Nail Soup

I say play. Especially as a widdling is probably the easiest bit to loose. Maybe tweak the two bass sounds a little... bit of extra mids and distortion on the rhythm bass and a bit more top on the lead bass. If the singer or guest guitarist friend can throw in the occasional power chord then add that to. Remember to tell the guitarist that it wasn't as good without him of course!

Can't read music, never been tempted to invest any time in it. I'm not great by ear either, but get by with TAB, tutorial vids, bandmates tips, chord charts and so on for the half of my musical life playing already-written music. The other half of my music life I compose myself. If I was going to learn something technical I'd prioritise a bit of music theory over reading.

For me it's important when I'm playing. It's something I get complimented on (more than my playing 🙂 ) I don't expect every band I see to do it though. Some do, some don't - Vive le difference on that one.

Just discovered Deadletter. They playing live near me in a couple of weeks, so ticket purchase looming.

I didn't think I'd be able to get anything done this month either. Buuuuuuuut.......... I've finally had some inspiration and I reckon I'll be able to get it ready before deadline. 👍👍👍

Yes, I'm pretty sure that Basschat is one of the places they visit to scour for talent 😀!

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica Bit of a different listening experience this time... I'm at the last section drummer John "Drumbo" French's book "Though the Eyes Of Magic" which is an account of Beefheart and John's time in the band. The last chapter are track note on all the albums... So I've been reading the track note for each song before listening to it. Here are the track notes (page 802 - it's a long book with small typeface!) and YT link for track #7 - Pachuco Cadaver

Ruts DC in Bedford, Saturday week. I saw them 3 or 4 years ago and was blown away... great sound and great catalogue of songs.

True - he didn't play. He also had the disadvantage of observing my pretty basic (at the time, I like to think it's improved!) right hand technique.

Make it Google-able… for example if you call the band , say, Chicken Soup people may find recipes when googling for it and not your band. Gorkys Zygotic Myncy would not have that issue.

That's what I figured anyway. The teenage me didn't say that to my dad though!

Slightly off topic, but all this left/right talk got me thinking...... When I first stared to learn bass my dad questioned why the hands are that way round for a right handed person - as in his view the dominant right hand was doing the simple stuff (picking or strumming) and the left hand the complex stuff (fretting). I guess it's because the plucking hand is responsible for tone and timing etc... especially if you consider the whole string family. Any thoughts?

I also a) used to get them mixed up and b) hated both. But I’ve gone the other way…. Still hate Dan, love a bit of Span.

That is as basic as four track cassette based recording got! Be interesting to hear the recording (if you have any way to make an audio file 😉)!

I'm more likely to tolerate other features to get a nice colour!

Not sure if this is what the OP was looking for, but I tend to tolerate minor defects far to long..... loose jack socket, pick-up selector which has to be wiggled to get a good contact and so on. I get them fixed eventually... usually at the same cost (of money and/ effort) I could have fixed them for on day one 😞 .

The recorder is a terrible instrument for young school kids IMO. It is difficult to get a good tone, and it teaches only melody, not rhythm or harmony. I understand that many schools are now using the ukulele... great news - it's got short learning curve and covers melody, harmony and rhythm.

Option 2. I don't want to do too many gigs anyway. In fact the only thing to persuade me to do a lot of gigs is if they were particularly prestigious.

Same here... because I didn't like goth in general, I dismissed all bands who could be considered goth - including Bauhaus. But now, I see that Bauhaus were a really good band. I'm not gonna be a born-agin goth, but some good stuff did come from it.

Great thread! I only write and record solo nowadays. My recent bands have been covers. Otherwise it might be different. I mainly go the songwriter route... write the song with about half the full lyrics on guitar, before moving onto recording. Start with a rough drum beat add a guitar track which includes all the elements of the song. Add bass. Add guide vocal Chop it up into a full song arrangements - like intro verse chorus verse and so on. Then replace all of played instruments with 'live' takes. I might 'comp' a few tales together or swap out a mistake. Do the proper drums Do the final vocals. Add solos and extra bits. Then the hardest part - mixing and adding EQ, reverb etc. With guitar effects I used to just paly the line and add effects after. Now I am trying to move towards setting up the effect first and letting that influence the lines played.

On one hand, other instruments mean I spend much less time on bass. One the other hand I think it's really beneficial to play a 'harmonic' instrument (i.e plays chords like guitar or keys) alongside 'single note' instruments like bass or violin*. Helps learn about chord progressions, where the minor/major notes are and what they do and so on. * Yes I know you can play chords on Violin and bass.

Taraf De Haidouks - Balkan Gypsy Folk Music

I didn't get it a bass t-shirt as such, but....

I'd stay right handed, and learn to play without the little finger. So many players reject the 'one finger per fret' approach which needs a little finger. A lot of people just don't use that finger anyway. I do use the little finger, but I just picked up the bass, 'tied my little finger behind my back'........ and I could adapt to it pretty well almost straight away. And if you have any further doubt look at some vids of Django Reinhardt playing six-string guitar with his limited finger-set.

This kind of YT vid?