josie

[quote name='GeoffD' timestamp='1480117722' post='3181883'] I also used to spend hours every day practising..... and I still practice every day, I never get bored with it [/quote] That's the key! If you get bored and need patience, it won't happen and you won't learn. If you love it, you will learn and grow. My teacher tells me he much prefers students of our age (I'm 61 and started two years ago) to the youngsters - he says we're more motivated, and more willing to put in the hours every week between lessons to really make progress. Well done you! Stay on the roll

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1479485757' post='3176953'] I love my Aerodyne. [/quote] Good to find another Aerodyne fan! Mine felt like a detachable body part from the first minute I picked her up. Not many people seem to know about them. Returning to the op, I'll be deeply upset if my gorgeous immaculate GMR Flow-In ever gets the least little scratch. Otoh I'm not sure I'll ever feel able to gig her anyway, it would feel like turning up in my local pub wearing an evening gown and diamonds. The Aerodyne isn't badly dinged, but just enough that if another ding happens, as long as it isn't too grossly obvious, it will just become part of her history.

Interesting point about different types of gloss, I hadn't thought about it until now, prompted by this thread to go and try mine. Two of my GMRs, the Bassforce 5 (my first and true love) and the fretless 4, have velvet matt necks, I don't even notice them when I'm playing. The top-end Flow-In 5 has a gloss neck and my hand just sticks on it, even in a cool room with a light touch. So I assumed "I don't get on with gloss necks" - but my Jazz Aerodyne, which also plays as easy as a dream, has a gloss neck! I don't know enough about it to understand the differences between the exact finishes, but the Jazz is somehow "less gloss" to the hand although it looks as shiny. It's nothing to do with care in manufacture (at least in this case), the build and finish quality on GMRs is as good as you could dream of.

Welcome! and sympathy. I see you're already getting some good advice. Lots of knowledge and good will here, I'm glad you've come to us.

Another good option in NQ is Pieminister http://www.pieminister.co.uk/restaurants/manchester/

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1479901896' post='3180108'] Can we enforce the "no exposed belt buckles, no metal buttons and no zips" protocol? [/quote] I'll bring my kayaking spray deck. Thick rubber apron from waist to knees. Anyone who wants to play one of my basses has to put it on first

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1479590681' post='3177769'] ... his advice was take it as a carry-on item, but stressed put it in a gig-bag, that it was unlikely if in a hard-case it would be allowed in the cabin. [/quote] My musician friends in Nashville - who fly with guitars or basses a lot - also all advised me to take mine in a gig-bag. Not only the above, but also it's much less likely they will insist on putting it in the hold. Worked for me

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Funkgod[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Lurksalot - Spector Euro4 , Spector Legend4, TC RH750 , TC RS212 & RS210[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Mr Zed [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Les[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]ChunkyMunky - Musicman Bongo 5HH, Genz Benz Shuttle 12.0[/font][/color] Josie with probably three GMRs (two 5s and a fretless 4) (and/or two non-standard Fender Jazzes - how to decide? ) and definitely cake.

Beautiful bass! Good for you for fighting back. One good thing about starting playing bass is that the simplest basslines are often the best, it doesn't take long to be able to make a good sound in a band. Best wishes and let us know how it goes.

[quote name='Rexel Matador' timestamp='1479576702' post='3177614']
While they look lovely, the idea of a plectrum being something I wouldn't be ok with losing doesn't really sit well with me, because I *will* lose them!
[/quote] Understood. I stick to the cheaper ones, and I do lose one now and then, but it's worth it for the pleasure I get from experimenting and playing with them. I'm resisting getting into the fine details of amps and pups - but £5 each to compare the feel and sound of a stubby resin pick to a sharp wood to a heavy stone star (and they do sound different!) is vfm for me.

Great choice of date, close to my birthday, am I allowed to bring cake as well as bass guitars?

http://www.timber-tones.com/

Welcome RexM and no need to apologise! Plenty of good plectrum players around. (Should I tell you about TimberTones or do you already know? ) Better for you doesn't have to be more expensive! You could pick up a decent P clone for £100 (I did) and see how you get on with it for a while before committing to a big purchase. Let us know!

Excellent, thank you! I must get into the habit of listening to that programme regularly.

My 1992 Jazz Aerodyne has a big deeply scratched patch in the middle of the back - some previous owner obviously played it a lot wearing a big sharp belt buckle. I guess s/he didn't care because nobody else could see it. It makes me sad, but I accept it as part of the guitar's history. I would never let that happen to any of mine though, even if I normally wore flashy belts, which I don't.

