Dad3353

Maybe one day you'll learn how to do it properly. ...

If you've ever seen someone playing a musical saw, the question of pitch would be answered. Skilful tensioning of the string is the secret, and there are many tea-chest players that are able to get a decent tune from their instrument. It's true, though, that many either lack that skill, or don't bother, as a good rhythmic 'thump' does the job too, in some genres. Enthusiasm and spectacle can be more important in some bands, some of which are very successful. The tea-chest construction becomes quite critical, too, as a total collapse of a badly-made instrument is not rare. It's an art; respect to those who can make it work, but it ain't as easy as it looks. Try it yourself, with a ruler hanging flat over the edge of the table. Pluck the ruler; can you slide it to and fro to make a tune..? It's a similar principle. Swanee whistles, too, come to mind.

I don't see much advice to learn playing the bass, as a musical instrument, as opposed to learning songs or styles. Whilst these are fine, or even indispensable, I would suggest this bass method, for its all-round approach, for becoming a proficient and complete bassist, as a complement to the rest... Amazon.co.uk (other sources exist...) Hal Leonard's Bass Method ... Once you've finished Book Three, you'll be good to go...

And the winner is ... @Wolfram..! Here, then, is your Winner's Certificates (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ... BC_Chal_Cert_2023_01.pdf ... which look like this (but bigger, of course..!)…

If one accepts the narrow definition given, you're probably right. Luckily, not all music falls into this band, and, equally luckily, not all that does qualify as 'competitive' is rubbish. Soooooo, it's competitive. So what..? One listens to it or not, whatever. Using this sense, baked beans are 'competitive', too. Thoughts..?

Hmm... Not sure where this idea comes from; many posts over the last decade or so would rather point to the opposite. I did, once, five years ago, hint at such in a sarcastic manner; does that count..?

S'what comes of being old; I don't do 'tablets' or 'smart phones', although I've now abandoned the quill for the ease of a keyboard (less ink splodges, and a 'backspace' that works...). I'm not certain, but I would imagine that functions such as 'auto-correct' and 'predictive typing' could be disengaged..? I do have a spelling checker active as I type this (it's not happy with the very first word, for instance...), but I'm the Boss, and I control, warts'n'all, what gets sent. Yes, reading through seems to be a lost art for many, in an apparent Need For Speed, but, in my dotage, I have the leisure, and little else to do than to read again my ramblings. There are occasional blips, though; even I make mistakes from time to time. It's just a 'standing joke', really; I lose little sleep over BC punctuation, if Truth were told.

Is it not flagrant..? The rule is simple : can 'its' or 'it's' be substituted by 'it is'..? If 'Yes', apostrophe; if 'No', none.

... and Basschat. Don't forget Basschat.

No Hofner..? Lightweight..!

Be careful; not everyone knows that 'lurcher' is a breed of dog.

T'would be merely gilding the lily.

Unless you're needing, now or in the future, the MIDI functionality, or the optical connections, I doubt anyone would hear any difference; both have excellent, if not identical, pre-amps. If you've already the Gen 3, you're already all set.

Fixed.

From the Oxford ... mongoose noun /ˈmɑŋɡus/ (pl. mongooses /ˈmɑŋɡusəz/ ) a small tropical animal with fur, that kills snakes, rats, etc.

You are Queen Gertrude and I claim my £5.

What..? Must I go down in History as a surrogate Batman..? Must I, once again, declare to have never, ever, owned neither bat nor goldfish; these two species being quoted simply as examples of genderless sentient creatures, seldom, if ever, referred to as 'he' or 'she'..? I could have chosen mongooses, or pterodactyls (No, I have owned neither either..!). This folly must stop, and right away. The rumour must be nipped in the bud, scotched, squashed and quashed before what little of any reputation hanging onto me by a thin and soundly-worn thread be forever stained with this untruth. I refer to bats, goldfish, mongooses and pterodactyls equally as 'it', and am not a Goth..! I trust I have made myself clear..! My legal team will deal with any further aspersions of the sort. That is all.

No, you fool; any goldfish or bat, whether kept as a pet or in the wild, would, for most people be 'it'. I have never had either as pets or ... Oh, what's the use..! ...

Recounted previously in the Forum, but, since you asked... Over a decade ago now, Our Youngest expressed a desire to play bass; more particularly a five-string bass. At the time, the Cort GB75 was the least expensive new active fiver I could find. Despite this , it has turned out to be an excellent player (although slightly heavy for my old shoulders; I'm more used to my Verithin..!). The 'stock' p/ups are excellent, the pre-amp does the job well; no complaints whatsoever. Why this preamble..? Maceo Parker was billed to play at the local festival in which I was involved (3 Elephants; look it up...). We got a call the day before from their manager, asking if we could provide an active five-string. He explained that their bassist (Rodney 'Skeet' Curtis...) had had his Lakland fail on him in Scandinavia, and had no spare. I offered our humble Cort when they arrived; he strung it up with his own strings and used it for the show that evening. By coincidence, the same configuration (1 x MM, 1 x J p/ups...) as his Lakland. No-one noticed any drop in quality during their show, through the Ampeg backline rig, which only goes to prove that it really is 'all in the fingers'. He was complimentary about the bass, and gracious enough to sign the back afterwards, but that's worn off since. Happy daze..!

It's an expression of endearment, usually. I have several guitars, basses, drum kits etc... Only a couple of them get the term 'she'; those I hold most dear. One could say the same of pet animals, really. Goldfish and bats are 'it'; fluffy kittens and gun dogs are 'he/she'. It's not really a gender thing at all; when a friendly dog approaches a stranger, there will often result a 'Who's a good boy, then, eh..?' Whether a male or female dog matters little. It's of no consequence, really; just a matter of personal affectivity (or not...). My car, for instance, is 'it'; the old 403 ambulance I once had was definitely a 'she'; costly to run and capricious, but I was saddened to part with her.

That's quite a slow tempo, that. 👆

The advance of old age put paid to the quality of my hearing yonks ago, and there's little to be done to save it. It doesn't have to be such a handicap for composing, mixing and mastering, though. My trick is to use reference music; music that I know well from the past, with which I can compare my own stuff. No, not for its intrinsic music qualities, obviously; simply for the tonal response and frequencies. I can listen to Ziggy Stardust, for instance, and compare the cymbals there to those I'm mixing. If I can hear them, they're probably too high in the mix..! It's not ideal, of course, and I was better half a century ago, but needs must (and I was using the reference comparison trick back then, too; there's no 'downside'...). It has to be music that one is already familiar with, though, and any genre would do (I have classical pieces from Schubert on hand, or Debussy, but also Bowie, Jefferson Airplane, Fairport Convention and others...); what matters is to keep the memory of how it sounded 'back then' and compare with the subject being treated. I will admit to being, these days, rather more 'heavy-handed'; it's rare that I use anything less than 3db when adjusting stuff. I can't really hear the difference that 1db makes any more, so I'm probably less 'detailed' than in the past. Still, it's working, and without hearing aids at all (too expensive for me, anyway, so...). Hope this helps.