Sardonicus

@LukeFRC No, they're in their 50's. I might start a new thread just to list the questions I get asked each week. Once I started to explain to them about harmonics and ghost notes, I thought their head was going to explode like in the film SCANNERS 😖.

On Sunday, the beginner bassist pointed to their bass and said to me; "I don't even know what these knobs do" with no embarassment whatsoever, I calmly told them that 1 was the neck volume, 1 was the bridge volume and the other was for tone, their expression was one of total bemusement, I had to explain to them the different sounds that the neck and bridge pups make and what tone did. They then stood in front of the bass combo with a lead in their hand and after a painful couple of minutes staring at it in silence, they turned to me and asked if the guitar lead goes into the input jack on the amp....they've been playing for 2 years. During one song they said to me that they weren't sure what notes to play during a part of one song, despite it being clearly listed on the chord chart; A E Bm D, I went through the chord progression with them, pointing where they needed to put their fingers and in the end they chose......to play nothing, no bass for at least 2 minutes of the song, 3 of the 4 notes can be played on open strings FFS.

@TrevorR Trust me, I have been but I don’t think their passion is there, I won’t back down though and I’m going to continue helping them. They’ve been playing for a couple of years and they’ve never used the D or G strings

@Richard R I can play 8 weeks running and not play with the same lineup twice, it's making me a better musician as I'm learning to play with different people and that can be anyone from a seasoned worship team campaigner to a bass beginner playing one note per bar (to use your words). I must admit that after playing bass for 32 years, having to play acoustic guitar whilst someone murders the bassline with out of time, out of tune and over plucked `booms' is becoming more than I can handle, I've actually started to incorporate bass lines into my acoustic guitar playing to try to rescue the song. I would love to hear what they hear in their head 🤣

@Richard R Suggest a rota, that's what we have in our church and it works. Our worship team has; 3 lead singers 2 guitarists 4 keys players 5 drummers 5 bass players 2 Flutes 1 Violin 6 backing vocalists 5 on the PA Team That way everyone gets to play, either by taking it turns or playing when they are available. Some people fall into several roles, I'm one of the bass players, one of the guitarists and one of the backing vocalists. I'm a bass player first and foremost but I'm happy to play 6 Sundays of acoustic guitar to 2 on bass because I play where I'm needed, it's not about me, it's about Christ. I'm just a vessel to be used to spread His word.

@Baxlin The struggle is real, the YouTube livestream from our church never sounds as good as it does in church. By the time everything's been compressed etc, it gets changed so much.

Yesterday was the last `Silent Sunday', from today congregations can sing out loud, roll on next Sunday. I've been on acoustic guitar for the past couple of weeks and I unleashed my backing vocals yesterday, nobody told me to stop singing so I count that as a success LOL.

On Sunday I finally got to play in church 😃🎸, the congregation couldn’t sing due to the existing restrictions but hopefully that’ll end very soon. I was on acoustic guitar but I’m back on bass (God’s instrument) next week. Here’s a couple of pics from pre-service warmup. “My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭28:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Sorry for your loss. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" - Matthew 5:4

@Stingray5 just bought my J&D P-bass and he's a top bloke, he came round when exactly he said he would and we had a great chat about all things bass, we ending up chatting for almost 90 minutes.

I sold some Schaller strap locks to @cetera and he's a pleasure to do business with, no mucking around, fast payment and a great bloke.

After once having a go at soldering, my advice is......go to a pro. I worked out that to solder well, you need 3 hands.

I've used Fender 9050's and Rotosound RS77LD and they are both great but, I started using Elites Detroit Flats and they are amazing. Nice deep thump and they are louder than the other two.

I used to have a Rickenbacker 4001 copy made by Ibanez, a mate of mine that had recently bought a pucker 4001 Ricky tried mine and moaned that it played and sounded better than the real thing. I'm a firm believer in the power of budget basses, I've played and got rid of numerous Squier and Fender Jazz Basses over the years, during lockdown I bought a J&D Jazz Bass from DV247 for a little over £100, I stuck in some Wilkinson pickups, put on a high mass bridge from Northwest Guitars and strung it with Elites Detroits flatwounds....it's the best JB I have ever owned and it has some serious thump to it. It may not be anyone else's dream bass but it's now my main bass and I love it.

An old favourite.....