BassBus

For me a cathedral organ played at full pelt beats everything else hands down, bass guitar included. I've been in York Minster and Glasgow Cathedral with the organ having it large (is that too down wiv da yoof?). Utter magic. Don't forget the trombone plays the bass clef too.

Is that an Allen screw on the side of the black bits?

'Advanced techniques: Tuning the Forth String'

Time then that the curriculum was changed to educate them that they should do things the way they were in the olden days. They were so much better then.

In the earlier days of downloads I bought quite a few from Virgin and HMV (remember them?). Soon as they closed I could no longer play them. No licence available. Lesson learnt. Whenever I buy a download now it immediately gets backed up on CD. Yes it's on the PC as well but what happens if that get corrupted, it can happen. I don't think vinyl is as big as some people might like you to think. I think it was last year someone gave the stats on vinyl sales. Something like 1.5 million sales in 2016 against however many 10s of millions at its height. It is a contact medium, you can only put so much on it and it takes up a lot of space. nuff said.

I take a Y cable from the midi out. One side goes to the Strymon Big Sky and changes patches for me, either by a patch change on Helix or a snapshot on Helix. The other midi cable goes to my iPad interface and foot switches on Helix operate record, toggle and clear on the looper app I use. Midi channel 1 goes to iPad and channel 2 to Big Sky. So useful I also use a neat trick to play different steps of harmony on the Dual Pitch on Helix. I have setup four foot switches to change the harmony to 4th, 5th, 7th and 9th. Just play one note with the Ebow and hey presto.

Looks like the kind of thing that's been used in acoustic guitars since the 1980s.

If you want someone with a unique voice of his own on fretless check out Kev Hopper. Loads of his stuff on YouTube.

I would just start by playing it as you play a fretted bass. That way you're playing familiar stuff and getting to know the instrument at the same time. Gradually with more confidence you'll find ways of developing your own voice.

Lovely, lovely sounds Kevin. Need more ambient on Basschat.

Wobbly bridge

Legacy effects appeared with 2.50

Shades of Paul Weller and Edwin Collins in the vocals. Nice work.

Ah, now I see where you're coming from. That was way ahead of its time. Steve Lawson is my biggest influence at the moment and I can hear the same sort of format in his music to Bill Nelson's. Shall have to look into more of this. That's the value of social media, endless inspiration for new directions.

Thanks thebassist and Marc S. Interesting people hearing a Bill Nelson influence. I haven't listened to his music for years and don't own any. Maybe some Bebop Deluxe has crept in from the 70s. Yes, I am that old.

Thanks Duarte. Bill Nelson is going back a bit. I'm even old enough to remember him.

Bit of a departure for me this one. Turned on the DAW, recorded and improvised with no plan or arrangement. It is what it is but I wouldn't change anything. If you're not keen on ambient bass maybe this isn't for you. Otherwise sit back and let the music take somewhere for 20 minutes.

Is that what they call 'road worn'?

I always felt everything was OK when Howard Jones and Nick Kershaw were about.

I'm not sure about the borders. Coat in hand

Nice one. That's a bit of fun.

One simple question: Why are we talking about this? Answer: Because Gene Simmons has uttered something controversial. That utterance has achieved what he wanted, people talking about Gene Simmons. NEXT...

You lot. No foresight. This is "rare" and it is "gold". This will be a good investment for the future. Easily get your money back in 100 years time when £250 will buy you a chocolate bar.

...and lines on a fretless neck will be the only way.

Still, more kindling for the accordion fire