Hundreds of hours over the course of a year. (On a base of many thousands of hours over 40 years.) Loved every minute :-) I wish I had a picture from the wedding, she wore it with one corner pinned to the top of her hairdo, spread across & down her back and the opposite corner trailing on the floor behind her. I worked on it on trains, in doctors waiting rooms, anywhere I could grab five minutes, and the number of people who would say "I wouldn't have the patience for that" - to which I said, "I don't need patience, I'm enjoying it. I don't have patience for sitting with my hands in my lap doing nothing like you!" My favourite (although sad) was a restless young girl whose mother said "Don't wriggle, you have to just sit there" to which the girl replied "That lady's not just sitting there, she's making something!" Patience - let's try to pull this back to playing bass - those basic scale and arpeggio exercises which, certainly at my beginner level, are essential to building a solid foundation. If I think of them as a chore for which I need patience, I won't do them. If I think of them as a pleasure in their own right, something I [b]want[/b] to do - I have this gorgeous bass guitar which I'm in love with, I [b]can[/b] play bass, and I want to play better, and this is the way - then I don't need patience. I'm making something.

[attachment=232128:GMR_headstocks.JPG] J/P - my J/P Jazz Aerodyne with its P pup turned up has more "P" punch than the straight Jazz, but never gets a real P sound. It does adds a useful bit more versatility.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1479168491' post='3174547'] Pictures or it didn't happen. . . . ! [/quote] [attachment=232127:Heathers_veil.JPG]

When you think about it, all the bowed string family (viola, violin, cello, double bass) have unlined fingerboards and no markers, and even young children just learn precise finger placement as a natural part of learning to play.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1479164719' post='3174520'] Hijack away! Let's talk fretless [/quote] New thread started on adaptations I actually always wanted a fretless, not sure why. I love the sound of pedal steel, and as much as I knew the role of the bass was to underpin that wonderful slide sound, I wanted to make something like that sound myself. My multi-instrumentalist younger son rightly talked me out of getting one as my first bass, but I'm at the point now where I can learn it. I do a lot of solo bass / vocal om, and slide and good sustain are central to the voice I'm developing.

Spawned from Grangur's "fretless 5 anyone?" thread: when the big names like Fender bring out an adapted model - a 5-string version of a 4, or a fretless version of a fretted - how far do they think through the adaptations? My pet hate is the Fender 5s, which (as I said on that thread) have four tuning pegs on top of the headstock and one below, which to me just looks like an afterthought. (Apart from the Jazz Plus 5, which has a longer headstock to fit all five on top and just looks right to me, although mine is really too heavy for me partly as a result ).

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1479163842' post='3174516'] Now I am genuinely impressed, 21 square feet of lacework must be a lot of work, and can imagine the toll that would have taken on your hands. [/quote] It's a museum quality piece on 2mm needles, original design which she and I developed together, based on traditional Shetland motifs with a quote from their wedding ceremony around the border. And she fully appreciates it. Sorry, this is really OT now! There's no adaptation that will get me knitting or paddling slalom again. Voice recognition has transformed my computer use, and at least I can noodle down the canal in a straight line. But - to get back on topic - I've accepted that I'll never physically be able to play the ripply basslines I love. But there are plenty of good players who use a pick, and - as my teacher says to me, and I say to the clients I support - you work with what you have. I [b]can[/b] play bass, and I understand my physical limitations and take a positive focus on [b]how[/b] I can play and make that my bass voice. Apologies if this a bit self-centred...

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1479162882' post='3174503'] I don't mean to trivialise what sounds like a nasty condition, but knitting while kayaking is very impressive, and then you were using a computer at the same time! [/quote] Ok sorry, correct that to "all on the same day, most days" The computer bit is easy once you have voice recognition - highly recommended - but you're right, I dread to think what my daughter-in-law's Shetland lace 7' x 3' wedding veil would have looked like if I'd ever taken it out on the river!

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1479162185' post='3174494'] Also, you need to be happy that the old fret lines can be seen when playing. This is because the old fret-marker dots are in the centre of the fret spacings. On a factory fretless, the dots are in the line positions of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th etc. [/quote] Good point, I hadn't thought of that. My GMR fretless 4 has conspicuous tiny inlaid white lines, looking like the ends of frets, where the ends of the frets would be, and the marker dots are in the usual centre positions, which possibly makes the transition from playing fretted a bit easier. (There's so much muscle memory in placing your fretting finger just [b]below[/b] the marker) The fretboard surface has very faint "fretlines" inlaid, just enough that I can see them when playing, but invisible from more than a few feet away. A work of art. GMR were never a "factory". There's a general point here - don't want to hijack the thread, is it worth starting a new one? - when the "factories" adapt a model - 4 to 5, or fretted to fretless - how much thought do they really put into it? For example, all the Fender Jazz 5 models I've seen have four tuning pegs on top of the headstock and one underneath, which to makes it look to me like an afterthought. The Jazz Plus 5 has a longer headstock with all five on top - lovely, looks like it's meant to be.

Please take seriously the chance of Repetitive Strain Injury. My wonderful physio once had a bass player boyfriend, and works with a lot of musicians, and has very strong and well-informed views on this. If RSI sets in it can be eased, but never healed, you will have to be careful for the rest of your life. I trashed my right elbow many years ago (overdoing computer mousing, fine lace hand knitting, and competitive slalom kayaking all at the same time) which is why I can only play with a pick.