oggiesnr

Find a teacher, a few lessons are invaluable, and they will no doubt reccomend their preferred book(s). Steve

[quote name='FLoydElgar' timestamp='1348258408' post='1811639'] Do bowing... very important... Depending how serious you are with the instrument... Get yourself a good tutor preferably someone who's a pro! Buy Niel Tarlton's Bowing method books and off you go.... with a decent tutor... you'll be fine! [/quote] +1 the Neil Tarlton books, not expensive and enough in them to keep you going for years. Steve

Have a lesson or two ASAP and your tutor will, with any luck, give your bass the once over and advise you of anything obvious that needs looking at. They'll also sort out posture and plucking etc before you get bad habits. I hadn't intended to get into arco, apart from for checking intonation etc, but I'm finding I'm doing more and more of it and it's actually paying off in terms of my general musical technique as well. Steve

I got a 3/4 size cheapie (from this forum) which I've spent a bit of money on and will see me fine until I take the plunge on a pricier one (which I also hope to buy via here). I've yet to see anyone complain about a double bass they bought from here. Steve

So last week my tutor had me and another pupil playing trios with her. First time I've played in an ensemble reading music rather than playing on the fly. Great fun and good for the soul but rather scary. Anyway, that got me thinking, both about my reading ability (getting better but not good) and my theory knowledge (ditto). So, on a whim I decided to take one of my team's morris tunes and see what I could come up with. Started by transposing it into bass clef (all the music is given me in treble with chords) and then started playing about with it. It was a) a lot harder than I ever imagined and a lot more fun. I was trying to make an interesting piece of music (to hear and play) rather than a melody and a bass line. I took the result to this week's lesson and needless to say there were some faults ( clashes, too many times when I had plain octaves) but it was (too me) a valuable lesson in terms of both theory and working out fingerings etc. I'm now in the process of cleaning it up and looking at making it flow better. All things being equal we're going to try it as a trio next week so watch this space . If you'd told me when I took up DB earlier this year that I'd be trying to write music I'd never have believed you. As something different to try I fully reccomend it. Steve PS If anyone's interested I'll post a copy of the work in progress.

Er, don't do it? I would always keep an amp on stage and use the modeller through it. It gives you that bit more control over your sound (and is easier to adjust if the hall acoustics throw a curve ball at you) and it means that if something fails in the modeller at least you can still play. As far as modellers are concerned I've always liked the Line 6 stuff. Steve

Sax I can't manage, trumpet and tuba I can get sounds out of. Yes you can do it in a year so long as tou're prepared to work at it a bit. Steve

[quote name='MandShef' timestamp='1347901134' post='1806406'] What emotion? Pure envy!! I wish I could play so beautifully -[i] especially Rinat Ibragimov on his 3-string bass[/i] [/quote] That is just stunning! It sounds so full and rich. Steve

You actually buy the stuff through Normans so Tesco are basically doing an Amazon. Steve

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1347471408' post='1801352'] There was a time when I would have considered Country or [i]Folk[/i] music, but, while I enjoy listening to them, I don't enjoy playing them. [/quote] It's just about the most fun you can have playing a bass! Freedom to do you own thing from pounding root to playing insane harmonies. No-one to complain that "you didn't play that Entwhistle" or whoever. Folk music is such a wide field that you can find kindred spirits to play just about anything in any style. Steve

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1347402733' post='1800483'] It's sometimes difficult to pitch an advert right. We need a singer. I'm conscious of putting out an ad that says: "We're a bunch of 40something guys who've been in various bands but never gigged together. We've had 2 rehearsals and have 8 songs that are sounding good but need a singer to go any further. Hope to be gigging within a month of finding right singer." All truthful but wonder how many takers we would get. [/quote] If you word it like that you'll probably be inundated with singers who think "that sounds like my type of band". What you won't get is the X-factor wannabees with no clue. Try it, you have nothing to lose. Steve

I'm trying to put that songlist into a set list that would make sense at a gig and failing miserably. It's neither owt or summat. Steve

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll give it a go. Steve

Amongst other music that I play I also play for a local morris team. Much of the music is in G or E minor. I tend to play at the bottom of the register because that way I keep out of the way of the bass end of the squeezeboxes and of the guitar. Going down to D would be really useful. I know I can get a bass with a D extension but I'm not in that sort of market (or price range) so the question is has anyone tried dropping the E string to D? If so, did it work? I'm currently using Spirocore mediums. Thanks, Steve

