neilp

Just about to put a Hercules stand in the classifieds if anyone wants one

It's almost the reverse for me. I played a gig the other day and on a whim took my Squier VM fretless Jazz. Never gigged it before, and spent the whole night thinking "why am I playing this when I have so much better at home in their cases?" .... In the classical world, there's no such thing as "too nice to gig". Granted, there are fewer drunken punters, but I know violinists who sit in the pub post-gig with a £50k instrument on the floor next to them. Look after your gear by all means, but instruments are for playing music, and music should have people listening, and the people listening deserve the best you can give them.

Led Zeppelin 2. The Lemon Song, then Ramble On. Almost everything I love about music right there in those two songs.

I have a nice Squier VM Jazz with an East J-Tone preamp that I might be persuaded to part with. Bought it on a whim and really like it, but I have a fretless Wal as well as the Cort, so the Jazz really doesn't get played very much. Immaculate nick, nice bass.

The words "attributed to" in my book almost always mean "there is absolutely no proof to this assertion, but I want the Fairy Dust of a Cremonese maker, and the scroll looks vaguely right" I'm sure it's a magnificent bass, and worth a lot of money just for that. Amati though? Who knows? And if you don't know, don't claim it. Gary Karr's bass, now thought to be French, was amazing, but REALLY hard to play...

There's something about the finish, the contours and proportions that just say "60s Czech plywood" to me. Oh, and by the way, there is a great deal of debate - to put it mildly - whether Hieronymous Amati ever made any double basses. The Karr - Koussevitsky bass (which I have played!) has been dated to after H Amati's death, and that was claimed for years to be the only existing Amati bass. If anyone were to try to sell a bass as an Amati, they would have to have utterly bomb-proof provenance. To my knowledge, such a thing doesn't exist.

Is it just me or is that bass completely lop-sided? My brain is shouting "plywood" for some reason. I'd like to bet it's not 1880, thats for sure

Find a Cort B4FL. Unlined fingerboard, Bartolini pickups and preamp and great build quality. Also very light and plays beautifully, great mwah.

Nothing to say, except that any musician should be able to control his volume. There's absolutely no excuse for it

Cast your minds back to all the "Guitarist telling me what/how to play" rants. Seeing a slight case of pot and kettle? What if the singer said to you "you shouldn't need frets, You should be able to do your ting without help to keep you in tune"? Runs away to hide

I only buy CDs. I won't pay for a download, because you never own the content, you buy a licence to listen to it, under actually very closely controlled circumstances. I own my CDs, nobody can delete them or mess with them. I have around 3,000 CDs now, and believe me the CD player is not dead, any more than the turntable is.

Anything with Chris Martin credited

What is all this "should" nonsense anyway. I will buy the strings that work best for me, on my basses. If they cost £70 a set, I'll pay it. The strings I use on my double bass cost £300 a set. I don't quibble. HOWEVER... I really don't care what anyone else chooses to do, at the end of the day it makes no difference to me... Tyres, on the other hand.... Your tyres might kill me one day, so I do care

Where tyres are concerned, the value of the car is utterly irrelevant. You should ALWAYS buy the best tyres you can afford. If you buy cheap you get cheap. In my opinion, strings are the same

I wasn't suggesting it was a struggle as is, I was suggesting it would be better. There's a difference. And if the singer can't manage a semitone higher, it's probably already too high. Still, what do I know?

Also the only person I've ever heard Jimmy Page talk about with genuine respect and affection....

It is the band's job, yes, that was exactly my point

Are people - particularly people who have actually paid to be entertained - not entitled to expect to be entertained? And if they're not being entertained, surely they should be allowed to have a nice chat? When I play classical concerts, whether orchestral or chamber music, we are generally giving people what they want and have paid for, so they pay attention. If I'm playing in a pub, where the punters may well not have paid, or even be expecting a band, I might well expect that we'd have to do something to earn their attention and/or respect

That looks well dodgy to me. The feet of the bridge should be centred on the inner nicks of the f holes. That's the way it's always done. If it's not like that, it's either been knocked or it's been set up by someone with absolutely no knowledge of stringed instruments. get it sorted ASAP

A lot of the tempo issues are down to rehearsals. If you stop when the song is too fast/slow and insist on starting at the correct tempo, you'll all get used to it and find it easier. Then all you have to do is concentrate and listen....

I use a metronome all the time in practice. Slow practice is a huge part of my practice routine, comes from way back in RCM days. There was a massive emphasis on practicing things "right", so practice at a speed where you can play correctly, then up the tempo until you can't, then back off from there. I have NEVER used a metronome on stage for any performance, ever. Why would you?

How do you prevent your violin being stolen? Put it in a viola case Sorry. I love the viola, and viola players are the salt of the earth, but there are so many great viola jokes

Very true, they're both fairly heavy. Maybe buy a nice wide strap and keep the Wal?