EssentialTension

By the way, I believe the Macca line is nicked from Chuck Berry's I'm Talking About You - Reggie Boyd on bass: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2i8Z-c35y4[/media]

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1405890998' post='2506272'] Thanks......I'll get my coat [/quote] Get my coat too while you're there ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtXrbGR06nE

... and just to rub it in, Macca sang it while he was playing the bass line.

Nice, unusual but nice.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1405863383' post='2505917'] Flatwounds? [/quote] Flatwounds may be less abrasive but there's no guarantee of no blisters, especially on upright.

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1405859987' post='2505856'] So don't spend too much time and energy tweaking. Concentrate on your playing first. Most of your tone is in your fingers, after all [/quote] Yes, extremely good advice. Alongside which - a new bass/amp/whatever won't make you a better player.

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1405859013' post='2505836'] And I've only stuck my fingers together once... [/quote] ... how was that gig?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1405853989' post='2505752'] [size=4]Surgical spirit is very good for general hardening-up of fingertips, but less so if fingers are already sore and damaged...[/size] [/quote] I certainly agree it's better to use the surgical spirit regularly and in advance of any blistering but in my experience it's also the most effective treatment of actual blisters. However, also be prepared to play with a pick if necessary.

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1405852647' post='2505727'] I looked at going to that date but it seemed like it was part of the festival where you had to buy tickets for various gigs - about £50 or so - ddin't fancy that. [/quote] Yes, it was part of Great Escape.

I missed them in Brighton recently. I was introduced to them by my son buying me CD for Christmas.

Surgical spirit from your local chemist's shop. Apply every few hours.

.. and [i]Lake Street Dive[/i] and [i]Joy Kills Sorrow[/i] together as superband [i]One Bird Theory[/i]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySt_VVZqcNk

Bassist Bridget Kearney also played with [i]Joy Kills Sorrow[/i] until 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BETgmIZlNfY

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1405762434' post='2504995'] Yes, I think so. I can play much faster with a .50 pick than with anything thicker. But as usual it's just down to personal taste. I'm not quite so belligerent about it these days as I now play fingerstyle 99% of the time, anyway. [/quote] Well, let's not fall out over it and YMMV as they say, but I'm wanting to say possible speed of playing is not a matter of personal taste but is shaped by flexibility of the pick. More flexible means longer recovery time means slower maximum speed. Less flexible means shorter recovery time means higher maximum speed. It's physics. But as I'm not a physicist ... I'd be happy to be corrected.

My estimate would be that most musicians who ever lived played what people wanted to hear and most audiences want to hear material they recognise. The more original your material (and really original is a very rare thing) the less likely you are to earn a living.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1405642929' post='2504045'] No, they didn't! [/quote] Was it you?

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1405633425' post='2503981'] Do you find the big stubby gives a duller sound that is a little close to finger style? [/quote] No, not really. I'd call it crisper not duller. I rarely play with a pick but if I do it's usually because I want a faster attack and the harder the pick the more that happens. It also means I'm able to play faster if I need to, especially close to the bridge. However, I seem to recall that the last time I mentioned the idea that harder pick meant faster playing, not everyone agreed with me.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1405611696' post='2503661'] I'll always remember him for his performance of Jumpin' Jack Flash on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1974. Which via the gift of YouTube I reproduce here. [media]http://youtu.be/wQPlU5q1CBI[/media] [/quote] I saw that line up at the Kinetic Circus in the Mayfair Suite in Birmingham. It was very loud.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1405628544' post='2503899'] Texted this news to my guitarist, a big JW fan, also a gp. He said 70 was probably a long life for someone who slept with Janis Joplin! [/quote] Leonard Cohen will be 80 in September and ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx83eIVkKyo

Several threads on this already but I rarely use a pick but when I do, Big Stubby 3mm:

[quote name='njr911' timestamp='1405544797' post='2502973'] Alternatively, who makes Fenders strings? Maybe they still do the 45-105. [/quote] It's generally accepted that Fender strings are now made by D'Addario. That's not to say that they are the same as D'Addario labeled strings.

Never, but Email John PIrruccello at Lakland to find out. I think they were/are actually made by ESP in Japan.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1405331255' post='2500761'] The Fender 4-a-side headstock was just a progression of their 6-a-side guitar headstock which was "borrowed" from Paul Bigsby who "borrowed" it from CF Martin, who "borrowed" it from any number of German luthiers before them. Nothing really new at all. [/quote] OK, I didn't mean to suggest it didn't come from the 6-a-side. The rest I didn't know. That's 1830s.

[quote name='winterfire666' timestamp='1405257493' post='2500113'] i know they are pretty much seen as a standard headstock but i really think they are ugly as sin (all fender headstocks) at least a lot of the others on this thread are thinking outside the box. [/quote] When Fender introduced the four-a-side headstock it was 'outside the box'.