lozkerr

9 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

I had my Steinberger headless bass with me, and yes, they thought it was a weapon.

I've been asked several times if my Steinberger gig bag has a gun in it. Not by Mr Plod though.

Which made the bag searches at this year's LBGS all the more daft. I wandered in and out several times for a bit of air and to let my hearing recover. Every sodding time, they insisted on looking in my handbag which had just enough room for my vape, purse and phone, and my hippie rucksack which held a bottle of water, the show programme and a set of cans. Not once did they ask to look in the bag on my back which could easily have been concealing a self-loading rifle. Security theatre at its most tedious.

2 hours ago, mcnach said:

I didn't think I was ready the first time... but then I found I could do better than I had thought, and I improved MUCH MUCH MUCH faster once I was in a band.

+100 for this. So far, my current band has had three rehearsals - maybe a total of five hours actual playing together - and I can honestly say I improved more in those five hours than I did in the preceding five months.

On 27/11/2019 at 22:31, LeftyP said:

Why not look at the type of music you play and choose something from the title or lyrics of your favourite songs.

Superb idea. I've been looking through the lyrics of our eighties set and come up with a few possibles:

Laughing Caroline (although it does sound a bit like a real ale)

Silversplit

Pigeons from Hell

Flailing Fantasy

The Kid's New Gear

Hm... aye, the OP is right. This is harder than it looks.

6 hours ago, Paul S said:

Bob Mortimer is a sperm donor?

And John Kettley is a weather man.

S'OK, I'm going...

15 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

I'm lucky, I guess.  I can read music, which is just as well as tab is gobbledygook to me!

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I can still recall the awful 'WTF' feeling I had when I first saw a tab.

Having said that, when the only thing you can find online is a tab, transcribing it into a stave deffo helps with learning the fretboard quickly.

2 hours ago, dave moffat said:

Is that the one with the green doors?

Step this way and I'll show you. No, it's OK, no need to tell your mates where you're going. We're coming straight back.

On 18/11/2019 at 08:49, jacko said:

On this occasion a young (mid 20's probbaly) girl came over and stood quietly typing on her phone.  'Odd' I thought till she held it up in front of me - 'can you do Lucille, BKing?'. *  Seems technology is even taking over in drunk punter territory.  

And they say the youth of today have no manners... well done, that lassie.

Dead simple.

Thank you all very much, folks! It sounds like the H2N is the way to go, so I'll get one and see how we get on. Thanks to @SubsonicSimpleton for the heads-up about the adapter thread - I do have a camera tripod, so that takes care of mounting it.

Have a great weekend, folks. 🤘

On 19/10/2019 at 12:47, ambient said:

If you want recording quality even approaching OK, then don’t bother using a phone. Get a Zoom H2N, they’re great for the money, and quite small and unobtrusive. I’ve used one all over the place doing field recording for my PhD.

As ever, a very timely thread appears on Basschat 🙂 I'm looking for something to record our rehearsals that don't involve miles of electric string or wasting time faffing about with the studio PA. At present our lead guitarist is using his phone, but I'd like to capture a better quality sound if possible. As we all stand in a circle, ideally, I'd like to just stick it in the middle and hit Record. I appreciate that this might not give broadcast-quality audio or a properly balanced mix, but any improvement on a phone would be a step in the right direction.

Would the Zoom H2N fit the bill or should I look for something else?

Many thanks.

1 hour ago, 41Hz said:

I was practicing last night and got a sudden sharp pain in my fingertip. It feels exactly like I have a splinter and is still sore this morning when I touch the end of the finger.

Have you been handling fibreglass at all? I used to get this occasionally in my model-making days when using a fibreglass pencil for burnishing surfaces to be soldered. A wee splinter can be horribly painful and very difficult to see, as it'll be transparent. I'd check with a strong magnifying class under a strong light against a dark background. Pull the skin taut and see if anything appears to be sticking out.

If you do have a splinter, you'll need a good pair of tweezers to remove it.

