Simon C

End of Q1 report: All was going well, but then I received a voucher for GuitarGuitar for my birthday from my eldest son (there is more on this in the thread above) . After a bit of rules reading, soul searching and thought, I spoke to GuitarGuitar and have booked my fretless in for a set-up. I'm happy this is covered by: "Maintenance/setups that only involve work on existing aspects of your bass (ie no purchasing a preamp to add to it)". So I'm still in - unless of course any of you interpret the rules differently and wish to eject me 😉. I'm still looking at the (almost) empty space on the wall (it's currently sporting a ukulele that no one has played for years) and thinking it needs filling. But I am enjoying my 3 basses. Ah, conflicts. I think I'm good until July time when we may get paid a work bonus (no birthdays or Christmas to navigate this quarter). I'll start looking at how I can spend it on cycling or skiing gear though in order to help manage the risk of an impulse bass buy.

It’s oft’ said that a sentence from me can put people to sleep😄.

Looking at the rules, I would say you would be fine for the tier 1 challenge (bass) but not for the tier 2 (other instruments).

I think one of my 1st pub induced hangovers resulted from a few lunch time beers in the Royal Oak in Linthwaite. I was knackered that afternoon - I don’t think it had anything to do with the movement of clocks though.

Top stuff. You guys rocked and really looked like you were enjoying it. That's brave using a new bass. I agree it's important to get your new basses into your playing arsenal (I think I've used all 3 of mine at the 1st live opportunity, all of which were live streamed on YouTube), but I'm not sure I would have done for a live TV show going out to a million people. Kudos.

Here we are playing Valerie at Jam night on Thursday. It was the opening gig for McAfferty’s St. Patrick’s weekend in Epsom. They do a good job of putting live music on. I don’t think it’s my best work but we enjoyed the night.

I feel in my case it would. 2 of the 3 straps are new. And the very old one (10+ years) is still in really good nick and well secured with strap locks. Maybe new strap locks to prolong the life of the straps might be possible. I'll see if I can square that with the rules and my conscience 😁. I think the pro set-up on the fretless is feeling like the way to go though.

Happy Birthday to me. I was hoping to get to the end of March and give a Q1 report. But...St.Patrick's Day which also happens to be my birthday looks to have intervened. My eldest son has given me a Guitar Guitar voucher. I think it would be wrong not to buy something with it, just to try and last the year. I can't get strings as I bought some last week - so don't need them. Nothing is broken on any of my basses. The only thing that may stay within the rules, whilst also being worthwhile spending of the voucher is: "Maintenance/setups that only involve work on existing aspects of your bass (ie no purchasing a preamp to add to it)". I've been thinking of getting a professional set-up on my fretless for some time. But... if I do buy something else with it that's not in the rules, it does release me to buy a bass to fill the remaining gap on the wall - silver linings.

I used these at February’s jam night to prevent having ear ring the following morning (which I’d had after the previous one). They seemed to work pretty well. I could hear people talking; and I could hear the band and myself onstage, but didn’t have ringing ears the next morning. Using IEMs at the jam night would be nigh on impossible I think. https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/alpine-musicsafe-pro-earplugs-black

I have just watched last night’s church service back. I had the 1st 2 paragraphs in mind - minus the Quo bit as I tend to do my wandering in the direction of the drummer (we didn’t have one last night and the guitarist was also the lead vocal). Looking at the video, it seemed to work. Thank you. (I hope the missus didn’t clock the bit about doing stuff round the house though - unintended consequences and all that😁). Age wise I’m a (relatively) fit 55, but not fit enough that I fancy trusting my hamstrings to an on stage pogo - or a “Shadows shuffle” for that matter.

I’ll try that one in Church tomorrow 😂

Yes to all of the above in this bit of the thread. I watch myself if people have taken video and watch the streamed church services. I try to smile but it looks more like a grimace. I try to look up from the fretboard, but spend way too long looking at it. I sometimes risk a nosebleed by moving around on stage, but still manage to look like I’ve spent the gig / church service nailed to the floor. Basically I try to look like I’m having a good time, but don’t really pull it off😀. I do learn something every time I watch though - onwards and upwards.

I did wear a hat for a while. I think I did 2 piano gigs in it and 1 depping gig on bass. Piano is acceptable when some of the audience can see the back of my head (it looks daft), but less excusable on bass when they can’t. A number 1 shave a day or so before the gig is fine I think.😀

Re the mix: the host band set up and have the desk on stage. So I think we get whatever they think the mix should be, and whatever adjustments they make between sets. Vocals did sound a bit quieter than the December one, but I had purchased a set of those stage ear plugs because the mix was so loud in December - so my ears aren’t really a fair comparison. Yes the bass is funky. It’s an Ibanez EHB1000S. Being a 30” scale, headless and a chambered body it’s light. So it’s good for Jam night where we have a small stage and I might have to walk home. The drummer isn’t the one who hadn’t played live before. This one has and is a good drummer, he just hasn’t played for a while and hadn’t practised with us. I’m fine with that though. I think we all strive to be tight, but as it’s a jam night having fun probably takes precedence.😀

https://youtu.be/XvA7fMIPt5s https://youtu.be/b9PQ781cem4 Thanks for being interested in looking. Hopefully the 2 of them work.

