Silvia Bluejay

It should be OK, my NS NXT has only a slight curve, but can still be bowed. You need to have the right tension in the bow hair, it won't work if it's too floppy.

I haven't got a Stagg, but if yours has a curved fingerboard and a 'proper', DB-like bridge, you will be able to bow it. It's when either or both are flat that you can't bow, as there's no curve to use for hitting each string individually.

One of my female friends still has a pick she was given by Yngwie Malmsteen something like 30 years ago at a gig, which she had made into a pendant with a silver chain. Class. 👍

LOL I've got a large collection of picks from instrument and accessory makers - Orange, Celestion, Warwick, etc. - collected at various NAMMs, LBGSs and similar, but as far as I can see in my stash here, the only 'personal' plectrums I've got are one with Jason Scheff's website printed on, and some my ex (a guitarist) left in my collection. I do have a couple of Basschat picks (with the old logo*) and some picks with names that are no longer around (for instance, Guitar-X, where I did my first bass 1-2-1 course, has changed name at least twice since). * a few of you should have some too; @TheGreek had some customised ones made for me to give away at a couple of bashes and LBGSs (which I did).

More about the results of the survey on this Evening Standard page - enable Adblock if you have it, for a less cluttered read.

Facebook event updated. 👍

Also shared on our FB page.

Shared on BC's Twitter! 👍

I wouldn't take part in a Zoom meetup. I didn't even look once at the UK Guitar event or at Winter NAMM. No interest at all. I can't think of anything more unattractive, as well as impractical, than having a crappy video call where to show off our stuff inside a small square on a screen. Lighting, PC webcam or phone positioning, microphone, space to move around, you know what I mean. Not to mention that not everybody has the technology or can be ar$ed to set it up for something whose principal value, basically, has always been in the meeting up in person and being able to play each other's basses.

I must say I'm not optimistic. The organisers wouldn't be able to avoid making a large loss unless absolutely everybody who would have attended pre-Covid is prepared to attend this October. Better still, if even more people than usual attended. Of course the mass vaccine rollout helps, but I doubt the country will get back to normal any time this year, simply because the rest of the world won't, and we can't close our borders completely, unlike New Zealand (which is NOT a big international hub like the UK). So there will still be many people who don't feel comfortable mixing with others, and government-imposed social distancing and restrictions, especially indoors. Since the Bash needs months of planning and organisation, I think we're on a loser here. I very much hope to be proved wrong, though.

Oh, THIS may be interesting as well.

More details HERE. Moral of the story, always keep your own masters, and if the contract doesn't comply, change it (or change record company). Self-publishing makes this easier (but also makes everything else a bit more difficult).

For once, being a bedroom bass player is an advantage, as motivation doesn't come from gigging. I've played more than I did pre-Covid as I've had more time to dedicate to bass, as opposed to spending evenings gigging or days driving around to look for gigs or preparing our equipment to gig. Unless I'm too knackered, I play bass for at least half an hour before going to bed (headphone amp), so it's now 4-5 times a week. I feel I am improving faster than I was previously.

The problem is that most modern mobile devices don't have a socket for hard-wired connection to the internet. I'm not talking about phones, they'd be too small for that, but laptops lost theirs long ago, for instance, and I've been missing the option ever since. Desktops should always be hard-wired if at all possible - at least for the time being, as they still come with sockets!

Nah, mine was just a reminder. The female in question - and indeed anyone else - is free to like shoes and handbags, no prob with that. Just as long as we remember that there's a wide variety of things women may be interested in (more than in knowing which bass guitar is which), that never seems to make it into this kind of conversations.