uk_lefty

I do a lot. Probably came from when I was learning and I had a look at songs like "give it away" by RHCP and the nice double-stop bit in Californication. On my first band I wasn't very competent but it was three piece with licence to elaborate so I started off with slides down from the dusty end and up on to the dusty end, and it cuts through nicely. I now play up there for fills, sometimes when I can't be bothered to swap basses for the song "little miss can't be wrong" by the spin doctors I'll play the low note, whizz up the top end, back to the bottom... It's a sweaty job for the whole song but worth it. I also play a little higher register melody under the intro a Richie Havens type version of Back to my Roots. I like the upper register.

Because there's a tiny person using that room and she has more kit than anyone!!

I did recently (within the last nine months) see him at my bands rehearsal space in Stevenage, spending forty odd minutes trying to get the staff to find him the most random little drum bits while a bored bassist and guitarist jammed away. We made that knowing eye contact and then I avoided him to save us both from the awkwardness.

Sorry, by "building works" I meant someone cutting out the hatch space to be much bigger and then install the ladders and a new hatch. I am useless with anything DIY based so while people may mostly do these kind of jobs themselves I won't even attempt it.

I think it's the only way!

That would work for me if I wasn't paying St Albans house prices. I think the only solution is a powered she'd at the bottom of the garden!

I have two cabs and a practice amp on my "spare room"... And a laptop bag with an amp head in it, my pedal bag, the boxes for all my pedals, three basses in cases under the bed, an acoustic in a case under the bed, a shoe box of cables etc. And some other loose items. It's not entirely messy but the Mrs hates it and I understand that completely. When our daughter grows out of her tiny nursery Room, or is pushed out by another sprog in future then the spare room will be hers and my bass kit needs to go. It's often brought up in arguments so I'm working on moving gear that goes to gigs only such as the cabs going in to the loft (my garage leaks sadly) but I want loft ladders fitting which will mean dreaded building works! I try to never leave kit in the hallway or even just lying around in the spare room because it will cause stress. This means I never play my acoustic and I rarely practice my bass. Can't win. Getting quotes for an extension soon...

Frighteningly familiar. Nice enough bloke but very little self awareness, would grate after a while though not meaning any harm, just excited like a puppy.

Not around the Enfield way by any chance?

Whatever floats your boat. If we all agreed, or there was only one way of doing things, Basschat would only have one post in each section and no marketplace. Sounds a bit like North Korea to me.

Uncle Albert from only fools and horses makes a cameo to your left.

NIB by Black Sabbath. Used to play it in my first ever band and have tried to in other bands I was starting up. It doesn't fit with my current band but bashing out the intro riff is a great way to check the pedals through the amp at rehearsal and gigs.

I gigged the 1x15 and 2x10 set up this weekend. Not the fairest test because it was an outdoor gig under a gazebo with no sides or back. In the rain, under thunder and lightning!! But the sound may have got "lost" easily. Initial impressions are that the sound was not as warm and full as the 2 1x15 config. Also nowhere near as loud. Not remotely close. But an indoor gig is the real test of that. The 2x10 is the same ohms and wattage as the 1x15 it replaced. What it did give me though was more definition and control on the highs. So higher notes cut and rang well but didn't overpower, I often struggled to control the treble on the 2 1x15 set up, it was either way too dominant or lost. This meant that I played a lot of slapped fills, far more than I ever would have before, but I guess my new set list had a part to play in that too. I didn't play any songs with a pick this time as I couldn't be bothered dealing with the required volume tweaks. I didn't bother using the ashdown built in overdrive having just got a bass soul food, I think the 2x10s helped the boost and drive from that pedal but can't compare it to the old two fifteens rig.

Well you turn up to play a gig that's been booked in for months to find it's outdoors. And you just know that the rain and lightning are coming. You're playing under a tent and there's no back or sides to the tent. Ashdown don't make waterproof amp covers, but a medium sized North Face rain jacket fits snugly over a Rootmaster stack

That ACG is a thing of beauty. Sadly got too many basses (so she says) already. Hope you get the right price for them.

On gumtree there's two lefties up in Manchester. A six string warrior and a five string ACG recurve. ACG looks beautiful.

Ok so can we get past all the "it just came off in my hand" etc etc but when I went to put on the new jazz bass knobs (fender authentic ones) I could only screw on the little tone knob (great nickname for a sound engineer), not the big volume knobs (great nicknames for guitarists). Seems the Allen key either didn't fit or something more suspect going on? Needless to say my big nobs won't be on display at tomorrow's gig

There's Eastwood's walnut country bass, whatever that's called. Also D'angelico basses were going half price recently. All the lefties have gone but don't know the right handed situation.

Our drummer let a kid from another band play his set on an encore we did last year and he bloody loved it!! We are careful to avoid being "just another pub covers band" so we tend to play events where they require longer sets but people are there to drink and dance, not to chat, watch the footy or play pool. All the things a pub band disrupts! I would love to see my band at an event but I haven't ventured out to see a local band for a few years, except at events where I'm playing later!

We had an offer to do a "festival" last year where the pay was terrible, first sign... Then they expected us to bring full backline and PA... Because you do carry all that to set up just for a forty five minutes set, you see... We politely declined but explained why it wouldn't work, so hopefully they had a rethink. I saw a mate dep with a band at another pub "charity festival" a few years back. We paid six quid each to go in to watch... There was no PA. There was a stage, but the singer was connecting his mic to the cr4ppiest little 5w amp I'd ever seen. Before they finished their set a girl who was playing keyboard under a gazebo in the beer garden appeared because she needed the "vocal amp". Can't make it up. I guess my point is that when there are alarm bells you need to check everything before you fully commit!

I'd do the gig and between songs make sure you keep thanking the fanzine that has spelled the band name correctly and given you some support. Only leave out that detail, nobody wants to hear you venting bitterness when you should be playing tunes and being likeable folk. I'd also corner the so-called promoter and tell him gently that he's messed up a lot and you've given him the benefit of the doubt by turning up and playing. Just make sure there's a backline, PA, etc. Before you arrive. And it's there for everyone to use.

One Fat Finger are playing the White Lion in Baldock on the night of Sunday 27th May. Soul and rock covers we aim to please with sing-along-able, dance-along-able cover tunes that you know and love. If anything just gawp at the freak show of a left handed bassist.

I rarely play with a pick at all but I generally find I get a bit of something different from the 2x10. It's not as "full" and rounded a sound as from the fifteen but there's something different I can't put my finger on. I stacked the 2x10 and the 1x15 together last week for the first time and will gig them on Sunday night. At very low volume it sounded good, but think I'll always prefer the 2x15 sound. A manufacturer does need to make a 2x15 that doesn't upset the wife/ partner/ significant other by taking up so much space though...

Potential for double entendre is endless

I got them off using a screwdriver for leverage... Now I don't have an allen key of the correct size for the Fender jazz knobs I bought!! Oh well