Jam night on Thursday was fun. This was the 1st time the 4 of us had all played together (we had a run through but weren’t all able to make it). We had a load of people singing along, which is always a good sign. I also picked up another slot on the night. It was with a couple of guys who I was supposed to play with in December, but who pulled out with about 2hours notice. They changed the set list at least twice during the night, but 2 of the 3 were ones I’d learned for December. Oddly the one we played best was the one I’d never even heard before getting up on stage (Walking the Dog). That may have been because it was the last of the 3, or because one of the others had sorted out his guitar tuning issues. The drummer thanked the 3 of us at the end for letting him play as it was the 1st time he’d ever played live; none of us knew it was his 1st time, he played well; I hope he enjoyed it and comes again. If you fancy listening to a bit of it there is 20s on my insta account https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co2Nn5lhx03/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= ….or for full song versions to 2 of them they are on my YouTube channel Simon-C (unless I get a strike).

So 2 weeks with nothing on the thread, then a flurry of "I'm out" and "Does this mean I'm out?" Were you all hid behind the sofa waiting for someone to break cover, or did you really all buy stuff yesterday? 😁

Simon-C End of Jan report: I downloaded some free software yesterday (Moises) that allows me to isolate the bassline. It's done for educational reasons to improve my playing so, even if I go to the paid version, it looks to me as though it's allowable. Regarding the something with maple fingerboard, I tried a Ray24CA in the Epsom GuitarGuitar. It looked and sounded great. It's now gone from the shop - so although they still have the bass elsewhere, the risk has gone for now. I've also been window shopping on reverb and in this parish but nothing's really exciting me and to be honest I don't really want to be excited (or at least not by something with a maple fingerboard). I've been exploring the sounds in my Sire V7 fretless - I managed to find Bakithi Kumalo's Washburn in there the other day - so that's helping with GAS avoidance 😜. The work bonus is still the main risk; if I share it (the bonus not the Ray or the V7)with the missus, the "Why have you bought another bass?" question probably won't get aspirated. Another risk I have identified is that when I read the manual I found the battery on the bluetooth page turner lasts about 200hours. So it doesn't really need to be on the board getting power whenever the power supply is plugged in. So there is room for an envelope filter. That brings March into focus and a potential birthday present from the kids. Conclusion: Risks to manage; fun to be had with what I already have.

Yeah why not. Getting rid of the Encore and replacing it with a headless bass leaves a gap on the wall to be filled, but I’ve no real plan for the gap. Something with a maple fingerboard, but I don’t know what “something” is. If I get a bonus at work though, this could change. I’ve no more room on the pedal board and need to start using the looper (Christmas present) for it’s intended purpose of practice (but I did see a very good Ed Sheeran tribute act the other day). The piano and keyboard have been with me for 20 - 25 years so they won’t be going anywhere or acquiring new mates. I think the work bonus is the main threat for me.

1-1=0 A headless shortscale in (Ibanez EHB1000S) An Encore P-Bass out. I’m not really sure that the Encore counts as it was returned to it’s original owner after about a decade with me. It wasn’t getting played and I had a couple of options for it: pimping it (giving it a yellow and black swirl pickguard and a new pup) or giving it to a mate who was thinking of starting to play. The original owner said he would like the neck to turn it into a fretless. So I said he could have it. He offered me money for it. I looked at him a tad puzzled and had to remind him he had loaned it to me (he’d forgotten). The upside is that as the headless can’t hang on the wall, there is room for one more.

So here is my Christmas 2022 reconfiguration. The additions are the “Ditto +” (a looper) in the top left and the AirTurn (Bluetooth page turner) in the bottom right. Any further additions will need to be both very small and 18V as I’m out of space and 9V power outlets. Signal chain is: Switch for selecting from 2 basses (middle top), tuner (top right), Hypergravity compressor ( green one), octave ( blue one, bottom centre), chorus ( purple one), preamp ( far left), looper. The AirTurn isn’t in the signal chain. I intend using it at church , or at reading gigs. It paired easily with the iPad and then worked with both apps I use for chord sheets without me having to do anything other than select the app. The pages turn immediately both forwards and backwards. It seems like an easy to use and useful bit of kit. I intend using the looper mainly as a practice tool. So record something on the fretted bass then play over it with the fretless to help my intonation accuracy. I’ll probably also use it as a drone then practice soloing over the drone. I’m also hoping it takes me in a few different creative directions but we’ll see. I did the reconfiguration at the in-laws on Boxing Day. It was a bit of a krypton factor exercise fitting it all together. I then went and did another puzzle (jigsaw) with my lovely wife. Quite enjoyable for an afternoon with the in-laws 😀.

Does a Jam night count as a gig? I found one at MacAfferty’s in Epsom so went to it on Thursday. The guys who I was supposed to be playing with (whom I had never met) weren’t able to go, so the band running it (Prime Numbers) kindly allowed me to join them for a couple of err………. numbers. I’d played both of them on keys in a band 25 years ago, but this was the 1st time on bass. I sight read it from a chord sheet. I’m playing it on my Ibanez Headless shortscale -it’s lighter when walking is involved and I’d feeling it would be cramped on stage (it was). The fret markers are luminous, but I didn’t charge them so I’m playing half blind so to speak - that was an interesting experience. i enjoyed playing. The night itself was good fun - the pub was full and the audience ( Jam Night, so I was part of the crowd for most of it) looked to be enjoying it. The video link is (courtesy of my daughter who amazingly decided she’d come out with her Dad 😀) to Make Me Smile by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. https://youtu.be/H3pvMX51Y2k

I wonder if there is a clue in the name? "ZS10 Pro" for people who make music, "ZS10" for consumers of music. Alternatively it may be a marketing thing to convince people they need the Pros. (Note: I do have the pros).

I doubt I’ll get a Christmas gig, but the online tutor I subscribe to (James Eager at EBass guitar) is doing a Christmas theme for the monthly competition. “Wombling Merry Christmas” was on my shortlist, but I think I’ll go for “Run run Rudolph” by Chuck Berry - it’s a 12 bar blues in C so, provided I can keep up with it, it hopefully won’t take much learning.