LowB_FTW

With it now being the last day of the year, I have my final stats for 2023. These stats only come from my main computer, and I only play my iTunes when I'm working so I have something on in the background. I do use an iPod when I'm driving, but it's a 5th generation iPod Video from around 2005, so it doesn't have any apps on it to register plays and certainly cannot stream anything. When I buy an album I'll play it through once from start to finish, after that it only gets played on random shuffle by song, picked by iTunes. Like any of you really cares 😂 Anyway, here's my last 365 days of music … Artists Def Leppard - 1,809 Queen - 1,062 The Who - 1,021 Pink Floyd - 912 Pearl Jam - 885 Albums Gary Moore - The Platinum Collection - 186 Def Leppard - Slang (Deluxe Edition) - 185 ELO - The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra - 179 Various - A compilation 'Smart Bundle' from Iceland Airwaves - 154 Various - This is Guitar Gods (Re-Recorded Versions) - 151 Tracks Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie - 28 The Jack - AC/DC - 26 Go - Pearl Jam - 26 Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC - 24 Photograph - Def Leppard - 24 Mark

Cowbell. There's never enough cowbell. Mark

😂 Mark

5 in-line FTW. Mark

It's part of the reason I always use a plectrum (I use the Wedgie 5mm plectrums). I once tried to get rid of that clanking nail but I had to cut the nails down so short it actually hurt my fingers, so I've never done that again. I suppose I could have tried harder modifying my plucking technique, but I was young and impatient and so never did that. Mark

Surely you're gonna get audio from the strings on the reverse of the body (the strings facing the player) when you're playing the other ones, as they share the same sound cavity with it being hollow body? It seems like a solution looking for the problem. Mark

That doesn't make much sense to me in the scenario presented. I mean, it's certainly … something, but if you're in a studio setting using pedals and loops, surely it would be better to have dedicated instruments? Mark

Chuck Norris with a Thunderbird … (Stolen from a FB post that appeared on my timeline, so please excuse the text, it's not mine.) Mark

That red is absolutely luscious. Mark

Did I not cover this in my post ... "It's part of what I enjoy about this forum so much, you don't just learn about the instrument, you learn about the people behind the instrument, and in many cases, the people that influenced those people." I recognise that the names on the poll very likely influenced some/all the players that influence/d me, I'm just not specifically familiar with their playing, and whilst I appreciate your reply, I don't know that I specifically need to be familiar with their work either. I'm certainly open to listening to them and what they have done, but don't be hatin' on me if I'm not overly enamoured by what I hear. Just because people influence people that influence me, doesn't mean I have to be in awe of them. Mark

This is my problem with lists like these here. I was never really exposed to a lot of the players on the list, and if I am familiar with some of the music they made, I certainly wasn't aware of the name of the person playing bass on it. I know some of the name on the list (John Entwistle, John Paul Jones, Mark King, Flea, McCartney) but very few of the others, and if I am aware of them, it's only in passing as I've seen the name mentioned here and I've gone looking for stuff of theirs. It's part of what I enjoy about this forum so much, you don't just learn about the instrument, you learn about the people behind the instrument, and in many cases, the people that influenced those people. All this is really to explain that I couldn't add my votes to the poll, because to me, none of those people are the people that influenced me. Mark

Cloverleaf machineheads. Mark

This has been a really cool thread, to follow you on this journey. Now I'm just waiting for the bass version 😂 … Mark

😂 My Lodestone Primal Artist is. 😜 Mark

I have one of these in black (see below) and, for the time being, it's the main bass that I use. Mark

Can we take a moment to talk abut nuts? I'm totally at a loss for selecting one for a bass build. What's the 'best' nut to use? By 'best' I guess I mean what are the relative benefits of one material over another? What files do you recommend for the grooves? Files seem to be the preferred method, are there any others? How deep do the nuts need to be (steady on in the cheap seats)? My fretboard is gonna have an infinite radius (ie it's flat!), do all nuts come radiused, so will I have to file the top flat? Does the thickness of the fretboard have any bearing on nut depth/type? For reference, it's a 5-string build with 45mm nut requirement. Anything else I should know about? As you can clearly see, I know nothing about this subject, but I'm here to learn. Mark

