Saul Panzer

I was chatting with a mate a while back and we talked about some early Prodigy bootleg tape we used to listen to (pretty sure they weren't even officially "the Prodigy" at that point)..realised that tape was 30+ years ago and got a rough kick in the sack.

I don't listen to a huge amount of dnb these days unless I'm exercising, when I do it's usually Feint.

Mainly I play without an amp for stamina and muscle memory stuff (noodling, scales and such.)...it's kind of like a comfort thing having my bass on my lap but that's not so much practice. I can definitely hear the bass acoustically but I also hear myself getting sloppy in a way I don't tolerate while using an amp. More often I switch from using my amp, going straight into my PC and using a small VOX pocket amp...depends where I am at the time and what I'm trying to do, they all work well enough for me.

The live music around my town is largely middle-age and older. However...a lot of edgy graffiti style stickers get slapped on lampposts, bus stops and such advertising various small "electro/dance" type events. I'm assuming that's still a younger thing like it was back when I actually went to things I found on lampposts. While it's probably not regular instruments I imagine the musicians still class those as gigs, I might even be way off and missing out on some amazing new tech music incorporating traditional instruments.

Seems like a weird choice to steal those, lefties are the niche subset of an already niche instrument whose community has a thing about calling out stolen gear and alerting other players.

I've had nothing from my browsers and I use a few including more security focused ones. Can't comment on Windows saying anything as I don't use it.

Sounds right for me, there's a certain pitch to my background tinnitus and it's around the same one I have trouble hearing. If I speak to the wrong person it's like they're moving the volume knob left and right while talking as some of their words go in and out of that range.

A friend of mine played one back in school, I tried out his for a laugh and didn't get the appeal. Interesting instrument but not for me.

After decades of air drumming my feet have an auto kick drum thing going on if there's any kind of beat. That and I subconsciously nod my head and mouth out rhythms from my early learning bass days, I got "if you can say it, you can play it" stuck in my head specially for fast bits.

Never heard of them before, my sister got her kid a second hand ukelele on facebook when she got interested in instruments. Didn't take long for her to move on to a little guitar with how fast kids grow, I'd guess that was 1/2 or 3/4 size but don't know what brand.

I've only been playing for a couple years and haven't had more than a two glasses of rum in one go before picking up a bass in that time, didn't notice any real difference with that volume though I was nowhere near drunk. I'd have to say I prefer sober only because I doubt I'd pick up an instrument while properly drunk, I'm more of a 'go out for a walk...or stagger' while drunk type of guy.

I'm out in the countryside, it's a 40 minute drive to my nearest B&M...that's another £10 for a bus or petrol costs these days. Anyway shop local and all that, gotta keep what few local stores I do have open.

This is also my go-to when I rarely use a mute, 6 for £1 at my local tesco last time I brought some. I just cut it at the curved indentation bit and use the scouring part for the dishes.

Might as well ask me to lend out my missus, if the house was on fire that bass is the only thing I'd want to go in after. They can borrow my jazz beater.

Before selling my Harley Benton I was planning to change the tuners, they had at least 1mm of movement each way before any change in tension even occurred and would randomly wind/unwind the string faster or slower when tuning. I tried fiddling with the accessible screws to see if I could tighten things but nothing helped, there was a disconnect between what I did and any resulting change. They'd eventually do the job but it was always a case of "left, left, left, too far left, right a bit, bit more, bit more, now it's worse, left, left, perfect..hope it holds for a while" now repeat for all strings. Not an issue I have with my other basses.

I can say from experience that I wouldn't feel different, if anything it reinforces my belief. The group think is the issue in a lot of cases, people forget that they're still an individual person above a member of a group and the sort of jokes in this post are 'generally' based on the group and/or stereotype and not a personal attack. Not saying I find them particularly funny, just not worth being offended about, specially when it's on the internet. The difference between "women are stereo-typically bad drivers" and "you Jane, are a bad driver" is paper thin to some people and a chasm to others.

Not offended by that kind of humour or any other, if I find something funny I treat myself to a laugh and move on with my day, if I don't find it funny I skip the laugh and still move on with my day. I'm not so tender that I feel the need to care about the ism's on the internet.

Feel it start to rumble in my earphones around 35 and 8520 is where the tinnitus drowns it out.

I haven't done any fret work or needed to file a nut yet, I do the usual bits myself though...adjust the neck, intonation, action, pickups (including resoldering some wires when a pickup wasn't working), fitting 2 shims in the neck pocket. I started playing at the beginning of Covid so getting it done by a pro wasn't an option for over a year, they just wouldn't take on the work where I live...DIY was the only option. I brought a cheap unplayable used J bass to learn and practice how to do those things before trying on my Sire basses.

I'm getting old, my childhood celebs are starting to vanish. Sad news, been a fan for decades.

For me personally, I did join SBL and aggressive marketing aside, I've found it to be a really good resource. I've gone back to some basics I glossed over when I first started bass...lots of metronome work to get consistent and alternating fingers so the sound is on par with the timing. Trying to get my dynamics under control has been great, making it so I can emphasize specific notes or hit those ghost notes at will...combined with the metronome and something I think Carol Kaye said about how "you should be able to make the metronome sound like it's grooving", great stuff. When I do hit a slump or feel like I'm at a plateau I take a few days away from the bass and listen to music, interviews and stuff, it gets inevitable that I start thinking about bass lines to go along with what I'm hearing...by the time I get my hands on a bass again I'm almost desperate to try out what I heard or make up something to go along with it.

Seems like an evolutionary thing as I expect my taste to change over time. My P7 is definitely my keeper, the only thing I dislike about it is that headstock but I don't look at it enough to be a real issue. It was love at first sight after opening the box and became a keeper as soon as I played it, countless hours later I still love the feel and sound. A custom Sandberg P is my dream bass and will be until I buy one, I hope it'll live up to expectations and become a keeper but suspect I'll still go back to my P7 a lot for that neck.

Not sure what your flavour of metal is or how slow you're after: I'm a huge fan of Sentenced/Poisonblack...Finnish metal, not the fastest stuff usually, more of a workout for your pick technique than your left hand with a lot of alternating between open strings and some hammer-ons along these lines. https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/poisonblack-love-infernal-bass-tab-s50710 Between both bands they've got a lot of slower stuff or if the various tab sites are anywhere near accurate, simple low movement but faster sounding stuff like Luxury of a grave...busy right hand but the left is basically camping on a single fret per bar so you can play 90% of it with 1 finger and a little arm movement.

Made around £300 for a part days work and got out early enough to start work on a harmonic layering course, and woke up with no hangover as a bonus...I must be getting old, this was a good new year/eve compared to some previous ones.