LeftyP

OK, this is not about playing in church but we have just transformed the inside of our building into an interpretation of a Bethlehem market on the night of Jesus' birth. We did this the Christmas before lockdown (2019) and it had a great reception. Over this week several school groups will be taken round and introduced to characters such as; potters, money changers, spice sellers, shepherds etc and told about the birth of Jesus. We have the bustle of a busy market playing over the P.A. and Roman soldiers patrolling! After the tour the school kids (junior age) will get some food and activities to reinforce the story. The general public will be invited on Friday evening and Saturday morning. I'm the angel who brings "Good tidings of great joy"! My wife did a walk through video on her 'phone during rehearsal and I'll see if I can upload it.

Did you not think to keep in touch with them? I've known people who have left church or clubs and complained that no-one kept in touch, but it is a two-way street. I don't know why or how you withdrew from the team, but people can feel awkward in those situations. Don't expect everyone to run around after you if you show no signs of keeping in touch with them. I hope the situation resolves itself and you can mend bridges, but it will take effort on your part too.

I have two. One is a Tanglewood violin bass (Hofner Beatle Bass copy) which I learned on and my main one is an Italia short scale. I do look at other bass guitars but when I pick up my Italia all thoughts of buying another bass fade away!

I have no idea who the guy is but Promenade Music in Morecambe is a brilliant shop.

Don't forget the rip off that is the "booking fee ".

I work in local radio and hear the new stuff all the time, which is why I choose not to listen to it at home!

At our service yesterday our pianist called in sick, so our assistant pastor filled in on semi-acoustic guitar at the last minute. My wife was on oboe, and I was on bass. We had two female vocalists. The small church was full (around 120 people), and the singing sounded great. I hit most of the right notes in the right order and the whole thing worked well. Sometimes an impromptu situation can produce good results!

Despite being a music fan and working in local radio, I do not sit and listen to music very often. I cannot remember the last time a put a CD on and listened to the whole thing. I don't have any music or radio playing in the car as I find it too distracting. A few months ago, I put together a playlist on Spotify. It contains many of the tracks I loved as a teenager back in the 1960s, all played on Radio Caroline (North) via medium wave. The Beatles rub shoulders with the Beach Boys, Association, Rascals, Mamas & Papas and many other more obscure one hit wonders. A few days ago, I was relaxing after putting some miles in on my turbo-trainer and listened to my 60s selection. I was 16 again and a lot fitter. Sadly, back then, I was also covered in Acne but that's another story! I knew all the words to all the songs while I don't know anything that's in the "Hit Parade" these days. Oh, for the heady days of Radio Caroline.

I must confess to being out of touch with the Top 40 charts these days. In fact I'm not even sure they still exist! I was born in 1950 so was a teenager in the 60s and remember many instrumental hits that populated the "Hit Parade" as we called it. Does that still happen? Off the top of my head here are some of the performers I can bring to mind; The Shadows, The Ventures, Duane Eddy, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Russ Conway, Herb Alpert, Percy Faith Orchestra, Sounds Orchestral, Bert Kaempfert, B Bumble and the Stingers, Booker T and the MGs, The John Barry Seven, The Tornados, Johnny Dankworth, Dave Brubeck... I could go on, but you get the picture. Apart from the specialist radio stations like Classic FM, are instrumental tracks getting "air time" these days? There were tracks by the big bands still being played back in the 1950s/60s with Glen Miller and Benny Goodman among them. Film and TV themes contributed to the list with the Theme from Exodus, Big Country, 633 Squadron, The Dam Busters etc. My personal favourites would have to be "Because They're Young" by Duane Eddy and "African Waltz" by Johnny Dankworth Orchestra. Do you have a favourite?

Because I'm not the only one relying on that monitor. This Sunday was really good as I was positioned where I could hear the main church speakers so I knew what I was playing!

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs - Hey Wooly Bully!!

I don't get hung up on technology and have very little control over how my bass sounds in church. I plug into a D.I. box and the volume and tone is in the hands of the sound guys. I'm crammed into a corner between the drums and keyboard and only have a small Behringer monitor on a stand through which to hear the whole band. The monitor struggles to cope with the bass frequencies and as I'm behind the main speakers, I cannot hear what the congregation hears. I play a short scale four string fitted with flat wounds. I suspect most of the congregation will not really notice the bass and those that do will not care how much it cost or how many gadgets it is fed through. I like to keep things simple!

I use a Tascam GB10 with a pair of Phil Jones Bass headphones. The Tascam can be loaded with mp3 tracks and you plug your bass into it to play along. You can change the key without affecting the speed or change the speed without altering the key. It also has a "loop" facility that enables a tricky part of the song to be played over and over again. With a built in tuner and metronome, plus battery or mains power options it is a great little package.

