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solo4652

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Posts posted by solo4652

    You're not selling this idea all that well....

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I put a "Bassist available" ad. on Gumtree. I've just had this reply:

     

    "Hi.  I have a germ of an idea that I'd like to discuss with you. I have no musical ability whatsoever. I can't sing, and I can't play any musical instrument. There is almost certainly no money to be made from my idea, although there is a musical aspect to it. Intrigued? Curious? Ring me on........."

    • Like 1
    • Haha 6

    Lakland Skyline Hollowbody 30 inch scale

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    I've tried quite a few different strings. I only play halfwounds or flats now. For a few years, I settled on Labella black tapewounds. Their depth of tone balanced-out the slightly "modern" tone of the pickups to give a nicely rounded sound with plenty of low end. Fender flatwounds didn't work quite so well - a bit too bright on this bass, in my opinion. I also tried some Status black nylons, but I was experiencing a lot of intonation issues. Then, I decided that tapewounds and nylons were a little too slack, and needed quite a high action which was tiring my fretting hand. At that point, I switched to Status Hot Wire half wounds, mainly because they were appreciably cheaper than most other good quality strings. These worked well for me on the bass and became my favourite strings until Status stopped making them. Now, the bass is strung with Picato stainless flatwounds 45/65/80/100 :  https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/picato-stainless-steel-flatwound-45-100-bass-guitar-strings-short-scale?srsltid=AfmBOoqRRdcYcUJCqjgf78pul-hME30NWWN49P_8ZtwkNZBT3oXWarCN  I had one set that lasted 2 years of rehearsing and gigging most weeks. Eventually, they started sounding a bit dull, so I replaced them with an identical new set - better the devil you know, I suppose.

    • Like 1

    Best short scale P bass for under £150?

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    A while ago, I had a Harley Benton shorty P bass. Put some Wilkinson alnico pickups in and a wiring loom off ebay. What an amazing bass, and all for £100. I stupidly sold it. Following an operation on my left elbow, I'm now off games for a couple of months and I'm bored. I'm looking for a good, sub £150 short scale P bass to tinker with. Is the HB Shorty still the best in that price range? Anything else?

    Soul Revolution with BBC Concert Orchestra on BBC2. Opinions?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by solo4652

    Soul, neo soul, Northern Soul, Funk are my vibes. I tuned in to the programme intrigued to find out whether soul would work with a full concert orchestra. Very mixed results, in my opinion. My feelings:

     

     - Beverley Knight was by far the best singer. What a voice.

     - Bass was pretty high in the mix, which I hadn't expected. I quite thought it would be drowned out by a full orchestra.

     - Full orchestra treatment worked tolerably well with the more gospel, upbeat songs, but less so with the slower numbers.

     - Given that the programme was described as a "celebration of soul music", I was surprised by the dominance of the black/freedom/respect orientation. I absolutely realise the black african roots of soul music, but I was left slightly wondering what happened to white soul music. I suppose decisions had to be made about what to include and what to leave out in a 90-minute programme.

     - Trevor Nelson looked pretty uncomfortable as programme host. Stilted note-reading.

     - Overall; didn't quite do it for me. 

     

    • Like 1

    Blinded by the sun - Seahorses

    in Groove Library

    Posted

    On 28/05/2025 at 20:00, paulieaudiobloom said:

    Also just came across this thread.  I'd love the tab if it's still available.  Many thanks!

    Hi,

     

    I'm not sure whether I sent you the bassline - apologies. Let me have your email address and I'll get it over to you.

    Bassline needed: Lose it by Ben L'oncle

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Right - I've run it past Chordify a few times, I've re-read Terry M's and Burns-bass posts (thank you both), and I've tried to trust my non-musical cloth ears. This is what I've come up with so far. Three main things to check - 2nd bar in intro (Cm? Bbm?), Bridge chords, and last bar in chord sequence after the key change (G# or B?) Here goes - please be gentle - my music theory is very limited, as you'll see.

     

    Intro: |Cm      |Bbm      | F          | G#  G | 

     

    Verses and chorus: | Cm       |Cm       |F         | G#  G |  

     

    Bridge: |E         | E        |A         |A        

                 |E         |E         |A         |A

                 |D         |D        |G         |C#

     

    Thereafter: |C#         |C#          |F#          |A  G#  |

    Bassline needed: Lose it by Ben L'oncle

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:


    GPT coming to help here…

     

    —-

     

     

    🎶 “Lose It” – Ben l’Oncle Soul

     

     

    Key: C minor → modulates up to C♯ minor

    Time: 4/4

    Feel: Soul / Funk groove

    Bass scale suggestion: C minor pentatonic → C♯ minor pentatonic (post-bridge)

     

     

     

     

