josie

Many years back my son was working stacking shelves or some such somewhere in Leeds, and singing in the Leeds parish church choir. Which he kept quiet about until the day he had to ask for time off work to sing at the funeral of some hugely famous football person, with pretty much every living famous football person in the country in the congregation. At that point he got respect.

Welcome!

Welcome! Beautiful country 🙂

Welcome!

Welcome!

Completely unlike pretty much all of the above: 07/04/2015. Age 60. GMR Bassforce 5. Solo bass/vocal at my local om - "Feelin' Good" - as someone said, "a damn nerve!" but I was utterly terrified anyway, so go for it. Visibly and audibly utterly terrified, but met with a huge wave of support - the regulars had been trying to talk me into it for months. Still a defining moment in my life. 20/03/18 - first band gig, a little family and friends thing in the Band on the Wall café at the end of a blues workshop. That has grown into 31/01/19 - first paid gig for the Plastic Mojo Blues Band 🙂

Well done!

Bass player is seen to be upset before gig. Others in the band ask why. "The roadie has de-tuned one string and he won't tell me which one!" (I can't remember where I heard that or would give credit.)

Tough but somebody has to do it 🙂 I used to be embarrassed when women rushed up to me and told me I was wonderful (especially if I'd played badly), but I've become more comfortable with being a "role model" (especially now that I play better). If I'd seen a band with a female bass player when I first wanted to play, it might just have tipped me over the doubts and discouragement then, rather than waiting through 45 years of sorrow and lost time before starting. To get back on topic, these days I make a point of letting people know, hoping it will break down the stereotype at least a bit. Yes the resulting conversations can be annoying, but it's worth that if it makes them re-think.

I mostly play a 5, and recently got a 6. Adapting wasn't too hard. Noodling around with the 6 at home I was kind of seductively drawn to playing higher. But when I took that back into the band they all agreed that the higher notes got lost in the mix. I've now re-strung my Jazz 4 BEAD to push myself back down to the lower notes which is where the bass is doing what it should, underpinning the other instruments. This is in a blues band, but the principle should be the same for any genre or ensemble. I do use the high C to good effect when I'm doing solo bass/vocal, or with my regular duo partner, who has a wonderful voice but plays rather flat dull rhythm guitar, so the high notes add some useful detail and sparkle.

Welcome Rob! So true! Enjoy being on a roll, and try to build up some confidence and momentum so when you get better and your progress slows down - because you've got good enough to try harder stuff - you still have the momentum to keep going 🙂 Let us know how it goes.

Welcome back! And well done Mrs pob 🙂

Completely agree about the usefulness of nailing scales and arpeggios and knowing major from minor. I'm grateful that my teacher has drilled this into me. Any time I work on a new song, I'll play through the scale in that key a few times, over the whole fretboard (which is quite a lot on a 24-fret 6 🙂 ). Then nail the sequence and groove of the root notes. Then I know where the other scale notes are for little fills and runs and ornaments, and I can improvise confidently in a jam. As said, walking lines then make sense - not that I can play them well yet, but I understand what I'm trying to do. The other thing I've learned the hard way is just how hard it is to be Really Precise in timing. Every time I switch on the drum machine I realise how sloppy I am without it. Must work harder on that.

Yeah that's depressing and frustrating. I have zero patience with learned helplessness. Yes you bl@*dy well could if you cared enough to work hard enough. I had to. The recurring conversation that bugs the heck out of me is Me: I play in a blues band. Them: (look of surprise, pause) Oh, you sing? Me: No. Them: (look of surprise, pause) Oh, you play guitar? Me: No. I play bass. Them: (look of extreme surprise, long pause) Double bass? Me: No. I play electric bass guitar. Them: (look of very extreme surprise, no answer) I'm not over-sensitive to gender stereotyping (and have never met it as a Computer Science lecturer) but why the blank blank blank do so many people still assume that women don't play bass? 😞

Welcome! Good to hear you've come back to it 🙂 I hope you find a band soon, let us know.

Welcome! Nothing wrong with the safety of home 🙂 Nothing quite like playing with other people though. That's what bass is all about... If you can find a couple of peeps to jam with in private who you feel comfortable with, that's a good next step. If you have no ambition to go out and gig, you're still a bass player! and by no means the only BCer who feels that way. Let us know how it goes!

Welcome and very well done on your first gig! It can be scary at first (I was terrified!) but confidence comes with practice and experience. Hopefully The Rock Project will give you continuing opportunities and support. Very best wishes for your bass playing future, please let us know how it goes!

I just got seriously lucky. Went into Promenade Music in Morecambe knowing only that I wanted a good 5-string bass, and she'd only just come in that morning. Every time I try another bass I love her even more 🙂

GMR Bassforce 5 - my first and still favourite 🙂

A good word for GuitarGuitar. I placed an order on Saturday, email this morning to say the item wouldn't be in until the end of the week, please let them know if that was a problem. Mailed back to say no problem, but need it by Friday 19th. Second email an hour later to say they had just got it in and would send it faster delivery than I had paid for, even though there would have been plenty of time for the normal free delivery. Good customer service, I'll definitely consider buying from them again if they have anything else I want.

Keeping it simple:

I saw advice recently to always tune at the 12th fret rather than the open string. Certainly makes sense for a low B which many tuners can't cope with. I should try it...

Welcome!