Rosie C

I went to Firebird for a classical piano exam. But they had no piano and were at a loss as to why the exam board had sent me there. The staff were helpful and friendly though, and it looked a decent set up.

Which is what I was playing in church today - alongside piano, electric guitar, drum and cornet. OK the volume was set to '9', and the acoustics are fantastic, but it was loud enough.

I'm surprised I'm the only person with only fretless - though that has been helped by moving house and selling instruments I wasn't playing. I started playing double bass and viola/violin at the start of covid lockdown and haven't really played fretted since.

I don't know what this is, but I love it! 💙

First Bass Owned: Aria Wildcat Pro II in white. Heavily influenced by John Taylor: 'Go To' Bass: Squier Jazz with Fender fretless neck 'Your' Bass: An unbranded cheap & cheerful plywood upright with neck and various other repairs, that somehow has a fantastic tone. Fitted with Innovation Rockabilly blacks & Realist Lifeline pickup.

I have a challenging start to the day - woke up late having been unwell in the night. Then 'ForScore' refused to sync the music for this mornings' service so I had to print out the new tunes. For bonus fun, our MD had a new tune which I got to see only with five minutes before the service started. But it all went well and once the service started everything dropped into place. The hymns were: As the Deer Pants for Water When I Needed a Neighbour Behold the Lamb How Can I Keep From Singing All have decent bass parts, but I'm particularly fond of How Can I Keep From Singing

I sold Simisker a Behringer rack effects unit. Great comms, and very patient with me as I was nursing an injured leg and couldn't get to the post office.

Then we shall make that happen!

It's a CS7. Technically I can't fault it - the action and sound is great.

The first time I watched the video, I wasn't sure what I was watching. But I read your description, watched again and I get it! Impressive, and an interesting way to make music. In a way, not so different to our church band, except we have no tech, and play standing around the MD's piano so we can hear his instructions but the congregation can't.

Been there! Mid 1990s, me and a friend were renovating a flat I'd bought, on evenings after work. It was winter so we'd left the mains on, confident that a particular wire was not live.

The scientist in me wants to test how much electricity the pencil's graphite core will conduct! 😈

Infamy! Our worship band has had a little recognition - we've been invited to play at another church next week at a special diocese-wide service. I'm going to dust off my upright for the occasion

Interesting, mine is more of a pink noise. But I have hyperacusis too, so maybe not exactly tinnitus.

This is also my experience. We gave our baby grand for free to a local school. The upright we had before that the guy who delivered the baby grand took it away for free 'as a favour'.

If I was buying a new upright now I'd probably start my search with a Yamaha B2. I've just sold my Kawai digital. I liked that it could do harpsichord, and I liked not having to heat the room or pay for tuning, but it lacked the soul of a 'real' piano.

Interesting. I'd not realised the difference in flexibility. I must admit my main reason to buy orange lawnmower flex was it being hi-vis for teenage boys running amok at our community band break time... though I'm sure the pro cable comes in bright colours too. I always use Neutrik connectors though.

I'd not realised that was significant, but you're right - although the place I'm planning to use seems to be one of the leading suppliers, there only 38mm and 40mm sizes. Not that I need it to read music, more to take a quick look at a set list, or remind myself of the opening bar of a tune. I'm in a 'border morris' side, so a monocle will work well with the rest of my outfit.

My optician suggested one eye short vision, one eye long vision, but I dismissed that out of hand as a crazy idea. As it happened, I failed the test for contacts - the callouses on my left hand fingers from bass-ing and mandolin-ing meant I couldn't feed the lens, and I couldnt' manage the "left lens in with the right hand" thing. So I wear glasses, though I am considering a monocle!

I joined my local gym. Not something I EVER thought I'd do, but my doc gave me a choice of meds or NHS part-funded gym membership. The strange thing was after a few weeks I started to really enjoy it and missed it if I couldn't work out for a few days. Nothing too strenuous - treadmill, cycle machine, and some weights and there's big TVs to watch so the time goes quickly. My formal exercise goals include "carrying my bass amp" The NHS bit was quite important for me - I have a special coach who went through my medical history and designed a suitable programme and keeps tabs on my progress.

Despite these days of Speakon, I still use orange twin-core mains cable to make my speaker cables, just I use Speakon plugs now