Silvia Bluejay

This happened in Italy around 20 years ago. The bass player in my then partner's band (hair metal, as in VH/GnR/Poison etc.) forgot his bass at home; we were all in the band van, approaching the motorway just after leaving town. So we turn back and drive to the guy's home. We get the bass (a Rickenbacker I won't easily forget!), then leave his driveway to make our way out of town again, only to be stopped by the police. They had seen five long-haired, leather-clad guys accompanied by three poodle-permed girls wearing skimpy tops, leather miniskirts, stilettos and fishnets. Their minds clearly went: DRUGS! PROSTITUTION!! GET THE BASTIDS, NOW!!! In the event, nobody was carrying any weed or stuff, and we girls all were the very legitimate, long-suffering partners of said musicians. We got to the gig in the end, just in time. Bless.

OI! Who you calling a slapper, eh? Welcome to the forum! I'm not too much into jazz myself but I do like fusion. I'm sure someone will eventually get both of us into jazz through tempting our GAS with instruments, or classes, or just giving us general advice and making us really curious

YAY! That's a beauty - and a lefty too! Excellent purchase.

My fretted 5 has light string marks on the first 5 frets - the ones I use most! - after a couple of years playing with rounds. I recently fitted it with flats, which should be gentler. I hear that, if necessary, you can have the damaged frets filed (or replaced) or the fingerboard smoothed over (in the case of a fretless). Since the damage to mine is minimal, I chose not to do anything, but if - as you say - you're heavy handed, I'm sure there is a solution. I noticed light marks on the fingerboard of my 18-month-old upright too. Being a very cheap model, I'm not surprised. Once again, nothing major, so I don't feel I need to call in the experts just yet.

On another forum I'm a member of, there is a one hour difference in the clock, depending on whether you're logged in or not. That is apparently caused by the hosting server being in a different time zone. The users can't change the setting through their own preferences, and their only option, if they want to see the correct time, is to log in. No big deal, obviously, just a bit weird.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1333314406' post='1600039'] Did you know that is a Bee Gees song? from Saturday night fever I think. [/quote] Not from Fever, no (I've got the album). Are you confusing it with If I Can't Have You, covered by Yvonne Elliman? It is, very obviously, a Bee Gees song as they are all over the chorus! It's in C major so far, but I suspect a key change at the very end (haven't got that far yet).

[quote name='essexbasscat' timestamp='1333311193' post='1599961'] Bono apparently said this was one of the best pop songs He'd ever heard [/quote] That's a Cathy Dennis classic, isn't it? Excellent, but I find it so catchy that my mind just rejects it altogether after having me hum it a couple of times - very musically 'cloying', so to speak. Edit; did you capitalise He - referring to Bono - on purpose? I know he's God to someone, but...

The 70s original of the rather horrid cover version by Destiny's Child. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvZVzYipAZw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvZVzYipAZw[/url] I'm currently finding the bassline to it for a project.

Oh, yes... but I didn't mind Domestic Stilton Trout either

Yes, thank you Panther, you're correct... I had "DST" unticked. But incidentally, shouldn't it actually be "BST"? What does DST stand for (excuse my ignorance)?

The email notification I received when you posted is correctly timestamped 14:37, but I see 01:37 PM as the time on your post above. Strange...

I think that some - or all? - posts on the forum have the wrong time, i.e. they aren't on BST yet. Testing to see what this post will say. The clock on my wall reads 13:55. Edit: yes - the timestamp on here still reads 12:55.

[quote name='fumps' timestamp='1332761424' post='1592601'] A real passion never goes away, it may lie dormant for a while......but it's in your blood forever! [/quote] Absolutely. And Hayley and music are clearly entwined and deeply ensconced in your heart! Wonderful.

[quote name='artisan' timestamp='1332760368' post='1592573'] what a lovely lady you are bluejay [/quote] Aw, thank you! Perhaps something to do with being a bass player, too

As everybody else has said, got for it, Fumps - you'll love it. I play both, and get a different kind of kick from each, as some songs are more suitable to one or the other. Props to Mrs Fumps too! I don't find it surprising that a loving partner would be happy for her man to get the instrument he wants. Of course there are logistic and financial considerations, but it seems natural that, if you live with a musician - and presumably knew that he was a musician when you started dating him - you shouldn't see his passion for music as a rival in your relationship but as a way to make you both happier. So her encouragement bodes extremely well for both of you. Before I became a musician myself I lived with a guitarist, and loved every note he played - and every song or special guitar sound he created and dedicated to me - and was happy for him to spend some of his income on instruments, gear and bands as opposed to - say - an extra holiday, because going to his gigs was just as much fun.

Music saving someone's life after divorce seems to be a recurring theme - several of us can relate. Some of us took up bass playing after splitting up with out partners, while you started a new band - it's all therapeutic. Welcome!

Welcome to the fold! I'm sure playing guitar and drums isn't incompatible with being a bassist, in fact I'd say it's pretty damn cool!

Loving the quick Spanish lesson! Thanks. You may be right regarding rivalry, but also, the Spanish don't seem to be keen on speaking English to British, US, or even Anglo-Italian tourists like yours truly, even when they are able to... perhaps as a form of retaliation on the British seemingly being willing/able to only speak English both in their own country, to visitors, and when they are abroad. I know that because, on my several visits to Spain (both Madrid and Barcelona), I was treated in a completely different way depending on whether I communicated in English (i. e. I was generally given the cold shoulder) or in my Italianate broken Spanish/Catalan (i. e. they were nice and helpful to me).

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1332332900' post='1586717'] That's only because the English nicked all the good letters and left us with the rubbish ones... [/quote] A bit like Lynyrd Skynyrd still having no vowels even after being around all these years...

Or practically all place names in Wales, bless 'em

I tried to buy an Acer netbook in Italy a couple of years ago. Pronouncing it correctly. No luck... And there was the time when I had to practically spell "Alice Cooper" in order to buy his record, since the correct pronunciation of the name - the only pronunciation I know, incidentally - drew an absolute blank from the guys at the record shop (yes, at the time such things still existed). Spain used to be even worse... PS - edited for bad spelling - that'll teach me

No harder than learning how to pronounce "Leicester", "Worcester" etc. correctly. The only thing you need to do is be willing to find out.

He's a boy, BottomE, not a girl... *gets her Grammar Geek anorak and walks out the door again*

I don't know about you guys, but I don't look at BG v DB as a competition. They are two equally important/fun sides of the same coin. I tend to play songs that require 5 strings on my BG and songs that are happy on 4 strings, with the occasional transposition, on the upright. It's a way of keeping practice fresh, and of using my muscles in different ways.

I'm planning to - eventually - buy an NS NXT 5 as well (LH version, currently just under a grand from Thomann), for exactly the same reasons. The RH version is just under £900, again from Thomann. As for its size (or lack of it), my experience with my present cheap upright is that you do need to use the bracket or whatever "thingy" they supply, as it helps you keep the correct distance and angle and avoid hurting your arms and wrists. Other than that, the EUB should be fine, although not easily comparable to a DB, simply because it's got that B string and, presumably, electronics that are optimised for capturing and delivering the frequencies it outputs. Oooo I'm in lust