semi

Got to be Dakota by Stereophonics. Just an INSANELY boring song from all aspects and even the crowd looks bored until the token 10 seconds of screaming 'you make feeeeeeel like the one!' 'kin awful song!

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' timestamp='1328286394' post='1525040'] It's not taking the easy way out. As ever, YMMV, but to dismiss it out of hand is stupid. It has advantages and disadvantages like every technique. I think there is a limit to how fast you can go with two fingers. For most people, it's not a problem since they don't need to go that fast. It also makes it easier to play faster for longer, since each finger does less work. I don't know what style or styles of music you play, but for bands I've been in it's important. [/quote] ive played in lots of genres but ive never NEEDED the technique... to me its like slap. its interesting and has its place, but not a technique that every bass player NEEDS to master.

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' timestamp='1328277354' post='1524822'] Depends what you're playing. I couldn't play fast enough to keep up with the music in my first band so I spent a lot of time working on using 3 fingers. [/quote] Surely if you cant play fast enough with two then you should practice more instead of taking the easy way out? I also don't think that the third finger ever quite manages to get the right sound or control in the playing ive heard. It always sounds weaker and compromises dynamic control.

3 finger thing has always puzzled me... I dont think Ive ever played a piece and thought 'I'm struggling with two fingers' and then considered adding a third to help. Surely if your technique is good enough, two should suffice?

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1328199184' post='1523532'] I think some stores have issues that are well beyond what happens at shop level. For me at least, the pedantry side of things doesn't happen... I couldn't tell you what kind of machine head gets manufactured where, how and why or what pickups work best in which position etc. I'm not a gear head in that way, I just know what I like . But yeh, basic info is always nice. The 'window shopper' aspect of the job is a funny one. I think discretion is the name of the game, like anything. Unfortunately, because of the nature of selling an instrument that can often be truly expensive and incredibly fragile, the necessity to actually have people in a store try instruments is something that just cannot and should not be avoided. It should of course be a bargain equally upheld by the customer in their respect for property that isn't theirs, but even if they aren't serious on buying a bass or guitar from you, it can often be a good way of ensuring that they come back to the store again, even just for a pack of strings or two. [/quote] Couldn't agree with you more. Unfortunately though, there are customers that don't have that respect/understanding and there are FAR too many "customers" who pop down to their local music shop to do a bit of dick-measuring to make themselves feel better without ever actually buying anything...

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1328197451' post='1523480'] Tell me, at what stage does it become acceptable for a shop not to take into consideration the setup of an instrument, when said instrument is priced at above a thousand pounds (or even under for that matter)? The bass in question was terribly set up. Although I'll happily account for the fact that some instruments may not be totally to my fitting, it is totally ridiculous for shops that intend to sell bass guitars at £1000+ to not take into consideration the performance of their instruments right off the shelf. Would you have told me the same thing? I don't expect to be pampered when I walk into a shop (although there are one or two stores that will offer me tea or coffee when I go in, customer service goes a long way), and am incredibly polite (if I don't say so myself!) but I do expect a level of service to be met and that includes a good knowledge of inventory, good customer relations, and if I'm paying top dollar for an instrument, care of the instruments in the store too. Is this asking too much in this day and age? And as much as you might dislike the association of a store assistant being there to serve the customer, I'd have great difficulty trying to define the job by any other means. That doesn't mean that you need to take crap from customers either, no question, but it also doesn't mean that you should get to reserve the right to be surly to customers, whether you deem them potential buyers or not, or deal them a load of misinformation. I know, I've done the job before, just under different circumstances, and I would definitely argue that there are a lot of music stores out there that need to seriously assess the way they deal with people that walk through their shop doors. [/quote] I would have had the bass set-up so that there were no major issues. I.e., Intonation would have been spot-on, no fret buzz and new strings. Action probably medium height. As for your comments about customer service, I agree. There are levels that should be met. You should have an extensive yet appropriate knowledge of the instruments (but should be forgiven if you don't know, for example, what material the machine that winds the pickups is made from... yes, I did have someone ask that once *sigh*) and I also agree with taking care of the instruments in the store... However, that is another issue that raises problems, because in order to protect an instrument on the wall, you have to be selective over who you let play it, which by definition means you need to make judgements about an individual and whether they intend to purchase it or just want to rip a whole through the scratchplate playing mediocre slap bass because they have 10 minutes left of their lunch hour. Luckily, our shop tends to have back-up stock that is brand new and not shop soiled so we can afford to let some instruments take a hit on the shelf and drop the price at a later date to shift it, but I think it's a dilemma for smaller businesses, because they need to protect their stock by not letting tyre kickers play the bass, which in turn will inevitably lose them custom. I also agree that the way we deal with customers needs to be improved, but I also believe that customers need to change their attitudes too. In the US for example, people actively decide to pursue a career in customer service and the americans (or the majority of) respect that and appreciate it when they get good service (as they show through tipping etc). Whilst this is not my personal ambition, I think the attitudes shown by customers and sales staff in the US is something we should aspire to. I think in our country, we are all to eager to want the best/most out of everybody for nothing (as we show by taking advice from store assistants free and then purchasing online because it's £5 cheaper).