    🎸 Intro (8 bars)

     

     

    | Cm | Cm | Cm | Cm |

    | Fm | Fm | Ab | G |

     

     

     

     

    🎤 Verse 1 (8 bars)

     

     

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

     

     

     

     

    🎶 Chorus (8 bars)

     

     

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

     

     

     

     

    🎤 Verse 2 (8 bars – same as Verse 1)

     

     

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

     

     

     

     

    🎶 Chorus (repeat – same as before)

     

     

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

    | Cm | Cm | Fm | Ab G |

     

     

     

     

    🌉 Bridge (8 bars – Modulation starts here)

     

     

    Modulates up 1 semitone to C♯ minor

    | C♯m | C♯m | F♯m | A B |

    | C♯m | C♯m | F♯m | A B |

     

     

     

     

    🎶 Final Chorus (in new key: C♯ minor)

     

     

    | C♯m | C♯m | F♯m | A B |

    | C♯m | C♯m | F♯m | A B |

     

     

     

     

    🎵 Outro

     

     

    Repeat chorus progression in C♯ minor and fade out.

     

     

     

     

    🎸 Bass Groove Tips:

     

     

    Use pentatonic scales for fills:

    C minor pentatonic (before bridge): C, Eb, F, G, Bb

    C♯ minor pentatonic (after modulation): C♯, E, F♯, G♯, B

     

    Emphasise the root–5th–octave movement for funk feel.

    Fill ideas over Ab–G walkdowns: consider chromatic or scale-wise lines to connect smoothly.

     

    Gracious me - that's extremely helpful. Can I just check the Intro; Chordify is suggesting Cm  - Bbm - Fm - Ab/Bb. How does that look to you, please?

    "..finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the holy Grail." Really?!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I've been talking to a guy about joining his "collective". Here's what he said in his first message to me. Seems a bit of an odd suggestion that "finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the Holy Grail".

     

    "Hi there,
    Firstly it’s great to know that there is a Soul, Funk & Groove style bassist in the area,
    Most are Rock or blues influenced.

    I, and many of my musician friends have been looking to get a really good funky soul
    Band together for a while, without much success as decent bass players are very rare,
    And finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the holy
    Grail."

     

    He'll be the band leader, lead singer and keys player. He's 63. I went to his house for a chat and he told me all about his extensive history of playing drums and singing going back as far as his teens. I asked if he has any video links he could send me. He said;

     

    " I don’t think I have anything from the digital era! I have a video, but haven’t transferred it to any other format. I can ask my daughter whether she knows of any phone footage of our performances, I have cd’s and tapes of demos and things like that, it’s not really something I’m into!  Listening to myself or watching myself is not my idea of fun, I’m very critical, that’s the problem."

     

    Too many red flags?

    Cowardly and underhand band politics...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, gjones said:

    It sounds like you haven't been sacked from your band, in reality it sounds like the guitarist they auditioned, recruited them for his own Rock/Blues band. it sounds like the drummer, singer and new guitarist, have formed a totally different band, in a different genre, with different members and (I assume) with a different band name.

     

    A band that you wouldn't want to be in, even if they had asked you.

     

    If I were you, that's how I would look at the situation.

     

     

    Yes - That's I think you're probably right. In reality, it isn't the alleged major change of musical direction that I (maybe/probably) wouldn't have been interested in that angered me, it's the sly and underhand way that I was replaced and ousted that grated my gears. For me, that's not an acceptable way of behaving in any walk of life. I've moved on, and I'm already talking to another band about possibly joining them. 

    • Like 3

    Cowardly and underhand band politics...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 30/05/2025 at 08:34, solo4652 said:

    Yes - agreed. I've removed myself from the WhatsApp group. I've said what I needed to and purposefully left the door open for people to ring me if they feel the need. Time to move on.

     

    No reply from my WhatsApp group message to the band, which suits me just fine. I banged out a "bassist available" ad on one of the Facebook musos groups and I got this reply:

     

    "Hi there,

     

    Firstly it’s great to know that there is a Soul, Funk & Groove style bassist in the area,
    Most are Rock or blues influenced.

    I, and many of my musician friends have been looking to get a really good funky soul
    Band together for a while, without much success as decent bass players are very rare,
    And finding a soul/funk/groove influenced bassist has been like searching for the holy
    Grail.

    We are all knocking on a bit (60-63), and have had lots of experience in various bands
    Playing various types of music, but we all like soul, funk, jazz, groove influenced music
    Where bass and drums are the driving force, the engine room of the band, so to speak
    And everything else fits in around that groove!

    I hope that this could be something that you might find interesting, and maybe consider getting involved in."

     

    We're going to meet up for a chat. One door shuts and.....

    • Like 26
    • Thanks 1
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