NickH

My first instrument was keyboard, so doing two different things simultaneously comes very naturally. Oddly I can't drum for toffee though. Try playing along to a CD while having a conversation with someone. Make sure that when you converse your voice isn't saying words in time with the bassline or stopping if you have something tricky to play. Keep your foot tapping and groove your body to the rhythm of the music (baby). Then let your brain and mouth worry about the talking. Once you can do this then playing and singing becomes easy. Also very handy if you plan on doing any teaching.

If you're curious what series/parallel switching sounds like on a P you can find out for the cost of £5 for a push-pull pot and a couple of beers to an electrically capable mate. Put it in a P copy I refitted with an SD quarter pounder for a punter once. Not a lot else to do on a single pup passive bass! Wasn't overly impressed TBH, not much of a difference. Get a cheaper, better bass and use the extra cash to put a bridge pickup in there (or just buy a 2-pup bass) if you want more versatility.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='618523' date='Oct 6 2009, 01:31 PM']Very well done. Why does she call herself Horse?[/quote] I know why people call me Horse, but unless she's not telling us something.....

I do all electronic, truss, and bridge work at home. Not sure I'd trust myself with a refret or frett dress, I'd farm that work out. Horizontal except for the truss stuff. In the workshop days I had an electronics bench which I'd gaffa n glued some thick carpet to then covered in a sheet so it was padded and smooth. Now I put a towel on the kitchen worktop. I find most work requires moving the bass /guitar a lot so anything that would hold it in place would be very counterproductive.

[quote name='tom1946' post='618808' date='Oct 6 2009, 05:27 PM']Have to say we don't get many punch ups in the Methodist church on Sundays.........[/quote] Yeah, but you got to watch those guys at Church of Revelations, they're always up for a scrap! Especially watch for the old ladies with facial tattoos and scars - they're the veterans

[quote name='JTUK' post='617468' date='Oct 5 2009, 02:32 PM']I trust you gave them a few dividends on your injuries.. hope so, anyway..[/quote] Oh no, the injuries weren't mine, that was them! I've done lots of competition style, sportsmanlike martial arts training in my time... and also lots of realistic nasty self-defence stuff. The way I see it, I didn't know if they were carrying weapons, my girlfriend was in and out helping us carry stuff as well as my less-defence-aware bandmates. Not worth the risk of giving them a chance with a Queensbury rules gentleman's bout of fisticuffs. Oh - and if you're playing gigs in Bognor, mind your van

I caught a couple of guys trying to steal stuff out of our van as we loaded it up after a gig in Bognor. Yelled at them to f**k off and they decided they'd rather start on me than scarper. I'm a big bloke but I guess they decided being in a pair gave them the advantage. Few broken fingers and ribs later they saw the error of their ways and did what they should have done initially, IE speedily f**k off! Cretins

[quote]Everyone outside. We is gonna have ourselves a fight.[/quote] Bad idea, you guys don't need me kicking the crap out of you, you'd get hurt and then I'd feel guilty for at least five seconds. I love Flea myself, and RHCP are excellent. If you watch the rockumentary film "Funky Monks" about when they were recording Blood Sugar up in that haunted house with Rick Rubin, Flea gives a great interview in which he talks about how he got known for his early fast manic slap style, and madea ton of cash off it, but felt he was getting pigeonholed and wanted to move on "to avoid falling into the trap he'd made for himself". Hance the more varied playing and styles on Blood Sugar and onwards. Top dude IMO. (Also - he discovered Jewel Kilcher, got her signed and played on her first album. Schwing! She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine )

Bah, just man up and do it! When I were a lad we had to walk ten miles uphill in the snow to get to coal face and do 14 hours hard graft. You kids today dont' know you're born! Best of luck, I'd repeat the advice above of a little Dutch medicinal courage in the form of Scotch. Gung ho!

Wow... whatever you think of the music, you gotta admit... ... that's one ugly bunch of guys! Girls? Waddaya mean they're girls ?!?! AAAAARGH

[quote]Reminds of another frustrating practice habit that he can't overcome despite my repeated fairly gentle 'hints'. Between each number we have the shuffle of paperwork (he doesn't learn his lyrics and needs a music stand with chords and words), the playing of random chords and much tuning where everyone has to be quiet despite his inline tuner. We are always waiting around for him. Given a gig he's the same, very amateurish imho.[/quote] What an absolute monkey. Good luck getting the whole crowd in the pub to be quiet while he tunes! Punch in the nose incoming shortly I imagine Seriously, dude - ditch this guy and get someone with a clue. You'll be happier and more relaxed, enjoy the music more, you'll get to do some gigs, and he'll be gently removed from the potential pasting he's very likely to receive. Everyone's a winner.

