Sardonicus

Hi Dod 😁

Lord Jesus Christ, I lift up @Richard R to You and to ask You give him confidence on Sunday, to allow him a flawless performance and to fill his fingers with a groove so holy that even Lazarus himself would rise up to strut his stuff, and as we ponder on the miracle that is the empty tomb, we know that You will be here for us always, thank You, Risen King, Amen 

@oldslapper @Richard R I agree with you both, I too was told that the order of priority is God, then Family and then Church and, I agree that Church is not the same as God.

Most people play 1 Sunday each month, I play 3 and I pick the songs also, even then I get drafted in on my week's off.

I have already had a chat with my Pastor and he agreed with me to reduce my Sundays so I have managed to take control early on.  It's getting close to the point to where my Wife is getting resentful to me being on the Worship Team and I don't want that because if pushed to choose between the two, she'll win every time.

Another factor in my favour is that I'm being mentored for preaching in the near future and I know that they'll want me at the top of my game for that.

It's great to see that stupidity hasn't disappeared from my church, this Sunday was supposed to be my week off but I was asked by the other guitarist if I could play guitar because "he only wants to sing".  I alternate between guitar/backing vocals, guitar/lead vocals, bass/lead vocals and bass/lead vocals and I just suck it up and do what's required, no prima-donna antics from me I'll have you know.

I am unable to attend tomorrow night's rehearsal as I had already made plans that I can't cancel (it was supposed to be my week off after all), and bearing this in mind, the other person decided to leave it until 2am Thursday morning to announce the songs and has said that he wants to do a medley of different sections from 5 different songs....3 of which I have never heard before.  The bloke's a wa**ker!

It's nice to own beautifully crafted and expensive guitars but I know that if I played Geddy Lee's bass, I'd sound like me and if he played any of my cheap basses, he'd sound like Geddy Lee.

I've owned various basses back in the day but for what I need right now, my`guitarsenal'  is currently made up of the following;

• Spector Performer 4 (£180 second hand)
• J&D Jazz Bass (£130 new)
• J&D `Les Paul' (£90 brand new)
• East Coast `Tele' (£110 brand new)
• Gear4Music Thinline cutaway electro-acoustic (£90 brand new)
• Gear4Music Thinline Dreadnought (£89.99 brand new)
• Washburn AB5-B Acoustic Bass, which I am selling on the very website should you want to check it out 😁 (£290 brand new)

I love budget guitars, there's nothing wrong with them.

** NOW SOLD ** Washburn AB5-B Electro Acoustic Bass

4 string electro-acoustic bass with beautiful sound & great presence, in excellent condition.

AB5B acoustic bass features Washburn’s own premium Equis acoustic pre-amplifier, powered by a 9V battery, receiving its signal from the piezo-pick up fitted bridge.

Spruce top, Quarter sawn scalloped Sitka Spruce bracing, Mahogany back & sides, Mahogany neck, Black Walnut fingerboard, 22 frets, 32” scale length, Rosewood bridge. Black colour with gloss finish.

Collection from South Woodford, East London, E18

14 hours ago, Tokalo said:

We do a reggae version of Trading My Sorrows (at practices only). We can’t play reggae, so it must sound dreadful. But it’s still great fun!

Try it in a service, last Christmas we played a reggae version of Silent Night, it went down so well that we were asked to play it again the following Sunday.  It breathes new life into old favourites, it keeps us musicians challenged and it makes for a very happy congregation.

Welcome to the family Paul,

I played a couple of Chowny short scale basses at the London Guitar Show a few years back, they're lovely to play and I was seriously tempted.

Basschat is THE place to ask any questions, the amount of knowledge, practical and honest advice offered by other bass players here is second to none.

1 hour ago, nilebodgers said:

 

It's not a sound that would work for everything, but it sits well when the bass is required to be supportive rather than up front.

I agree 100%, I play in a church worship band and my job is to lay down fat supportive bass lines, there's no room for `bassletics' when praising the Lord, it's all about Him, not me 👍

Flats were the original strings that would've came on the first Fender basses, therefore they are not a fad, they are the original, never bettered, bass strings.

Does this mean that rounds are a fad?

I have Elites Detroit Flats on my Jazz and I love them, it was only supposed to be a temporary thing but they're staying on for good. 

I would love to try a set of La Bellas but they're a little too rich for my blood, the Elites are only £27.99 on Strings Direct and that's more my budget.

@Joe Nation Welcome back into the family.

