Froggy

And if you're the other side of Dorset, near the Devon border then Mansons in Exeter has a good reputation.

I wouldn't say they make me cry, I'm not new man enough for that but 3 that definitely get me feeling sad are Whiskey Lullaby - Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss The Drunken Driver - Ferlin Husky Soldier - Harvey Andrews. Especially that last one. It's a true story, about the murder of Sergeant Michael Willetts.

Yep same here.

I'm with Dad on this one, guitar based bands are still popular, and still regularly feature in the charts. Other forms of music can be arranged for bands too, it isn't just djs and karaoke. If you want to attract younger audiences you have to play what they want to hear. Of course there are also still younger people that like classic rock, but if you're going to restrict yourself to that you're going to find your audience is a bit older. Nothing wrong with either approach, it's just an observation. I'm lucky that although I live in a small town in the southwest it's got a pretty good live scene with a pretty good mix of genres. I really think you need to be prepared to find your audience. If people in your town aren't wanting to hear you, get in the car and find a town they do want to hear you in! I know we have lives and jobs and responsibilities, but you can't always expect people to come to you. All that said however, I have no experience of actually gigging, just my own experience as a punter. I've only just put my first band together and we're working on the set list, but rest assured when we start gigging we'll be travelling all over the south West if we need to.

I've had some success with join my band recently too, but you're right, it's a pain filtering out all the time wasters. You could try your local rehearsal studio if you have one? Plenty of ads on the noticeboard in ours with people looking for musicians.

Are we sure it's done and dusted? Otherwise someone will only resurrect it again.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1456666759' post='2991156'] Yes, indeed. We're not a vindictive crowd here, and are always willing to let bygones be bygones. Rubbing salt into old wounds is far from the BC ethic; for are we not gentlemen, all..? [/quote] We'll said that man! Never let it be said that we would get a cheap laugh from another's misfortune.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1454330497' post='2968594'] Start at the end of each song and learn phrase by phrase back towards the beginning. That way you're always going towards a bit you know, and you don't learn the start really well and the rest not so well. [/quote] Although I'm nowhere near good enough to dep, this is how I learn songs too. It works for anything that you do in a sequence, I was taught to use it when learning the 31 jo kata in aikido. Only way I could get it right! For songs I do it bar by bar.

Thanks RIP, t gets definitely something to think about! 👍

Yep, I noticed that pretty quickly.

2015 has been a bad year for music in general. RIP Brad

By the end of the year I want to be able to sight read music and to see where my new band takes me.

Thanks R.I.P. I noticed that the limiter on my amp comes on even at low volume to kill the distortion. I'm guessing that this is an effect of the hot preamp.

I just don't have the words to express how sad this news makes me. The world has lost a true legend.

Thanks for all the replies, I went ahead and bought it today. I got the walnut satin one that I liked the look of, I guess if the satin finish doesn't start wearing off that tells me that I'm not playing enough lol. It felt very natural to play, and didn't feel any heavier than my current 100 quid Washburn. I'm really happy with it so far. Also had a play with a real stingray. I shall have gas for one of those for a very long time! Would someone mind explaining what you all mean by the preamp running hot please? I'm still very much a clueless noob when it comes to technical talk lol.

I can't imagine anyone would be so cruel as to keep bumping this thread Oh

Unfortunately for me the money is tied to the shop due to a large part of it being in gift vouchers. I'll try the sub, after all I might just like it lol. Otherwise I'll just have to see what else they have available. Thanks again for the help folks.

Well see? That's something that I, aa someone who hasn't been playing long, didn't know, so thanks for that. If I want the black I may have to go for the 5 string but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I'll just have to see what I think when I go down to the store. Budget is going to be around 300 but possibly I could push it to 400 for something worth it. I'm never going to be playing a top spec fender, or a real stingray lol

Ahh that's annoying, the one Im going for is the walnut satin.

Thanks for all the replies guys, it seems that for the money it's a damn good option! Can't wait til after Christmas now.

So I know it's basically a budget version of an EB musicman, but does anyone have any info on these? I haven't had a chance to have a play with it yet but I've fallen in love with the look of it. So before I do go down to have a noodle with it, can anyone offer any good points, bad points, or things to look out for? Thanks in advance.

Cheers Stoo, I'm going to have a play with it before I put my money down for sure. That little nugget of information is handy to know.

How do you rate the sterling Wonky? I currently have my eye on a sterling sub ray 4. I haven't had a chance to have a play with it yet, but I've fallen in love with the look of it. It's around the upper end of my budget so I'm hoping it's good!

I can't read the dots other than using them to give me some idea of when and how to play the notes, the notes come from tab. I decided that learning to read music would help my playing so I bought a book called Sight Reading Mastery for Bass Guitar. I haven't actually gotten around to starting to use it yet, so I can't say if it's any good or not, but if you wanted to give it a try you can get it from music room.com.

Not old enough to remember it, fondly or otherwise, but I do remember it being in my parent's record collection.