anaxcrosswords

Funnily enough I've just put a Danelectro Longhorn on Ebay. It needs some attention (marks where the pots used to be, and there's a lot of fret rattle - just needs a proper setup).

Well, it’s been an extremely difficult decision, but for me it’s come to an end today. I’ve been playing, writing, recording and gigging for 30+ years, but as a mature (53) bassist it’s been impossible to find musicians who want to do anything other than ‘classic’ (for that, read ‘dead’) material, and the only way I’m going to explore the music I like is to join a band of teenagers; that’s not going to happen. I’ll probably be wistful for a while, but when I was about 14 I knew I was going to be a cryptic crossword setter and that aspect of my life is stronger and busier than ever. While it was fun and often very satisfying, music was a bit of a distraction, so now is the time to kiss it goodbye. There’s now just the small matter of rather a lot of gear to sell off.

Only one, but the light bulb must really want to change. I'm sorry, I may be thinking of the wrong joke.

As an experiment I’ve been trying a different playing style recently, using my thumb as a plectrum playing almost entirely 16ths, a mix of notes and mutes. It’s very percussive and having a very low action helps – played normally, there’s a tiny bit of fret buzz here and there but it doesn’t worry me. The only question I’m now thinking about is whether or not my preferred 40s gauge is best suited to this style as the G string can sound a little more ‘clicky’ than might be ideal.

[quote name='lowhand_mike' timestamp='1440147835' post='2848593'] same here, i cant get that down progression but pretty much got the rest, once i trained my hands and arms to take the punishment. Undertow is anotherone our band would like to do but me and the guitarist have got to nail our parts, definately not an easy thing to do [/quote] That downward progression… Yeah, I spent so long working on that and eventually found it’s stupidly simple. Like most – I’m guessing – I found my fingers were looking for downward notes when actually you stay where you were. So that climbdown (based on the D string to play the open notes) uses C/B – D – B/Bb – D – Bb/A, that final A being the downbeat to start the next bar, at its octave point on the D string. Your next note is the open A string. Incidentally, you use the same fingering positions but on the E string for the outro, also for the section (after the bass slide) which goes into the guitar solo.

Very disappointed. I tried calling ticketmaster for Manchester Arena tix a couple of minutes before 9am but that didn’t work. Called again dead on 9 and their ticket line was dead! Tried the website – only a couple of minutes later – and ticket availability was nil. Gutted.

Well, that was interesting in the weirdest way possible. The guy I’d agreed a few songs with was supposed to meet me at 7:30. As I needed an ATM I set off slightly early so got to our rendezvous about 5 minutes early, just in time to watch him being arrested. I kid you not. Still, had a great night!

Do you get tempted to attend? I shouldn’t be as nervous as I am about the one I’m doing tonight (last one I went to just didn’t happen – NOBODY turned up!) but tonight I’ll be running through at least 4 songs – with an equally nervous guitarist – for which I only managed to rehearse bass for about 2 hours, plus I’m expected to sing lead; that’s a new one for me, plus I already know that at least 2 of the songs are painfully high-pitched. But are OMNs just about getting out and thrashing along, or (if you attend them) is it more about networking with local musicians?

Thanks for suggestion, chaps. Just to clarify it's definitely not impact damage. I play with thumb only and it's physically impossible to get behind the strings like that - almost impossible to get between the strings in fact.

Can anyone recommend a DIY repair procedure for this - right product(s) to use etc? It's my Ibanez SGDR500 and the damaged area began to appear soon after purchase. It's in a spot that doesn't get touched so the surface was evidently faulty to begin with (I'm told the 500 does have a bit of a reputation for this). Some of the odd colouration you can see is actually the remnants of early attempts with felt tip pen!

In setting up my previous band it was known from the outset I was going to have to do BVs, and I dreaded it. In a recording situation I was OK, but just didn’t fancy the idea of delivering accurate BVs while playing live. Almost out of desperation I bought a Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer to provide live auto-tuning. And I don’t even know if it really worked. However, I believed it did and that was a massive confidence booster. After a year or so I stopped using it because I no longer felt nervous about singing.

Good point about it getting too big for itself, but it was good while it lasted. Long before forming a band, the guitarist and I had a song on there which I seem to remember was in the all-time top 5.

Not the silly iPhone app. Years ago there used to be a website called GarageBand which was for musicians to upload their creations. I think you had to review – in some detail – about 5 songs prior to each upload of your own. Did it just disappear altogether or did it become something else?

Would I Lie To You? Just been reminded how cool a bassline this is!

Are Friends Electric?

Why?

What Time Is It? EDIT: It's 4:30. Sorted.

btw, When will I see you again? XXXX

Who's that girl?

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1439836786' post='2846159'] The trouble is band members never ever sit down and discuss problems" [/quote] Spot on. There were never personal differences in my band, but there were lots of areas that needed improvement. There was also much talk – for a year or two – of a band night out where we could thrash out ideas. It never happened and I left because I realised it never would.

Don’t think I’m doing any dep work until December, but it’s been about 2 months since I last rehearsed or gigged so I thought it wise to pick up the set list and run through it. Bear in mind this material is 5 years’ worth of pretty much weekly playing (plus rehearsals) I’m shocked at how much of it I struggle to remember. Do I have accelerated brain fade or is it quite common to quickly forget your lines?

For physical reasons I had to take up a leftie bass, but I wonder how many go sinister because they’re naturally left-handed. And if you’re not, did it surprise you to discover leftie playing was the way you had to go?