It's an Italia Maranello Cavo bass which is short scale and hollow bodied. The lightness of the body does mean it has some neck dive which I tried to cure by fitting Hipshot Ultralite tuners. They have made a slight improvement but not as much as I thought they would. The bass weighs 7.24lb or 3.28kg.

My bass weighs just over 7lb. I play in our church band and we do four or five songs per service. There are gaps between the songs so I can take the bass off and sit down. Last night we had a two hour rehearsal to sort out a new sound system and my back felt the affect! When you have back problems the weight and balance of the bass becomes an important issue. The lighter the better for me.

We had a great day at church today. We have been having two services on a morning to ensure "social distancing" but this had meant that some people chose to go to the same service each week and lost touch with people who attended the other service. With the relaxation of covid rules we returned to having one meeting and today was the day! It coincided with many of our youth groups coming back from a short Youth Camp. We have many groups and activities for youngsters from birth to young adults during the week but not all of them will turn up on Sunday mornings - until today. Our church is blessed with lots of secondary school and university students as well as toddlers and junior school children. I am old enough (71) to be a grandfather to most of our church! They all piled in this morning bringing with them their parents and siblings who would not usually attend on Sundays. Our small hall was packed. There were 155 chairs laid out and only a handful were not occupied. I was playing bass guitar in the band and when everyone began to sing it was inspiring. We started with "How Great Thou Art". Everyone seems to know it. When we repeated the chorus at the end - acapella - I choked up. It has been so long since we were able to really let our praises ring out. We have out grown our building and are looking for new premises. Not so much a problem as a blessing!

I don't wish to derail this thread but does it matter to you if a player endorses a product. Would you buy a bass simply because it had some player's name on it?

Lacking charisma-just about anyone who sits in front of a television camera these days. I'm staying in a hotel and they have a TV on in the breakfast room. I've never seen so many bland and beige people ever!

I live about a ten minute walk from Overwater and have to walk on the other side of the street when passing in case my credit card drags me in!

Isn't that a reservoir in the Peak District?

I played at two interesting services this morning - one at 09.30 and again at 11.00. Stormy weather conditions, covid and school holidays meant that some band members were absent, leaving only three of us to carry the music. We had the pastor's wife on vocals, a young (20 something) lady on flute and me on bass. Another female vocalist came to the rescue and pastor's teenage son (still at secondary school) tried his hand on cajon for the first time. We did three songs to the depleted congregations of about 35 people for each service. I just kept things simple - hitting the root notes on the beat and trying to stay in time with the cajon. The young lad did very well. It did sound a bit empty at the early morning run through but once the congregations joined it it didn't feel so thin. I played the intro for the final song, "Your Word" by EMU music. When I say intro I mean the first three chord root notes - F# D A. The cajon joined in for a repeat then everyone started the first verse. It was fun but a bit nerve racking to keep every thing together. I had to smile when thinking of those American "mega churches" that have more people on stage than most UK churches would have in their congregations. We lacked the numbers but we still made a joyful noise to the Lord!

I also have back problems and at the age of 71 they are only going to get worse not better. That is why I play a short scale, hollow bodied bass which tips the scales (weight ones!) at a tad over 7lb (3.28Kg). It still has some neck dive, even though I changed the stock tuners for Hipshot Ultralights, and that puts pressure on my left shoulder. A wide strap helps but I still have problems after a long practise session. I play at church and we only sing about three songs at the moment, with plenty of space in between, so I can cope with the back issue. I don't really understand why bass guitars are so big and heavy. There are other threads on this forum about tone woods affecting sound but I think the electrics, amplifiers, speakers and room characteristics have much more influence on how your bass sounds. I don't think anyone in our congregation would notice if I was playing a custom Fodera or and old tea chest and broom handle jobby - as used in the old skiffle days. Why haven't the bass manufacturers embraced carbon fibre? In cycling the black threads have taken over and bikes are amazingly light these days. Surely using carbon fibre in parts (or all) of a bass would save a lot of weight. Even making the tuning pegs out of it would stop neck dive.

It's amazing how quickly tech changes. When I used to attend country music festivals and gigs in the 90s everyone wanted cassettes (tapes as they would say) to play in the car. CDs then made an impact but now downloads seem the in thing. If you want to get your music played on the radio a CD may get more attention as it is a physical product and cannot be lost among a load of emails. The booklet that comes with a CD (or Vinyl sleeve notes) provides useful information and gives a better "connection" between the artist and the punter. I work in radio and would much rather have a CD than mp3 attachments to emails. Emailed tracks may get played once but then get forgotten about because they are not constantly in front of me. If you want airplay the station will need a lot of info from you i.e.; Song Title, Performer, Composer, Music Publisher, Record Label and catalogue number. Without that information you stand little chance of your songs being played or receiving royalty payments.

Wow Owen, you set a very high bar. I'm not sure I can play it that well!