bass_dinger

I tried! I failed! But I failed well, and will try again. I managed to strum the songs at home, and plugged into an amp via a tuner and chorus pedal, to get used to the sound and work out how to set up the kit. On the day during the practice, we couldn't find a channel to plug into, and I couldn't hear myself in the foldback. Sound levels were painfully loud as the band played on, and it was easier to step down from that morning's service. However..... I learnt that I could still play guitar; that it was fun; that it was hard work and very physical - and my fingertips hurt! I will play again with the guitarist and his tame pianist and am comfortable that I will hold my own. But for now, I remain a bassist.

I bought it from someone on basschat.co.uk so it is not something that I designed. However, I should still have the circuit, unused, and looking for a bass to be installed into. Contact me, if you wish, and I can share details.

I tend to replace batteries once a year, regardless. Now, however, I have a battery tester, and use that once every few months. I have had a working active bass on 7 volts, and less. But that was my bass (Washburn XB500), which doesn't help you. There is a circuit that I have, but never fitted*, which lights an LED when the voltage drops below a certain predetermined level. You might set such a circuit to 7.5v, so that it never reaches the 7.2v that tripped you up. * one of my old basses would run off of 5v, and my spare (same model) had a 10 year old battery in it that still worked! I then bought a new bass that had an active/passive switch, so I no longer needed it.

Like @bassbiscuits, I also learnt theory by absorption and example. Song with G a C in it? Maybe a D is also likely to appear. Or an F? I picked up Scales; chord scales. Key signatures. The thing is, it took me 30 years to get there, and I watched my 7 year old daughter make the same journey in 3 years, with formal music theory lessons. For myself, I don't want to rediscover what already exists, when I can spend an hour learning it from a teacher or YouTube video. Modes? Chord substitutions? It's all out there. I must say, I have a cloth ear, so, I struggle to hear and remember chord changes. For that reason, I now find it easier to find the music manuscript on YouTube, and site read it.

That seems to be the model that Hobgoblin has adopted. Online presence, and shops selling niche products. Gypsy jazz guitars, Chinese violins, African thumb pianos, accordions, low whistles - folk instruments that other shops wouldn't stock, and lots of spare parts. Nothing high-end, but if you are looking for a particularly obscure instrument, then they are your best bet. https://hobgoblin.com/

Again, from the article, it seems that nobody knows why the round back existed. "In 1961 the basses had solid spruce tops and flat backs, so it was not what we expected. Later, at the end of the year, the tops became laminated plywood, so maybe this is an experimental bass? A prototype? It was a transitional year, so I can imagine Paul going into the Steinway shop, they phone Höfner and ask for a left handed bass, Höfner agrees and maybe they thought: “What can we use? Maybe this prototype? Oh well, it’s only for a kid in Hamburg.” We’ll never know, but it would be typical Höfner. In the end it’s very interesting to know all the replicas are wrong, even the ones we made, ha ha!’ "

A quote from the article: "So the reissue you made was better? No, it was wrong, because we discovered something no one knew. And if they say they knew, they lie. When we turned it around, we discovered Paul’s bass has a domed, rounded back, not a flat one, while all the ‘61 reissues including the copies we made - and some other people made - have flat backs. We were very surprised" So the surprise appears to be that it has a rounded back - everyone (even Hofner) expected it to be flat.

https://www.paulmccartney.com/news/statement-on-hofner-bass

There was an interview this morning on the Radio 4 Today programme, with the journalist who tracked it down. In brief, in 1972, the Wings roadie parked the van outside his house on Ladbroke Grove. Local squatter broke into the van, stole a bass. A few days later, he realised that it belonged to McCartney, and asked his friend (a local pub landlord) to look after it for him. 50 years later, the bass was inherited by a decendant of the same landlord, having spent the intervening period in the loft. The benefactor heard the story of the missing bass in the news, made contact with the McCartney estate, and it is now back with its rightful owner. The investigation was helped when a relative of the thief contacted the journalist, and was able to identify the pub.

Is this the model that goes down to minus 11?

Rather than something to play, I would get somewhere to play. So, would $4k be enough to fit out a basement room with soundproofing, a few mics, PA, drumkit? Then, you can invite your friends round for a jam session, and the $4k would buy you a rehearsal space. For me, playing with others is what has made me a better musician*, rather than buying additional kit. It is the hours invested in playing that gave me the skill to appreciate those better instruments. * better, when measured from a very low basepoint . . . .

For people on the Abstinence Thread the correct answer is "A bass, and double lessons"

A child drummer in the church asked me to learn Come Together by the Beatles, and Mr Brightside (because it has a "great bassline"). Happy to learn these new songs, if it encourages her to play drums in a band. I am still trying to think of songs for her to learn, for which I already know the bassline. Maybe Good Times by Chic, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, or I Wish.

Spoken like a true musician!

If I had $4,000 to spend on musical gear, I would not spend it on musical gear! But if you are forcing me..... Lessons. Bass, piano, mandolin, theory. That should keep me busy, and on track for the 2024 Bass Abstinence thread.

The bass looks huge, until I compare to those organ pipes! They seem to have put the big ones at the front. I was surprised to learn the 25w amp is enough to boost the sound- but I guess that it is mostly the acoustic sound that is filling the space.

That lack of variety was why I took up bass! I also struggled with strumming patterns - I got bored easily, and found it a bit dull. Bass has now become my mother tongue, my first language of expression. If I want to say something musical, I prefer to say it on the bass. So, I want to revisit the guitar and see if I can still do it.

I have been asked to play guitar in church. Or rather, I asked if I could play as the second acoustic guitar one morning, just to see whether I could still do it. I have not played acoustic guitar in church for over 20 years. At the time, I was a big fan of dual capo settings (me capo 2 in G, the other guitarist in A. Or indeed, me on Capo 5 or 7, to give the harmonic spread). Any hints or tips? Any YouTube lessons?

Not yet, but I will fall soon. I am tidying out my dad's loft (to make space for a rewire) and rediscovered two big boxes of marvel comics. Mostly British stuff, but also, some random American stuff. Tales to Astonish issue 57 in near-immaculate condition, and in the rare Pence Variant (the cover price is in pennies, rather than cents), already bagged and carded, to protect it from my sweaty hands. So, perhaps that (and other comics) will fund a replacement neck and refinished body for the Washburn XB925 bass that I have. Or more, likely, a pack of ukulele strings from eBay . . . .

Nothing better than playing in a band with good musicians! It lifts your own game, and makes it easier to play with them.

@Jason Karloff would have looked 37 years younger, for a start - enough to get him into a boyband!

Does that make it more valuable, or less?? "62 jazz hacked about by a legendary bassist."

After a certain scale length, it's Legs Together again...

So, technically, they could indeed not look at the music. But in this case, they don't need to! Well done for finding a church band of such high quality. Enjoy yourself, and be sure to let us know how it goes.

You have forgotten the ultimate church band excuse - other band members not looking at the music!