It seems fitting for me to put this here today, as it's his birthday, it was Rick Savage and more specifically his white Hamer Scarab bass that set me on my bass journey. I was watching the news (I think it was BBC six o'clock news) and Def Leppard had just released a new single and it was getting some news coverage, I suspect because the album it came from was doing stellar sales at that time, and I just recall seeing him playing that bass, and hearing that sound (which I later found out wasn't actually a bass guitar sound but a sequenced synth bass sorta sound) but I thought I'd be having me some of that. It was some time afterwards I picked up a guitar and tried playing that because I wanted to play rhythm guitar specifically - all the guitar soloing never appealed to me. I very quickly discovered that whilst I was doing great playing all the open chords, I just couldn't get my fretting fingers to work properly with barre chords, so after becoming deeply frustrated with my inability to progress as a rhythm guitar player, a friend suggested I try lessons, which I had absolutely no money to pay for, but luckily the place I was doing my YTS (remember that?!?) course at had someone coming in and giving lessons for free, so I made use of their availability, and after a few lessons I think he was fed up with my inability to play anything other than open chords too and suggested I try bass. Cue my memory flying back to the time I saw that TV news report and I went straight to one of the local instrument shops that weekend to try stuff out. It took me ages to save up for my first bass, I was only getting paid something like £35 every fortnight, but after placing a small small deposit and paying some off each month, I managed to get me a 4-string Squire. I detailed what happened to that original bass in my introduction post, so I'll not repeat here, but I still have the second (first 5-string) bass I ever bought. Mark

I don't do Spotify, but last.fm tells me my top five artists are … Def Leppard Queen The Who Pink Floyd Pearl Jam Mark

You are not alone in this. My shoulder issue (outlined above) means I now have to play right at the end of the neck, and that position has to be right in front of me, which makes the lower note access fantastic, but I struggle higher up the fretboard for notes, especially as I play 5-sting basses exclusively, reaching for that low string up past the 8th fret can be a challenge. Sometimes I feel I may as well be playing an upright. Mark

Thanks for that, much appreciated. The scale of bass doesn’t really impact me at the moment, as the issue is with my right shoulder so playing standing up the bass is slung on my left shoulder, and despite having some lower back issues, as I am only playing for my own pleasure I don't need to be stood up for three hours practicing - also, for the moment at least, the weight of the bass isn't an issue for me. Lighter weight/shorter scale basses may be something that I'll have to look into at some as yet unspecified time in the future, but for the time being I am managing the situation. Mark

Frozen right shoulder in Dec. 2020, couldn’t get to see anyone about it for ages, so it was just pain management for a long time until I finally got a GP appointment to confirm the issue. That lead to physio treatment and I now have exercises to do and I don't think I'll ever get full 100% movement back in it. This all means I can't now play bass sitting down, so I have to stand whilst playing, and my posture has changed whilst wearing my bass so I now have to play it in a different position than how I played it pre condition. It's like I have literally had to start playing again from scratch. I've had to invest in a better strap to accommodate the longer time playing whilst standing, so I guess that's one positive that came out of this for me, but I do find it a PITA that I can't just grab a bass and play whilst sitting on the settee to fill a bit of time, it all seems much more formal when I have to play standing up, and I don't even play with others, it's just me by myself for myself. I understand this is just a minor inconvenience compared to some of the things already posted in this thread, but it's still something I have to deal with on a daily basis and it does impact other aspects of my life as well. Mark

I've re-listened to this, and I still like it. Some thoughts … There's a weird gap/break between the end of the first track and the start of the second. I thought this was just my internet connection the first time I listened to it, but it happened the second time and it's just weird. It totally took me out of the listening experience, which was a shame because I like the first track and it just didn't work for me. Listening to this I get vibes from a couple of bands I like, La Bottine Souriante, and Placebo. I've no idea what the former of these bands is singing about in any of their songs, just like this AotW. 😂 For me, listening to the tune and instrumentation comes first in music, the lyrics after that, so it really doesn’t bother me what language is being used to sing. Mark

❓ Mark

A Fender Bass V. Which, in reality, I'll never be able to afford. Mark

That's a very handy link, thanks for posting this. Mark