hiram.k.hackenbacker

Due to unforeseen circumstances I’ve had two people pull out of a trip to London tonight to see The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa at The Palladium. I’ll be in London quite early if you want to meet up to get the tickets. They’re in Row H of the stalls, so quite good IMHO. Face price including booking fee works out to just over £63 each. Would rather they were used so prepared to take a hit on them. PM me if interested.

At least you know where it is 😬

So the cycle continues....😂

Hopefully I'll get the chance tomorrow.

Yes, I don’t imagine Scott is the ‘selfie’ type 😂

Ah, you must mean this one with the most amazing tiger striped figuring on the neck 😀

Some would say that may have happened subconsciously by design 😀

I know. Crazy isn’t it. Out of all the basses I settled on that one. There’s no hope of letting any of the others go 🙄

I do though. I have the option of keeping them, which will inevitably lead to acquiring more. I’m not complaining; I have a great life with a wonderful wife who does not object to any of my obsessions. I just wish I didn’t care as much.

Logically, I am aware of this. Emotionally, it’s a bit trickier. For me at least.

It was this one.

It does rather sound like it Paul. Crikey, what did you let go of?

You’re right, I don’t need to sell any, I just feel as though I should. I think. I don’t know. I hadn’t played that particular bass for quite a while, but having done so, I’m going to gig it again as soon as possible. I’m not sure I could let any bass go without checking it was OK first. Perhaps that means I’m not destined to sell any 😬

Just spent the last few hours trying to decide (mentally) which of my basses I should sell. Just pulled one out to make sure it was all OK and take a few snaps, but damn it's so good, I just can't do it. Plus, I know I'll never find another one in such condition. I think this bit is the root cause of all the angst as I feel like if I sell it, I won't ever be able to undo what I've done. I struggle periodically with GAS and did well in the abstinence challenge for the first few months until I caved in. Since then it looks like I'll have at least four incoming in 2019 and really should make some room. It's the actual making room bit (i.e. selling them) that I find really difficult unless there is a really solid reason to do so. The ones that I don't get on with tend to not stay too long anyway. It's the ones I've kept and bonded with that are the toughies. Aghh, I'm flippin' hopeless me 🙄. I know there are quite a few here that have whittled themselves down to about two or three basses, but anyone else really really struggle with this?

Like a complete numbskull, I ordered a double CD version of The Getaway by the Red Hot Chili Peppers without doing my homework first. It contains the original CD album plus the bonus album 'I'm Beside You'. When it arrived, my suspicions were aroused by the fact that the artwork looked a bit iffy and there are Russian characters on a sticker on the back. The bar code indicates its and unofficial release through Discogs. The seller is being a bit coy. He hasn't insisted it is official, but he has stated that various editions were released worldwide 🙄 Does anyone else own this version and if so, is Disc 2 up to scratch or is it just ripped from iTunes? (other digital platforms available). Obviously I don't want to open it and check for myself or I won't be able to send it back - to the USA 🙄

Er, no 😂. My lust for authenticity does not extend to making the same mistakes. I’ll probably just make some of my own in different places 🙄.

Champions is a good example. On the recorded version there are lots of notes that he plays up an octave, but live, JD goes for the low end power which I think is absolutely the right thing to do. We mainly use live versions in my Bowie tribute. You can’t beat learning from a touring band that’s found out how songs really work in a live environment. We’re definitely gonna have to stick rigidly to the Live Aid version of Hammer To Fall for the reason you state. It could get very confusing otherwise. Rhapsody will be fine. The guys I’ll be playing with are spot on. Won’t struggle hearing anything as I’ll be using IEM’s and if it’s the same as last time, I’ll be able to adjust my mix from the stage. Yes, it’s a shame about Ga Ga as it chops a bit out that gives it a bit of relief from the main riff, but it will be fine.

So, I’ve made a chart for each of the six songs in the Live Aid Set. Not that any of them are particularly difficult, it’s just the way I like to approach these things. With the exception of the heavily truncated version of Bohemian Rhapsody, I went through the studio recorded version of each song to get a feel for what John laid down. I then went through each of the Live Aid versions. Wow! Quite a lot of variation there. There’s a chunk completely missing from Hammer To Fall. I can see why this was done for this gig as they only had a twenty minute window to perform, so quite clever. I had not noticed it before. Radio Ga Ga is also slightly trimmed down and much simplified bass wise. Our keys player is not looking forward to this song. I’ve mentioned to him that he might want to buy a Jupiter 8. He didn’t say no, but then again he does have about 10 Nord’s, so he should be able to get something out of them 😂. The other interesting one is We Are The Champions. The Live Aid version has a much less complicated bass line during the verse sections. I might also suggest that JD makes a bit of a flub of one of them as he starts the run and realises he’s not gonna get to the end in time. He does get out of it admirably though. There’s also a massive howler at the end of one of the repeated choruses. It can happen to the best 😀.

Yes, I had spotted that when I was sourcing the strap. Not sure what that’s all about.

I watch a lot of Queen and bass related videos on You Tube, so it randomly threw this at me today. Did make me laugh....

Tickets now on sale for our gig at Fat Lil's, Witney. Click here.

Yes, I think they are the ones I have 👍

'Superwounds'' apparently and they're not made any more I don't think. I used to use them myself back in the day, but I think I'll stick with my usual.

I was looking on Strings Direct and noticed that Schaller's have changed since I last bought some. Mine are more ball like on the ends and these are not....

That’s very kind of you Mart. PM incoming 👍