louisthebass

Nick was one of the cornerstones (imo) of this very site we all post on. I saw the initial posts on Facebook that Nick had gone missing as he was one of my friends on there, but hoped for the best. When it eventually transpired that he had passed away, I was shocked and saddened that he had gone at such an early age. 

My first encounters with Nick was in the very early 2000's on one of the old Level42 sites (think it was the Level 42 Digest, but I could be wrong - it was over 20 years ago), and then eventually on here. I also saw him a few times on the stands at the old London Bass Guitar shows, and just used to marvel at what an accomplished musician he really was. He always came across as a very welcoming type of guy, and always happy to help if he could.

Thoughts are with his family and friends at this very difficult moment in time, and a tragic loss to the music community in general. RIP Nick Smith. 😢

On 03/11/2024 at 20:03, Amazoman said:

Hi all, I have been playing bass for a while and can hold my own following chord sheets in the church band. I have my favourite shapes and often play the tonic, major 3rd, 5th and I like to put a 4th in. I usually play the first three notes of the minor scale if a minor chord obviously. I want to develop my abilities using pentatonics and know the 5 shapes but struggle to flow fluidly around them. Do you think the Janek Gwizdala book would be a big help or is there something better I should be looking at. Thanks in advance.

 I've got Janek's book, and can thoroughly recommend it. It's a very in depth look at Pentatonics, so be prepared to put work in to get the most out of it. It's split into 3 sections: Bass clef notation, Tab, and Treble Clef notation. It also comes with a link to all the audio tracks & some video as well.

Hi all,

I want to close down an old band Facebook page, but when I go to do it, it looks like it will close down my own personal page as well.

Is it me misunderstanding the instructions, or does it actually close your own page as well?

Mods feel free to move this if not relevant to the discussion page, and thanks to anyone who can help?

What others have said - do the gig sitting down, no point in crippling yourself any further. I had to do a gig years ago with a bad case of Sciatica (not the name of the band lol), and it was the only time I've ever had to do a gig like that.

On 26/03/2023 at 17:06, IanA said:

Bought new and sold second hand through Bass Direct by me a number of years ago…

serial number 2749

Was wondering where it ended up??

 

You could always contact Mark at Bass Direct, and see if he can tell you?

1 hour ago, TKenrick said:

I've had similarly disappointing experiences at the Bass Gallery, and at Charlie Chandler's too (pickups wired in the wrong way round and the bass came back covered in sweaty finger marks after the teen behind the counter told me that it 'played really nicely'...).

 

I use Andrew at Richmond Guitar Workshop; he's done cavity shielding, pickup and preamp installs and setups on various basses and the work has always been top notch (he used to work at Charlie Chandler's in Kew before it closed).

+1 For Richmond Guitar Workshop - they installed an East J-Tone in my Overwater Jazz in 2019 and did a great job. 

3 hours ago, jimbobothy said:

Joe Hubbard has a Functional Harmony book that is pretty interesting https://www.joehubbardbass.com/functional-harmonic-concepts/

Got that book, very thorough (as all of Joe Hubbard's books are) - a lot of study that will keep you going for years...

Rick Beato has done a few videos on basic music theory on YouTube, definitely worth checking out.

Hi all,

I've recently moved from Surrey to Totton and have had to vacate the bass player role in my band "Sidewinder", who are based in North East Surrey. The band has been in existence for 20 years, and have gigged quite a bit over that time.  The band rehearses in Leatherhead a couple of times a month (line up is vocals, keys, guitar, bass, and drums) and genres covered are Blues / R&B, Rock & Pop.

They're a great bunch of guys and pretty solid musicians in their late 50's and 60's, so if you're in that age group and based in the SM, KT, GU, RH postcode areas, this may be the band for you. The band have a Lemonrock page with some demos and a typical set list (have tried to put a link on but it doesn't work). Recent gigs (pre and post) pandemic have been in Dorking, Farncombe, Redhill, Sunbury, and Reigate.

If anyone's interested, email me at Louis dot lefrancois at live dot co dot uk and I'll pass your details on 🙂

I remember when the Dingwalls came out a good few years ago, and thought it was very weird indeed and not for me. However...

