colgraff

Just done a Dingwall Dingwall swap with Jay. Nice chap, awesome kittens and a good easy trade.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452968187' post='2955231'] I thought the first Tin Machine album was brilliant. [/quote] Good man. That's two of us. Any others?

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1452961800' post='2955137'] Well ya learn something new every day....I've just learned Colgraff is a World Class pedant!!! And I always thought practise spelt that way was a typo! [/quote] Ha ha ha. Yup, I'm a pedant. At least I know it and try to resist being pedantic unless I can help via a simple rule as above.

Re Bowie recipe: This works for me as Tin Machine has two words and I consider it a fabulous album. I am in a rather small minority, though.

Pedants corner: the verb is [b]practise [/b]and the noun is [b]practice.[/b] If this doesn't help, mentally substitute [b]advise [/b]and [b]advice [/b]into the sentence and see which sounds right. Both pairs use the same rule.

I love my Vanderkley head for its sound. It is an added bonus that it has an aux in for my iPod and a headphone out so I can practise silently, too.

Re musical influences, my core preferences were definitely shaped by my big brother. Specifically early Queen, Bowie and similar which I still love unconditionally. I distinctly remember consciously moving from his poppier preferences to heavy rock and metal which he disliked when I was about 15.

I have to say that this seems to be much less of a problem for me than was once the case. Maybe living in the hinterland means that there are fewer things to delay a driver.

I can remember a jam session when I longed for death, or at least a massive heart attack, to save me from further humiliation. I was on holiday with a friend in a trashy bit of Spain and after a few nights of drink and vomit, we took a 'night off' and went to a local muso bar. It was nearly deserted and the barman asked if either of us wanted to jam with the band. I was a nearly adequate bassist at the time and with my mate's urging and a hefty dose of Dutch courage I was convinced to join in. The first warning sign was that the band didn't speak more than a word or two of English, much like my Spanish. A stream of Spanish came out and I was clearly being given a choice of some sort so ventured a "Si" at one option. The band launched into some terrifying modern jazz number which sounded as if it was in 13/7 time and changed key every 20 seconds. The tune lasted about 7.5 hours (okay, five minutes but it felt like eternity) during which the guitarist kept bellowing encouragement at me, or maybe he was taking the piss, who knows? Either way, before the drummer had finished his final flourish, I was out of the door and heading back to some trashy nightclub. The only plus is that this was all before mobile phones and YouTube.

I'm not sure that I would use words such as 'right' or 'wrong', but certainly 'inconsiderate' would fit the bill. Looking at it from a seller's perspective though, one in the hand is almost always better than two in a bush.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1452779028' post='2953395'] I didn't realise how much snobbery there is among bass players! [/quote] You must be new here! 😉

You'll get better advice from others shortly, but my two penneth worth is to check what the minimum number of ohms you can get the resistance down to. So an 800w head at 4 ohms is not the same if it is running at 8 ohms. My head lets me go down to 2 ohms so I have two 4 ohm speakers. It has masses of power, but was a bit wimpy at 4 ohms.

As a rule, if someone wants to have a go on my bass (almost always asked during a break) I let them. I might be lucky but said people usually ask because they are interested in basses and haven't seen one like it before. They are also usually sober.

I'm off to the pub. Would anyone like to join me? The only rule is no discussion of music preference. I'll get the first round in.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1452653193' post='2952108'] While I don't know Megadeath [sic],I know Lemmy started the band back in the mid 70s. [/quote] I'm pretty sure he didn't and while Megadeth aren't my cup of tea, there is no denying that they were/are a hugely influential band who are very technically skilled. Album sales of eight figures are rarely wrong.

Playing bass is like sex within marriage. It gets harder to maintain enthusiasm as the years pass and other pressures fill your horizons. To flog a dead simile further: 1- Get a band on the side that consists of inappropriately young people who could benefit from your wisdom. 2- Experiment with different genres 3- Experiment with different numbers of people. So try the big band thing, try the one man band thing. 4- [Insert other not very subtle euphemisms here] Most import, don't 'get divorced' just because someone says it might not be for you.

There's an interesting philosophical argument buried in the question that, if you are aware of it, is it a blind spot? That said, musical blind spots for me (in the sense that my eyelids close either in boredom or irritation: Dylan Jazz Prog rock with tracks over 7-8 minutes long (Early Queen is okay, Yes is not) Reggae

It is a very common urban myth that trusting your first instinct is a reliable methodology for making choices, so you two are the sensible ones.

As far as I can tell, endurance is directly proportional to cost. So a £25 polyester gigbag from Gear4Music looks like a bargain but might be fraying after a couple of years. That said, it might still be cheaper than buying a £200 gigbag that lasts 10 years.

Having very recently returned to pro playing, a couple of people have asked me what they need to turn professional. In my case, all that was needed was a total lack of employability in any other capacity combined with some bass ability and a half decent voice. What do others think important? Obviously, there are several different ways a pro bassist could be employed, so it might be worth prefacing your answer with the context in which you are thinking.

The last loon I had at a gig was a shapely drunken young lady. She hassled me for ages to be allowed to doing backing vocals. Culminating with "I'll show you my tits if you let me sing." Her vocals weren't bad as it happened.

Another vote for Digitech Jamman. Easy to store/record, huge memory and very easy to use.

As a past master of media manipulation, I love that he manipulated the media around his death. Who knew that death could be art? A genius, nothing less than a genius.