peteb

There was a big music shop in the town where I went to school. We would go down there at lunchtime and weekends to look at guitars we couldn't afford and get advice and impromptu lessons from the old timers who used to also hang out there. Ten years later, I was mates or had played with everyone who worked there, they would make me a cup of tea / roll me a cigarette when I walked in there, I would give them a hand moving stock and it was me teaching kids the odd lick or how to play certain songs. They went bust nearly 30 years ago. I have known a few pretty similar shops to that, but none of them have been in business for at least 20 years.

That will be shipped to a warehouse in Europe

I did amend my post as I am not quite sure of the reasons, only that we can no longer use a French system that we relied on for checking VAT registrations on imports. Apparently, there is also likely to be a shortage of scaffolding bolts in the UK soon. These are made in a factory in North Africa and shipped to a warehouse in the EU, who are not shipping to the UK because of the VAT issues.

Just been talking to my contractor on a scheme that I am running. He tells me that the system used by the HMRC for checking VAT registrations on imports into the UK is licensed from France and as such, can no longer be used...! Everything now has to be checked manually, which is adding to delays. Global Britain, eh...

There are reasons why China can trade with the EU on WTO terms. For example, while I know that wages in China are increasing, the average wage for a factory worker in Germany is currently 2.3 times that of an equivalent worker in China. Plus other production costs will be much cheaper and China will produce at a scale that would be unheard of in Europe.

I think that my major achievement since the pandemic started has been to finally learn to play Mars Cowling's bassline on the live album version of Gettin' Betta...!

But to what extent? Is putting a union jack on the packaging and Made in Italy on the product really going to make that much difference to their target consumers? Maybe a different thing if they move production out to the far-east.

Presumably it would be relatively easy for them to switch production to Italy or elsewhere in the EU?

Yes, I saw that as well. Makes you wonder how sustainable this wheeze by Boris to get foreigners to collect UK tax is and when it will be quietly dropped?

I suspect that it isn't sustainable and will be quietly changed at some point

Was the open D in bar 99 a mistake?? I always assumed that was a pretty cool use of an open string while you went up to the high F. I always made a point of including it...!

Good luck to you if you can get away with it, but it is likely that there will be checks if anything seems suspicious! It will be a bit hit and miss at best and you could find yourself in an awkward situation.

The Aguilar OBP2 is a preamp

How much is the bass worth? I've modded relatively expensive basses and still couldn't get what I was after. This has then been made worse by losing a fair bit of money when I've decided to cut my losses and move them on. I would try a few different pickups before I started taking a chisel to the bass (depending on how much it is worth).

I would have thought that it is the other 27 parliaments that could be the bigger issue! Having said that, I'm sure that they are pretty confident that it will eventually get passed...

Just got an email from Thomann to say that my order has now been dispatched.

Apologies - you are quite correct 🙂 I will re-send the PM to @Chienmortbb

I've PM'd you my email address (let me know if you need a snail mail address). After Christmas is fine.

I don't suppose that you have a list of the stock you have left?

I ordered something from Thomann on the 10th Dec and received it five days later, which I was quite impressed with. I've since bought a bass hardcase and a few odds and sods, but to be fair I'm not expecting miracles given what has happened since I ordered it. It will get here when it gets here - it's not as if I need it for any gigs in the next few weeks.

Now that obbm has retired, you can get perfectly good Speakon cables from Bass Direct (pro series are great). https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Speaker_Leads.html

Depends on the gig. . Personally, I much prefer playing 4 string basses. But I was up for a gig where it became apparent that much of the guy’s recorded material needed a 5 string. So, I went and got a decent 5 string. There is another project that I’m involved with that will require a 5 string tuned down a whole step for live gigs (if that ever happens), so now I have two 5 strings, one with a 35” scale. But for most gigs, I will take a 4 string.

Personally, I wouldn’t expect you to do a big production and for you to actually transcribe the parts, at least not unless someone is paying you! I would be happy if you could just play through a verse / chorus a couple of times and then just show some of the variations and licks that you might throw in when you’re playing that song and then perhaps share how you came up with the part, along with a few reminiscences of recording the song or that time in general. I certainly wouldn’t expect you to play a note perfect rendition of something you played forty years ago – part of the magic of those performances is that they were slightly different every night. The thing with the videos like these from Guy Pratt and Lee Sklar (as with guys like guitarist Tom Bukovac) is that they are all shot with an iPhone in a nice light room. Not everyone can be a raconteur like Guy Pratt, but the thing that they all do is to just talk to the viewer like they are talking to them face-to-face, maybe like you would a student or someone who you might chat with after a gig. It would be great if you do decide to do it and I think that there would be a fair demand. Obviously, there are quite a lot of guys like me (on BC and beyond) who started playing bass just as you were getting well known and for whom you were a big influence. But there would also be younger players who are fans of Whitesnake (and others on your CV) and would be interested in how one of the more notable players among a cast of thousands came up with the parts that helped define the early version of the band.

Yes, I've have seen that before. However, I would love to hear exactly what Neil plays, especially on the live versions. I have played Ain't No Love a few times live, depping for a band led by a singer called Ben Mellor, who does a lot of Whitesnake stuff. I have just found a version of the original Snakebite EP track, where the bass is quite high in the mix. I'm going to have to give it a bit of a listen and relearn the bass part.

Actually, I have to disagree. Not the most technically difficult music to play ever, but there are a few nuances in AC/DC stuff that many pub bands just don't get. More difficult to get right than you might think.