One of the things I love about playing in church is the randomness of everything, on Sunday I played bass and sang lead vocal for three songs, at the end of the service I switched to acoustic guitar and performed a duet with an 80 year old Columbian woman that had expressed the desire to sing with me, she stands at 4'5" and I'm 6'3", we sang `Holy Are You Lord' and whilst she knew the words and can sing in key, she had no idea of timing.......and I mean NO IDEA !!!

By the time I had got to the end of line 2, she was already singing the start of line 4 so I had to stop singing and concentrate on my playing, to adjust it so it fitted with where she was in the song.  I then realised that she wasn't even in time with herself and wasn't actually singing at one consistent speed.

At the end, someone described it as "the funniest thing they had ever seen".

In the past, I have posted stories about `The Learner' bassist, I say learner but they have been playing for over 3-4 years now, I knew that they only played the E and A strings but on Sunday I learned that they have never even tuned their D and G strings.  It was pointed out that to tune all of the strings was preferable as it would give stability to the overall tuning but we were met with an expression of complete confusion.

Things like this used to frustrate me but now I embrace the madness and laugh.

On second thoughts, perhaps they're just a big fan of Stig Pederson of D.A.D. 

The nativity play went well on Sunday, as well as being on bass, I was a shepherd.  I kept the head covering on for the entire service, it was for a 3-4 yr old and the top of my bonce was almost numb by the end, it also made me look like I had a sh*t haircut 😆

I've got a Spector Performer 4 and I love it, I did change the pickups as I wasn't a fan of the EMG SSD's.  It's super comfortable to play and it's so well balanced.

Mine was made in Czechoslovakia. 

On 17/12/2021 at 14:01, bass_dinger said:

Nobody noticed. Nobody complained.  

I also regularly insert bass lines from other songs into the service to keep myself amused and to see if anyone else notices.  When I've been on guitar I've played bits of ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid" and Metallica's "Enter Sandman", whilst on bass I've inserted "Walking On The Moon" by The Police, "Gangsters" by The Specials, "Shine Eye Girl" by Black Uhuru and "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley 😁

It's normally only other members of the worship team that notice.

@dmc79 There was also mention of everyone dressing up like shepherds etc, what sort of wardrobe do they think I have?  What sort of role playing do they think I get up to at home, I categorically deny that my Wife and I have ever played out "The 12 year old virgin and the barn full of strangers" ...that sounds more like a film that Jimmy Savile would love 🤣.

So this week, two of us had sorted out the songs and just as we were going to send out the list on Tuesday evening, my mate gets a message from the Pastor to call him.

During said call, the Pastor tells us to scrap the list and announces that this Sunday will be different and that he now wants the entire service to be an off-the-cuff, un-rehearsed, un-scripted, all ages nativity play.  "What about the songs?" we asked?  "I'll let you know" he says.

For two whole days we hear nothing and then I wake up this morning, the day before rehearsal and also after the day that the drummer pulled out, to a list of 7 new songs that we have never played before.  I admit that my reply of "Have you been smoking crack?" was harsh but it got the message across I feel.

We managed to get the list reduced but I still wonder WTF goes through people's heads when they plan things.   

I have the chance to get hold of a generic EB-0 copy and I wanted to ask what strings would people recommend?  Who makes decent short scale strings that won't break the bank and also, for an EB-0, roundwounds or flatwounds?

3 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

That's an unusual set up. 

I switch between guitar and bass and I have lead on both.  I think that tradition makes people think of guitar players as the leaders but we all know the truth...bass is the master.

20 hours ago, LeftyP said:

she played a rhythm similar to "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. 

This made me laugh until I snorted tea through my nose 🤣.  It's tales like this that make me glad I'm in a worship team, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Can you recommend anyone that can make custom amp badges?  I contacted a couple of companies that I found online but they either never got back to me, forgot about me or decided that they were too busy to make them.

Our main problem stemmed from the fact that we had a rota for musicians but not for who was leading/singing, I pushed for this to be put in place, I received great support from the others and so it is now in place.  We know who is singing/leading until January and then the new 2022 rota will be drawn up.

Because we now know who's singing, I picked this weeks songs and sent out the list on Monday, yesterday I sent out the list for Sunday 5th Dec and the person leading on Dec 12th has already sent out his list also. 

Life is good, God is good!

@LukeFRC We did have one person organizing everything but he stood down last year.  As I've only been playing in the church for 5 months I didn't want to wade in and take over but, having been in and around bands for over 30 years, I know what I'm doing so I plan to offer my experience and knowledge and hopefully they'll take up my offer, even a church worship team needs routine and structure.

My biggest bugbear is when you text everyone on the Signal Worship Team group and not one person answers or acknowledges it, I'm big on communication.