bassbloke

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='321486' date='Nov 4 2008, 12:51 AM']For a beginner????? McEnroe....."you cannot be serious"![/quote] In all seriousness, sitting at home learning songs only goes so far. Your best bet would be signing up with one of the Weekend Warrior schemes or similar. Two dads I know have signed up with a place called the realistic rock academy in Epsom and are realising a lifelong desire to learn drums and guitar respectively. They get a few months to work on a set's wroth of material before playing a gig at the pub next door. It's a great idea.

Walls of Babylon by Symphony X- just finished it a short while ago. Quite chuffed actually as it only took a couple of hours last night and tonight. I'm going to crack on with the rest of the album. I'm also hankering after a Caparison bass too

I want you back by the Jackson 5. Great fun.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='321355' date='Nov 3 2008, 09:33 PM']If i needed it i would certainly not be against using it if it turns out its cheaper and quicker than getting it done by hand. Its certainly not something i would attempt as if i cock it up i would have to pay for it to be fixed. I don't think any of my basses have ever needed anything like this but its reassuring that if one did i could get it done quickly. I don't know how long these machines have been around but i get the feeling its the way forward.[/quote] It's neither cheaper nor quicker than getting it done by hand. The machine requires significant financial outlay and for the operator to be suitably skilled in its operation. So, you have to pay a premium for the service so that the repair centre can recoup its money. There are other limitations too - it can't handle scalloped necks. As I said, mine cost £145. I could have got both of my basses done somewhere really good for that!

I had one of my basses pleked. The bass played like a total pig beforehand and playedlesslike a pig afterwards. Turns out that the owner beforeme had used a piece of nylon packing tape as a shim which had totally screwed the playability. All in all it cost me £150. My advice. Save your money.

There's a scheme called wekend warriors that's designed to get older lapsed musicians back together . [url="http://www.mia.org.uk/weekendwarriors/"]http://www.mia.org.uk/weekendwarriors/[/url] The best way to improve is to play with other musicians. Bass players are always in demand so you'll have little problems finding a group.

Quality wise - probably not a patch on your ESP 400

Did you plug this into a UK mains outlet?

[quote name='Wil' post='318940' date='Oct 31 2008, 12:09 PM']Whatever happened to community spirit among musicians?[/quote] If community spirit involves the other bands standing round outside the venue during your set slagging you off before miraculously appearing at the side of the stage during your last song, holding their guitars and ready to turf you off the very second the final chords of your set have decayed and offering the ubiquitous 'great set, really loved it' whilst they get in your way whilst you try and pack up, then I think it's alive and well.

The Bass Bible is a very good book, but I wouldn't neccesarily buy it to learn basic theory - the section on music theory is pretty brief and the book is far better at presenting an analysis of dozens of different styles of contemporary music and a number of renowned players. It's a great source of ideas and inspiration. Do a google search for basic music theory. There are dozens of good sites out there.

If promoters want to use a shared backline, they should hire one,rather than sponging off one of the bands. I've played plenty of gigs for greedy promoters who ask one of the bands to provide backline even though there's plenty of time for changeovers and you can guarantee that the money saved on equipment hiregoes straight into their pockets.

I have modded both my Fenders - swapped out the preamps for better ones and swapped out the pickups and tuners on one to make it more like the other. However, modding is only worthwhile from a financial perspective if you plan on keeping the instrument and want a reliable workhorse with superior components. I reckon you'd be lucky to get a 50% return on the value of retro fitted components if you decided to sell on the instrument. If it were me, I'd save up as much as possible and wait for a nice US Fender to appear 2nd hand.

Germany is straigtforward enough, but some places in Southern Switzerland and Italy have a 3-way type socket and the pins are narrower that the traditional European 2 pin plug. I have had problems with this in the past. It's a right pain.

No one has mentioned the fact that the Deluxe has a 22 fret neck, which is probably one of the reasons for the smaller body. I believe the standard, as do many of the other quality jazz copies only have 20 fret necks.

I'm just watching it on iPlayer. I've heard a lot worse and I can't stand crap like Young Knives, Snow Patrol, etc...

Does anyone know who the drummer is in that last video?

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GJu8rA1L9M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GJu8rA1L9M[/url] I prefer this version

Hello there, Whereabouts in Athens do you live? My sister lives in Maroussi. I love the place.

[quote name='stewblack' post='303537' date='Oct 10 2008, 08:20 AM']So did languae ![/quote] Typo. My laptop keyboard hasn't been the same since my son pulled off all the keys.

I waslooking at your avatar picture and was wondering if any other forum members practised bare-chested?

I'm chuffed that c**tish passes the languae filter. I would have been tempted to include words to the effect of 'maybe when you can actually pull a decent crowd to a gig you'll be in a position to act like rock stars, but given the sparse turnout, your band is as much in need of help as us lowly openers'.