rushbo

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1479588743' post='3177741'] Music is fine, but there's so much more, too. [/quote] Absolutely true. Often, it's not a question of funds, it's just that the students (and teachers) are under such pressure to pass exams that any extra-curricular time is taken up with catch up lessons for English, Maths, History blahblah...) You can argue with head teachers until you're blue in the face that the Arts are a vital part in the education of a significant percentage of students - enjoyment and fulfillment come under the heading of "unquantifiable data" and as such, are useless as they don't count in league tables.

Winston Churchill, speaking in 1938: “The arts are essen­tial to any com­plete national life. The State owes it to itself to sus­tain and encour­age them….Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the rev­er­ence and delight which are their due.”

There have been some genuinely astonishing posts on this thread. I've been working in music education since 1999. I teach in Birmingham - Chelmsley Wood. Brummies will tell you that it's an area with a number of problems and the residents tend not to be well-heeled city workers. As a consequence, many of the kids I teach come from families with little or no money and often have turbulent home lives. Unsurprisingly, behaviour issues are not uncommon at my school. When you sit down and talk to some of these kids, you’ll find that many have an interest in music – either as consumers or as people with aspirations to play. In many cases we can then offer them some assistance - the loan of an instrument or free or subsidised music lessons – as an incentive for them to improve their attendance and behaviour. These are not kids with an IPhone in their pocket and an Xbox at home. Some of these students live in chaos. Not all of those kids turn around in some Walt Disney-esque series of happy endings, but many of them do. For some of them, their music lesson is the reason they come to school and the transferable skills they develop, help them in every other aspect of their school and home lives. Then there are the students who are already committed to music, but whose circumstances dictate that they have little or no money to buy kit. They proudly show me their second hand Benson, Stagg, Eastcoast instruments and play them at school. These kids go on to GCSE music and often struggle because they can’t afford lessons to help them develop, or afford to take a graded examination on their instrument. Universities are now accepting ABRSM/Rockschool/Trinity grades in addition to GCSE grades, so a grade 5 in theory or an instrument can make a huge difference to the educational future of a child. Once again, extra funding can help them with subsidised examinations. In recent years, Arts funding in schools has dwindled to almost nothing – the focus has turned to pushing kids through their academic exams, to the detriment of almost everything else. We are in danger of returning to the “tambourine and out of tune piano” music class. Or worse, rooms with decent gear that no-one has time to play as students are herded into compulsory catch up lessons on “proper” subjects while music, dance and drama classes after school are empty. Young people are still active consumers of music. Next time you’re in a newsagents, pick up a copy of Kerrang or Rocksound magazine. See all those funny looking bands you’ve never heard of? Kids go and see those bands every night of the week. Some of them might even be inspired enough by one of those bands you’ve never heard of to pick up an instrument. A decent instrument has never been cheaper to buy and there are a number of perfectly decent, free bits of recording software available to download. But if you can’t afford an instrument or you have no physical person to support you when you are struggling, then frustration may derail you almost instantly. Extra funding in schools would help immeasurably. To those of you who battled through adversity to master an instrument (and I am one of them…) congratulations. For every one of us there are others who would have benefitted from some timely support. I won’t go into detail as this post is long enough, but I have had students from incredibly difficult backgrounds go on to make records with Chris Tsangarides and DJ at many of the major clubs in Europe amongst others. These kids are now out there inspiring the next generation and keeping our industry buoyant in turbulent times. And you think this is unworthy of a few quid from your tax bill?

Cool. Very cool.

I've had a couple of inverted neck basses and never had a problem with strings - just make sure that if you take spares to a gig, they're the right length!

Beautiful.

I bought a set for my P Bass recently and they do feel stiffer than my other Fender strung instruments. I'm delighted to read some other people feel the same as I thought I was going mad!

That looks gorgeous. I have a Squier 5 string P bass with a similar pup configuration. I think it looks great.

Does the headstock decal look like an aftermarket waterslide to anyone? Or is it just me being cynical?

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1477422405' post='3162165'] To avoid confusion guy in the vid plays 2 bits wrong: 1:18 (isolated bass track) the bit over "Im a highway star...." original line is a root-5th lick i.e. C-G-C D-A-D C-G-C D-A-D C-G-C D-A-D F-C-F G-D-G A ... 2:26 (isolate bass track) the unison run up is C D F G A C C-D whereas the guy in the vid play C C#-D at the end, only one note out but its quite an important one when your playing unison with kbd and guitar. [/quote] Oh...I thought the isolated track was the actual Glover line someone had peeled off a Rock Band game....?

I've played this in a covers band for a while - the only bits I did verbatim were the bridge/chorus and the part which comes at the end of the first solo. There's a lovely isolated bass track on Youtube and a really good bass "playalong" too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mLryrT1ZMc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylIGN8ugo5s

Screw cool. Wear what you like. It's all subjective.

