Barking Spiders

3 hours ago, martthebass said:

You've just told my early musical history.........not born on/around 1963 by any chance?

 

Missed by 7 years!  Were you at a shoite boarding school too?

How about this from former Donald Byrd proteges. Some lovely bubbling bass ting goin' on!

 As a 14 year old I was listening to most types of rock my faves back then being Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, AC/DC, Bad Company, Quo, Judas Priest, Skynyrd, Collins era Genesis and U2 . Now if I hear any thing by any of these and a hundreds more of their ilk I turn off the radio. School life from the age of 14 was utter shoite.  So mebbe subconsciously I associate those bands with a cr@p time of life. My best years were 18 -24 when I was mostly getting into synthy/electronic stuff and I've been within all that ever since.  

Seeing as I dont live far from WuE i thought I'd check out the link but a but disappointed to see the music there isn't my bag

2 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

I'd be interested to know how kids of today compare with what us men of a certain age were like back in the day.  I never had any lessons, picked up a bass at 18, joined a band immediately, and spent my 20's playing as much as possible...never got anywhere but didn't stop trying for a while.

Two friends with kids who are 16/17 and apparently very talented at the guitar, having accumulated grades and playing in school bands, etc tell me that:

• one has no interest in being in a band outside of what school make him do, and he actually much prefers playing trumpet in the school jazz band - it infuriates his mum that his two best friends play bass and drums, and none of them show any interest in forming a band either.  The boy himself loves going to gigs and festivals with his mum, but apparently has very limited desire to do it himself.  Instead, he is interested in music technology, and wants to be a soundman or lighting engineer (which, in fairness, is probably a better income stream)
• one loves playing his guitar, it's all he does in his spare time (and apparently he's no academic star so it's good he has one thing that he excels at).  He's never been in a band.  His ambition is to get a job in a music shop so that he can be around guitars all day.

I don't want to launch into "it were all better in my day" rant, but after how things have changed over the last 30 years - far less chance of making a million by being in a band, fame from talent shows not from learning you craft or writing songs - I wonder if the excitement that we all had at that age, the sex, drugs and rock n roll possibilities of being in a band, just aren't there any more.

Actually I was a bit like these lads when i was their age too. I liked playing guitar, drums and bass but never actually enjoyed being in bands,  though I've done a lot of depping since. I've always preffered depping as I don't have to commit myself and I avoid boring rehearsals going over the same old stuff again and again. Not that I ever pursued such a career  but being a producer seemed more interesting to  a 17 year old me than being a band member

Yep, I've seen em live a couple of times and they're not bad. Lau are another good outfit mashing up folk with electronics

hmm cant see them as clearly as I hoped but is a Peavey Cirrus BXP.  Googled for info on what type these knobs are but nowt. Anyone else had one of these and might know?

13 minutes ago, obbm said:

What type of knobs are you needing? Photos of the old ones?

BTW this isn't an insult to all you guys! 😉.

Fact is, I've got a bass up for sale where the control knobs are a bit knackered and need replacing. The most convenient store for me is Bass Direct but I 'm a bit gobsmacked at the prices, between £6 and 12.. each it seems and I need five. Are these prices normal and if not where can i get cheaper plastic ones?

I've always been partial to Django and some others in that tradition, the jazz funk of The Brecker Brothers, Crusaders, Jon Scofield etc and odd jazz tunes like Sidewinder by Lee Morgan and a couple of tunes of Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay. But bebop, hard bop , riverboat type jazz , big band jazz and atonal stuff ...nah! Do like a fair bit of electronica with jazz influences like St Germain, Jazzanova, Cinematic Orchestra and Amon Tobin

I did try hard at getting into jaaazz a few years ago (honest) and bought a couple of Mingus platters and a whole bunch of other allaged classic, mostly those cheap as chips box sets. To be fair the Mingus stuff wasn't bad, not good enough for me too keep but not deserving being flung through the kitchen window. Most of the rest just didn't tickle the right parts and all ended up being sold on Zon

On 08/09/2018 at 09:15, Twincam said:

A used sr500 is a very good buy imo. Ones in good condition can go for less than half price of a new one, I bought one last year for the price of a sr300. Speaking of which the sr300 feels nice and the electrics are ok but nothing special. Good choice if you like a very slim neck. 

The lower to mid range Ibanez models don't seem to be very fashionable at all, despite them being decent instruments. And they have poor resale value compared to alot of other brands. Shame really. 