Having seen Lee Sklar in action on his (on YouTube), and the sound and tone he gets out of his Dingwall's, I wouldn't mind giving one a try. They've definitely grown on me, and the only thing I've seen about them being difficult to play is adjusting your picking technique to even the tone the fanned frets produce at certain points? (playing to the angle of the pickups).

Was quite handy having a "Bass Specific" shop not too far away from where I lived at the time - only visited a few times, but bought my TH500 and my Mono gig bag from there (both still in use).

Vic was a really nice guy, passed way too early ☹️

Pdbass is a great channel I started to subscribe to last year - have tried to insert a link, but the site isn't allowing me to do it.

On 09/04/2022 at 09:11, Reggaebass said:

I’m enjoying this one for a bit of theory and to loosen up the fingers 

 

Rich Brown's Browns'tone is a great channel 🙂

This is my much missed BB1100S which was my mainstay 4 string from 1989 to 1996 when I started playing 5ers. Best 4 string bass I ever owned, had to sell it as I needed money to fund a wedding. 

My first ever 5 string - a Yamaha BBN5 bought from the Bass Centre when they were still in Wapping. Chris installed an EMG BTC circuit & new pots, and it was my mainstay until I bought a TRB II 5 string in early 2000. I later sold this to @Owenin about 2009 or 10 (I think). A good starter 5 string that served me well on many gigs.

I think the terms "lightweight" and "5 string bass" rarely go together! 😄

In all seriousness though, I had a similar problem; I've got a great Overwater 5 string Jazz which sounds great, but it's a heavy one - I bought it when I was 40 and now that I'm not too far away from 60, I should have taken into consideration that I was going to get old when I commissioned it in 2003. I eventually bought a Swamp Ash Xotic Jazz 5 a few years ago, which is a lighter axe to use on a gig, and my back doesn't ache so much after a couple of sets. Swamp Ash is a lighter wood than most, and might be worth considering when you're looking for a lighter 5 string?

This:

Jazz club - desolate shore - fast show - YouTube

On 10/02/2022 at 21:33, Matthew Canty said:

Thanks for sharing this. Over the next few months/years as I dig through everything I will make sure to keep a hold of Making Music pieces. I'll publish them again online, hopefully no one will mind all these years on! He actually has an even new version of the book, but I am working on how that should progress.

I might be wrong on this (maybe some BC'ers who are in the legal profession could confirm), but I would've thought it would be ok to publish your dad's "Making Music" columns as his work would be his own copyright?

Your dad's book was the first bass book I ever bought; a lot of the content was way beyond me at the time, but I learned the very basics of technique from it. I gave it away to somebody a few years later, but "re-bought" the updated version back in the late 90's (I think). I also remember reading your dad's column in "Making Music" magazine back in the day, and always found it very well written and informative.

Sorry to hear that he's in poor health, but your dad's books have helped me along the way with my playing over the years. Best wishes to you both.

On 18/01/2022 at 11:26, hippydude said:

I have been working  on the Hal Leonard  complete Edition book  it has  all the 3 books in one and backing tracks online to play along with ,  my question is should i just stick to finishing the book before starting to learn any other songs from outside the book,   i  would also be  interesting to know if after completing this book  at what level of bass playing would my skill be at >?

That's a great book, wish it had been around when I first started playing a long time ago. If you've done all the dot reading and absorbed the information well, I'd say it would put you in at least an intermediate standard. The reading aspect alone will open up a lot of music in other bass books.

D'Addario XL170's (Nickels) on my Xotic 5, and Bass Centre Elites (Stainless Steels) on my Overwater Deluxe 5.

On 14/10/2021 at 16:17, Merton said:

You know your rehearsal rooms! It's a great place isn't it

It is - those guys do a great job with that place. The gear is well looked after, and it's always clean & tidy 🙂

On 12/10/2021 at 23:44, Merton said:

This is the loud rig. It’s really rather a lot better than I am:

I know that rehearsal room - The Hive! Number of hours I've spent in that place 🙂

1 hour ago, cgull said:

@louisthebass thats perfect man! just the kind of thing Im trying to find.  Loaded with bass excess.

No worries - listen to the whole of "Quadrophenia" and "Who's Next" for loads of John Entwistle goodness...

Try this one: