leschirons

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1354401567' post='1885683'] Yup! Sony. Not Toshiba. [/quote] Okay, I'll see if I can get a deal from Comet before they finally go. And there was me thinking he was just sh*te.

By way of the " but we need a bassplayer" syndrome. Drummer in bands for years and then lead guitarist but about 28 years ago a mate was looking for a bassplayer so I thought I'd have a go with a borrowed bass and combo. Then someone lent me the first Level 42 album and "The best of Chic" Been a bassplayer ever since although have also joined bands / done deps as drummer or guitarist. Still have a kit and my guitars and amps.

No gigs this weekend so I'm on the computer and Mrs L has the X Factor on. I've just heard some guy called Jarmaine (I think) on the competition. His pitching is so off at times and he does that weird "wobbly all over the place" thing at the end of each line. The guy is going from flat to sharp all the time yet..... They're saying he's fantastic, sings with so much passion and a contender for winning?? Is "passion" a modern replacement term for out of f***ing tune? I'm no Gary Barlowe fan but am prepared to admit that he is a musician / songwriter who's very successful and obviously Louie Walsh is a successful manager etc. Can't they hear what I hear? Is it my ears? Is it my telly? Should I have bought Sony and not Toshiba?

I was round my mates house in Woodford Green many years ago when Steve Harris came to view his house (to buy for his mum) Nice fella but spent more time talking about West Ham than buying the house. Nearly bought one just up the road from his one in Harlow quite a few years back that backed onto a pub garden (The Sun?) Which I think it's a MacDonalds now. Backed out when we found it had a huge crack in the wall. Maybe we should have gone for it afterall.

Beck all the way. The man has never stood still musically even when he knew it wouldn't be commercial. Oversteps the previous boundaries on every album. Seen him maybe 30 times and never been dissapointed.

[i]I very rarely make mistakes on bass with the trio as it's all simple covers stuff. However, as I'm lead vocalist, I have a tendancy to sing the verses in the wrong order. Much to the confusion of the others in the band. Especially when the last verse (normally sung as first verse if I'm having a bad night) leads the song into the finish We have actually done a one verse version of a couple of numbers.[/i] [i]Still, we laugh about it and so do the audience. Need to able to laugh at yourself so I don't beat myself up about it.[/i]

Best of luck.

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1353764932' post='1878251'] Can't wait for the Fender Signature model... [/quote] Apparently there's a road worn model that's rusty.

Just need to raise the bass a foot, take off the black wrist band and you've cracked it Best of luck Gaff, sure you'll get the job.

No good, not only has someone got to carry the bass rig in but the bassplayer too. The upside of course is sharing out it's 25% of the gig money amongst the rest of the band.

Okay, I haven't explained myself properly. Sorry for that. Firstly I do have a Fender Jazz and I want to put a preamp in it. The luthier I use has a secondhand Sadowsky unit which he's sure he can get in. Seems worth a try as I have Sadowsky pickups on the bass. The battery compartment route is something I don't want so he has suggested a ZAM pack which is purely an outboard power supply which powers up the preamp through the lead. It can also be used with any other 9 volt active instrument I have so saves on batteries for two acoustics and the Status. With those, I'd still need to have a (supplied) dummy battery in place though. Just wanted to know if anyone had used one and if they were reliable etc.

Thinking of putting a preamp in my Jazz bass. tried an East yesterday but have now decided on something else. The luthier suggested a ZAM pack to avoid any routing for a battery compartment. They're about 100 Euros here and would mean no more battery purchases. I could use it with any other active bass or electro acoustic I have already so, just wondered if anyone has one or had tried one. Thanks

No particular order. Hohner B2A Hohner Jack Hohner 5 string Status Energy 4 Status Energy 5 Status Energy 6 Maison 4 string Peavey Grind OLP Stingray fretless Aria 6 string Yamaha BB USA Jazz 4 USA Jazz 5 USA C shop 4 USA C shop Ltd Ed Spector Euro 6 Alembic Essence 4 Vigier Passion 3 Roscoe Beck 5 86 Squire Jazz Fbass BN5

We had this in the UK when booking village halls for our own gigs. It was normal to lodge a deposit as they were normally run by some Parish council. However, we did lose our deposit (£100) on one occaision as they said someone had set off a fire extinguisher. We didn't know about this until we tried to reclaim our deposit and by then, we couldn't prove it was the truth or not. If you do end up paying, you need to make sure that you are the last to leave, along with someone from the hall or club who will verify you left it as you found it. Handing over bank details does not entitle anyone to remove money from the account unless authorised by the account holder so I think it's just so they have some official ID and some form of contact in case there is a problem.

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1351780531' post='1855297'] No, it's not only you. [/quote] And have you given up arguing too?

Agree with all of the above but it appears to be only me then that gets to play with guitarists who capo at the 2nd fret, play a G major shape and still tell you that "it's in G"

The word "outhouse" is ringing alarm bells. That suggests it's outside and probably not heated. Not a good idea. My mate in the UK kept his Hotrod in an outside building and had to have loads of repair work done eventually due to severe temperature fluctuations. On top of that, it depends on what your guitarist's property security is like. It's not likely to be insured at someone else's property.

Just got back from the last gig with the trio (sacked the drummer who didn't turn up a few weeks ago so had a dep tonight) Wasn't our best performance but the audience was up for loads of fun so we joined in. First time ever in 44 years of playing that I've constituted one half of a guitar / Kazoo solo battle (whilst playing the bass) It went down a storm. Had the whole place in fits. Got even better when the guitarist decided whip out the duck call for the solo in Smokin in the boy's room. Bar owners said they'd not had so much fun in years. Weird or what?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1351377559' post='1850731'] That's nice. Boring question: Do you have to take the neck off to put a tight piece of elastic around the headstock like that? Seems it would be difficult to get around the headstock and tuners and still be effective on the strings when dragged over the nut. [/quote] Mate of mine uses a scrunchie and he cut it, put it round and restitched it

[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1351341433' post='1850299'] Incorrectly? No. Different? Definitely Seen lots of bands do their own stuff "incorrectly" live, too. [/quote] I used the word "incorrectly in the post because I thought I was playing as per the original. I have no problem with putting my own spin on a song if it suits the line-up better or I simply prefer what I play or even admittedly, find it easier to do it a different way. It's just that it came as quite a shock to hear what I'd NOT been doing for 20 yearts when I thought I was Glad I'm not alone in this.

We had some folks over for dinner last night and as usual, I stuck a selection of background music on the PC. A song came on that I've played for about 20 years in various covers bands and it must have been the first time I'd actually listened properly to the bassline. I was so far out it was untrue. This was a number that I was convinced I knew well all that time ago and had been positive that I was fairly close (if not spot on) to the original bass. No bandmates over the years had ever said anything (Just goes to show how much they listen too then ) I'd like to say that I'd always intentionally played it "my way" but I was convinced I was copying the original bass part and it's not even a difficult number to do either. Over confident and too cocky I suppose. If anyone had pulled me up on it, in all honesty I probably would have argued the point before checking.

[quote name='Killerfridge' timestamp='1350670420' post='1842185'] I disagree so hard with this. When you are learning, the only thing you will learn, or figure out by yourself without a tutor is bad technique [/quote] What, like the (apparently qualified) tutor who's started teaching my 7 year old granddaughter guitar at school and told her that the thickest string needs to be nearest the floor!!. Sorry, have to dissagree here. Unfortunately there are quite a few bad tutors out there. Usually people that play a bit of this and that and think it'll be easy money. The problem I think is that many youngsters view the bass is a necessary evil for a band and doesn't have the wow factor attached to it like guitar or even drums. Bass heros seem to be thin on the ground at the moment and the local young players I've met lately just seem to want to learn a particular song and not actually learn to play the instrument or understand why the song is constructed the way it is.

Just seen this (my mate appears to be on upright in the pic) advertising a jazz jam night in Colchester. Might be fun for all you Essex jazzers.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1350498550' post='1839783'] Not noticed any "Feelers" in the Basses for Sale section recently...have they been outlawed now? [/quote] I guess many would view a "feeler" as a waste of space. I mean, is it for sale or isn't it? It always gives me the impression that the "maybe" seller might change his or her mind at some point after an agreement has been made. I'm not aware of any change in policy though. Maybe it's just that sellers know that they definately need to sell stuff for whatever reason.