Bassfinger

A difficult choice. Both great basses. I think I'd incline towards the Vintera, but could doubtless be easily persuaded into the Player series. Both MIM I think, so build quality that ranges from merely adequate to absolutely stunning depending on the individual instrument, so better off going to a store and finding one that hits the target than taking pot luck with an online buy. Good luck, you've got good times ahead whichever you get.

Pay great attention to hand positioning and the height at which you wear the bass. Im guessing that not practicing is not an atteactive option? In that case, rest your hand/wrist bas much as possibly between times by wearing a brace/support. And seek the advice of a specialist.

My signature bass would be a turdburst Glarry Jazz, with a neck shim made from an offcut of feather edge fence board. Ply body on the Crafted in Turkmenistan model. Basswood on the MIA verson. Neck made from an old telegraph pole. Pickups would be a mismatch of Wolkinson, and a cast off Mrk Knopfler Seymour Duncan, honest guv. 3 pickguard screws would be missing. Strings would be an eclectic mix of round and flat from different brands in different stages of wear. Frets would be deliberately uneven, and the truss rod far too tight. Back bow is essential on my signature bass. One strap button will be missing. Knobs from an old Electrolux oven. One mismatched tuning peg. Gotoh bridge that cost more than the entire bass. Naked lady sticker obligatory. Tug bar must be several feet away from the recommended Fender position. Set up willmbe done by only the most highly trained pre pubescent secondary school craftsmen, done in their bedroom while watching Countryfile, using only premium, top of the range crowbars. And the price of this Bassfinger Official Signature Bass goodness? A mere £2999 from official Fender stockists. Avoid cheap copies!

Who does it have a picture of Boris Johnson on there?

McCartney did the bassline on the recording, but who wrotemit is anyone's guess. In places there are 2 different basslines being played simultaneously, so it can be a bit of a bugger.

I never bid until there are seconds left. I don't udnerstand why people bid early on, cos all theyre doing is knocking the price northwards.

We incorporate 6 or 8 new tunes each gig, so our set set list is ever evolving, so the same audiences at repeat venues get something more than a repetition of the last show. Not practicing new material is something we cannot afford, and we value our audience (and fans, we do have one or two that slavishly come to every gig) too much to merely give them simple mediocrity when it is within our power to give them excellence instead. All it takes is will and effort. Even when theres a good stretch between bookings we practice together at least twice a month, because if you don't you never regain that lost ground. The people that come up with excuses always seem to have time to watch Eastenders or Line of Duty (or farmyard porn if thats their thing, whatever), but then come up with the lamest reasons for not haing a spare 2 or 3 hours with the team twice a month. Merely adequate may be ok for your outfit, all power to you. Nevertheless, we feel our audience deserve the very best we can give them, and there is no substitute, nowt, nothing, nada, for pratice when it comes to delivering excellence.

Jolene. Took about 5 minutes to learn, another 5 incorporating some fills and frills, and then 20 minutes of repetition to get it wedged in the cranium.

Playing ones chosen instrument should be fun. Half an excuse and I'm clanging and banging on the bass. Therefore practicing woth ones chums should be fun too, something to look forward to and enjoy in and of itself. Players who don't practice with the band clearly find it a chore, and strive to avoid it. Therefore, I would question their commitment to being musicians, never mind to being bamd members. I can understand you being frustrated at the time its cost you, but its taught you something you wont forget about human nature as it pertains to some musicians, so its not all wasted. Onwards and upwards, what! One nice thing for me about being in a band with 4 others who are all mature, one MD, 2 company directors, and one company proprietor, is that they aren't into faffing about and wasting time, or doing drugs, getting so pithed they waste a session it. No messing, no drama, no histrionics, we turn up and play.

Absolutely. People prattle on about MIA being 'better' than MIM etc, but their QC is so loose it can vary radically from one instrument to another. So much so that any blanket statements about superior MIA quality is simply utter rubbish. But all is not lost. When I bought my Geddy Lee I went to a shop and tried all 3 that they had in stock - two were a bit meh, but one was perfection in finish, set up (the store set them all up themelves) and tone, and thats the one I went home with. If you're willing to go and try a few you can overcome the variable QC problem by finding a good example and ignoring the mediocre ones, whereas buy online and you get what you're given,

Medium-low for me, about 3mm at the 17th fret. Any lower and it starts to adversely affect the tone, and the frets clanging can show up as clicking and popping, which is annoying. Also, going any lower than that starts to make hammer-on's and pull-offs both harder to do, and sonically less effective. Really low is restrictive in so many ways, so fairly-low but not silly-low works best for me.

