Newfoundfreedom

I've been back to Lincolnshire (in fact the UK) once in the past 3 years. I only went to pick Dad up and it was the longest 2 days of my life. I'm not slagging the place off. A lot of people love it and there's certainly worse places to live, but I don't miss it much. Far too cliquey. Some cracking takeaways though. That's probably about the only thing I miss.

Have the owners of the site never thought of making it available on Tapatalk? (I'm assuming it's not on there as I searched and got a forum for bass fishing 😂). It makes browsing and using forums much easier than a standard mobile site.

Just had the second practice with my new band and I have to say I'm absolutely loving it. Don't get me wrong, it's as rough as a badgers @rse and would make most "professional" musicians ears bleed. But, having tried to get something together for years with loads of different people, it's fantastic to be in a room with like minded people where it just flows. I think it probably works because we're primarily a bunch of mates who go out drinking together and happen to play instruments. Were all in our 40's and 50's and have no delusions of being rock stars. Isn't it great when it just gels. No egos. No agenda. Just playing for the love of it. Do gigging, paid musicians still get that?

I lived in Skegness for about 15 years until I emigrated 3 years ago. One of my best mates is a drummer in Skeg. There are lots of local musicians around that have played together on and off for years in various bands and configurations. The problem is its quite a closed community so getting your foot in the door can be difficult. If someone needs a bassists, or for that matter a drummer, guitarist or singer then they all know "someone". If I'm honest it's kind of the same socially. If your face doesn't fit then forget it. I personally was extremely glad to see the back of the place even though I still have family and friends there.

Well seeing as I have just joined my first band in over 25 years my reasons for quitting my first and only previous band are a little different to the ones listed so far. We were all 17, got cars and girlfriends, and at the time driving and [email protected]##ing seemed like more fun than band practice. Ah the folly of youth!

My first bass was 90 quids worth of pure crap. It was the cheapest second hand bass in my local music store when I was 15 and went by the name Biscayne or something to that effect. It was black and the action was so high you could hang your washing on it. I just assumed that's what basses were like having never played before in my life. I had no idea you could adjust the action. I'll say one thing for it. It gave me strong fingers. I ended up in a Metallica cover band. Try playing Seek and Destroy on strings half an inch high 😂. I don't even remember what happened to it. My second bass was an Ibanez Rickenbacker copy which I chopped in at another music shop against a 6 string when I went through a wannabe guitarist phase. Third was a Warwick Thumb in blue glaze. That was a thing of beauty.

Hi mate. Sorry to hijack the thread slightly but I was just wondering how you got on with the Ibanez 300e? I'm kind of just starting out again and I don't want to spend a load of money on gear. I was looking at the Ibanez. They look quite decent for a low price bass. Cheers Martin

Thanks. I totally agree. You will always get your gear snobs, but I can honestly say hand on heart, I enjoy playing my £100 eBay semi a lot more than I ever enjoyed playing my £1200 Warwick. Then again, when you pay like I do it doesn't make much difference. 😂

Hi all. Just thought I'd quickly introduce myself. My name is Martin and I'm a Yorkshireman living in Bulgaria. I'm a born again bassist, or at least aspire to be having not played in a band since I was about 16 and that was (cough) years ago. A few friends and I are just in the very early stages of getting a band together. I'm extremely rusty but enjoying playing again. My current weapon of choice is a dirt cheap Sub Zero (gear 4 music own brand) semi acoustic bass which has a surprisingly nice feel and is actually quite playable. And an old 1980's 100w Laney Combo. I will probably be looking to upgrade soon if anything actually comes of the band situation, but having owned (and sold) tons of gear over the years I'm determined not to put the cart before the horse this time, even though all those shiney for sale ads keep luring me in. Last time I did that I ended up with a grand and a halfs worth of Warwick thumb bass and a full Laney double stack, which was probably overkill for my garage 😂.