Shambo

I'm in my mid fourties now and after playing for thirty odd years (mostly) off and on, when someone asks me about playing bass, I always say I learned how to play the slow fun way as opposed to the quick hard way. What I mean by the quick hard way is the discipline of theory... the chops, the scales, arpeggios, chords, the sight reading and all of that. I kind of wanted the chops but have ultimately been scared away by the musical constriction I've seen in a couple of my friends, (one good friend of mine is a seriously fabulous scouse flamenco guitarist who, by his own admission, couldn't string three power chords together to save his life... although he can probably still wing a better performance on the bass than I could with practice). I couldn't help but pick up a bit of theory along the way, major & minor scales and the triads (best ten minutes of bass theory ever) but for me, the slow fun way has always been been hearing a song and thinking... "Yeah, if I could play that the bassline to that song, I'd be a happy bass player" When you master that new song, that's the joy... and that's what I'd like you to share with me chronologically. The songs you've aspired to play as your bass playing progressed. The lines gets maybe more intricate, nuanced, simple or complicated, but as soon as you've mastered that one song you never thought you could , you've already set your sights on another song that's a little bit more... whatever it is that you want. That IMO is what I mean my fun. It really doesn't matter what genre or level of playing ability. I'd love to hear from dicsiplined players with fabulous chops and players just starting out... I don't really care how good a player you are, just put those benchmark songs in the order that you learned them. I'll start with the first bass line I think I ever remember wanting to learn as an angsty teenager and finish it with the last I remember being reasonably proud to master. I'm going to keep it to half a dozen but there was obviously lots more inbetween. Louie Louie - Kingsmen We've Got A Bigger Problem Now - Dead Kennedys The Thrill is Gone (live) - BB King (was atributed to Wille Dixon on that Blues Collection album but I'm not convinced it's him) Take The Power Back - Rage Against The Machine Cake - I Will Survive Man Who Sold The World - David Bowie Message To Society - Wally Coco (you'll have to google it) OK, stinky poo, half a dozen was harder than I thought. I deleted quite few (I must have played and forgotten hundreds of songs), but the list is in a sort of cronoligical order. Please tell me yours, I'm looking for inspiration... nothing serious and just for fun. P.S. next on the list is Scott Walker - The Old Man's Back Again.

I like to search for things being sold locally to me. I do this for a number of reasons. I don't have a car, I can try before I buy and I don't have to worry/pay for a courier. Yesterday I noticed Pinball's nice Dimension bass for sale with 'Bristol' appearing in big letters underneath the title, (if it wasn't burst colour he would have had a sale by now). Adding a location field to sales topics was a great idea, but it doesn't appear to be included in the search function? I type Bristol into the search bar and I don't find this attractive local bass that I almost want to buy. Basically, is it possible to integrate the location field in to the search function pretty please?

Just sold Paddy a bass. Lovely bloke and a pleasure to deal with. Thanks Paddy.

I think you should take it on a bass by bass basis and not worry about ranking the country of manufacture. I have a J and a P chinese clasic vibes. The jazz is a marvellous bass to play with a lovely neck. The precision leaves me cold... and that mightn't be its fault. Perhaps I just haven't gelled with it. it is a perfectly good bass but it just doesn't feel outstanding, and I have other precisions that I prefer. I've felt similar about american fenders. I should sell it really and give somebody else a chance to like it more than I do,

It's cheaper than buying a bass

I'd just take the neck, sell it as new with a quick explanation of why the nut isn't cut, and use the proceeds to recuperate the cost of the Status replacement. Then it's finished with.

Well, they sent me some (not great) photo's and it looks like a new big al, and what looks like a EBMM shipping carton, propped up against a luthiers bench in a workshop. I've no reason at this point to be suspicious. Vigier/HTD where at some point in the recent past a Musicman distributer in France. I'm sorely tempted.

I have Big Al as a saved search and was initially excited when this appeared a couple of months ago. If I remember correcly, the advert said they had ten to start with. There are no photo's of the actual instrument, just some stock ones and a picture of a case. I keep checking back to see if someone has bought one and left positive feedback, but to no avail. What do people think? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Music-Man-USA-BIG-AL-4-strings-bass-SSS-Black-Maple-Brand-NEW-NEUVE/283379424179?hash=item41fabadbb3:g:zQQAAOSwPYRcPe1v:rk:1:pf:0

I popped into my local PMT store in Bristol this afternoon, purely for a bit of a browse. As I wandered into the bass room I noticed that none of the instruments had prices on them. They all said to ask at the till for the best price. They're a very friendly bunch in there and, when I was asked if I wanted to try anything, I said no thanks, then remarked about the lack of prices. This was the cue for a long one sided speech to everyone within earshot about the volatility of guitar prices at the moment, making it practically impossible to keep the pricing on the tags up to date. I'll be honest and say now that I almost immediately started to glaze over, but I picked up something about Amazon complaints, accusations of price fixing, PMT working in cahoots with other large music retailers, bricks & mortar overheads and non-commital distributors . The guy was obviously a little wound up about the whole situation and unfortunately I wasn't the most empathetic person he could have picked to listen to him vent. I had at first just assumed the lack of prices was a sales ploy to get a potential customer to engage with the salesman, but after hearing the guys empassioned description of the situation, it got me to wondering (only a little admittedly) about the troubles music retailers might be having in these uncertain times. As I slowly meandered towards the exit, I noticed none of the skinny stringers had prices either. No prices on any guitars in PMT. Is this the new normal?

Sketch Up.

I got halfway through and had to turn it off. Story of my Bros life.