Graham56

Trampin' (Patti Smith)

Go Wild in the Country (Bow Wow Wow)

Listening to music through an F-4 amp? (Sorry, wrong Phantom...)

Maybe look at it from the recipients' view? I'm not a songwriter (I don't really have the creative streak necessary). I admire those that have it, but I don't. I'd try to flesh out ideas sent by someone else, but I'd need that start point. Perhaps some of your band-members are like that too. I'm happy to be sent ideas to consider, but I'd feel swamped if someone sent me 24 ideas at once. What the hell am I supposed to do with this lot? I'd also wonder about how serious the ideas are. Has the sender really spent some effort on them? Or are they just firing off idle noodling? I'd prefer maybe only three or four at a time. Then I could devote my limited creativity to each one. It would also make the sender focus on what they consider to be the best ones. Cheers (!) Graham

Do I get a second go? How about Rhiannon Giddens?

Rachael Price with Bridget Kearney on bass (Lake Street Dive) - pretty much anything she sings Patti Smith - lots of bassists, currently Tony Shanahan

I've used a Korg Pandora into cheap headphones for years. Doesn't sound terribly great but it's good enough for practice. I also stream recordings from iTunes into the Pandora through the aux input. I have a preset on the iTunes EQ section that drops all the bass out of the recording so allowing me to play along with a clearer sound. Apart from allowing me to play into the night, one good thing about headphones is that they pick up the clacks and buzzes from less than perfect finger positioning. Forces me to pay attention to this - which is a good thing. Cheers, Graham

No Mick, you were born in Dartford, and I doubt very much if the weather was as bad as you say.

Basses are supposed to be boring. It's what we do, innit?

I mean... What? How the hell does she... Singing and playing that stuff... I mean...

The piano in this (solo from about 1.22), and how it works with everything else.

Anything I play. Seriously, I find nothing works as well as setting up the bass and playing along with any blues or rock or Americana I have on my PC. I wear headphones then really crank it up. An hour or so of that and I am re-energised and back up there. Cheers, Graham

Yes. A 'P'. It's all you need. 🙂

The P comes with a lot more coolness and mojo...

Tell them to get the piano properly tuned?

I think he was referring to the 'assignable knob"?

Me the rest of the band: "Guys, I've got an idea...."

From the viewpoint of my age, my question is "How the hell does he get back up again?"

I'm a freelance with two roles. 1) I run training courses for businesses on business writing skills, editing, proofreading and such like. 2) I edit books for a couple of publishers. As with the freelance musicians, engineers etc on Basschat, my future training work has evaporated in the space of a fortnight. Every client has cancelled. Every. One. Oh well, just as well the missus has a salary (for now) and can work from home. Cheers!!! :-) Graham

This one is timely...

"All band members take one step forward!" "Not so fast sunshine, where do you think you are going?"

The scene was a pub gig in south London. England were playing a football match that night (why do bar managers book bands on nights like that?) so we had to set up then wait until the game finished. England had a terrible game, and the bar was filled with frustration and gloom at the end. I switched on, did a quick line check, and God knows why, played the bass line from Queen's "Another one bites the dust"... A large, beefy red-faced punter stumbled up, finger pointing: "Oi mate, we don't want none of that bites the dust here!". The problem is I have a very definite Scottish accent and the thought went through my mind, "The minute I speak this isn't going to go well..." Luckily the (English) guitarist realised, did the "Sorry mate" bit and commiserated with our new friend.... Cheers, Graham

I was all set up with a new instrument lead I had just bought. Time to start - but no sound. The head was on and correctly plugged into cab. It was a passive bass so no problem with the battery. A moment or two of panic until the guitarist asked if I'd pressed the button on the lead. Eh? Wassat? It turned out this lead has a button to cut the circuit, allowing you to cheerfully unplug or change instruments without popping the speaker. I hadn't noticed this when I bought the lead, and I didn't even know such things existed. So a quick button press and we were off. I've done this a few other times since but at least now I know ... Cheers, Graham

Electric Mayhem!

I just bought a head from Tyler. He's easy to deal with, communicates well, the amp was exactly as described and the whole transaction was very smooth. I'd happily deal with him again. Cheers, Graham