oggiesnr

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1358069452' post='1932454'] The absolute best solution is a Roland V-Accordion, but not a solution for you, it's not available as a diatonic instrument. Plus they are quite expensive. [/quote] They are available as a diatonic instrument but they're big and unwieldly and the air button just doesn't suck enough. Also the MIDI sounds just sound MIDI like and it uses accordion sounds rather than diatonic sounds. A better bet is the two row Streb e-melodeon. Lighter and feels like a melodeon, there are also some good samples available for it. Steve

What accordions has he actually got? If you have a look at the forums at melodeon.net there's a whole raft of stuff about miccing up squeezboxes. I use a couple of saxophone mikes, the treble side attached via it's gooseneck clip and the bass side clippped onto my wrist. Another option is these which are used by a fair few players [url="http://www.microvox.demon.co.uk/accpage.htm"]http://www.microvox.demon.co.uk/accpage.htm[/url]. Have fun Steve PS love the track, my sort of band.

Since joining BC about a year ago I have taken up Double Bass (on a bass bought through this forum), taken lessons, played with others a lot (ukele group and morris team amongst others). Haven't joined a band yet because of time constraints with my work but (big drum rollllllll) have agreed with my teacher to aim to get my Grade 4 Double Bass by the end of the year which means my theory and sight reading are going to have to improve pretty damn quick . Steve

If you're a folkie there's lots of opportunities to play BUt not necesarily to get paid. It depends on what's important to you, if you want/need the money then you bite the bullet and play what brings in the dough. I'm lucky, I play for fun. So tonight I spent a couple of hours playing with a local morris team (double bass) and last night I was playing with a ukelele group (also DB) which was great fun, fourteen songs in two hours all from chord charts. Tomorrow I'm helping out a mate at a gig (beer money) and then I'm out Friday and Saturday playing a session and a dance out. Won't make any money but it's a hobby and I'll have a great time. From my perspective I'll never be a pro muso so life's too short to play music I don't want to play. Steve

[quote name='chaypup' timestamp='1357650259' post='1925926'] Cancel the auction on the grounds of him not abiding by the auction rules and then sell to second highest bidder outside of eBay. Knock a few quid off for him and you'll still be better off through not paying fees. [/quote] If I was the second bidder I would not buy it on those terms. I did once and got ripped off and there was no comeback as it was not sold on Ebay. I'm not implying by this that there is anything wrong with the bass, it's just a case of "once bit, twice shy". Steve

An update .. Apparently there have been schisms and falling outs and the gigging group has gone off to it's own thing, so I went along tonight to see what reception I got. I had a warm welcome and a whale of a time. Fourteen songs in two hours is one hell of a lick when you're doing it mainly sight unseen from chord charts! It transpires that the group is still getting gig requests and so is looking at setting up a new gigging group (or possibly it will be anyone who attended the practice before the gig) and the DB will be most welcome. One of my hopes for the New Year was to play more live music so it's looking like a good start. Steve

Drops of Brandy in G major is available here. This is a pretty good version of the tune although it may differ slightly from the Fairport version. [url="http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/tmp/Tune22971.pdf"]http://trillian.mit....p/Tune22971.pdf[/url] If there's a problem just go into the main site and do a search, this version is about four up from the bottom of the list of versions. Have fun Steve URL for main site is [url="http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind"]http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind[/url]

Everytime I've seen him play it live Pegg used a pick rather than fingers (he's also a great mandolin player) and I tend to do the same if I'm playing jigs and reels. For me I find it makes for a more consistent sound when playing fast. Drops of Brandy works well up at the top of the neck (it's even more fun down at the bottom but I'm a masochist). The important part is to get that 9/8 feel, [b]dee[/b]- da- /diddle-ee-/ diddle-ee// for three bars and then a turn around in bar four (dee-da/dee-da/diddle-ee or some variation thereof). If you listen to the drum part it's even more apparent (except if Mattacks decides to run two bars together) Have fun, I have Drops in treble clef if it's any help. Steve

Unless they've changed the rules you have to pass Grade 5 theory before you can do any higher instrument grades.

