LeftyP

It's always a bonus to own nice things - bass guitars included. Will your average punter down at The Dog & Duck notice the difference in sound between an Argos special and Fodera - probably not. Most folk don't even notice bass players. Just think back in the skiffle days and the old tea chest and broom handle, it worked and no-one bothered. Should you buy an expensive bass? If you can afford it and it brings you pleasure, why not. Is it necessary - no, but if we only bought stuff that was necessary wouldn't life be a little dull?

I was born in 1950(!) so we had the BBC Light programme which played stuff like Victor Sylvester and Billy Cotton with Kathy Kaye and Alan Breeze! Then came Lonnie Donegan and "Saturday Club" with Brian Matthew so we could hear Kenny Ball and his Jazz Men and very early 'pop' songs. The big band sound was still popular with Glen Miller to the fore and we had vocalists like Vera Lynn and Ann Shelton as well as Sinatra and co. We discovered Radio Luxemburg (Fab 208, your station of the stars) and I fell in love with Helen Shapiro - I was 11 she would have been about 14 - the older woman! I was playing the mouth organ back then and would perform at school concerts playing tunes like "Wheels", "African Waltz" and my party piece "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" - although I didn't know that was the title. Into my teens and Radio Caroline (North) hit the airwaves and everything changed. Being a teenager in the 1960s was amazing. Pop music exploded along with the Carnaby Street fashions and the off shore radio stations opened up the airwaves to great music. I loved the Beatles (still like their early stuff but cannot get into Sgt. Pepper), The Beach Boys, Mamas & Papas, The Association and most of the Motown catalogue. Later I became a fan of singer songwriters like Jim Croce and Harry Chapin and folk/rock bands like Fotheringay. I am so glad that I was exposed to such a wide variety of music as I can enjoy the delicate voice of Alison Krauss alongside the raunchy sound of Tina Turner and the soul of Aretha. I'm a huge fan of harmony vocals and the Carpenters and ABBA are never far away from my CD player. Heavy rock/metal and rap pass me by as I really appreciate great melodies in the mould of Cole Porter, Burt Bacharach etc. These days I generally listen to country and Christian music (I play bass in church). I like a song that tells a good story and has a pleasing melody to it.

When I read posts like this I feel blessed to belong to a music group (and wider church) who just seem to get on with each other. We have a team of singers and musicians who play on a rota basis. I play bass on average about once every three weeks with different personnel each time. We do not have set teams and it makes for interesting sessions. Cliques cannot form and we get to know a wider group of people. Most of us only play at church and run through the songs about an hour before the morning service. At 72 I'm one of the oldest members of the music team and we have secondary school students contributing too. It is a great mix and the Sunday morning run through can be good fun. We try to play well but don't get hung up if anyone makes a mistake. Our thinking is that when the 120+ congregation start singing they won't hear our fluffs anyway! That doesn't mean we don't care about the standard of playing but we accept that we are human and things can go wrong. We mix outside of band duties at other church activities and tend to enjoy being around each other. The main thing is giving our best for God and we park any egos at the door.

"I hate Mondays".

I haven't had the chance to catch up with all the posts on this thread but my favourite bass design is the Hofner "Beatle Bass" as used by Paul McCartney. I have a cheap copy of it and just like the look of the thing.

Here we go.... Bethlehem Live.mp4

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!