cheddatom

hah, indeed. It's interesting to me though. I started on basses with very high action and just learned to fret and pluck very hard to get the sound I wanted. I assume that technique is what's given me the problems I have now. Having said that it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume it'd also given me more strength than if I'd started on a low action bass.

If you try to hit the ball hard with a heavy club, you will put more force on your body than if you try to hit the ball hard with a light club, more force = more chance of injury? I dunno, I've never played golf

of course! But if they're learning without instruction and they have the heaviest club, they'll put a lot of effort in, as that's required by the weight of the club. If they have the lightest club, they'll put less effort in. This is just my assumption, but I would have thought, the less effort, the less chance of injury, as there's less force involved overall

I just imagine that playing too hard is how I ended up with lots of pain in my hands and wrists, and that if I'd started on a bass with a lower action I might have developed a better technique than the neanderthal one I've adopted

I played nothing but 6 string basses for about 5 years. My bass broke at a gig and so I begged a bass from another bassist and he loaned me a 4 string for our set. I was instantly way faster on my left hand ...but I don't think it's a good idea to recommend beginners use a bass that's very difficult to play, because it might put them off, and more importantly might give them RSI or some other injury

Saturday night at the Birds Nest in Deptford. We'd not been before so I had no idea what to expect. We set off from Stoke at 3pm and got there around 6:30 which isn't too bad. I had to set up the drums for the other bands to use, but leave off my cymbals and snare. All standard stuff, except the only place to store gear was in the pool room behind the stage. I was a little nervous leaving my fancy cymbals alone in a pub I don't know. Thankfully they were safe enough. The support bands were pretty good, as was the beer, and we played well and went down well so it should have been a good night, even if it was a late one (to bed at 3:30AM). However, one idiot put a massive downer on my night. He was clearly far too drunk and coming on to one of our fans in a way that can only be described as sexual harassment. I asked him very politely to leave her alone, that did seem to calm him down, and she said she could take care of herself, but I couldn't shake the anger and it killed the atmosphere for me.

If I struggle do sleep I do slow, deep breathing, really focusing on it. I guess it's a kind of meditation. It always works

Friday night I played a Metal To The Masses heat in Stoke with my heavy band CreepJoint. It's a battle of the bands but I expected we didn't have a chance. We are a good band but one of the other bands on the bill is brand new and I was super excited to see them and fully expected them to win, which they did. Still, they were really complimentary about my band and hopefully we won some new fans. Our frontman somehow persuaded his fiancee to film the whole set so we watched it back at his house later, and we were super tight. I hope he uploads it at some point and if he does I'll share it on here Saturday night was Rock Off Fibro - a charity event in Chester to raise money for Fibromyalgia. This is an annual event. We did the first one 3 years ago at the Live Rooms which is an ace venue. Saturday night was the back room of a pub with a tiny little PA and no soundman. The mics were plugged in with XLR>Jack leads and there was no mic for the bass drum. If I'd had the room I'd have switched the house kit for mine (which would have been loud enough) but there was no way that'd happen, so I played the entire hour long set kicking sh*t out of the house bass drum while tickling the snare and cymbals, just to try and get the mix right out front. My right leg was feeling it yesterday! Still, all good fun.

I just bought a Mackie Big Knob from John and it couldn't have gone better. Highly recommended seller. Cheers!

I played the Brudenell in Leeds on Thursday, The Rigger in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Friday, and The Maze in Nottingham on Saturday. All three gigs were with Steve Ignorant's Slice Of Life who are absolutely awesome. I'm sure it's the only time I've seen a band without a drummer and still got that feeling I get when the music is "heavy". Interrobang were on these dates too. They're quite cool. I'm still undecided if I like the music but they're nice people and good players. The first two nights were awesome, really packed venues, great sound, great atmosphere etc. Saturday I'd been in the studio all day long and not had chance to eat. As soon as I got to Nottingham I went to the closest place I could to find some food - a dodgy kebab shop of course. I'm not sure if the food was bad or (as others have suggested to me) it was some sort of blood sugar thing, but about an hour after I'd eaten I started to sweat buckets and went very faint. I had to be walked out of the venue and upstairs to the dressing room where I promptly threw up and then sat there for another 2 hours feeling awful, waiting to get on stage. When I finally got on there I was feeling a little better, and I played fine, but the sound was absolutely terrible, lots of feedback from a dodgy vocal channel. Lots of people had left the venue too, which was disappointing. Maybe we went on too late - 11:15 ish. Afterwards it was obvious that everyone left in the venue somehow knew I'd been sick and they all thought it was from booze, which was frustrating and embarrassing in equal measures. Sunday night I played with my heavy band CreepJoint at a local venue. We were supporting a great local band called Clay Lake. I'd have been at this gig to watch them anyway, but they asked us to support and it was brilliant! Only 6 songs so I could go full pelt on the drum kit and it felt good!!!