Well, four (?) odd years after going to visit the charming Rob and Dawn in the factory, I'm finally the proud owner of a Staus bass Walnut SmartBass with J / MM into a parametric 3-band. Damn it's sexy! Love the SmartBass body shape, contempory but not kooky like the S2 or bloaty like the KingBass (sorry to happy owners of said basses, they're just not to my taste... unto each his own!). I got to say, needs a bit of tinkering with the setup as it's got a ton of fret buzz , but I'm sure that won't take me long. Sounds sweet

[quote name='spree' post='286755' date='Sep 18 2008, 05:29 PM']as promised [/quote] Crikey! Three stacked pots and a single = 7 controls on that beastie, not to mention the mini-toggle. Allowing two for either vol/blend or vol/vol, does it have God's own 5-band EQ in it? The electronics geek in me just has to know!

Yeah, sad to say it sounds like it's more bother than it's worth on that one. I'd not have bothered redoing the fingerboard if I paid money for it and it turned out to be in the state you describe. Most music shops are very eager to keep your future custom, so go back and kick up a fuss. See what you can guilt them into giving you, it might be more than you imagine if you talk about "the amp you're going to buy next month" etc etc

Red Hot Chili Peppers, not including this Stadium Arcadium shenanigans Dire Straits, back in the day. Think the management would provide a bouffant curly wig? And, of course.... WYLD STALLYNS!

It's like learning keyboard (my first instrument). The beginner's 61-note one is well and good but a 76-key is better. It does everything the 61 does, at no extra burden except for being slightly bigger, but when you need the extra range it's right there for you. Ditto going up to an 88-note. Why limit yourself, unless your hands are so small that the extra width of a 5 or 6 is really impractical to play?

[quote name='Higgie' post='596723' date='Sep 12 2009, 06:17 PM']Haha, I'm sure you'll get one eventually...My Dad had a 78 Stingray and it was GORGEOUS!! In other news, I went to pick this bad boy up today: It is facking LOVERLY Not sure on many of the details about this bass, but the seller tells me it's a 1994 CIJ '72 Re-Issue - Does anyone else own something similar and can comment on it? Cheers[/quote] Never mind the bass (although it IS a beaut), I'm lovin' the shirt

It's a shame that so many new players go straight for a 4-string then have to adapt to 5 or 6 later on and find it a chore. A kid I started giving lessons to a few years ago borrowed his mate's bass for his first couple lessons so his folks could see if he liked it before they splashed out for his own bass. Given that he was into the whole nu-metal thing at the time (2001, /sigh), I told him to go straight onto a 5. You can get perfectly good budget beginner's 5s out there and he wouldn't have to bother "re-learning" the instrument when he made the inevitable change later on.

I'm a big strong kind of chap and I've never been fatigued or made uncomfortable by the weight of my heaviest basses even after a really long, energetic, jumpy dancy kind of gig. Having said that, look at Jason Newstead - screwed up his upper back and neck cartiledge by moshing around with big heavy basses, and he's a sturdy fellow too. Maybe there's a lesosn in there for us macho bravado "we can take it!" types...

In my old originals band the three of us rhythm section guys would mooch on unobtrusively, crank everything up loud, and blast into the opening riff to Eye of the Tiger. Then our big-ego, prima donna vocalist would stride onto the stage like he owned the place. Crowd loved it. We craftily worked a way to segue the riff into two or three of our most-common set opening songs. Sounds cheesy (and it was) but hey! that's showbiz, and it worked a charm...

[quote]All my basses have Schaller straplocks,I put the strap part on upside down,so the bass has to enter the strap from above,the strap part acts as a cup,just in case the piston fails (Happened once about 18 years ago)[/quote] Erm, dude... that's actually the right way to do it and how everyone who owns these does it (unless their a brainless retard... or a guitarist... but I didn't need to repeat myself there) When refilling a larger screw hole prior to putting a smaller straplock screw in it, I use cocktail sticks but absolutely drown the buggers in superglue first. Leave it a few hours then you can redrill it and it's hard as rock to take the new screw. This valuable lesson learnt was in my early days of having switched to bass and playing during the nu-metal era of wearing your bass almost vertically, headstock up by your ear style. My clever engineering brain saw the need for a straplock after my strap repeatedly and expectedly came off the top horn. I purchased said straplocks, saw the hole was too big for the new screw, and shoved a cocktail stick in there. First gig, pounding away on the bass in true Fieldy pose, and dropped the bass on the floor on the first song of the encore. Left with a strap, with a straplock perfectly in place, securely holding a button, holding a screw, and lots of cocktail stick confetti drifting through the air. D'oh!

The best bit of that song for me is the chap taking a big bite off a KFC chicken drumstick in the video. (2 mins 43) "Hey baby, you wanna make wild firey sex with me tonight?" "Not tonight love, I got a Bargain Bucket here"