bass_dinger

My daughter was on a ship, as part of the restaurant team. 10 hour days, split into shifts during the day, 7 days a week. So the hours are indeed intensive.

I got quite excited to see that a bassist was located just half a mile from me. It turns out that it was me, as I had deliberately given a vague location. Just as well, as I was preparing for a Highlander-style bass battle....

This last weekend, I played at an Open Air gig - the town organises an event, this time a Food Fair - and ask a church band to play. The band is made up of musicians from various churches in the town (three of whom are from my own church). The remit was for us to play worship songs, along with familiar tunes to attract a crowd. So, Amazing Grace, Lovely Day, Build You Kingdom Here, Mr Blue Sky, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. For the band, it was a new discipline to play songs in the original key, using fully accurate chords. We even did All You Need is Love, using the correct wonky timing. We seemed to manage, even with a failure of two iPads at the start of the session, and sub-standard sound on the stage. For me, it was great fun, and an honour to play in such a strong band. I was surprised at how relaxed I was - no music, and not being able to hear myself and the guitarist well, is usually a recipe for major stress! Over the next few days, I hope to hear the outcome of the afternoon - contacts made, and conversations had.

I decided to use New Moon, and was very impressed. They offered zero excess - they will pay out in full in the event of a claim. I can also switch instruments between home use and outdoor use, with no administration charge, should I decide that I want to take out my acoustic guitar. So, New Moon is my choice.

The theme from the Addams Family? Do tell, so that I can add it to my repertoire!

A little territorial marker: "this is my band. I recognise it, because it smells of my wee. Hands off."

That's why one should always put cabs on stands...

Maybe those lewd gestures were why the mum and her children left! In fact, I suspect that @LukeFRC is willfully misrepresenting the vocalist's interpretive dance - I believe that he is playing Air Guitar. Either that, or dealing with a nasty itch in his scrotal region....

That may well be true! You may in fact be a talented, self-aware and humble musician, ever striving for betterment, yet conscious of the musical heights you are yet to scale.

How was it? I logged on this morning for the update!

The synoptic gospels, in which we twice encounter the story of the casting out of the herd-of-hearing pig-headed Worship Leader. @TrevorRthank you for sharing that great tale, and reminding us that we can be both patient, and have fun at the same time.

A timely reminder. I do tend to think of worship songs as being music with words attached when it should be the other way round.

I should be so lucky.

"Day 7,976 in the Big Brother Church. Let's see how Sardonicus gets on with the new bassist..." A hard conversation to have, but worth doing, if you have not already done so. Not just about more days on bass, but about the way in which the leaders run the worship. I have been impressed by your patience, your commitment to the role, and your passion to do it right. If you gave up now, I would still think highly of you.

Until the people who want to buy a birth year guitar, are no longer with us. Nobody much is buying a 1920s Gibson Mandolin because it matches their birth year! Actually, my mate Dorian Grey just bought a birth year Stradivarius - he is very good, but he tells me that is because he has put in his 10,000 weeks. Of course, he meant to say "10,000 hours " . . . Birth year is a fad. Quality persists.

If they are good instruments, they will retain value. So, relatively fewer people play violin now, compared to 1680s, when the city of Cremona was able to support a whole violin making industry. Yet those Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari violins still sell. That's down to quality. Now, if we were talking about Hello Kitty guitars, their popularly will fade once all the people who remember that phenomenon pass away. That's down to fashion and fads. The question is, are 1962 Strats Cremona, or Hello Kitty?

More Than Words, by Extreme.

...if only for the ironic title of their inevitable acoustic album. Welder Boys, unplugged.

I used to use my household insurance, but was slightly worried that they never asked about the instruments in question. "A guitar " is not the same as "a 1995 Lowden O22 with custom neck and L R Baggs pickup ". So I will try the options specified here

I have heard of whole bands leaving a church because of mishandled sensitivities. In fact, half of the structure of our band is built with the rubble of other churches cast-offs. It's sad. I am comforted by the knowledge that these things happen in phases. For a few years, my church has a reasonable band, but soon we will have different leaders who will want to do things differently. Soon, it will be @Sardonicusturn to play in a better band - perhaps even in his own church!

I guess that they were not thinking, but acting. It's the sort of solution that works for employers - they give people money for their time, and can decide what specific role someone should fulfil. However, it does not work well where the teams are volunteers, and the leadership is relying on goodwill. For me, the test is whether the leadership are taking responsibility for their decision. Do they turn up to the rehearsals, and give guidance to the bassist? Do they discipline and advise those who do not practice? Do they give people in the band authority to make those same decisions? I have often thought how I would respond in a similar such situation. I hope that I would be able to thank the leaders for allowing me to serve, and tell them that I am happy to make space on the rota for the new talents that the leaders have identified. That's a polite way of saying that I am leaving, but making clear that it is their responsibility to fix the issue that they have caused. PS - WTF? When Talent Fades?

I am often inspired by colour charts. When one has to name 127 shades of beige, or dark blue, the imagination runs riot. Pick a range with double names. Citrus Blue; Emerald Coast; Mint Blue. Then you can drop the colour and combine two nouns.

That's the one. Job done.

Slightly off topic, but a violin has a bar underneath the bass side of sound board, a sound post between the top and back of instrument, directly under the treble side of the bridge foot. So there are internals that need changing, too.

I am reminded of the quote about Leppo, the fifth member of the Rutles: "His influence [on the Rutles] was so immeasurable that no one has ever bothered to measure it." So too with the recorder, on @Newfoundfreedom's musical life.