For the Midlands based Pubs and Clubs my band play in, backline (at a sensible volume) is adequate with just vox and occasionally kick drum, through our vocal PA. We're a two Guitar R&B band, but it's the quietest group I've ever played with! That's because our drummer isn't building a shed behind us and the Guitarists have a sensible attitude to volume. Even in the nastiest rooms, we always get a decent sound because it's not crushingly loud.

Bought some old skool Picato Flats from Paul. Posted swiftly, great communication and an all round diamond geezer as they say down south. Buy and sell with confidence.

I've always had a soft spot for ABC....top quality Pop. I even like the "Beauty Stab" album....

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1476802316' post='3157373'] Yes, I'd agree with that. All I have to hand at the moment though is really short patch cables or 1m + which is too long. I can't use right angles on my bass, they won't fit in the socket. [/quote] If you go to eBay and search for Ultimate Pro Audio and then message the shop owner, he'll make up whatever length cable you want and whatever jack plugs you prefer. Good value too. Or obbm on here is well worth a punt and comes highly recommended.

I'd really struggle to tie it down to one Bassline...but my Bass hero is probably Mike Watt. A distinctive player with an amazingly varied body of work and a fantastic work ethic. Both as a player and as a regular civilian, when I'm confronted with a problem of a musical nature or something in "real life", I find myself asking "What would Watt do?".

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1476781399' post='3157100'] I use mine live all the time for the utterly preposterous reason of adjusting the volume... [/quote] Weirdo.

I never touch the volume on the Bass - wide open all the time. I had one of those Nikki Sixx Blackbird basses with the toggle switch for on/off and nothing else. I thought that was ace. I use the tone a little more than I used to - touch more twang for songs that I play with a pick and then back down for fingerstyle. My Zoom B3 mutes the Bass when necessary and the EQ patch on it sorts out my general tone. So no...the volume pot remains lonely and unloved, generally.

[quote name='ash' timestamp='1476728011' post='3156746'] I bought it - I may be daft but I love vintage UK gear and have not seen a RB shaped JB 8 string before. I like the idea of rescuing an old bass so I took the gamble. Fortunately there are no cracks or structural damage. The frets need cleaning of course but the trussrod looks ok and the short scale neck is pretty straight too. I can get it refinished and get John Carling of John Birch to look at the electrics. That's the plan anyway [/quote] Brilliant news...I saw that and daydreamed about fixing it up, but it's beyond my cack-handed bodging. I demand a step by step restoration thread immediately! OK...have a cup of tea first, if you like.

That's a Neotech wireless pouch, I think. I considered that one, along with a bunch of others. With my old Line 6, I used a camera case which I adapted. That worked ok. It's useful to be able to turn the device off and on without messing about with the case and they can be a bit fiddly if you change basses during your set. They look smart. I've given my lo tech version a good old rattle and it's holding up well so far.

Another breakthrough with my lovely Smooth Hound wireless dealio. Because I am a no-life nerd, I've been looking at ways to secure the SH on a strap - as I'm a mainly P Bass player, I prefer that to using it as a "bug". Firstly, I discovered that the occasional crackle was not the fault of the device, but my Maplins special, female to female 1/4 inch jack adapter. I bought the recommended Neutrik Rean NYS236 and all was well. Flawless signal. If you're using anything else, I'd consider getting one of these. Then I turned to keeping the blighter on a strap. Initially, I used a velcro cable tie wrapped around the adapter, which worked pretty well, but if I used it on a bass with a wider strap (ie, those 2" Fender design straps that everybody has...) I was concerned that there wouldn't be a big enough area for the cable tie to grab hold of. My lo-fi eureka moment came when I spotted one of my lovely wife's hair ties - those things never break and they have a really small footprint. Wrap one around the adapter three times and bob's yer uncle. I favour right angled jacks as they seem to send the cable in the right direction. I got mine custom made from this eBay seller - [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/ultimate_pro_audio?_trksid=p2047675.l2559"]ultimate_pro_audio[/url] I get all my leads from him..or her. Brilliant quality and not much money, either. I'm sure our own obbm at [url="http://www.rock-wire.uk.com/"]http://www.rock-wire.uk.com/[/url] would do a damn fine job of one, too. I gaffa tape the adaptor to the SH and the cable just in case I get a bit over excited and yank the cable out of one of the sockets - unlikely, but somehow, I managed to do it at a rehearsal. The pictures should clarify it a bit. I love my Smooth Hound. Here's the SH with the adaptor and lead [attachment=230118:sh.png] And here's the whole thing sort of in situ [attachment=230119:bass.png]

+1 for the superglue fix. I've used that on a couple of neck with dinks in key places. Works a treat.