Cato

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1451595281' post='2941804'] Would whatever these attacks are possibly be responsible for my home internet keep dropping out, restarting or whatever you call it? The front of my BT hub keeps going red for thirty seconds or so before returning to the normal blue. [/quote] I spoke to BT about my connection dropping out (I'm in the Midlands) & they claimed it did this in order to search for the best & fastest available connection. As my router is connected to my phone line & that is the only connection available to it I'm pretty sure that's complete BS.

Yep, just gone again.

I had a bit of trouble last night when it didn' t want to load, but it's been ok today. (At least as ok as its been since my kindle browser updated itself about a week ago since when I've been unable to view embedded videos- but that problem is definitely at my end).

I suppose it depends on what you are playing, but generally I'd take clean & punchy over dirty & mushy every day of the week.

'Air' from J S Bach's Orchestral Suite No 3 has to be one of the most recognisable bass parts even if due to shortsightedness on the composer's part it was not originally written for bass guitar.

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1451429985' post='2940492'] What are the synth sounds like in terms of quality at gig volume? We do some tunes that were originally recorded with a synth bass part and have no idea if this is a credible option. [/quote] The synth patches on the B1 are mostly excellent. There's one or two which to my ears don't work as well as the others, but those are ideal for tweaking or replacing with your own patch. For me, if the B1on has a weakness it's the distortion & drive presets, but then I don't really go in for driven sounds on bass so I may not be the best judge.

Another vote for 'the Jackson 5' 'I want you back'. I can't explain it but there's just something very satisfying about the way the various sections fit together. It's also become part of my basic warm up routine as its great for getting all the necessary fingers moving.

For me death metal was the point where the metal subgenres started to get really confusing & I'm never sure what's what. I used to like Celtic Frost and Sabbat. Do either of those count? I think Sabbat might have been more thrash folk metal if that was a thing? Although it's entirely possible they might have been proto grindcore, speed metal, doom metal, black metal or possibly early djent. All of which apparently sound different enough to each other to get their own subgenre.

In my early teenage years both. These days neither.

I love both. I used to think I preferred Stax because to me their productions sounded a bit rawer & edgier than Motown, but the more I've heard from both labels, the less I think that's actually true.

Merry Christmas.

I reckon John Coltrane is about as accessible as it gets, his Blue Train & My Favourite Things albums are as good a place to start as any. Personally I prefer smaller ensemble jazz stuff to big band because you can really hear each musicians contribution.

I remember reading many years ago that one of the Ramones ( pretty sure it was Johnny) used to perform with a bucket by his feet in the early years because he regularly vomited through stage fright. ( although I just ran a few Google searches & couldn't find any references to this on line). Apparently the Ramones love of curry stemmed from the discovery that it seemed to settle his stomach. Maybe the stories have become confused with Johnny Rotten at some point?

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1450607150' post='2934183'] The kid has perfect pitch, a massive musical gift that is rare (1 in 10000 people have it apparently) but not unique. [/quote] I've known two people in my lifetime who demonstrably had perfect pitch, one guitarist & one keyboard player. And a handful of non instrument playing vocalists who claimed to have perfect pitch, but either didn't actually know what the term means or were just lying to themselves...

I've been watching this guy recently. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqbxybR6Q6Y[/media] I reckon my slap technique has improved more in the last 2 weeks than in the previous 10 years. It's not just slap though, he covers a load of stuff.

New, there's a lot of love for the Yamaha BB range. A new BB424 should come in at just under £300. There's nothing much wrong with Squiers either. Those are the two I'm mainly looking at for when I plan to take the pbass with flats plunge in the new year. Second hand you can get all sorts of goodness in the £300-£400 range. There is a rumour (which I'm pretty sure I got from basschat) that Marcus Miller's Sire affiliate may be starting production on a pbass in the near future but I've no idea on the timescales on that.

I think it's quite common on electro acoustic basses, even the budget Harley Benton model has one. I would guess that its harder to fit an inconspicuous integrated tuner into a solid body & manufacturers know that the majority of bass players will already own some sort of tuning device? Having said that I'm sure some manufacturer somewhere will have done it at some point.

I don't know about the best playing but the best looking in the current range by a country mile that I've seen is the Dee Dee Ramone signature. Pure 70s chic.

I try to keep my chords tight & in time when I play guitar, pretty much exactly how I approach bass, but I've never been much of lead player & that's where I think, within certain styles and genres, a bit of 'sloppiness' can actually enhance a song. Although does it count as 'sloppiness' if you do it deliberately?

I honestly can't remember. I think it had something to do with impressing girls. That part never really worked out for me.

I played a couple in a shop recently & was quite impressed. Sound & playability wise they're not really in the same league as a full blooded Stingray (unsurprisingly) but they're not a million miles away from the classic ray sound either. A couple of years ago there were a lot of complaints about the on board preamp being too 'hot' or producing too much gain, but the ones I played seemed okay, so maybe that problem has been fixed, or maybe I'm too cloth eared to notice.

I've tried to like Level 42, I've listened to recommended tracks, I've watched people break his stuff down in youtube videos, I've even learnt to play a couple of his easier lines. But whilst I can clearly see & hear his genius I still don't really like his music that much, not the stuff I've heard anyway. It's almost certainly my loss.

I once spent three weeks in a hotel in December whilst on a course. 'Now.... that's what I call Christmas' was piped into the corridors, restaurant & lobby on repeat, 24 hours a day & could faintly be heard in my room. So after undergoing what amounted to involuntary aversion therapy for 21 days it's safe to say I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas songs in general & the songs on that album in particular bring me out in a cold sweat.

I blame Metallica. Ever since word got out that James Hetfield favoured a 'scooped' tone, the world has been full of guitarists turning the mids down to zero and everything else up to eleven.

I think I've only bought 2 new cds this year. 'My love is cool' by Wolf Alice, which while not quite a classic has some superb songs on it & 'The Making Of' by the Bohicas which I bought of the merchandise stand after I saw them in Brum which is also pretty good. Other than that it's been a year for discovering old music that had previously passed me by.