They publish books of practice pieces, well worth getting. I have the Grades 1-5 one and use it quite a bit with my teacher. Grade 8 is scary as it includes reading bass, tenor and treble clefs. Steve

Check out your local Cash Converters etc (aka FencesRUs) The local one has had a Peavey (under £200) and a Squier (£69) in the last few weeks. Steve

The second part of the OP was about rosin and that's almost as complicated as the bow but at least it's cheaper to experiment! I started with the Nyman but it never really worked for me. I now use the Kolstein All Weather which is better (ie to my ear it produces a fuller sound with less effort) but I'm still on the prowl. Steve

.... this should be mandatory viewing! [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pjrt5/The_Richest_Songs_in_the_World/"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pjrt5/The_Richest_Songs_in_the_World/[/url] Steve

Are you having lessons? If so talk to your teacher and probably follow their lead. I started with a french bow and have swapped to german (which is what my teacher uses) and get a much better sound. However I get the best sound when I use my french bow but held german style, probably because the french bow is a tad heavier than the german one. In the New Year I will resume my quest for a decent german bow that doesn't cost more than the bass did Steve

I'm waiting for confirmation of which week York's 'Easter Fair' is. Last year it was the week after Easter, if they do that again in 2013 then I can go (fingers crossed) Steve

So just how does one go about it in such a way that you end up with one that's right for you and your instrument? I have two bows, both bought on reccomendations via the internet. One is French style, I love the weight of it but I find my thumb gets sore (a touch of arthritis) so I bought a German one, love the grip and feel but it's light and doesn't work well with my bass (or my tutor's) so I'm in the market to try again. I went and had a play with a few bows but I eneded up wondering wether the tone I was getting was because the bow suited me or wether it was that the bass I was playing was better than mine so I passed on buying. So, does anyone have any suggestions or know of anywhere which won't look askance if I were to take my cheap plywood bass along with me to try their bows on? Thanks Steve

Learn an Irish jig or reel and be different. Steve

Hope it heals quickly. Voice of experience (just "celebrated" the anniversary of my break) says "do the bloody exercises that the physios give you", seriously it'll pay in the long run. During my enforced silence I relearnt to play the moothie. Another alternative would be to start play a synth and keep playing all those bass lines. Steve

On other instruments I play a lot of folk music including some Irish tunes. Many of these were originally dance tunes played at a dance tempo but if you go to a session you'll hear them played at breakneck speed and that's mainly because it's easier. Can't quite manage a passage? Tricky fingering? Well if you play it as a blur of notes no-one (other than a good musician who knows the tune) will be able to tell whether you got it right or not. My favourite irish fiddler is Martin Hayes who plays so steadily and yet so beautifully and you can hear every note and ornamentation precisely. In most sessions the following tune would be played anything up to 50% faster. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96bKIE37gwQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96bKIE37gwQ[/url] Steve

As someone who's got more John Zorn and Tzadik label music than any sane person should have, I wanted to like this but I'm not convinced. To my mind the best experimental music has some form to it,a sense of going somewhere and interplaying between the instruments within that loose journey. I got no sense of story here, it went nowhere and didn't make me want to find out what happened next. Steve

Go to a caravan supplies shop rather than Halfords and you get a leisure battery rather than a car one. They're higher rated (amp/hours) so you can play longer and power a bigger kit (but sort out the maths first, there's a formula for working out what you can pull and for how long). Also make sure that your inverter is rated high enough, not just for the continual load but any peaks when you switch equipment on. I use one for powering lights when there's no maons about and they are very effective. To be very safe make sure that the battery has a water proof cover against showers (a Really Useful box with both the battery and inverter in is ideal) and also use waterproof plugs. I'm using the same sort of set up this winter in York to keep the lights on for my Peddaly Steve act as the nights draw in. Steve

Sorry to hear about your troubles. The one bright spot is that with your professional attitude you should dod alot better in the future. Steve

I play scales (arco) whilst using the gstring app on my mobile set at auto tune. I then listen to the correct note when I play it and also concentrate on muscle memory. I've found that I seem to hear slightly flat, what seems in tune to me comes out as flat on the tuner and also to my tutor (who can sing in perfect pitch) so I'm re-educating my ear at the same time. I'm doing a lot of reading which helps but so does playing open strings, I seem to suffer badly from the effects of gravity pulling my hand down. When I get the bass out I take care to make sure the spike is always the same length so I can see where my hand is out of the corner of my eye. Having said all that I still have intonation problems (especially when I get above fourth position) but they're getting better a bit at a time. Steve PS If there are particular keys you play in a lot concentrate on them first.

A guitarist I played with many years ago always tuned down a semi-tone and then capoed the first fret as standard. He reckoned it gave better intonation up the neck and avoided the need for subtle retuning if he re-capoed further up. Steve

I only use one on an acoustic for changing keys where I want the voicing of a particular chord but in a different key. For example the basic G major chord sounds, and plays, differently to the standard A major chord and allows you to fingerpick it in a different way, so for some songs in A I'll capo up two frets and use the G fingerings. It does also help in a jam situation where the singer is used to one key and you play in an another, allows me to concentrate on accompanying the song rather than mentally trying to transpose on the fly which I find problematic once you start using more than four basic chords in a song . Steve