5' 5" down from 5' 6" a while back. This Fender's bloody heavy.

7 hours ago, mcnach said:

Do you have personal experience with Tranent's Al James?

Yes - he's my tutor and currently weaning me off my 4.5/4 time signature habit. Good guy, very patient and professional. Here's his website:

https://aljamesmusic.co.uk/

Probably best to drop him a line and suggest an introductory session, just to see how he and your girlfriend get on.

20 hours ago, mcnach said:

Hmm, she doesn't drive, but I do rehearse in Rosyth so it might be possible to combine both our "bassinesses"... Thank you for the heads up.

Ah. I was going to suggest Al James but he's right out in the sticks at Tranent so driving (or picking up and dropping off) would be essential. But he is on your side of Edinburgh.

You should never change a light bulb. It destroys the feel of the original.

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Anyone know if they sell Fender nylon tapewounds?

What key are you playing it in?

I arrived at the low end after dabbling with several different instruments - piano and violin as a kid, both of which I hated largely because of the utterly uninspiring teachers I had, followed by bugle, trumpet and marching snare drum. I was quite passable on those, and if I'd stuck with the trumpet I might be a reasonable trad jazz musician by now. I still play the snare on occasion. Used to sing pretty well, too.

Then I went to university (well, it were Hatfield Poly, but it were a university to us, etc). One of the lads in the house next to ours had bought a bass - no idea what it was - and it was sitting there gathering dust, like so many students' instruments do. An impromptu jam started up one evening and I had a go on the bass. I was surprised to find I could easily manage some simple stuff by ear but thought no more of it. Shortly afterwards, I started knocking round with the technical manager of a theatre in St Albans, who'd been a pro for a while - he was in the Dogs D'Amour at one point. He suggested I should give the bass a go, but me being me and Knowing It All, decided I was meant to be a guitarer.

So I tried it, couldn't get on with it and promptly gave up. Then life intervened - career, marriage, house, kids - and music went to the back of my mind. After my marriage broke down and I'd got over glaring at the world through the bottom of a bottle, I realised I didn't Know It All after all. I bought an Ibanez GSR200 and was instantly hooked.

Looking back now, I should have followed my instinct and taken my mate's advice. If I had, I'd now have thirty years' playing under my belt. But better late than never!

Reactivating a zombie thread, but this has to meet the OP's criteria. Simple, quite repetitive, but this would be nothing without the bassline. That's my next transcription exercise sorted.

Ellen Foley - Night Out

On 12/10/2019 at 17:23, Machines said:

I know for a fact some NHS bodies advertise and interview external candidates when they've already decided which internal one will get it. And the post was created for that person too. 

Can confirm. No names, no pack drill, but I've worked for the NHS and seen it happen first-hand.

Not a gig as such, but I did do a three-hour slot on the independence march here in Edinburgh yesterday playing snare drum.

I had a strong sense of irony though. I've spent rather more than I want to think about on bass gear and lessons and I'm still looking for a band. By contrast, I was playing an el-cheapo drum I picked up for 20 quid on fleabay. It was held on with a £2 belt from Primani as I was too tight to buy a sling and I had to jam every tune as I hadn't heard them before - and at the end, the band were very complimentary about my drumming and asked me to join them permanently. Funny old world!

6 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Or get one of these, this was my first metronome 😂

I have one too! Still use it on occasion.

12 minutes ago, nilebodgers said:

Also - get a tuner and get used to being in tune whenever you play.

And a metronome. I use an app on my tablet and plug it into the aux in on my amp when playing late at night.

After a tiresome week in the smoke, I got home to find a large parcel from a well-known music retailer waiting for me. I was impressed with its size - what could it be? A new head? A set of IEMs? A couple of new pedals? A whole spider's web of patch cables? A lifetime's supply of strings? A box this size could contain anything... ah.

Well OK, I was expecting it, but talk about OTT packaging!

1. Sherry.

2. Wonderwall.

3. Err.

4. That's pretty much it. Two songs I loathe with a passion.