Barking Spiders

So often I see clips on You Tube and elsewhere where posters are in jawdropping awe of children playing bass, guitar or drums to a high standard. Thing is if a child starts learning at 3 or 4, with natural ability, being able to absorb information more efficiently than adults, having parental support and a good teacher by 10 they actually should be pretty advanced. At my school there were quite a number of boys who could play drums, piano, sax, violin, trumpet or guitar to a very high standard by the age 12 but given that they'd been playing for 7 or 8 years it was kind of expected. I wonder if these posters would be in such awe of an adult reaching a high level of musical proficiency in a just 2 or 3 years?

there's loads of bass players doing lead vocals, adding Troy Sanders from Mastodon, the bloke in Royal Blood, Bootsy Collins, Larry Graham when in Graham Central Station, Tom Araya from Slayer, Benjamin Orr from The Cars who sang on Drive, Colin Moulding from XTC.. The one who impresses me most is Mark King as it's 'kin hard playing his machine gun style of slap n pop while singing

No love for Duffy then? On the subject of self given titles didn't the Rolling Stones call themselves the 'greatest rock n roll band in the world' or some such gibberish or was it some other deluded soul?

fit little brunette dancing at the back there. Wonder if she's up for it!

oh yes and ain't that the truth the two worst being..

Just had a look at the line up. Well there's a couple of hundred quid saved

I did say 'current' and not 'new' bands. I will say that Planet Rock does seem to be very conservative in its playlists. Although not a big rock fan I quite like a bit of Deftones, Lamb of God, Mastodon and Prophets of Rage but random scans of PR playlists show these and many other biggish names in current rock get very little look in.

I'm stumbling towards my half century and have got to a point when the only 'new' music I'm interested in is electronica. I don't mean cheesy EDM but more leftfield stuff . My main source of new music is Last FM where you can check out 'similar artists'. Occasionally I tune into Planet Rock but all I hear from current bands is stuff that's as predictable as chart pop. Soz rock fans. Greta van Fleet, Monster Truck, Volbeat etc. I've heard it all before, long, long ago.

Don't think any contemporary guitarists are household names either! Those days are well and truly gone. Then again there have been very few bass players known to the general public, I mean 'just bass players' rather than band leaders /songwriters who happen to play bass like Sting, Phil Lynott and Mark King. Joe Dart is a fine player for sure and at least will be appreciated by peeps who enjoy modern funky stuff.

this week I have been mostly listening to old school hip hop; Critical Beatdown my Ultramagnetic MCs, Strictly Business by EPMD , Follow the Leader by Eric B & Rakim and the epon album from Naughty by Nature. Triffic stuff..IMO, not that there'll be many round here who'll agree😉

+ 1 for Hit me with your rhythm stick. Too shy by Kajagoogoo - deceptively tricky to get just right . very melodic and low on repetition and box patterns Club Country by the Associates for pick style. Cant think of a better bassline played with a pick Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder - IMO the best for getting used to moving up and down the fretboard and using all fingers on your fretting hand Love games by Level 42 - great for 'machine gun' technique slap n' pop

I've got 7 basses and guitars and have put up all for sale except my two Corts (B4FL and GB74, both in natural finish). IMO Cort is the most underrated brand in the bass and guitar world and pound for pound the best.

Whenever I pass by rock bands doing their thing, whether in a pub or festival, 80% of the punters watching them have long grey hair down their backs -though not so much on their heads - so I wouldn't worry too much about being an older geezer in a rock band. You can probably get away with being into your low 70s.

ha ha viz most of you fellas, just one of your basses costs more than my entire collection of 6. I've never spent more than around £400 on a bass and even new none of my collection tops £500. I'm gonna be whittling down to just my Cort B4FL and GB74. 2 of my 3 electric guitars are going to, leaving me with just an Epi Sheraton II. My days of GAS are well and truly gone.

When synth stuff emerged it was a breath of fresh air after the guitar band format had long since got stale. And since the much of the most creative and inventive music has been made with samplers, sequencers and programming especially when the software or equipment is bespoke . To be a proficient electronic musician you need to be pretty savvy viz writing programmes and tinkering with electronics, which I find more challenging than merely picking strings.

People who deride electronic musicians / synth players as button pushers clearly think it's all about those cheap Casios you used to get in Dixon's. Wrong! I'd like to leave them for a couple of hours with a drum computer, a sampler, some high end sequencers, a MIDI system and a polyphonic synth and see what they come up with. Bet they'd still be trying to figure out where all the wires go by the end.

John Taylor might be a bit sore at reading that.

unfortunately the headline is more interesting the story. I thought it might be about naked lady vicars but it's only about paintings being removed from Portsmouth cathedral

of course, and no headstock means you can swing about without hitting the walls. Beats Jimmy Hendrix and his playing in the bathroom while cleaning his teeth

is your toilet bass a short scale or do you have quite a big WC ? I could just about manage a mandolin in the down stairs one

40!!!!😱 sh1tty death. I've got 6 and think that's too many and plan to offload 2 or 3 of them. Where does he manage to store 40?

If I could have just one higher cost bass then it's a Stingray in natural finish. Only a Fender Jazz , also natural finish, comes close. Why? mainly because Louis Johnson - my fave player - played one in his Star Licks video. This is what taught me to play slap / funk bass. I can't justify the £2k price tag so got myself a SUB. Despite being less than £300 it certainly doesn't feel or play like a cheap bass. Not that I gig much these days I wouldn't be at all ashamed about playing one in public.

I thought this was the only reason for playing guitar?

Others making ambient ish electronica ... The Field - Swedish fella making minimalist ambient trancey vibes. Check out Looping State of Mind or From Here We Go Sublime Lindstrom - The 3 track Where You Go I Go Too is a bit of a gem Ulrich Schnauss - can't go far wrong with any of his albums but many followers would probably suggest Far Away Trains Passing By Blue States - if you like stuff with a bit of a film score feel then try Nothing Changes Under the Sun, which is quite John Barry ish

If you're into more ambient stuff, either beatless or light beats, then CBL are great. These are seen as classics of the genre Woob - 1194, 4494 Global Communication - 76:14 Future Sound of London - Lifeforms, Environments The Orb - Adventures beyond the Ultraworld, UFOrb Biosphere - Patashnik, Substrata, Cirque Autechre -Amber, Incanabula