JD1

Another face to a name! Its not Mike, its John - and I wish I still had that Green Spector. It was an NS5CR, solid flame maple and sounded great. For what it's worth I've always found the guys in Guitar Guitar fine to deal with and the stock of bass gear (incl amps) is usually pretty good - at least for a non-specialist local shop. As Marcus said, Steve seems to know his stuff. Sounds Live very good too and its good to see Tommy (and John?) are still in business. They only have limited space in there for bass stuff but I'm sure they would be able to get stuff in from their warehouse to try if required.

When I'm at Overwater I usually try a few of the basses out - as you do. Without fail the the ones with cocobolo tops sound great. If I was getting a bass made I'd definitely have that as the top. I tried this one - and whilst it was a bit bling for me it sounded and played brilliantly. [url="http://www.overwaterbasses.com/pro00004.htm"]http://www.overwaterbasses.com/pro00004.htm[/url]

I spent nearly 25 years using my lugs - and I've not been short of work. Its only during the last 5 or so years of mid life crisis I decided to try and improve my reading and theory. I could have quite easily carried on in that vein and been quite happy, but its nice to have another string to my bow - albeit one thats not as taut yet!

Yes - but suppose you are at an audition, jam or a recording session and someone hands you a chord chart containing the afore-mentioned F#7b5b9 and asks you to put a bass line to it - you'd have more options than just using your ears. OK its unlikely, and I'd probably hit an F# (at least 1st time around), but being able to hit some of the hot notes rather than the root could make all the difference.

For me it has improved my playing and knowledge. By having the discipline of an exam it made me learn all sorts of stuff I wouldn't have bothered with. At the end of the day the certificate is just a piece of paper. OK its useful to show to parents / students if you want to teach but its not going to get you gigs on its own. However if you become a better player / musician as a result of your study, then that's a different matter. There is an awful lot more work, experience and fun to be had outside the world of record deals and flavour of the month bands.

I'm not sure if there is a best one as such. I did the RGT / London College ones as they were the only ones I knew about but I don't know if they carry any more weight than the Rockschool ones. I would guess they will all be much of a muchness.

I seem to recall a good review of a Blueshift in an 80's guitar mag - single pick up thing with angular horns - is that the one?

Glide is good as you have slap and chords / double stops. Try and vary the feel. You could maybe segue it with some other funky stuff for fingerstyle - off the top of my head: Good Times or Rhythm Stick etc. Best of luck - I'm sure you will nail it!

I'm not entirely sure what "coloured" means. I'm currently using an Epi UL310 Series 2. It cuts through very well and IMHO is more "refined" sounding than the Schroeder 1210 I had before - and handles the low end better. Its also a one hand carry.

Love his playing on the Street Talk album by Steve Perry.

I've had a MM5 and an FNA Jazzman (the one in Guitar Guitar Newcastle was mine). The MM5 had a great neck and fingerboard radius and was really nice to play. However the pre amp was awful - rumble or clank seemed to be the only options. I struggled to get any mid range burp out of it. I ended up changing the circuit to an Auderre which improved things, but by then I'd gone off the bass altogether. You'd need to try one. (Leprechaun on here loved it when he tried it). The FNA sounded great for fingerstyle (I've just heard a recording of a theatre show I did last year and I'm really chuffed with the sound). However for me it wasn't versatile enough. There wasn't enough difference between the pups when panned and its slap sound was a bit dead - even with new strings. That said, if I could have afforded it I would have kept it for the fingerstyle sound. I've ended up with a Sandberg PM5, which gives me a good fingerstyle sound, good slap sound and I can switch to a P bass sound when I want. Up to now I'm really happy with it (although watch this space). I too play a lot of functions and I like the versatility of it. I think Sadowsky now have some P/J basses out and If I could afford one I'd probably have one of them.

Thats something else I should have mentioned - I talked through the pieces first - what they were about and why I chose them. On the playing along with chords, if you can try and get something like Band in a Box. Its excellent practice to mute the bass on it and play along to different tunes and styles. Practice playing the 3rd, 7th and 9th etc. Start off on a slow tempo and then build it up.

Nah - I don't think it is too hard. Pick something relatively simple but melodic, show you have a good feel / tempo / groove and demonstrate some different techniques - you'll be laughing! I think I went through the D-Code sections 3 times each (minus the solo) and varied my technique each time. Mind you if you are confident you can play something harder than D-Code (properly - unlike me) I'm impressed! Ear tests are not easy - you need to practice your intervals.

I did Grade 6 and 7 a few years back. (I've been putting off the 8 as I'll need to swot all the stuff for the earlier grades and tbh motivation has been in short supply). I did Wassup by Abe Laboriel for the 6 and D-Code by Alain Caron for the 7 (I must confess that this was a "rough approximation" of D-Code on the basis that I play a 5 not a 6 - oh and I couldn't work out exactly what he was doing ). For both of these I went through the different sections a few times and changed the technique - but I didn't stick to the original arrangement (even if I could). E.g. first time I did some bits fingerstyle, second time around I used thumb / slap - maybe some pinched harmonics and palm mute just to show I had some different tools in the bag. I also varied the intensity and I think ralled the end for effect! I doubt very much the examiner would have known these tracks, but he did note down what they were so presumably he checked out how they should be done properly! I remember at the time he tapped his foot to make sure I didn't stray too far tempo wise and he did note it down when I changed technique. I spoke with him afterwards when he was asking about the choice as he said they were a welcome change from Dune Tune! He said one chap had played Freewill by Rush from start to finish - fortunately the examiner was a Rush fan but probably wasn't the best choice if he hadn't been. I got 9/10 both times. The feedback said I slowed down so that must have cost me a mark - must have been the rall

Its a great looking rig. I currently angle an Epi 310 with one of those Mark Bass wedgies and that works great, but it would be fab to have that 2x10 almost at ear level. I'd be interested to know what the top end is like out of the cabs - e.g. is there enough zing for slap?