SteveXFR

At the moment it's just a 2006 Fender MIM P bass straight in to an Ashdown ABM600. I've also been playing in to Reaper with a BOD (Sansamp plugin) and a bit of EQ

In my last band I used drop A. I had a multi scale 5 string Ibanez SRMS805 which did it really well. In our live set, I used the G string for three notes and could have played them on the D string but still wouldn't have swapped it for a 4 string.

Thanks for the top tip. There's nothing wrong with his bass tone. Odd bloke, great bassist

I'm a terrible guitarist. I don't like the way guitarists othen play bass. Too busy, not enough space, sloppy timing.

I've recently got myself a Fender P bass and got together with a couple mates to try and write some stoner metal. Drop C is kind of where it feels right on the guitar but even with .110 - .055 strings, the low C on my P bass sounds crap. The other strings are nice and bright but the low one just sounds dull and lifeless. How can I get it sounding decent in this tuning, I know plenty of people play P basses for stoner and doom lower than drop C. My old 5 string Ibanez sounded much brighter at drop A so maybe I should trade in the P bass for a 5 but then I'd have to tune it up a semitone

Lemmy did alright playing on speed but he wasn't a normal human. He was on speed for so many years that I wonder whether it actually had much effect on him.

I used to play with a heavy weed smoking guitarist. He could play a solo that lasted an hour and went nowhere

I wanted a Dingwall and had similar thoughts about the prices. I went for an Ibanez SRMS805 as an alternative. They're expensive new but used, you can pick them up around £550. Combined with a Darkglass B7k, Two Notes Le Bass and a nice Ashdown ABM600, I was getting some filthy modern metal sounds. It played lovely as well.

The only think that I am curious about is mushrooms. Relatively safe, non addictive and can have some mental health benefits. They could be interesting for creativity

I guess with the price being so low, even if you buy a decent set of pickups and a Darkglass preamp, it's still only around £600 in total.

I've seen Ministry (American industrial metal band) several times over the years and singer Al Jorgensen has always been a great performer and was a heroin addict for most of his career but the last couple times I saw them, he'd kicked the heroin and was on weed and performing better than ever. He seemed more energetic than before despite being really old. According to the man himself, he just got bored of heroin and just stopped one day and started smoking weed instead. Personally, I've always avoided drugs because I lost a couple mates to addiction and ultimately death. Ibuprofen is my only drug of choice due to many old injuries.

I do like a multiscale. Harley Benton are OK but the one HB guitar I bought took a fair bit of setting up and the neck was drier than a camels dry bits but regular light applications of lemon oil and its all good now. I suspect it may have spent some time in a warehouse in the hottest part of China

I remember when that bloody video was everywhere. There's still a mountain bike trail at Longleat named after it because one annoying little turd (not me) in the build group thought it was hilarious.

He also plays guitar on a couple songs

Prepare to be disappointed. He's in the most disappointing band in rock

I think Barney Greenway is far less rock and roll. Obviously you know him as the vocalist in grindcore pioneers, Napalm Death

Pat Badger would be a great pornstar name

I think she already tried saying that. It didn't help.

This is a question on behalf of XFR Jr. She's ripped off a finger nail on her fretting hand and has a gig next Friday, hour and a half of energetic rock. Any advice? XFR hound has ripped off a claw as well and has a cone of shame. I'm unsure whether this will help XFR Jr but may be worth a try.

That sound predates nolly by several years

Have they? Most of the bassists using those products use them just because they cut through really heavy guitars and give really good clarity with very low tunings. I've never actually known a metal musician who's a fan of Periphery.

I'd love to get this gig but I'm a bit crap.

Can you handle enough drugs to join them?

They're a great band, really good live. I don't know why they get labelled as punk. They did a handful of punk songs before going off in another direction, almost prog at times. One of my favourite gigs was The Damned supporting Motorhead.

Good advice. I did this with a difficult to sell car (massive V8, not American or German) and got several thousand pounds more than dealers offered for trade in.