uncle psychosis

I've found that this technique is pretty essential on a 5-string. I could never get the hang of floating thumb myself.

[quote name='highwayone' timestamp='1340980618' post='1712400'] The seller told me. I left it in the end because I asked for more pics and all he sent was blown up shots of the same pic on ebay!!!! [/quote] Some people are just muppets when it comes to selling stuff. I've lost track of the number of ads for expensive gear where the only photo is a badly lit low resolution mobile phone camera shot. Even if the seller is genuine it just makes them look dodgy. It can score you some cheap deals though, if you're willing to take a risk...

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1340983237' post='1712444'] The same way Amazon chooses what to recommend. It makes links using technology rather than people so assumes that everyone who buys A and B will like C D and E, even though purchase A was for your Mum and B for your 8 year old daughter. It follows searches other people do and links words rather than tunes so, if you put in jazz, you get Johnny Hates Jazz and so on. Garbage in, garbage out as the old computer nerds used to say. [/quote] You can tell amazon "do not use this product when recommending me stuff".

[quote name='pietruszka' timestamp='1340886251' post='1711017'] I'd personally go for the straight out with it approach, in a non aggressive manner just mention "you were a little sharp there (in places), can you hear your self ok?". As some one said earlier, the singer would be quick to tell the band if they played something wrong. Just tell him, but be relaxed and constructive about then you shouldn't get thrown through the wall. [/quote] ^^^this. Be polite and just point out an issue. Its no wonder bands fall apart when ideas like "tell him to buy him a magic box to make his singing better" are actually taken seriously.

Isn't that a Travis Bean? Don't know about the basses but Travis Bean guitars are brilliant.

Anyone know what New Moon's policy re: being left in the car but being visible is? Some policies will only cover you for theft from a vehicle if the item was out of sight (ie in the boot). Sadly, most bass gear is far too big to hide out of the way!

Never tried one myself. For a cheap EQ/DI box I use a Hartke Bass Attack. About £40 to £50 second hand. You might also like to check out the Behringer BDI21 which is a copy of the Sansamp BDDI. Lots of people round here rave about them.

Dinosaur Jr you say? Muff. Muff. Muff. Or at least a muff clone.

I quite often think people ask stupid money for second hand pedals, but if buyers weren't daft enough to pay the stupid prices... One thing that does annoy me is people trying to sell second hand stuff for 90% of the new price because the item is "as new, only used a few times". No, its not new, its second hand and doesn't come with any kind of warranty or distance selling regs or any of the other benefits that you get from buying a truly new item from the shop. If you've bought a new pedal and don't like it then return it under the DSRs, don't bother trying to sell it at a stupid price!

So how do people feel about the second hand market? If you buy a second hand cd you get some music, the artist makes nothing, and someone who isn't the artist makes some money on the sale. The more I think about it, the more that I think buying second hand cds is a bit morally dubious too.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340102563' post='1699003'] All I can say is that from the comments I've seen here, some of you must have to put up with some real sorry excuses for "musicians". Never in the 35+ years that I've been playing in bands have I come across any of these small-minded prejudices form my various fellow band members. Occasionally, I hear stuff from people in other bands, and then I'm thankful that I'm in the band that I'm in and not in a band with them. Remember these idiots only exist outside of their bedrooms because other musicians put up with them. [/quote] A big, fat, +1 to that. Anyone who thinks there is a "right" way to play bass is an idiot. Anyway, *real* bass players use bows ;-)

[quote name='WHUFC BASS' timestamp='1340202925' post='1700965'] I agree - you no longer need to rely on the big record companies to get yourself noticed and you no longer need to be constantly chasing that lucrative record deal and be at the mercy of some jumped up A&R man. The internet really has been a revolution in terms of taking back power and giving it to the bands (where it belongs). [/quote] Yes, but its a double edged sword. Its easier to D-I-Y because of the medium but it also makes things harder in many ways. [quote] Anyone remember being ripped off £15 or £16 for a CD when they first came out in the 90s? [/quote] CD sales are dropping. However, I'd wager that for a long time cd sales were artificially high because people bought cd copies of things they already owned to replace their old vinyl/casettes (I know I did). I probably buy just as many "new" cds as I ever did, but I'm buying less cds overall because I've managed to catch up on all the "old" stuff that I didn't have on cd yet.

The "full time musicians have more time to spend on getting good" argument is a weird one. There must be thousands of bands out there who've released one or two brilliant records at the start of their career when they were nobodies and working part time in McDonalds and then when they hit the big time they just get worse, not better. Paul McCartney was brilliant, forty years ago. He's also loaded, so he doesn't have to worry about money. Has he got any better since 1970? Some musicians get better when they are able to spend 100% of their time on their music. Other musicians just burn out and run out of things to say.

