JamesBass

The practical me would say hands down Sadowsky, it's a 5 string and jazz style so immensely versatile! However, I've been just playing my 4003 since the new year, I've done some funk, jazz and so much more with it and it suits my original Rock band and recorded with it and it hasn't let me down in the slightest! It'd been so much more versatile than people give Ricks credit for!

What sort of treatments have you tried for your problems? Ever heard or tried The Alexander Technique? It focuses on all the problems you list as it helps to strengthen the core muscles as well as promoting ease of movement and efficiency rather than getting tense and complicating your movements. It might be something worth looking at! I've looked but alas I can't fund it being unemployed currently.

It has 6 mic inputs that double as jack inputs? Pretty certain it'll take 6 drum mics, might be my bad on phrasing as I was in a hurry when posting it on my iPhone!

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1363625911' post='2014935'] it is resonant of The Bauhaus ( that's the university in Germany , [u][i]not[/i][/u] the band !) school of design [/quote] Oh dear lord not Bauhaus again! I was dragged along to the Barbican exhibition on The Bauhaus last summer by my girlfriend, can honestly it was the most boring 2 and a bit hours of my life! Of course I then dragged her down Denmark Street to make up for it I will agree on some other posters about Stingrays in black, probably the only bass I'd get in black, so long as it was a white guard and maple neck! That looks nice! When I win the euromillions on Friday...

Right I'm after a fairly portable 6 XLR/Mic input interface for Logic, budget would be at the VERY most £400. Can be either new or used. Just after a decent one! Have been pointed toward Tascam but the US-800 model which would suit my needs seems to be unavailable EVERYWHERE currently so help is appreciated! Don't mind BUSor USB either Thanks, James

I like to see the grain on my basses, if a really well done translucent black bass came across my path and it played right then I might be tempted, however on the whole I'm not a fan, just find it too boring and common place. So far I've owned a Red bass, Metallic Blue, Gun Metal and now a Walnutburst, I think my walnutburst is my favourite without a doubt! The grain and finish is just stunning!

That's fair enough, the problem with Bass frequencies is that they take a space of around 60ft to be at their peak energy, before that and in a space such as the garage you are in with both amps and a drummer they will phase, which is what I think it sounds like, potentially, but do have a twiddle with you settings, make sure you note the settings you try out on a piece of paper for remembering, get the others to turn down and alter their frequencies as well why you practice. From what you said about being live and hearing yourself for me that shows the amp is ok for the most part? But do experiment and see what you come up with, you might find a boosted mid section will be the sound for you! Personally I love the punch, clarity and cutting tone that mids give, if the pick ups are good you'll get plenty of bass, but again experiment, hope that helps mate

Might sound stupid but, how big is the shed you practice in? How do you guys set up and position yourselves and do you wear ear plugs when playing?

Trabens are monsters! I own a John Moyer 4 String Signature and it is an absolute beast! It has more bass than you'll ever need! It's insane however for me personally it doesn't cut through the mix clearly enough and the neck is very tiresome on the hands. Ultimately it's your choice, Traben's are very good basses and will suit what you are playing as will all of the basses you've mentioned, best thing to do is go and play them all!

In my old job as a waiter I had to tell them all I played bass so I could get out of the worst shifts so that I could gig and rehearse, was so delightful to just call someone and say look got a gig on Friday and I can't work my shift wanna take it/swap. They'd always do it which was great! One evening I was chatting to a customer while taking a card payment which was taking a very long time, so he strikes up the conversation after noticing me tapping my foot and my fingers tapping along to the music, turns out the guy was the Manager of the Portsmouth Guildhall and offered me the chance to go backstage and see as many gigs as I please, ended up meeting Lemmy, who was unbelievably wasted! I'm surprised the guy was able to stand up he was that bad! Talking bass can get you somewhere you see guys and girls

So today news has reached me that Iron Maiden are brewing a traditional English beer/ale, it's called The Trooper. Purely out of curiosity and my love for Maiden I cannot wait to get my hands on a bottle! http://www.ironmaidenbeer.com

I'm after an 8 input audio interface, either bus or firewire, not too fussed. I've been recommended to take a look at any of Tascams offerings, they seem pretty good, only trouble is the one that fits my needs, US-800 seems to be missing from sale in the world! Are there any others for around the same price with the same portability and as good reviews? Oh I'm going into a 2012 MacBook Pro with Logic Pro, have mics and leads budgeted for also. Thanks, James

Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Coltrane, John Lennon, Pete Townshend, Keith Moon, Neil Pert, John Bonham, Bon Scott, Freddie Mercury and many many others! Non-musically I've always been inspired by Winston Churchill a man who never gave in and never gave up! He saw the war as a big game! Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Stephen Hawking, Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton

Wall mounts. Also, congratulations!