Aren't low-mid price Ibanez actually made by Cort?  For my money Ibanez (SR) basses come into their own around the £800 mark, at current GAK prices. Under that, pound for pound I'd opt for Cort 's own basses over Ibanez 

I guess like many of us born during the 50-late 70s/maybe mid 80s music in general and playing a guitar/bass or wanting to play in a famous band were near the top of my list of the 'important' things in life, with fit looking girls being #1 😊. Without mentioning the missus/mr and sprogs.  is music in general and playing the bass in particular still way up there or have they been overtaken by growing tulips / steam engines / riding out on your Harley / other boat floaters. As a teen /  early 20 something music was a big deal for me, mahoosive even, so much so I'd spend hours a day listening and playing. Now I can go for weeks on end without wanting to listen to anything and now more likely to have a teach yourself Czech/Greek/Hungarian CD on in the car than music (true!).  Still, I probably spend more time noodling about on the bass and guitars etc than actual music listening. From the posts I read I think I might be in a minority here!.

Without question saturday night is the worst on Freeview /terrestrial tv and that's saying something considering the utter bilge shown on most channels the other 6 days. It's bad enough summer being over but the misery is compounded by four months of feckin Strictly and X Factor. I am partial to reruns of tec shows on ITV3 and Drama Channel, Doc Martin, the occasional science documentary on BBC2 or Yesterday and The Durrells and that's it. 

I was hugely disappointed  with Little Creatures as TH had dropped the funky elements on that album. Remain In Light is great but Fear of Music is their masterpiece IMO.  Not a duff track on it. More Songs About Buildings and Food is brilliant too, Take Me To The River being 100 x better than the Al Green version and is one of the greatest covers of any song ever. Speaking in Tongues is generally good but inferior to the other three while  for me its the Stop Making Sense versions of  Slippery People and Burning Down The House  that are definitive. I agree with what others say about TW, a classic case of apparently simple but memorable and highly effective playing supporting the songs.

I got my excellent SUB Ray 4 for £289 but nowadays most dealers are selling them for £320 -300 though I see Andertons, Thomann and PMT Online are offering just under £300. All reviews I've read have been positive  and I concur. I'd say considering the quality of build and playability Sterling are robbing themselves

1 minute ago, ambient said:

I don’t think beat it would have been anywhere near as good or as successful without Van Halen’s solo.

Often it’s down not so much to the producer but to him pandering to the A&R people who want it to sound like something it’s probably not written to sound like, just so that it sells more, which I guess is the point.

each to their own but I don't like the sounds of most metal/hard rock guitar solos. Love brain slamming riffage from the likes of Rammstein and Lamb of God but not trebly widdling .Prefer more jazzy, funk tones and the sounds Dave Gilmour gets even though I'm no PF fan. 

The thread on overplaying made me think a lot of the fault lies with producers rather than players. Often I hear the kernal of a great song only for it to be ruined by OTT orchestration, leaden drumming to the fore , inappropriate metal widdling in dance songs etc etc. One of the worst examples has to be the hit version of Sound of Silence  when the drums come in. Up to that point of course it's a great tune but for me the drums and kitchen sink the producer throws in ruin it. I also think Beat It would've been a better tune if the van Halen solo had been left out. I think Quincy Jones and MJ had a bit of a lapse there. So, what other  essentially fine songs do you reckon have been mullered by inappropriate production?

mostly it's been the excellent twin albums by The Black Dog - Post Truth and Black Daisy Wheel, the former being darker dance floor grooves and the latter being more ambient in a Boards of Canada /come early Autechre stylee

20 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

It's about time someone mentioned Norm, and the Rhythm Stick bass line.

A case of more is more. That song would not work as well without a busy bass line.

Often more is more. IMO there are too many songs where the bassists, drummers or guitarists underplay. Not that I'm a fan but Bad Company, Free, ZZ Top , AC/DC, U2 , Oasis and Coldplay all might've been better  bands  (IMO) with a bit of overplaying, especially the rhythm sections.

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!

22 hours ago, Norris said:

I don't mind most covers, but what I really dislike is the recent trend for adverts using dour cover versions by "quirky" female singers accompanied by melancholy piano. Usually they destroy a classic song, be it rock, dance, punk: the original genre is irrelevant. I'm looking at you Lloyds Bank especially, but perfume ads are guilty too. May they burn in whatever final destination for naughty people your chosen religion prescribes

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