Bassfinger

Foreigner were brilliant in their heyday. Great musicians, decent singist, some very good songs, and a range of work that overlapped into so many different styles. It's one of life's great ironies that their most successful single is the least representative of their output (the album was a corker though.) Ozzy deserves to be in, if only because his autobiography is one of the funniest, yet most sadly tragic, books I've ever read.

And he plays mandolin too.

IKEA, McDonalds in Wokverton, Scottish Power.

And for extra authenticity they be built, strung back to front, stolen, hidden in a loft for 52 years, and then put on sale.

Right hand you say, so presuming you're right handed and its your plucking hand...? I don't have arthritis, but due to breaking my arm badly years ago I have nerve damage that means I have no feeing in my right ring finger and pinkie and they don't obey commands properly. A different cause, but liable that the end result is going to be similar. Practice was the only way around it as I learned to play around the problem, and I've not snobbish about using a pick if it comes to it. I also used the outside two fingers - ie, the two that dont work properly - to steady my hand on the pickguard and pluck with the other two fingers and thumb, rather than anchor with the thumb. It helps that I was a guitarist long before picking up bass and can fingerpick, so it was a case of adapting that technique a bit. Might be worth a try for you. Beet of luck.

But if someone devotes serious time to their craft, even if not driven by a formal education, any progress is not accidental. As with anything in life, the harder I work the luckier I get (cue 6 pages of pedantry about the nature of luck.) Mark Knofpfler became a 6 string genius because he persisted, because he put in the hours, because he would practice and repeat until he quite literally fell asleep while still clutching the guitar. Never taken a formal lesson in his life. Conversely, I know sheet, rigid, unintuitive players who've had lessons up the ying yang. I've had a fair bit of formal keyboard and guitar tuition, but I'd never question to abilities of those who got there by a different route. If it worked, it worked. The best way to learn something is the method that works best for that person, no matter how much it pleases or upsets others.

They weren't all that, yet here we are 54 years after their official demise talking about them like we do for no other band.

It needs to go into an amp before it goes to a speaker, be it an amp head or the amp within a combo. Unless I'm misunderstanding the question - quite likely, I'm daft as a brush - you won't hear a sausage were you to simply plug a pedal into a speaker cabinet.

An expenses paid dinner for two with his ex wife, a scintillating conversationalist.

Not missing the point at all. It's a different means to the same end, is all.

The other thing about music theory thwt is akin to reading. Even if you're untutored in the subject, if you listen to a helluva lot of the stuff you'll develop an inate understanding of many of the key points of melody, texture, rhythm, pitch and keys. You might not be able to vocalise and explain it, but you'll still dig how they work.

When I fit a new set I keep the played in set for just that purpose.

Many of us made such sacrifies and devoded such effort and talent into other fields and have been a success. That being the case, for some it will indeed be a case of prefer not to be. I'm good enough for sure, but at my age when I'm financially secure and retired anyway...why would I? I've not even made the effort because I really would prefer not to be with my 57th birthday on the horizon.

The bass is about the only instrument I haven't had formal lessons on. That's probably why I still enjoy it!

I just play them. I typically practice bass at least 90 minutes a day, so two or three days they're nicely played in. Itsmsuch a relatively quick process it hardly seems worth faffing about with ky jelly or pile cream.

A Gen 2 P5 is my primary live tool. The boys in the band love the sound and have begged me not to change the pups, and the fit and finish is an easy match for the player Precision ot replaced, and which cost twice as much. Feels great in the hand, looks great in sesfoam (gets a lot of admiring comments from audience members), good tonal range, can't fault it. I actually like the tuners. As I always do, I torqued them properly and lubed then sparingly with graphite paste and find them very positive and stable. No mods as yet other than Marvel type locking strap buttons and strat type knobs (I like to have numbers visible.) I have a passive EMG pickup that I would like to try but our guitarists love the sound as it is and have threatened me with all sorts of unpleasantness if I ever do a thing to change it. To be fair they have a point - it does sound great, has a real solid mid range kick that cuts through beautifully in live venues. I'd certainly look closely at other Sire next time I'm bass shopping.

Read a very interesting piece on how it was tracked down. Discreet enquiries with the two suspects, now elderly, with a promise of no recriminations uneathered a pub landlord to whom it was sold. And so on they went down the chain. It seems a little unclear to me if the most recent custodian somehow realised spontaneously what he had, or if the amateur sleuths were closing in and he decided to fess up (the timing seems remarkably coincidental to me after 51 years, but I might just be an old cynic) and pocket the bung from a grateful Macca. I wonder if Harrison's stolen guitar, originally thought to have been stolen along with the bass at Abbey Road on 21/01/69, will ever come to light? Being a big Harrison fan I'd quite like that in my loft.

At my age now, no, even if I were coining it. Were I younger, and were I a pro earning good money then yes. Were I younger, and a pro but barely scraping by then no.

The way I approached it... I'm either happy just playing with my mates, and if I wasn't I'd leave and find some more chums to play with. We'd have a laugh, earn some shekels, but not take it too seriously. We're having fun, and if the fun ever stopper then so would I. Or I'd really go for it, be completely focussed and driven and end up with a decent paying job with a household name act. That never happened, because I was never driven to do so when I was young enough that it might have happened. It's the in between bit, the no man's land between the two, that seems to be the danger zone and I've been fortunate to avoid it and all the bull that seems to go along with it.

So not stolen from Abbey Road on or around 21st January 1969, along with one of George's guitars? It's all a bit confusing. Fair play, if it is the one he must be pretty chuffed.

Great right hand technique. Possibly started as a guitarist? I often play with my thumb as well, having first plearned to fingerpick on the guitar 40 years ago and every bassist I've found that does the same started the same way (cue indignation from 500 basschatters that do the same and who have never touched a geetar in their lives.) He's very tight and precise too. He's practiced that a good few times for sure. Fair play to him.

It depends on the instrument and what you're using it for. I like to have a mix of basses with flats and rounds at a ratio of about 2:1. Some of those basses suit one type of string or another and that tends to dictate what type they wear, and others seem quite happy with either. Assuming you have enough basses to spread the love around then don't confine yourself to one type or sound.

Other than being ill I never go more than a day without playing (I always take Sundays off to rest the soft tissues.) By virtue of being ill I've had other things to worry about than practicing bass so I could not really say. Even when working abroad, or latterly when going on holiday, I take my Hofner Shorty and Tascam GB10. On holiday I may only do an hour as opposed to my usual 90 mins+, but that's the only concession. What I can say is that the thought of not playing makes me nervous, so I strive to avoid that scenario. I love it, its who I am and what I do.

Is it a genuinely roasted neck, or some kind of dye or tint? We demand you chop it in half to see!

Have a good think as to why you are struggling. Pooptube and the like have plenty of videos of young lasses playing mid scale basses or even 34" Fenders without issue. Is it physiology? Is it technique? Is it something else? Identify the issue before thinking about trying to fix it. A scattergun approach probably won't be helpful. Best of luck.