I love this. Awesome playing too

A bit late on this but Saturday night I played at a pub in Ashby De LA Zouche. Great gig, playing to loads of fans so easy really, got to let loose a bit but I had to reign it in - I'm on drums and when I do any sort of fill that without a big snare hit on the 3rd beat it really puts off our singer. After our set I got harassed by a couple of meatheads who didn't like the length of my hair. One guy kept pulling it, demanding that I shave it off. I asked him to stop, first politely and then with my authoritative tone (I used to be a manager) and that seemed to work. I was absolutely terrified on the inside though! Sunday night was a new venue local to me. They normally just do classic rock covers and tributes but this was a charity event and they had some originals bands on. The venue is in a weird location - basically industrial area - but it's been extremely well put together. The stage and sound were great, so we played really well and got loads of compliments afterwards. No gigs this weekend which is very rare for us but I'll find myself jamming in the studio no doubt

I've seen and heard a lot of people talking about this documentary so I just had to make time to watch it. I was ready to remain skeptical, as my instinct was "Innocent until proven guilty etc" but it really was so believable. I can't think of any motive strong enough to make all that up, ruining their own lives to an extent, certainly destroying their parents... what would they do it for? They might make a bit of money from the film but they didn't seem hard up... I'd still listen to the music if I liked it though! I do love the Jackson 5 stuff

I actually used to do a version of this. The guitarist played in drop A# so I tuned my B string down a semi tone and the other strings up a semi tone. It worked really well! It turned out to be essential with that particular guitarist as he had to learn the riffs by watching my left hand, he had no idea what notes he was playing

If the guitarists were tuned to Eb, previously I would have tuned to Eb too, but now I'd just stay in standard tuning because I have a B string, so there's no need to change. Are you playing a 5 (or 6) string?

Could you not start your own band Blue?

I'm listening to the full session and she sounds a bit Joni Mitchel to me, I really like her voice

I'm 34 and can hear up to 17.5Khz on that test. I'm a bit surprised by that but I do always wear earplugs around loud noises - I even put them in to put the glass in the recycling bin

That's why I used to do it but now I realise that it's easy enough to just play the fretted low D on the B string

I've been jamming with a guitarist who tunes to drop C or C standard, depending on the song. I just keep my bass in standard tuning. When he plays a riff I just figure it out and play along. When I play a riff and he wants to play along he stares at my left hand and I have to remind him that that's useless.

The Fender Musicmaster - it was my first ever bass and I desperately want it back, or another like it. Why did they stop making them?

When I started out I would always match my tuning to the guitarist's tuning, so that I could copy the way they played their riffs. E.G the guitar is in drop D and the riff is using the bottom string a lot, hammering on or whatever. It always seemed easier to match that, even though I'd always had a low B string. Either I wasn't capable of playing the riff in standard tuning as it was too fast, or I just found it easier to learn by copying the guitarist. I stopped playing bass for quite a while and when I came back to it my approach seemed a bit stupid. Now I stay in standard tuning (with a low B) and play the riff my own way. I've been jamming on guitar with a bassist and he seems to do things the way I used to, tuned B, D, A, D, G so it can't be that uncommon, but it does seem a bit silly/inefficient to me. I'm wondering if anyone has decided to stick with this way of tuning for a good reason and what that might be? I don't want to ask the guy I'm jamming with in case he takes it personally

I listened on headphones without watching and I thought it was awesome, even the bass tone

Awesome, thanks!

Yes, they're great guys, we've played with them quite a few times. Raph was borrowing her TE head I believe, sounded awesome!