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I've taken several breaks from bass (played guitar, keyboards, xbox, women, lego, drinking games) & I always come back to it. There's been times where the bass has sat in a corner of a cupboard for years only to pop out once every 4-5 months for a quick blast & get packed away again, but now I'm playing all the time & loving it. I have my other hobbies too such as photography, cooking & basschatting which keeps my mind creative.

Ah, got it. My bass is going thru my Mooger 101 & we DI'd out the back to the interface & then to Ableton Live. This is about as technical as I get, but most of my basslines are as technical as this. To me it is a fine balance of something I can comfortably play that is melodic. I can comfortably play some slap, but I'm not very good at getting all the dead notes to fill in the gaps like many of the good ol' slappers do. Anyway, here's an mp3... [attachment=47437:Stars_GuitarsMono.mp3]

[quote name='discreet' post='807886' date='Apr 16 2010, 12:16 AM']Me too. We should be practising, not wasting our bloody time on BC! [/quote] Haha, same here. I had a couple of runs through the first verse of Rhythm Stick when it got posted on here a good few months back & didn't have too much trouble with it, it's my own stuff that gets me. We do a Countryish song called Stars & Guitars that has a regular run up the strings from the low G & back down in an alternating pattern that now & again trips me up (especially if the guitar opens it a touch too fast). We recently recorded it & some other tracks to test out a new interface (one take, no practices), so I'll go & make an mp3 of it & stick it here as I mess up the first one I come to!

I can't recommend the Markbass CMD 102p high enough. I used it without going thru pa at a gig of @ 300 folk & both gain & volume knobs was set at 9 o'clock & was told I was too loud! Plenty of bass & never ceases to amaze me.

I got my tap tempo & expression pedals from DV247 as they offered the best price & can recommend their service. If you want to hear the mf-101 & mf-105b, I have a review of both [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=36164"]here.[/url]

My MF-101 is on 95% of the time. I just like the extra depth that it gives to the lower frequencies & having it cutting a lot of the top + flatwounds = lovely subby sounds. I don't use my Bass Murf enough tho. Rest of the band have trouble keeping in time with it, so it either gets used for it's sweepy flangy sounds or as a distortion for the most with solo parts on the arpeggio side.

We don't really do any covers, but I'm enjoying playing "the waking" by Kurt Elling and "use me" by Bill Withers.

Good stuff. I was looking at GK stuff before I got the MB, good sounding stuff.

Start your own band. Have a look in a couple of local music shops for musician ads (maybe even place some) & don't rule out local areas such as Stirling & Kincardine, etc. Then audition them to see if they're suitable candidates. You could move to Perth, they have a shortage of decent bassists & have loads of guits & drummers, but I already have 2 commitments as a bassist & one as a geetard. I'm planning on moving to Falkirk soon, so maybe a houseswap would suit you?

I asked last year about the 4 ohm Vs 8 ohm difference & the answers I got from Bill & Alex (& other's also) didn't come as a surprise. There's very little audible difference & limits you to the amount of cabs you can use. 2 8 ohm cabs off the one amp are considerably louder than the 4 ohm version on it's own (running off of the same amp) & the amount of watts you're putting to your cab isn't the defining factor of how loud your rig is going to be, it's how much air you can move. I bet that Marshall rig can move some air, but I wouldn't fancy shifting it!

I work with a vocalist/guitarist. Sometimes he brings an idea for a vocal or guitar part & other times I bring a bassline or a melody & we work on things from there. I have other instruments to hand, but I tend not to use them much for writing unless I plan on playing it instead of bass or for the occasional melody idea. The songs formed from basslines are my favourites as they're usually the most melodic & intricate with the vocals often in unison with the bassline (not every case tho). I'll try & find a decentish recording of something to give an idea of what I mean.

I couldn't comment if the basses would be part of the problem but I know the Carlsberg amps are gantin. I had a Cobra 90 bass head for yonks & didn't realise how pants it was until I replaced it. A 1/2 decent rig would be a good starting block & you needent spend a lot.

Same here, first look & I thought CK had his old avitar back. He's lost for good now I'd do a bit of speed playing at your next gig with the picks on a cordless drill & then drill some holes in the body (just make sure you don't drill your own fleshy one!) & then pop some rawl plugs in the holes for added humour.

Any 1/2 decent combo or 1/2 stack should do & there's plenty in your price range. Ashdown do a 4x10 combo which weighs in at 4 tonnes but you would rarely need PA for that. A recent gig we done, the other band brung their own backline & the bassist had an OLP going into a Warwick 1x12 combo & sounded fine & pretty loud for the size & they can be gotten for 2 bags of dry roasted. Have a look at some gear & then post what takes your eye & we'll offer advice.

Using the drum machine is a good thing. I'd go as far as to say bump some sounds in there too or even a simple chord pattern. I'll play along to anything I hear. I set the neighbour's car alarm off the other day just to get a different groove (was in Ab at @ 110 bpm).

Or a 1/4 inch bolt.

Has anyone tried one o those Infiniti fretless 5 stringers that crop up on Ebay all the time for £160? certainly look interesting for the price.

I think if you're wanting to earn decent money from playing then the best way is to forget the degree & find a bunch of able musicians & make sure at least one of you can write decent songs (taking a course in song writing & structure would be more beneficial) or be a tribute/functions band and play regularly. If you can find a good promoter & have a good band then you should be able to get regular gigs & build up a decent rep. If you're gonna go for a degree, do it in something you can fall back on incase you get fed up with the band/don't make anything/lose a hand.

First gig of the year for BigRoom & it was interesting. We're at core a three piece. Me on bass (& occasionally guitar), Dave on vocals & acoustic guitar/banjo & Andrea on mandolin/whistle/bodhran/spoons and sometimes we have other musicians join us for a couple of songs. Last night's was a blues gig so we got our drummer from Frigorifico to join in & had no rehearsal with him at all, so we thought we'd see if we can get in for 5pm, get everything set up (including the PA) and have a run over the set. We got the gear set up but the guitar & amp that Dave was going to use was feeding back bigtime with no guitar coming thru. Turns out to be a problem with the p/u in the guitar, so he quickly ran home & got his electric & another amp, plugged it all in & fine. In the meantime I'm trying to set up & was getting more reverb & wool than a sheep down a mineshaft due to the nice big wooden stage that we're on. I tried putting the combo upon the 1/2 flightcase from my pedal board, but no joy. I put it on a couple of chairs which worked slightly, but not by much so there it stayed. we got set up for 6:45 leaving about 1/2 an hour to run over the set with the drummer. The gig itself went well other than the fact that I was a bit too loud & Dave's vocals and the mandolin couldn't be heard too well. The audience enjoyed themselves tho.

New Years Day by U2 was the first song I learned all the way thru. They was a brilliant band back in the early 80's!

A good option is to save up for the Moog & the expression pedal. It's £180 well spent. Cheaper if you go the 2nd hand route.

And a bump before the day.

Mr Delvar gives us another classic?

Markbass CMD210p lightweight & sounds great & has DI out.

Good shout for this thread. I'm planning on defretting my old Vox (unless someone offers me money for it, which is very unlikely).