I think that as soon as another shop played with it you lost, [i]if[/i] the vendors want to play hardball. Can you prove that the problem as is now is caused by the condition of the bass as supplied or because of actions taken since? It is at their option what they wish to do, I would approach them politely and explain the situation and look to coming to an agreement, if you go in all guns blazing then they may get their backs up and say "see you in court". The moral is, if it's faulty return it, stating why it is faulty and what you wish to be done, at the earliest opportunity. As soon as you try to do the decent thing and fix the problem you screw yourself if the problem is unfixable. Sorry but that's how I see it, Steve

Your friend isn't playing them as originally recorded so I don't see why you should. Check the chord charts (and the keys he's playing them in) and go from there. In those circumstances I think a bit of spontanaity will go a long way Steve PS the best I ever saw Bob Dylan was when he was using Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band and a couple of times that night he just said to them "This is in x" and launched into something they'd never played before and within 12 bars the band were there.

I'm an old folkie so by general definition everything I do is a cover but I can point you to countless versions of the same song which sound and feel totally different. Steve

These days I play Double Bass for a morris team and I find it is useful to mix it up a bit. Play a bit of simple melody every so often, go up an octave rather than hitting the same one every time, that sort of thing. However I don't stray too far up the neck as then I start getting lost in the bass end of the accordion or melodeon which dilutes the sound. However the quickest way I know to total boredom is to stand there playing Root/Five all night! Steve

Are you playing with a drummer? It can make quite a difference to your role. If you have a drummer then normal rules about locking on etc apply but I've always found I have a bit more leeway to do melodic patterns etc, if there is no drummer then you are the beat and need to play accordingly. Steve

First step is to decide who you want to teach and what you want to teach (any particular style, reading or ear etc). Then check the legal aspects (CRB if it's kids etc). The final part of the jigsaw is are you cut out to teach? You obviously know how to play bass but can you pass that on in a structured way? I know some brilliant musicians who just cannot teach anyone who is almost as proficient player than themselves, they can't think down to the level of a beginner or novice to whom what seems obvious to themselves is obvious to the student. Steve

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1346870058' post='1794328'] The Rolling Stones started as a covers band and slowly made the change. [/quote] ... into a tribute band to their glory days . Name (from memory) five songs that the Stones have recorded since 1980. Steve (wh's also got his coat)

Ok, so the simple is answer would be "When they're an originals band" but... Does there come a time when the band's arrangement lifts them out of the covers category. At the extreme edge you have Hayseed Dixie, OK it's AC/DC etc but played bluegrass, or the Bad Shepherds (punk played folk) but then I've heard a lot of bands playing material where all they owe to the original is the tune and lyrics. It seems strange to lump them all together as covers bands. Then there's the whole folk, folk/rock scene, were Fairport Convention a covers band when the recorded Liege and Lief? Maybe, but they were a lot more original than many originals bands. So is there another genre out there of "original covers" for want of a better description? Steve

Hm, there are record labels and record labels and not all record labels are created equal. Not sure you're missing much but it is a sh*tty way to be dealt with. [url="http://www.metalteamuk.net/may10int/interview-transcend.htm"]http://www.metalteamuk.net/may10int/interview-transcend.htm[/url] Be nice to people on the way up because you'll meet them again on the way down is a maxim that most groups should take to heart. Good luck Steve

How much would it cost to buy a bass equivilent to the one you have now? How much is the repair going to cost? My gut reation would be to stick with the one you have and get the repairs done properly. However if I really had to make the choice then it would come down to the pound figures attached to those questions and the state of my bank balance. Steve

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1346547115' post='1790520'] By no means confined to the less-expensive Gibbos and it's been going on for years. Back in the 90's I saw a DC standard in Gloucester with a heavily orange peeled front and one of the pots at a wonky angle. Only last week I beheld a £2.5k LP Std with a squint neck pup and every saddle wound forward in a straight line, ffs. I do laugh at the angry mob on the wider net who have cited the MM series as the final proof of Gibson's descent into the fiery pit. Most of them have never played an MM series - in fact I suspect few of them have ever played [i]any[/i] Gibson, because they wouldn't be so shocked at QC issues if they had. Internet herd mentality at its finest. [/quote] All of which is a good reason for trying instruments before you buy them which probably means from a shop rather than from a pretty pic on the web but that's a whole new can of worms Steve