I think im on their blacklist after recently losing my rag at one of their neanderthals who'd blocked the path by parking his van 4 wheels up on the footway because their was nowhere to park in the road. Twit.

Whenever I see a listing that says "dont put this on watch unless youre intending the bid" I immediately put it on watch and ask all my friends to do the sam,e.

Hofner Shorty, fretless, EMG active pickup, gotoh tuners, badass bridge, mid 70's British Leuland metallic brown poly finish.

Can you use any parts from the dead car or cooker repair the bass?

It doesn't really bother me. I don't buy into this MIA automatic superior quality for a certain brand of instruments though. Its too inconsistent over the years to be anything like true, even as a general rule, and it's not like Made in America has ever been a byline for quality workmanship in cars, electronics, or pretty much anything else. Given the choice Id rather not buy goods from a regime with ampoor record on human rights, but really thats close on impossible so I just roll with it. By the time ive got the sound, function, and price/quality balance I'm after, then land of manufacture is pretty far down the list.

Olympia are cheap, but IMHO theyre woeful.

Our drummer is a decent cook, so im oretty sure his Missus won't want him replaced with a machine.

They look so artificial, just awful. Few relics look truly worn and aged, but some pull it off better than others (Limelight ususlly look fairly convincing) but these look pith poor. A pickguard is supposed to look UV aged, faded and full of ingrained dirt, not like its been under the grill for 10 minutes. Still, they're marginally better than the DIY jobs you see where someone has simply taken a bit of wet and dry to the comfort contours.

Im a musician and I wasn't forced to sell out. None of us are. Instead I made a very reasonable living doing something else, which leaves me free to do exactly as I want as a performer and writer. Nothing stopping anyone else doing the same. That way the crumbs I make from music are a pleasant bung, and not something I desperately have to rely upon.

Never tried one, but that looks saucy to my eye. Mirror pickguard, Badass bridge, you'll have the chicks lining up backstage with that 🤪 The Indonesian Squiers do seem to be extremely well made and finished, to the point that they make a bit of a mockery of the price Fender ask for the Player and PP series basses.

I went for the Geddy Lee jazz because it was one of the nicest all round basses at any price that I've ever played. Im a Rush fan, so Geddy's signature is all to the good, but it doesn't really matter to me, that's not why I bought it - it could have been a Hilda Ogden signature bass and it would have made no difference to me. Just so long as its not a Jimmy Savile signature job...

Audio Technica MTH-M50X. One of the best all round headphones at any price for music practice and productuon, and well in budget at about £120. However, something the Sennheiser HD206 is 90% as good for 35% of the price, so there's a lot of scope for something very decent for less cash.

Why nother rehearsing at all as a band if you can't get out and play? Either fire him, or leave yourself and seek out a band that is actually playing, or give him a polite ultimatum to go gigging (Im sure he leaves the house for other reasons when it suits him). Hes not the only medically vulnerable person out there, and the rest of us are getting on with itm,going to work, shopping, wherever. We're all double jabbed in our outfit and being sensible with distancing and cleanliness, and that's all any of us can do anywhere anyway.

First venue after the lockdowns we went to them and asked them what they would like us to play. Armed with a list of treacly pop songs and crowd pleasers, we went away and rejigged them in a hard rock style (our USP - our hard rock version of Jolene is particularly good) and blew the socks off the land lady. Since then shes been chatting to all the landlords and landladies in the area, and its been a cascade of good recommendations and bookings, cluminating in our first wedding booking, all with zero advertising of any kind. So ask what the venue wants to hear rather than make any presumptions, or doing something 'a bit different' (which everyone does, so ends up being no different at all). Then put your spin and signature on it by all means, but the punter is paying the bills so it's dsft not to ask what they would like to hear you playing.