Richard R

Welcome aboard! Lots of Americans on the forum, as well as UK pro and theatre musicians and church bassists. You'll fit right in. (There are also rank amateurs like me who can't play The Chain.) What's the bass?

Welcome aboard I read that as a Peavy Millstone 🤣

Will definitely be worth the wait. Gets comfy chair....

Welcome aboard! There is very simple advice to follow as a beginner bassist. Keep the beat and don't buy another bass until you can play the one you have. Not sure how many people obey it, but it's still good advice.😉

Welcome aboard!

I completely missed voting, but they were all excellent. And then I went down a complete rabbit hole having followed BandCamp's "Play more tracks like..." recommendations. 😉 @Stub Mandrel, @xgsjx.

The thing to remember is that this thread is a bit of a "safe space", so people can and do vent their frustrations or ask for advice with awkward situations. Chances are that if you're active on this forum then you probably take music and your playing more seriously than many other people who can play an instrument but for whom it's not a passion. Many of your fellow band mates may only play in church, and hardly practice other than for the service. That's OK - they serve as they can. It is annoying when people could do far better for a modicum of effort, or change songs at the last minute, but we're called to be gentle with each other. We're called to be Christians first, and musicians second. If it ever becomes the other way round then we've screwed up and need to get our priorities straight. I am not a great player, I'm adequate and improving. Some services go well, others not so. Today I was constantly ahead of the beat on "Lord Reign in me", correspondingly late on "Build My Life", and goodness alone knows what happened on "Big Family of God" when the low D suddenly came out 12db louder than expected, clipped the input DAC, and sounded like a herd of farting elephants! However the BL (who is 30 years my junior and a superb musician), knows that I'm putting in the practice and slowly getting better, so he wants me in the band. As he's tolerant with my playing, I'm tolerant that he sends songs late, changes his mind, and is considerably less organized than I am. Maybe see if you can turn up and play "socially" with the band with no time or service pressure and just see how you get along? So as @oldslapper says, don't let this thread put you off if you feel you want to worship.

We are going to have to organise a Midlands Bass Bash, just so you can show this off!

The 1000th episode of The News Quiz 👍

Sepia ink for the headstock, same as that top left image?

Welcome aboard! Glad to hear you're starting to play again. Lovely bass!

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Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

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.