Bassfinger

What makes me cringe is the wsy some fingerstyle plyers hold their writpst at an acute angle to dangle their hand down the front of the instrument. Thats an RSI waiting to happen. Elbow up, a much shallower angle betwixt hand and forearm is both less likely to cause injury and allows greater control.

I spent some months applying myself to that problem and cracked it - its hard to describe, but one kind of needs to stroke the string with the oblique edge of the pick rather than twang or pluck it, and using flats helps. After a little work I'm good enough that I can't tell on some recordings whether I used a pick or fingeroonies (although for physical reasons I tend to default to the pick these days). Since this not-so- revilutionary breakthrough I've found a few others in a similar position who can mimic fingers to the point where its diffocultmor impossible to tell. I believe our very own FinnDave is in a similar place with that. So fingers don't hold court in a sacred place where the pick fears to tread, at least for fairly conventional fingering (fnaar!) they don't.

Cadillac 3 in December, Aerosmith in June.

Buskers who like to be the centre of attention?

Thats my why studio ismin a room with a fairly stable temperature and the door kept closed, and I don't leave them in hot cars, and why they travel between warm house and cool outdoors - and back - in hard cases. As a result I never need to touch my truss rods after initial stringing and setup.

Rock solid 5 days to a week in my experience, and I order a lot of gear from them.

My MIM Geddy Lee is rock solid, beyond initial set up never needed to touch it. I was a bit concerned at first because of the slim neck, but my worries have proven unfounded. Ditto my Ibanez PJ, Fender Precision, Squier Precision, Harley Benton's and Hofners.

I thought that with bass it was a pick, what with the electric bass being an American invention and all so the American name was the convention? With guitar it should, of course, be plectrum.

Why recommend a used Squier? The only Squiers that better the tupical HB are the Classic Vibes, and any CV as cheap as a HB will be a severely beaten up p.o.s. The HB jazzes, precisions, etc, are easily as good as anything from the cooking Squier range, for invariably less money. The run of the mill Squiers share the same shortcomings for rather more money, so why bother? Until you've owned, lived with, and gigged a few Harley Bentons, they you can't really make such comparisons with any authority. I have, and I do.

I like the fact that it looks great, is a proper tool thar plays well, is as capable as anything costing double or more, lends itself to cheap mods, and won't break my heart if something bad happened to it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, or in this case the playing. It's now my main live bass, and sounds utterly convincing in that role. What's not to like?

A HB MB4 or 5 win good condition will never be worth less than £80 or so, a depreciation in the order of £35. A sub 5 will depreciate 10%, which is coincidentally a little over £35, the moment you get it home and take it out the box. The depreciation dog doesn't bark this time.

Does she play the oboe?

Isopropyl alchol, followed by a mild soapy water solution. Probably best to do it off the instrument.

Its always sad when a brother-in-bass passes on to Valhalla, but especially so when its one from such a hard driving band.

I don't have any feeling in 2 fingers and little feeling in my thumb following an accident and wrecking my elbow and shoulder, so have little option but to pick play. But thats fine, as after all these years I can alter my technique and can play, where the situation demands, in a manner indistinguishable from fingers. You can pluck with the pick, stroke the strings, use the edge at different angles, allmsorts of different sounds, it's so versatile. Dunlop Tortex Triangle 1.0 is my favoured tipple.

It is indeed. But for that one song where the vocalist struggles in the original key...

I just use a drop pedal and save a while lot of messing.

Nope. 3 of the 5 band members have electric cars, so transport is business as usual for us. We now have a quiet spell until haloween and bonfire night, by which time the panic buying tools might have come to their senses.

I have the 4 string. Incredible out the box, but a Warman pickup added both clarity and punch and turned it into an absolute giant killer.

Hiring only singers that do as they're bloody well told!

The Adagio nickel wound flats are pretty decent. In any other packaging I wouldn't be upset to pay 30 or 40 quid for them. I prefer nickel to stainless or chrome, so they suit me nicely.

To my ear the - listening on a pooter with Presonus studio speakers - Fender and Sire sound dull and lifeless. The Squier sounds better, but the output is clearly low. The HB sounds really rather nice, never mind for the money. However, the review rates them in reverse - It's all in the ear of the beholder! Interestimgly, my otherwise identical Squier weighs over half a kilo less than the reviewers, which shows the variability between chunks of wood from different individual trees. It also demonstrates how pointless the 'how much does the XYZ bass weigh?' questions are that we see - it weighs as much as each individual bass weighs.

The Beeb are suggesting it was new, not you.

It was hardly a new type of music - grunge can trace it origins well back into the 70's - and not new to Britain. The only difference is that they were the first purveyors of that style to hit the mass public awareness in the UK. Much like punk, that had actually been around for 3 or 4 years before it became a 'new' UK phenomenon in 1976, so a bit of poetic licence there from iPlayer. I went to see them in Bradford at Christmas 91 or 92. A friend of mine was mad for them, didn't wan't to go on his own. They were interesting and definitely had something about them, but I've seen plenty of pub bands put on a more entertaining, more technically competent show. Im a rocker with a broad spectrum of tastes and do love Nirvana, but there show was underwhelmning, perhaps barely north of s***e.

Saw Jethro Tull last night, and noticed that David Goodier is playing a Fender Jazz Bass. I'm not sure of the exact model, but it had a Badass type bridge, natural finish under clear poly, and looked rather blummen tasty. Lemmy's Rickenbacker. Phil Lynott's Precision with the mirror scratchplate. Geddy Lee's 72 Jazz.