SteveXFR

Celebrity skin - Hole

If you follow all the rules all the time, you'll end up with Ed Sheeran and no one wants that. You can't have character without imperfection. Sometimes a carefully used very out of key note can really add interest.

Down in a hole - Alice In Chains

I think a 130 string tuned to C# might snap the neck of a Thunderbird

I'd have thought most can play above the technical level of the song. Especially in rock and metal, you want a bit in reserve so you can still play well while moving around the stage. It's pretty boring to watch someone stood perfectly still while they concentrate on shredding.

This morning I've been listening to Total Invasion live by Killing Joke. I don't normally like live albums but this one seems pretty good. Even Youth's bass is tight, he's been a bit sloppy when I've seen them before.

I think it all went wrong when O2 Academies moved their ticket sales to Ticketmaster.

I was about to book tickets to see Killing Joke in Bristol O2 Academy but been put right off by the price. £45 to see them in a venue with terrible sound and ridiculous drink prices just isn't appealing. I love seeing Killing Joke live but for that price I could pay for two gigs in Bristol at venues with better sound, better atmosphere and not get fleeced when I get thirsty. Last time I went to Bristol Academy, it was a double headline show with Skints and Interruptors and tickets were £28 and that was shortly before first lockdown. If they want to get people back to gigs, pushing up ticket prices isn't the way to do it.

Die on a rope - Distillers

Angry inch - Type O Negative

It's stoner and doom stuff I'm playing on my tbird so super clear and defined notes aren't really what I'm looking for. Maybe I'll try 110-50, I'm finding 105-45 a little too slack. My Thunderbird is only an Epiphone, not the real thing so I'll take the risk.

I've decided my Thunderbird will only be used for C or C# tunings so I want to set it up with appropriate strings. My usual 105 strings are a bit slack tuned this low. Is there a method for working out which strings to use?

I'm also unsure exactly what I like. I just have to try it and see what I like. There's no obvious connection between the basses I like. I had a Fender Jazz and hated it but I've played very similar basses and loved them. Maybe it's just a spiritual connection with the trees the instrument is made from but I don't believe I any of that old toss.

The reality is often the opposite. At the jam session I go to there's a couple people with expensive gear who are average at best and one gnarly looking old dude with a scruffy Squier P bass who absolutely blows them away

I avoid asking that question otherwise I'd feel guilty playing the cheapest bass available.

Word up - Gun

Baby Got Back - Sir Mix A Lot

Heaviest matter in the universe - Gojira

Jesus don't want me for a sunbeam - Vaselines

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition - Serj Tankian

Angel of death - Slayer

I didn't know Fela Kuti's music so just had a listen. A very talented musician but rock & roll??? It's not even pop, more like jazz. I don't mean that as a negative comment against his music, far from it. It just doesn't come close to rock and roll.

They might not have a big catalogue of music but what they did release was incredibly influential. They did something really original and creative. They had as many killer tunes as most bands who released 10 albums.

It's a weak list and half of them aren't rock and roll. MC5 should win it I my opinion.

It's a shame there's no free trial outside the US. I don't care either way about the Young/Rogan thing but the sound quality sucks and the music suggestion features blow so I might just give it a bash.