Doctor J

It's depressing that every other article they link to on that page either starts with a number or starts with "The" followed by a number. If video killed the radio star, then lists killed engaging journalism.

If clickbait made sense, no-one would click the links. They need to have something stupid, but which can be argued for, in order to get people engaged, clicking and sharing. Clicks make money, quality content is an expense. Now, where did I put my Top-Ten Top-Ten lists?

I would keep stealing the B from the sign. So would all of you.

The point is grumbling about someone not enjoying playing a synthetic version of the instrument they have a passion for is a bit much. The experience is not the same and it's quite understandable why they might prefer playing the real thing, no? We might not enjoy the experience ourselves were the roles reversed 🙂 Besides, not all synths are keyboards 😉

The mechanics are the same but they're not the same instrument. There is a visceral pleasure to playing an acoustic kit which is entirely absent on an electric kit. How about telling a great Hammond player that he should be playing a Casio? The mechanics are the same but... you know what I mean? 🙂

How do you react when a drummer asks you to play bass on a synth?

Small tweak 🙂

Or... what about a stationary pickup mounted on a stand in front of the player and you just stand in front of it and play, keeping the bass positioned wherever you want the strings to be picked up. You could have an array of all kinds of pickups, P, J, MM, MFD, all mounted on the stand or maybe even on a rotating drum and selectable by footswitch. Have one bass but have all the tones, one bass to rule them all, I call it The GAS Master. Patent applied for. Back up, now, form a queue!

Parallel is a little mid-scooped, very controlled and useful tone we know and love. Serial is growl central. Not an all-the-time tone but when you need that extra bit of aggression, that push over the cliff...

I had a non-Yamaha PJ bass to which I added a push/pull pot, which gave me both pickups in series when activated. It's definitely worth doing.

Just a warning for any other bands who might end up playing a birthday party or anniversary in that area. One day, a guy might come up to you, say he's a lead guitarist and ask to play a song or two with you...

No. It's not ironic. It just doesn't make sense. I haven't taken offence, I'm just baffled why you thought I had. I have, however, expressed an observation that many news stories these days seem to be a minor celebrity taking offence at a bigger celebrity which frequently raises their public profile and results in easy exposure to the outlets carrying the "news". I've also tried to offer the context around the carefully selected quote from Clayton, having watched the entire documentary and knowing quite a bit about Lynott and the reference from a bygone era which Clayton was trying, clumsily, to convey. But offended? Not yet 🙂

I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

Because taking offence at nobodies doesn't equal clicks and exposure.

It's a couple of lines in a documentary on Phil Lynott - "A Song For While I'm Away" - he's talking about Phil and how Phil added a sexual context to his performance with a bass. There were so very obvioulsy phallic insinuations with Phil, a man from a very different era. Let's be honest, if you watch a documentary on Lynott and think Clayton is the notable mysoginist, well... you've only seen what you wanted to see. Context, as ever, is everything and, as ever, is easily overlooked when there is attention to be grabbed.

Quite a lot of "news" these days is someone you've never heard of taking offence at something someone you have heard of has said.

As Adam was speaking of bass playing as a whole, including female bass players, has Nadine just said she stinky poos on all of us? That's both rude and messy. Seriously, though, future interviews will soon be monosyllabic grunts for fear of someone taking offence at using an old saying which can be misconstrued and used as a weapon. That's great when it comes to the likes of Liam Gallagher, but some artists can be genuinely interesting when giving their slant on the world.

Sexy ist verboten now.

Also worth noting, Abigail Ybarra, she of Fender myths, legends and healthy asking price bump, was working for Jackson at that time and could have wound both our pickups 😉

They're very good guitars. The headstock puts people off, yes, but the build quality is excellent. I have a Predator from the same era. Love it.

Definitely! Maybe? 😉

Why do you care what anyone thinks? Do you enjoy playing bass, does it move you? If so, continue to enjoy it. Just the feel of low frequencies rattling my rib cage takes me to my happy place. I get lost in the enjoyment of the subtleties of our wonderful instrument. If others don't get it, it's their loss. Or, in another way, it's not you, it's them. 🙂