Where I live with the parents all my gear is in my room so when I can't sleep at night or plug in and play for that matter, I do stare lovingly at the sight of such beautiful pieces of craftsmanship! I think I may have a problem...

That's the issue here they won't operate like that, hence why the move to London is the idea for this year, first on the agenda is getting the set properly bang tidy and getting some of the songs recorded. Luckily we are recording ourselves, keeping it much cheaper that way I'm just shocked at how poor many of the promoters are locally!

That's my point it's a ridiculous change over what other bands are charging, I had a few mats who used to charge £30 for an entire gig between 5 of them! Even though they were crap but because they undermined other local bands they'd get the gigs, it's a hard line to tread, hopefully moving our gigging base more to the London area will see a better return and more reliable Promoters. We try to ask if we are headline act for 50% and then extras on top of that, I'm fairly hard line when it comes to it as I'm not one for backing down, it's also my main income for the time being, we're yet to play this year as we are gearing up to record and re-work our set list, lots of originals are coming to the front now, all those horrid covers are going bye bye! That's a good going rate then! 99% of the promoters I've dealt with round Portsmouth way ALL operate on the idea that bands should only be paid for the amount of people they bring. Which is where the issue lays!

So we all know just how useless many of the modern day "Promoters" are, we've all been to gigs where they say you get a couple of quid per ticket sold by your band etc. However if anyone here is a member of the Musicians Union and have checked out their website you'll see they have a going rate for the 2012 tax year, and I've gotta say my bands been under-paid by over £100 pretty much each gig! I'm fairly certain that if you give that sheet to a local chancer type promoter there'd been none left! Which might be a good thing or a bad thing, who knows! Anyway the MU reckon going rate for a pub gig is around £108 for 3 hours, it doesn't specify if that is a 3 hour set, I highly doubt it, more likely to be the entire time you're there with any overtime paid at £36ph! As for a concert venue it's £125 for 3 hours! Wish I had this to hand last year now! How many others out there have been underpaid and were clueless as to this? I'm genuinely shocked!

Get all the charts to help you out, all he has to do is give you the chords and you should be able to listen and work out some stuff from there, it's what I did when I recently joined an originals band, I got the songwriter/guitarist/singer to send over the chords and structure and then worked off their recordings and the sheets, got it nailed pretty quickly as I enjoyed it, without the sheets it'd taken me so much long to work out.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1362506784' post='2000403'] But F isn't in the key of E Major, so therefore the pretty standard FGAC progression isn't in the key of E Major. I wonder why it is so common? Is it just nice to hear? [/quote] Didn't mean in the key of F, should have made that clearer, many POP songs are also in the key of E Major, that was my bad typing sorry Milty

After having a good practice session this afternoon I feel more in love with my bass and playing than ever, since buying my Rick I've progressed so much more as a bassist I enjoy playing more and more now and look forward even more to playing. This seems to happen every time I pick my bass up now Anyone else experience this at all?

Cheers for the heads up Shall check it out tonight

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1362505183' post='2000372'] Don't most pop songs just stick to a common progression using F G A and C? I don't think i would have the skills or knowledge to produce it, But i could probably write a progression and bassline for it. So no, i couldn't write and produce a pop song entirely by myself. [/quote] You forgot E in there too So many pop songs are in the key of E major!

I'd be willing to say yes, I could write it however, it probably wouldn't ever get published, if it did it wouldn't be the same, I could see it being taken and changed just a bit here and there but it wouldn't be the same. Only little changes would just change the whole song. However POP music is very changeable, for instance 60s and early 70s POP music was Rock, current POP music is Dance/Hip-Hop sorta style, 5 years time who knows what will be the most POP genre?

I'm working towards a career in music, currently studying a HND in Music Performance as well as pushing the life out of a band! I'll get there just don't know where there will be and how, but that's half the fun right?!