mcnach

That's true, some of the prices I've seen are a little crazy.

Then we have very different experiences. Most have been at least decent, if not great (early to mid 80s, late 80s that's another story) My favourite Telecaster happened to be a Japanese Squier, E series, so not one of the "coolest" ones and with a reasonable price tag... it was the best Tele I ever got to play. I sold it, along with most of my toys, during one difficult phase where I needed to raise cash. I still keep an eye out for it. It was pretty distinct due to a couple of deep gouges on the front caused by a guitar stand when both decided to fight out some disagreement. I never saw the stand again

My main band plays originals. We often play in a couple of live music bars in town where some people may come to see a specific band, but mostly they just come because they like the place and they know there will be some decent live music, of all sorts. We do get sometimes the "Wonderwall!!!!!" thing, and after we introduce our next original as Wonderwall for 2-3 times, they get it and stop What we get is a good crowd dancing whether they know the songs or not. I'm not sure if it's just a different crowd here from a typical pub where you just set up in a corner, which may be a factor. Maybe what we get here is people who come to see live music and drink. Whereas in a typical pub, people go to drink and have live music in the background... Does that affect the kind of music they want? I don't know. Maybe it's a choice of songs? Being a covers band opens the door to playing... ANYTHING UNDER THE SUN! Maybe one can avoid the tired cliches if you find other suitable songs that are less well known but have the right elements in it to keep people entertained? Having said that, I was also in a ska/reggae band playing a mix of originals and covers... and sometimes it was hard work because in certain places it seemed that only the superpopular songs got people out dancing like crazy and the minute you played something not in the top40 of ska, you'd lose them. I despise "Monkey Man" with passion... Nobody in the band wanted to play it. Yet... it always worked in small pubs. However, in festivals our own material worked just as well. So maybe it is to do more with the type of venue and the kind of people that go to that venue. Maybe we are stuck with the tired cliches is we want to play those places!

My girlfriend plays bass a little. She would like to take some lessons to help her progress... but although I personally know a couple of people that I think would be perfect, she says it can't be someone I know. I tried to teach her some things, and it's ok to teach her how a song goes etc, but the minute we start talking about notes she gets a bit frustrated and defensive and we don't get far. She thinks that with a complete stranger it would be easier for her to get on with it. She is very shy to play in front of people she knows too. That makes it complicated because how do I know who is suitable if it's got to be someone I don't know? We'll have to go by reviews etc, so she asked me if I could ask here. And here I am. Does anyone have any suggestions? She can play only a tiny bit, so I'd say we're looking at pretty much beginner level. Anywhere in Edinburgh works. Central is good. Dalry/Gorgie/Sighthill/Broomhouse better. Portobello best. But anywhere in town works really.

and that's fine if you don't like them , I just don't get the "macho american" thing... in fact they seem to me quite the opposite.

I've been playing a lot of reggae lately. I would use whatever bass, typically the Stingray or a Sandberg VM4 (P/MM)... but I'm coming to love this "JJ" bass for that. It's got a pair of Area J pickups (humbucking) in parallel with each other, with a blend and a passive tone. I've also been enjoying the sounds of a Gibson EB0 type bass I've seen around. Thumpy, but it retains enough definition, and it's a great sound to have too. I am considering getting a Mudbucker to add to this bass. I realise that due to the much larger impedance of the mudbuckers (around 30 Kohm!) blending them with the Jazz pickups would not be straight forward... But I don't even want to do that. I think I would want a shared volume/tone control, and a switch between the mudbucker or the JJ pickups (in whatever state the blend control puts them). That should be easy, right? Or would the mudbuckers prefer a different value for tone caps or tone/control potentiometers?

I have a Richie Sambora signature Stratocaster. Was I a fan? No, but I wanted a white/cream stratocaster with a humbucker at the bridge and a Floyd Rose, and in the 90s there was not much choice as grunge took over and it was uncool to know how to play, and all these Floyd Rose guitars became a relic of the past. The guitar had the right specs, looked good, sounded great. Same with this bass... it's a pretty cool looking Jazz. I don't think you need to be a fan to want one. Same with Flea's Jazz... it's a nice roadworn shell pink Jazz with stacked knobs, regardless of whose signature is on the headstock.

Not my favourite RHCP/Flea song... but it's an interesting one in many ways.

Big fan of Glenn Hughes here. I have the book but haven't read it yet. I'm an 'acquaintance' (not close enough to call friends, but we've been out drinking and chatting etc) with a guitarist who knows him well, and I heard a few sad stories of Glenn. He seems to be doing alright these days, and what a voice!

How many people read Kiedis' book and felt like slapping him at least on ten separate occasions The guy has been very lucky to make it this far.

macho American BS is quite far from how I see them... but if you haven't really spent much time listening to them I can see how they would not necessarily appeal. I didn't like them, for years and years. Then I ended up in a RHCP tribute band and started to pay attention, and my view on them changed entirely. You don't need to like them, of course, but the macho american tag is pretty far off the mark, I think (now, if you were talking about Lynyrd Skynyrd... )

He played bass a lot on his first albums at least.

True to some extent, there's a hype that gets perpetuated in fora like this one by people, most of whom have not really played one and just regurgitate what they have read. However, there's a hype there based on something. Those early Japanese Squier instruments were very decent indeed, in general.

That was my first amplifier!!! And you're right, sounded good and was reliable, and very powerful.

I like the Mosky nano so much that I've got two. They're only about £20-25, very small (like a nano pedal) , and can power 6x 9V at 150mA, a single 9V at 500mA and an additional 12V too. https://www.moskyaudio.com/product/products-3-75.html

I bought a Westfield Jazz for £40 a few years ago... and it is a very nice bass that sounds just right and plays very nicely. It was not the prettiest, with a translucent green finish that allowed one to see badly matched (esthetically) bits of wood, but I played a few gigs with it and I had no complaints about it. I had a J-Retro in it for a while, which cost a lot more than the bass but turned it into a real beast. It's passive now again. I took it back home to my parents so that I have a bass if I want to play. My brother plays guitar and I sometimes join in with his band, so it's good to have a decent bass around. I tried a Precision once and it was similarly pleasant.

It's a little over-engineered, that's all. No need for a wedge.

In fact, I just bought a second one. It's like having one, but with two programmable presets

(fingers in ears) na na naaa naa naaa I don't hear youuuu na naana naaa

Nah, it's your turn now I'll keep playing my 2002 natural/maple one for now 😛

The new line seems very nice. I have never played one yet (I'm afraid to! ) but as far as I can tell, it's still got the Stingray DNA despite the changes in the electronics, and a lightweight Stingray is very appealing (in addition, some of the new finishes are so preeetteeeeeee).

It seems to be another loose variation of the OCD, but this one is one of the better sounding out there (not saying it's the closest in sound to an OCD, just that I like its sound best) It covers a lot of ground, from barely distorted, to quite high-gainy, and the 2-band EQ help a lot getting just the right hue. And it's only about £35. In a small enclosure. I love it. One of the nicest pedals I've come across lately.

I feel compelled to return the favour, but I'll show restraint

Finally someone using real units!!!

That's so true! It's like what Victor Wooten said: you're only half a step away from a 'correct' note. With that in mind, if I realise I play something wrong, I slide up or down to a better sounding note and then REPEAT it... and it looks like you meant it. I swear, it works, I remember once getting a compliment about that odd but cool sounding riff I came up with God, I'm such a fraud.