gary mac

Thanks chaps, much appreciated.

S.F.S.

Sweaty Finger Syndrome.

I'm one of the unfortunates who suffer with this condition. Not just when I'm playing, even now when my hands actually feel cold they are all claggy and damp.

I am always careful to wipe down my bass and strings, but of course the strings very quickly lose their brightness. Now on some numbers it actually sounds good, that jamerson sort of sound (but without the talent).

Anyway, these days I have to pay for my strings and a couple of my basses need re stringing in the very near future.

So looking for advice on which strings you think will retain that brightness and last the longest.


All the best Gary.

Here's a pic of my yamaha at a jaunty angle on the wall

hi JP.

Negotiations have ground to a halt mate, all due to an expensive car repair.

The only way would be for me to thin out my collection a bit. But what to sell: my yamaha thru neck, my wal 4 string fretted, precision deluxe or yamaha semi? problem is I love em all.

So all in all not looking promising at the moment, although still plotting.

All the best, Gary.

We had a forty five minute set last night, playing as people were arriving and getting their drinks and so on.
It's always hard work playing at that stage of the evening and to make matters worse, one of the many guitarists managed to collide with the headstock of my fender.

I haven't checked it for damage yet don't want to depress myself this early in the day.
The annoying thing is that I've always been so fearful of it getting damaged that I've never gigged with it before, it's lived in it's case for ten years. I finally decided that it really should be played, enjoyed and not hidden away.
Perhaps it gets less painful after the first dink.

All the best Gary.

Thanks Paul. That would be the ideal solution, but although the Hartke is 8 ohms, I feared that the trace would be too powerful to safely use it. Maybe I try it out tomorrow when everyone is out of the house.

Thanks again.

Gary.

Hi all,

I'm playing at the weekend in a fairly large hall, with the band of many guitarists, keyboard and drums. Not to sure what to use amplification wise.

During rehearsals I've been using my Warwick 150 watt 1 x 15" combo and although I can hear myself (just), it all sounds a bit muddy and not cutting through.

So last night I added my Hartke 2 x 10" 100 watt cab.
This made a huge improvement, a gain in the higher register and the sound cutting through very nicely.

My worry is though, that the Warwick will not be powerful enough for the size of the hall that we are playing in on Saturday.

So, should I use my Trace 300 1 x 15" combo, which is more powerful. Or the Warwick and Hartke combination, which I know cuts through quite effeciently, but is not as powerful.

I am assuming that the 300 watt Trace amp would cause damage to the 100 watt Hartke speakers, if played at a high level.

Any advice gratefully received.

All the best Gary.

Spare me some sympathetic thoughts chaps, the line up that I'm gigging with this weekend will not only a keyboard but also four of our six string brethren. Oh joy.

All the best Gary.

Thanks chaps.

Gave him his second lesson last night.

Concentrating on his left hand techique, including using the little pinkie.

Showed him a simple 12 bar and a Fratellis tune, that he will tormenting his folks with over the next weeek.

I'm actually enjoying it.

All the best Gary.

Thanks again mate.

What a depressing sight, hate to see guitars with these sort of injuries.

One of the many guitarists in the band that I'm playing with, was playing an epiphone with the same sort of damage the other night. He had carried out what seemed a very effective repair.

Let me know if you want me to get his number for you.

Thanks for the tips chaps, much appreciated.

Hi.

I'm after some advice concerning tuitoring a bass novice.

I have been asked by a family friend to help her son with some lessons.

I am not a teacher, although I have been giving my daughter some lessons, but she has always been around musicians and has played drums from a young age, so she picked up things quite quickly.

I met the lad a couple of days back and showed him some warm up exercises and the major and minor scales.

What next? Would some simple tunes be the best approach, a basic twelve bar maybe,or more in the way of scales etc.

He is a very shy lad and its not easy prying info out of him, as to his musical influences and what he is interested in learning.

Any advice would be appreciated, I so want to get it right and ensure that he doesn't get either bored or overwhelmed.


Thanks, all the best Gary.

Thanks for the info, just what I was looking for and much appreciated.

Might have a try this afternoon and will let you know the results.

Yes it is a deluxe. Got it about ten years ago from the bass centre. Never actually gigged it and its lived in its case most of the time, as I have been afraid of it getting damaged. I recently decided that it's no life for a bass, living in its case and never seeing the light of day. So I have used it for the last couple of band rehearsals and plan on using it for the next gig in February, hence the desire to sort the string/pickup problem.

All the best Gary.

[attachment=5174:musical_009.jpg][attachment=5174:musical_009.jpg]Hi chaps.

My Fender seems to be suffering varying string volume, the E and A strings being louder than the D and G.

I was thinking of attempting some pick up adjustment today, as I suspect that might be the prob.

Just thought I would ask for any tips prior to wielding the screwdriver. I think its the neck pick up that wants raising under the[attachment=5174:musical_009.jpg] D and G strings, is there a recommended height for clearance between the pick up and strings?

Thanks any advice would be much appreciated

Gary

Very tempted by this, to keep my fretted wal company. Will have a divorce to deal with if I don't sell some other gear first to finance it.
Are you willing to indicate a ball park figure, so that I can enter negotiations with the wife.

All the best Gary

Ronnie Lane on Maggie May. Still a class bass line though.

Awesome indeed.

If I play for another 30 years I know I won't be that good.

Makes me realise that my enthusiasm outshines my talent by a long way. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.

All the best, Gary.

Enjoy.

And keep us posted. I really fancy the idea of some lighter more manageable kit, really struggle these days to lift my trace combo.

All the best Gary.

Yesterday I was learning two very different numbers:

The Kaizers, Everything is average nowadays,
The Shadows, Apache.

My daughter requested the Kaizers. She has taken up the bass recently and I'm attempting to teach her.

The band I'm currently playing with are planning to rehearse Apache tonight. Although I'm a bit ancient I've never actually played any shadows stuff and don't have any recordings. Last night I happened upon BBC 4 and there were the Shadows doing the very number, so a bit of frantic remote sorting and I managed to record most of it. Just hope I don't have to do the moves.

Impressive, got to admire them.

Don't think my band mates would be too impressed if I tried it to Brown Eyed Girl though, not that I've got that sort of talent anyway.

Enjoyed viewing though, cheers Gary.

Hi Al.

I have a warwick combo purchased new a few years back from the bass centre. It's not actually one of the ones that you are asking about, but thought I would reply anyway.

I am actually using this amp again lately as its so much lighter than my trace elliot, which I struggle to lift these days.

The build quality is very good and over the years has been very reliable. I've always found it easy to get a decent sound from the available controls.

The model I have is fitted with a 15" speaker, which on it's own does a good enough job, although on occassions I felt it struggled a bit. I think this is the case with a lot of combos of this rating (150 watts)> the addition of a 2 x 10" extension cab allowed a huge improvement.

I was planning to sell the warwick and extension cab a while back, but so glad that I didn't as it's so easy to lift and set up, provides a good sound and is loud enough.

All the best Gary.

My own bass related pressie this year was the Guy Pratt book. About 50 pages in so far and really enjoying.

All the bes to you all, gary

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