[quote name='BigRedX']No but there's a difference between getting a single track from a band (in amongst a load of others) on a mix tape from a mate and downloading their entire recorded output because you're too cheap to pay for it.[/quote] [quote name='silddx' timestamp='1340192385' post='1700659'] This is the real issue. [/quote] Correct me if I'm wrong, but earlier in the thread you said that piracy was a black and white issue and that anyone who stole as much as a single song was a thief and a c**t. Now you're saying that stealing a song is alright, so long as its just to put on a mixtape for your mate. Seems like you agree with me after all. Some piracy is bad. Some piracy is ok. Hooray, everyone wins.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1340187545' post='1700542'] Blimey. What's all this 9 pages about then? [/quote] f*** knows [quote]Yes, it is not theft, stealing, nicking, half inching. It is COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. [/quote] Why didn't you say so the first time then? Then we could have got onto discussing fun stuff like what colour socks you should wear for a deep Reggae tone! Speaking of which, I'm off to give some Dr Alimantado a blast. Laters

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340187061' post='1700523'] So what we are essentially arguing about is the exact legal meaning of a couple of words. The way I see it, if you download a song and the artist who recorded it wants you to pay for the privilege and you don't then you are depriving the artist of money. Somewhere along to line you have broken some law. Can we agree on that? [/quote] Yes, we totally agree. My original point way back in the mists of time was that describing copyright infringement as stealing was a silly thing to do. Copyright infringement is a crime, but it is not stealing. I was just being pedantic

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340186220' post='1700505'] You might find that whoever has paid for the rights to sell postcards/prints of the Mona Lisa has something to say about that. [/quote] That was my point. You've infringed on someone's commercial rights (which is illegal) but nothing has been "stolen". I was merely pointing out that describing copyright infringement as "theft" was factually wrong. Ethically and morally wrong? Probably, yes. Stealing? No. Plus, nobody on basschat would call you a c**t and a thief for taking a picture of the Mona Lisa and giving it to your mum!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340183978' post='1700426'] I'd also say would you feel comfortable doing a transaction in the Basschat marketplace with someone who you know advocates downloading for free content that should be paid for? I know I wouldn't. [/quote] I sincerely hope that isn't aimed at me. At no point have I advocated piracy and to claim otherwise is both unfair and untrue.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340183621' post='1700410'] IMO you are confusing piracy with some music being given away for free out of choice. It's up to each band and/or record company to decide whether or not that they give (some of) their music away for free or charge for it. If it's being given away free by all means take it. If it's not free don't take it just because some other music is. Also if you want to listen to a band there are plenty of legal places on the internet where you can do so (we'll leave aside the piss-poor royalty rates these sites pay for now). There is no need to grab an unauthorised download. Therefore the argument about downloading for trying before buying falls flat. My music tastes are pretty eclectic, but I've never needed to obtain a dodgy copy of a band's work in order to find out whether or not I'm going to like them. My band give some of our tracks away for free and we expect you to pay for others. That's our choice. If you don't like it, then you can probably find plenty of others playing music in a similar style who are giving away all their songs for free. However if you think that my band has that something extra special that other bands have wouldn't you want to pay for the music if that's what was being asked of you? [/quote] I do pay for music. All the time. I don't download illegally. I respect musicians too much for that. I've said that repeatedly. I totally agree that if a musician wants you to pay for their music then you should. But according to some of the logic on display in this thread---if you make a mixtape for your mate then you're a ****, because you've "stolen" from a starving musician. Its stupid. Sometimes bands do well out of piracy (see Twigman) and to stick our collective heads in the sand and ignore that fact is just daft. Right I really am done this time.

Anyway, I'm leaving this discussion. Its getting ugly and people are reading what they want to read, not whats actually been written. For the record: 1. I firmly believe in supporting artists and musicians (and I do, at every opportunity) 2. I believe that in many cases piracy is both legally and ethically wrong and cannot be justified 3. I [i]also[/i] believe that in many cases, piracy can actually be a good thing for artists and musicians.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1340182314' post='1700361'] I can't believe people defend it. I don't give a sh*t what someone wants to call it, but if some music has a price, and some f***er takes it without paying for it, then that is depriving the people who created the music of some income. [/quote] So, if someone illegally downloads one song by an artist, and then on the back of that goes and buys three cds, a concert ticket, and a tshirt, then the artist has been deprived of income? Please. Did you believe that home taping was killing music too?

[quote name='Ben Jamin' timestamp='1340181934' post='1700341'] Well it is. It just happened to have a positive effect in the long term for his particular band. If you killed my brother I'd get inheritance. Cheers. That's a very rare occurrence and it doesn't take away from the fact that people still stole his albums.. [/quote] Eh? I don't understand what point you're trying to make. I'm going to make this simple, because somehow people seem to have got confused. [size=6]Sometimes, for some bands, piracy can have a positive effect. Sometimes, for other bands, piracy can have a negative effect. Arguing that piracy is a black/white issue is stupid. [/size] That was all my point was in the first place. Somehow everyone got their knickers in a twist and assumed that "some piracy can be good" meant "all piracy is brilliant and you should all never pay for anything ever again".

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1340181677' post='1700333'] Yep - it's a lesson to [i]some[/i] bands that giving away a back catalogue which has already been recorded (and presumably the recording paid for) is a good thing. That choice should be made by the copyright owner, though. [/quote] Sounds like we agree.