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1328192112' post='1523339'] I usually take a firm approach to guitar shop staff that wish to push their superiority complexes upon me if the store is offering something I think looks reasonable. They're there to serve you after all, so it's not like you have to take any of the sh*t they will sometimes try to shovel you. A few months back I was in a shop in Liverpool that will remain unnamed. I was looking at one of the Fender Marcus Millers they had in there. The guy plugged me in to a feeble little Roland affair, and left me to play for a bit. Under a minute in and I was pretty sick at the fact that the bass hadn't been set up at all; fretbuzz all over the neck, intonation issues too. The guy's excuse for this was "we don't have time to set up every guitar and bass in the shop". I told him in no fewer words that he should probably find the time, seeing as the instrument cost over £1000 and was by far and away the most expensive thing they had on the bass guitar rack at the time. Absolute moron. [/quote] To be fair that is the kind of attitude that instantly makes me lose respect for a customer. You get one customer in who complains that the set-up is rubbish because the action is too high, then the next customer complains it's not high enough. As long as it's playable without any major issues, then the customer should accept that they will have to have it set-up to their personal preference AFTER they've bought it. I've spent nearly 2 hours with a customer before, knowing that they were highly unlikely to buy anything and just wanted to inform their intended purchase (whether that was with us or not) just because the guy came in and talked to me like he valued my opinion. He didn't get into dick-measuring, which a lot of customers try, but at the same time he appreciated my opinion as a fellow musician. Having that respect for me and visa-versa makes for a much better shopping experience for both customer and sales assistant. As for the 'they're there to serve you' comment, that's just idiotic. The assistants in ANY shop are there to accomodate you while you decide to purchase something. Running around and having to put up with crap from a customer just because they MIGHT buy something is just not acceptable... You wouldnt p!ss all over the toilet floors in a shopping center because there's someone there to run in and clean it up, you have the respect to appreciate that these people have to work and have the right to be respected whilst they do it... they are human beings too. But some customers feel its their right to be given the red carpet treatment DESPITE being a total arsehole to everyone in the shop.

[quote name='fender73' timestamp='1325165860' post='1480412'] I'm not entirely surprised though, i worked in a music shop for 18 months and never once got asked for flats (did once get asked if we sold spark plugs though!?). [/quote] + 1 to this Even if they had some flats in stock, what are the chances that they would have been the ones you were looking for? I've had more people come into our shop and ask if the cafe (which closed 15 years ago) was still open than I've had people asking for flats...

I fell in love with the Youngblood Brass band long before I picked up the bass properly, but having recently rediscovered them and after becoming hooked again I only just realised how funkin' AWESOME the bass lines are! From a sousaphone, I think it's pretty impressive. Just wondering what you guys think of bass lines played on instruments other than acoustic/electric bass.... (oh and keyboard opinions don't count, we all know they are just trying to annoy us and drown us out! ) P.s. An example of Youngblood in action; http://youtu.be/TxH9Dg1JLio

I love the awkward sexual tension during the high five at 10:00 mins in!

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1327873991' post='1518174'] Point taken, but I can't help wondering whether the retail sector - not to mention the insurance industry - hasn't brought some of this on themselves. For many years now businesses have been shouting at us how much cheaper they are than their competitors - witness the current 'price war' going on between the major supermarket chains (as it happens I think it's a phoney war, but that's another thread). [/quote] You could be right. I know for a fact that (similar to the album/single/DVD of the week stands at HMV) companies can pay manufacturers to get the best deal. A friend of mine works for a major music retail chain and they recently paid Yamaha a large sum of money so that they could lower the cost price of a specific model of keyboard. They then paid to secure this so that they could offer the lowest price, taking away the possibility of customers getting a lower price match and also drawing in more business. They can also report any other companies to yamaha if they find they are price matching or lower their prices to compete. Yamaha then threaten to stop stocking the offending company. No doubt it'll be happening with other brands and instruments behind the scenes too. May the highest bidder win!