uk_lefty

That is what is lefties have needed for many, many years. And very reasonably priced too. Must be hallucinating.

My guitarist bought a jaguar brand new, the red pj one, for his home studio and for his teenage son to learn on. He also picked up a trace Elliot blx for next to nothing too! I've not had chance to play the jaguar through an amp but it feels and looks like a very well made instrument, think he got it new for less than £200. I wouldn't change a thing on it. He plays very expensive guitars and is smitten with his stock squier bass, if anyone would be picky about it he would.

I often think buying a nicer more expensive bass would be good but there are so many things that happen at gigs I'd be terrified. The only recording I do is rough recordings of rehearsals and I don't get time to play just for my own indulgence. So all my gear is gigging gear. My MIJ P bass got a small dent from the drummer kicking it over by accident which upset me. My MIM Jazz has been beaten worse than Audley Harrison in his pro career, which makes it suitable for every occasion, and my fretless Kramer has had the odd tumble. It's a hazard of the job I guess, so I couldn't justify buying something too nice to take out.

I honestly don't think my hands are coordinated correctly to strum/ pick with my right hand and fret with my left. When I bought my first bass I was certain I wanted to play a righty upside down, in my head it was more logical to have the E string the lowest down... But I had never played a stringed instrument before and therefore knew nothing. I respect people who have learned that way but I'm glad I didn't and I got a lefty as my first bass. Also if you play left handed and can do a scouse accent you can get work in. Beatles tribute.

And probably a forty year old too

Serious suggestion (no, really)... Play air guitar along to a lot of your favourite songs. Don't even think about it. Which hand is strumming? That's a quick way to know of you're left or right handed for bass/ guitar. If someone gives you a guitar to tickle how do you hold it? I'm only left handed for a few things: writing and playing guitar, but completely right hand dominant for sports like golf and cricket. It's weird but I suggest you do what feels natural for guitar. There's no way I could play guitar right handed at all. Then again if you can't decide go right handed. More choice of instruments and far less smashing headstocks with other guitarists on stage.

I think if you listen to most rock bands you find middle 8s and so on go on a different dynamic. I've had to point this out to a few bands using Red Hot Chilli's as an example. Also make a point of casually dropping it in conversation every now and then. It's amazing how changing dynamics can get you out of a rut too, we've been trying to play she sells sanctuary and it just sounds flat the whole way through so we've been tinkering with dynamics across different sections and it's brought the whole thing to life. Luckily in my band nobody wants to be the "star" and we all love it when a song comes out perfectly so the guys are receptive to changing dynamics. As am I, there's a song I barely play a note in and it sounds good that way with quiet verses so I'm ok with it.

I would.

Another tiny person, hopefully...

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.