Stub Mandrel

I do like that, Myles Kennedy is a vocalists at the peak of his abilities. Classic bit of Ultimate Guitar tab: Tuning: 5-string down 1/2 step (Bb Eb Ab Db Gb) This can be played on a B-tuned 5-string bass with a few adjustments. I tabbed it as tuned down to match the guitar parts. Then the whole tab doesn't go lower than B...

Feel free to add more! This was done in jest, but some clever bugger could analyse loads of tabs and see if there are certain note that are more popular in some styles. My acoustic guitar I've been playing continuously since the mid-80s has a very distinct pattern, but I'm not sure what it means.

Can you identify the musical styles the owner of an instrument is into from their fretboard wear patterns? Of course you can, here's the simple and infallible Basschat Guide:

I get fed up when people think charity employees should be paid a pittance because their wages come out of donations - many charity employees feel this way too! Personally I think they should be paid extra for doing jobs that benefit society.

I used Troy's cover video, I find slowing him down 50% works better than most tabs.

Are you winding us up 🙂 Ah 49:30...

He was booked to 'close the festival' which was going to be the end of Sunday night, but things over-ran and over-ran. They gave him the choice of sticking to his slot, but he said he would stick with the closing spot.

Let me correct that for you... I have lost count of the tabs that play a repeated note then move up or down five frets and across a string to continue on the same note. I suspect some of these are 'frankenstien' tabs assembled from several others or produced by beginners who have worked out each 'section' separately and don't actually realise they are playing the same note, but I'm sure some are just bad.

I can pretty much play the single version spot on, except for the odd lapse of concentration - the irony is that because it IS such a simple repeating structure if you lose your place you it can take longer than ideal to pick it up again. But yes, the place to get is where I can improvise the whole song around the basic structure. It will all get simpler when the drummer has it nailed so I can take a cue from his fills.

It's OK on a big stage, don't you think the bed is a bit big for pub gigs?

When I started my mate leant me a precision on the condition I learnt to play it one finger per fret. Now I play a mixture, one finger per fret is easier to play faster, and I hate tab that has you flying up and down the neck for no good reason. BUT there are plenty of songs or parts of songs that I play with just the three biggest fingers. I never use my ring and little fingers together (like an upright player) because (IMHO) a bass that needs that much pressure just needs setting up properly! But plenty of people do use this technique. The answer is very much down to what feels comfortable for you, but if you can deploy different techniques as it suits thw song, you will be at an advantage.

And you're still 1 funeral short of a full anecdote...

Up date on this, none of the various supports I tried really cut the mustard. I tried about five different types of bandage, support, neoprene... best was a big green support tube, I tried dying it black but it came out green. Then noticed my brother and his bassist both use ordinary sweatbands. Got a couple of slazenger ones and they are great. Then the killer punchline... noticed this in a photo of me playing in about 1987...

. Jimi Hendrix – $18,000 That's probably $2 for everyone that watched him, most of the crowd had gone home by the time he closed the festival. Most interesting is to see the pecking order. 1 Arlo has parity with a CSNY!

I can't remember exact figures from , but I recall between £20 and up to £40 on a good night in the early 90s, so we were probably getting £100-£200 as a five piece in the Midlands, originals, pubs and small local clubs. I think my first band (covers) used to ask £60-£80, in the late 80s in South Wales. Looks like places were a bit more generous when they didn't have the internet and wide screen TV to compete with.

Don't worry, it's the biter bit. I'm responsible for more thread drift than a tornado in a cotton mill.

Wow. I remember the pointy fish inlays!

Good luck to you. It's not to my taste, but I wouldn't post my thoughts on an actual selling thread.

It's the variety of of how each time round is played, he sticks in little bits that are up an octave, varies the rhythm pattern a lot and sticks in some really nice 'runs'. For me it's pretty much a textbook example of a perfect 'blues rock' bassline, even if it isn't a 12 bar.

I must admit to being puzzled why you are trying to find a use for it. If a use for it isn't immediately apparent, what good is it for you? Good question... It's really fun to play, and feels very different, the fact all my basses feel different is more important to me than them sounding different, as this encourages me to play in different ways and not just hammer out the same riffs. The 5 is the most distinctive of them all, except the fretless. I can just play the same old songs on the fretless (and I have been to a rehearsal and done just that) but it's real appeal is slowing down and letting the notes swell and try to bring out that sound and feeling which is so distinctive. There's loads of music out ether which showcases the fretless as almost a completely different instrument, such as Wherever I lay my Hat or A Remark You Made. The 5 string doesn't seem to broaden musical horizons in the same way. Anyway, I've been trough our setlist looking for opportunities to use it. Most songs have a bit where you can go down instead of up. On Green Day their songs the dynamic of whizzing up and down the E and A strings and letting them ring between notes is a big part of the dynamic. Sunday Afternoon is a prize - the very last note is a D and a low one sounds good. There are also a couple of songs where dropping a tone might help the singer. I think I have to have a try and see what happens. I cam play teenage kicks one-finger per fret up there no trouble - I have hands the size of shovels... or at least long fingers - my one bass playing advantage.

Last rehearsal I got a lot of angst after learning a large bank of riffs that are sorted into something like 32 different sections of this Bad Company song, and got most upset because I got lost a few times. Then I found this, which uses the same bits (mostly) but the order is very different and there are extra repeats and bits missed out so it's pretty much the same length. I need to mellow out, plus I think I'll try and play closer to this version, wot is epic.

Brief flash of a youthful sorry - Mark Ellen isn't it at the beginning? And a hideously chipper Andy Kershaw at the end! On which subject, a bit of 'demographic targeting' going on there...

They had some fun looking ukes, but fortunately when I saw the string configuration I came out in a rash.

It's not a fault, it's a feature!