Richard R

Welcome aboard! Advice for starting from scratch. As someone who's still not that good here's some of my experience. Hopefully it helps, and if not then just ignore it and enjoy yourself 😎 1) Head over to Studybass.com and start at the very beginning with how to hold the bass and avoid injury! His lessons are really good for beginners, teaching the basics of technique and music theory properly and well, and they're free. Best guide to bass setup too. Scotts Bass Lessons are marmite, the paid courses are IMHO absolutely worth the money, but others hate him 2) Practice at least a bit every day. This is really important, because you have to get muscle memory and that takes time. And you can fall back really quickly which can be disheartening. Scales and simple arpeggios, nice and slow, are always good practice whatever stage you're at.* 3) Play stuff you like as well as stuff to help you improve. I play utterly crap versions of Muse and Cream riffs, but only for me. 4) As soon as possible, and if at all possible, play with other people. Don't wait to get good, you get good faster playing with others as you simply have to. If your dad and girlfriend are both musicians then sit in with them. 5) Persevere, and remember that everyone started at zero. Most people overestimate what they can learn in a week, but underestimate what they can achieve in a year if they actually do practice a bit every day. 6) Personal bass lessons are incredibly helpful, and a good teacher is worth the money. But if you can't afford it, or don't find a good one you then the online options above are good, as are others. * Full disclosure: I don't manage to practice every day any more due to a change in job. But I did when I was just starting, and now those weeks when I do make the effort, I really notice the difference 👍

Welcome aboard! Not a long intro at all, it's always great to know what people are into and why they're here. Lots to keep you amused and I'm sure your technical knowledge will help out others. Head over to Repairs and Technical for Wires and Solder, Build Diaries for Wood and Paint, Pedals and Effects for Stomp and Squelch. Playing bass, you ask? No idea mate, sorry!

Following this with great interest and anticipation of the wild but ultimately very cool final finish. Does NBD now stand for New Build Diary?

The Wongnotes - what a fantastic band name!

Please do. There should probably be a time limit of maybe a couple of months or so, otherwise we'll be reminiscing, not reviewing, but a week isn't too long. (Someone else can start the reminiscing thread. Especially if they can honestly say they saw Pink Floyd at The Swan in Yardley, Birmingham in 196x 😉 )

Belatedly I've started a Gig Reviews thread as a companion to this one. Sorry it's taken so long @Stub Mandrel, but I wanted to post last night's gig as the first post after the intro. So of course @Nail Soup got a post in first 🤣

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Birmingham Symphony Hall, April 22, 2022 This was booked 2½ years ago, and sadly the friend who booked it died last year. So it was with mixed feelings, but huge anticipation, that his brother and I took our seats last night, right up in the grand tier of Symphony Hall. Man- that was a heavy gig! Thunderous drums and phenomenal bass underpinning early Floyd played with more passion and energy than on any LP. Truly astonishing to hear, and the band so obviously enjoying being back on the road. Most of the set was as on the "Live at the Roundhouse" album, but with 'Candy and a Currant Bun', 'Saucerful of Secrets' and 'Echoes'. Hard to pick out any one song, but Guy Pratt's bass break in the middle of 'See Emily Play' was unexpected and superb. The keyboards and guitar playing was of the highest order - and who would have thought Gary Kemp could rock, shred, and distort a guitar like that? The sound was crystal clear, from the bass and toms though to the lightest shimmer of cymbals and gong. The occasional banter and introductions to songs were also hugely entertaining, Nick sounding like Radio 4 and the rest of the band gently ribbing him about his being born in Birmingham. I would see them again in a heartbeat.

Just what the title says really, a thread for reviews of live concerts. Pop, funk, jazz, choral. Anything you went to, but specifically not gigs you played. A companion thread to the long running:

Bad luck to go out on something that will make no difference whatsoever to the sound. Arguably, however, the battery status checker is not in the signal path, so you could stay in on a technicality. What say the thread?

I'm unexpectedly out. Very late on Wednesday after a couple of beers I read a review of the TC Aeon string exciter and though "£30 for an Ebow-a-like? That could be interesting." Like the Ebow, it's designed for guitars, not basses with heavy strings, and the Ebos thread on this forum isn't entirely favourable about either, but I have a specific use case in mind so we'll give it a whirl. Only just arrived in the post, so time to play tomorrow 🙂

https://brynhaworth.bandcamp.com/album/ready-or-not Bryn Haworth - who has a new album out and almost his entire back catalogue up on bandcamp. Great understated guitar playing.

I do love the sound of baritone guitars. I first heard about them from a program on the radio talking to Pat Metheny about his album "One quiet night". He came across a baritone guitar somewhere and bought it on a whim. He then spent most of the night exploring, noodling, playing some tunes. When he listened back to the recordings he had made he really liked the vibe and put it out as an album unedited.

Travelling North-South in Wales is just incredibly slow. Mountains and rugged landscape do not make for fast roads, unfortunately. Except that bit between Rhyader and Aberystwyth, but that runs East- West and all the cops hang out there too.

Excellent result all round. I like the sound of acoustic basses, but they simply aren't loud enough to sit with guitars. Your idea of wireless and a tiny amp is brilliant.

The $64,000 question of course, have you used it at the intended sessions, and were you rumbled?

This is looking really good. Even from the back!

Been a while since there's been a Molesworth reference.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard! There are lots of people here who can advise on beginning double bass, but I'm not one of them. Best head over to where the hep cats like@Owen hang out. 😎

That I like a lot! The upper horn and cutout give it a slightly more aggressive look than the typical Steinberger copy, as well as being functional design.

Tickets for Nick Mason apparently arrived today, for 22nd. Really looking forward to the gig, though touched with sadness that the guy who organised the tickets - back in September 2019 - has since died.

That's one heck of an effects pedal!

This cheered up my morning 😁 However the Spotify link may not work, so here's the live version with intro:

I agree with the others, suggest playing the recorded track so the kids can dance to what they know and have more confidence, and give yourselves a break for that song.

One of my all time favourite albums. 😎👍