Barking Spiders

In 1991 my first gig with a bass was when I was doubling up, my main thing being the alto sax, by which time I had a couple of dozen gigs under my belt. It was a Gibson EB copy which I'd copped for free. The only effects were a vintage Ross flanger and a wah pedal of unknown origin. Cant recall what amp it was.

Haven't gigged properly for a few years now but I tended to keep things simple preferring old style analogue effects pedals usually just a compressor, flanger, phaser and wah pedal . I've only ever had one speaker, a Marshall 100W combo keyboard amp that I ran both basses and guitars through. Did the job just fine.

Good see peeps here are much more open-minded than many others e.g. on amazon.co.uk's Music and Classical for a fr'instance. Seems to me those with the more closed minds have probably only heard the utter gash that passes for chart music and EDM seeing that stuff like Amon Tobin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, Orbital, Fila Brazillia etc. never gets radio or TV coverage.

is a common whinge among many music fans on Internet forums viz techno, hip hop, House etc. Personally I don't care how music is made just as long as it sounds good to my ears and feet. But I've come across many posters who can get quite worked up about 'electronica' and the use of laptops sequencers, samplers etc saying these genres aren't proper music. That said a lot of so-called dance/electronica combos do use real instruments live and sometimes in the studio. Just wondrin' what basschatters think. Feel free to vent your spleen if the mood takes you

though praps not in The Cramps, The Black Keys and The Doors

I find James Jamerson lines tend to be among the more tricky as they're typically not repetitive and feature a lot of subtleties. The bass line to Bernadette is a deceptively tough one to perfect

I'd been playing alto sax for 4 years before even looking at a bass. Initially I wanted to be like Charlie Parker, my old man being a fan. The bass player in a band I was in at the time went AWOL but left his EB copy behind so I thought it's only got 4 strings, can't be that hard. As he never came back for it I kept it, for another 12 years.

Louis 'Thunderthumbs' Johnson. I love slap and make no apologies for it and to me LJ was/is the master. Larry Graham may've started it all but LJ took it to another level while still keeping it relevant and not showboating for the hell of it.

or...this

or this

I'll never get over GAS as I'll never get close to getting what I'd ideally like which is .. this

I've always had three with me at any gig - one for slap, one with flatwounds for soul & Dub type stuff and a fretless. I tend to keep the ones I'm not playing out of sight just so no one thinks I look like a poseur.

'kin love Curve me, the best fusion of alt rock and electronica and a clear influence on Garbage

hI carl. Just made a donation. Also couldn't get the Paypal link to work using Chrome but it does with Explorer.. I don' t enjoy running meself so fair play to you

A great drummer indeed and a personal fave and a sad way to go, kidney disease. Prince reportedly had to pay for his treatments as he had no health insuramce

Hmm soz but I hear no funk either. And I find the lead singer's voice weak and thin.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487330350' post='3238987'] Is this the "I can think of a more obscure band than you competition?" Apologies, couldnt resist. I loved The Saw Doctors back in the 90s and have seen them 6 or 7 times. Irish Folk/Punk. They still record and tour. If you want a great night out go and see them. [/quote] Well considering that for every band/singer that makes it, thousands toil away relatively unknown, the probability that most half-serious music fans have several 'obscure' faves is pretty high.

Ah yes, thanks for reminding me about that tune Conan. Tis a cracker. Around the same time these were also faves of mine [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InmR5R1X428"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InmR5R1X428[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIamwXXyB5s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIamwXXyB5s[/url]

From the 80s there are quite a few fine post punk bands who never made the grade while U2, The Cure, Joy Division and others made it . Top of the pile - House of Love, Comsat Angels, The Sound, The Chameleons, Wall of Voodoo, The Woodentops and the funkier Shriekback. Funkwise there are a good number of fine but obscure bands I 100% recommend to funk brothers everywhere like Chocolate Milk, Black Heat, The Kaygees, Ripple and Sound Experience. I'm a massive fan of 90s 00's electronica and while the likes of the Prodigy, Daft Punk and Chemical Bros have done pretty well there are the better but less known Fluke, Finitribe, Crystal Method, Amon Tobin, F*** Buttons, The Field, Mouse on Mars...

I recently changed one of my two fretlesses and my Aria Pro II to flats and am well chuffed with the change in sound. Flats on the Aria give a deeper 'feel' rather than sound so are great for playing classic Stax etc. On the fretless I now prefer the sound and feel to rounds. Plus the tones don't dull after several weeks of daily use. They're crap for slap though.

I'd been thinking about posting a similar thread only a coupla days ago. Pretty easy one this for me, Parliament-Funkadelic, Trouble Funk, Earth Wind and Fire or Chic or Shriekback. The first three cos their gigs are just big parties. Chic,because they embody sass and cool. I'd have happily stepped into Dave Allen's shoes to play on tracks like My Spine Is The Bassline. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h_N49GEMjU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h_N49GEMjU[/url]

Bar the occasional dep work I've all but given up on joining/forming a band. My main problem is finding pretty much anyone playing anything with similar tastes and ideas. Where I live metal, punk, blues and general rock bands are ten a penny but they don't interest me. Heavy funk, breakbeat/hip hop influenced stuff is where I'm at. Just keep putting the word about and mebbe something will crop up is all you can do really

Yup, I well like the look of that Yammy, esp that green finish. As for the fretless the shape is great but I just don't like sunburst.

Cripes. Just seen the noms for this year's batch. Makes you wonder whether anyone cares about music anymore or rather what passes for it

Never mind people, you have the BRITS to look forward to, cutting edge ground, breaking stuff like Ed Sheeran, Clean Bandit and err Little Mix