Ancient Mariner

Has anyone else thought *Thomann* yet?

Musicians only was a tabloid newspaper style publication. I remember picking that up regularly, and yes, it was very much the internet for musicians of its day. It was informative and interesting at a time when NME and melody maker were puerile and pretentious, trading on their earlier reputations. It's not exactly yesteryear, in that the mag is still going, but I also have issue 1 of Total Guitar tucked away somewhere.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1423568527' post='2686347'] Me, I do everything with just my hands but I might use a double thumb stroke to imitate a pick but it doesn't really have the heaviness or authority that a pick does...but its my bed and I'll lie in it and use it as a challenge. I like the versatility of fingers and I swapped over after about 4 years of playing so no going back really. I also get more satisfaction nailing a typical pick line with fingers anyway. You need something to amuse yourself.. I think most players are 'born' pick or fingers anyway and this is mostly down to what they listen to and therefore they hear... [/quote] I'm really a pick player for guitar & won't do otherwise, but for bass I prefer finger and thumb because it sounds much better than a pick (unless using compression ). I say finger, so I guess that's taking the place of the pick, but I just can't usemore than 1 finger and maintain acceptable timing

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1423538740' post='2686106'] My take is a little different. I started playing bass in 1964 and started gigging in 1966 at age 11. It was different back then every kid in the neighborhood was learning to play electric guitar, bass guitar or drums. All spawned by the Beatles appearance on American Television on February 9th, 1964. At the time I thought everybody was in a band. We practiced, learned to wood shed and we took lessons. 50 years later I'm still at it, practicing for hours on end and still gigging every weekend. I say it's never to soon, today there are kids out there on big tours that know little more than how to get around E, A , D and G root notes and haven't been playing more than a year. Blue [/quote] I may have over-estimated on the timescale, so maybe a little sooner. I'd always wanted to be Eric Clapton, and it was a big ask to learn to play and improvise adequately that way.

They used to be the same, but I'm finding them increasingly drifting apart.

Playing with others requires a very different set of skills from playing to backing tracks in a bedroom: there's an unspoken language to learn, how to flow with people, when to start & stop, when to be louder or quieter & so on, unless one is playing set pieces a la recording. Jam nights or a simple band can be a good place to start acquiring these skills, but don't be surprised if it feels very different from playing alone. JTUKs point about standards is a good one. Although I jammed on guitar with a mate playing bass in the first year, as a guitarist (who used to practice 20+ hours/week at 16) I wasn't really up to playing out until after about 3 years. While a couple of chords where OK for punk, if you want to make music it takes more than attitude and volume.

It's sold as one of those 'all in one' modulation pedals for about £40/$40, and i was given one for Christmas. Some of the modulations are usable, but it does a really good univibe effect. Played out with mine this morning and it sounded really good - all big & a bit squelchy with a strong essence of jazz organ running through. Definitely recommended for a good, cheap Univibe.

I played on stage at the same time as Cliff Richard in 1981, except he was on the Greenbelt festival mainstage and I was in a small marquee off to one side.

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1423060566' post='2680149'] All makes perfect sense to me. hairychris - you may want to note the following guide to musicians' love lives: [/quote] That's missing the part with the keyboard player going off with another man.

Welcome spidey. A few years back I bought a Washburn A15V from the Performer series, £65 on the 'bay, and sold it about 3 years later for about £240 (inc shipping to Norway). That was worth about £240-£250, and I'd put quality somewhere around the same as one of the better MIM strats. I also have an A20V (bought well used in the early 90s) and that's just a plain great guitar and IMO a good one is worth the £400-£500 they sell for now.

Bilbo - it might be worth spending £100 or so on a 4 YO refurb machine with W7 pre-installed, rather than £500 on a moderately current system. This is basic, but many times more powerful than you present system likely is: https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Lenovo+M57p+Core+2+Duo+Windows+7+Professional+Refurb++Desktop+PC+?productId=61445

Thanks - I'll look out for a chance to try one some time.

The Columbus was a cut above Kay, Hondo, Satellite etc, in that it was a solid body (mine was anyway - can't remember whether bolt or set neck) and this one appears to have Dimarzios (also fitted as standard to some MIJ copies). Never the less, the magic word 'Japan' has been apparently effective here.

When I was 17 I had a Columbus Les Paul copy. Someone had popped a Dimarzio Superdistortion into the neck position (IIRC). It wasn't impressive by any standards, and it provided excellent trade material for my first serious guitar. But nostalgia is what it used to be, and I came across a Columbus LP on ebay this week. It had reached £50ish, which was OK, so I watched it. This morning it had exceeded £500, which I reckon is about 5X the reasonable value. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Guitar-/251807214287?ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:1653 Nuts, frankly. What price old, imaginary mojo-loaded guitars?

The pickups were 'designed by EMG' and seemed well above the usual designed by stuff that's substandard. Mornats - I have 10 or 11 electrics, plus a MIJ strat that's in the process of being rebuilt and a Suzuki acoustic. I tried to sell off a couple of electrics (Heritage Les paul HC150 and a JJ Goldtop) last year, but got nothing more than interest. Nearly bought a Hutchins Eliminator today too I'm not really a bass player, although I did pull out my J type that I bought from Gaf a few years back & noodled around a bit today.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1422645169' post='2675173'] I need to sell a bass first I reckon. Then I've got my eye on a nice bass ukulele I saw in my local Hobgoblin and I fancy an electric upright and... and... [/quote] It's a sickness laddie. I own 3 basses now, and I haven't even played out in a couple of years.

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1421170717' post='2658005'] Bit of a thread resurrection; I took delivery of a Joyo US Dream today (Suhr Riot clone), bloody amazing and only £24 delivered from Coda. [url="http://s308.photobucket.com/user/ezbass/media/74ee73a67445391ad84f132a550310a3_zps1d7e845c.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] Does that provide variable amounts of dirt according to how hard you dig in? Is it reasonably clear or a little congested sounding (as I've heard in some vids).

[quote name='hairychris' timestamp='1422619805' post='2674662'] +1 on avoiding the Line 6 Spider. There's something very weird with how it sounds that makes it go completely missing in live mixes. Either none of the users know how to dial in mids or it's something fundamental. I've heard better things about the Spider Valve though. [/quote] There's something about older modellers (not listened to anything in the last 5 years) that takes away presence and cut - they make a lot of noise, but it's like using far too much fuzz and you get a mushy background sound until they become too loud and swamp everything. Or maybe they're just really hard to set up well? I've seen (heard) similar issues with Vettas, flextones and the big HD heads when used live. Older Vox modellers suffered similar problems, though less than Line 6 kit.

It's very tempting, but I have a MIJ strat refin/rebuild project that I've just started.

[quote name='kennyrodgers' timestamp='1422540423' post='2673872'] Try doing it like this for a change. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNouaPlwuGI[/media] [/quote] I really liked that, but then it always felt like there was a cross-over between soul and rock in the 60s.

For those who record and hope to sell their music, this is worth a read: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/29/oops_google_somebody_left_a_tape_running/

Quite difficult to choose this time round. I know it's a composition competition, but playing and production helped me make my choice of alibabu's track.

I'd be inclined to go along with Mike257's comments about Line 6 too, especially the food grade stuff. For pure home practice have a look at the Yamaha THR series mini-amps. Relatively expensive, but very good & versatile. Westarx - what don't you like about valve amps? There's a huge range of different tone types available, depending on what you want. If you muct have SS then check out Tech 21 trademark series and Polytone amps (avoid Session SS - nasty, fizzy stuff IMO).

Probably not very hollow then.

If it really has an ash body and is reasonably resonant then that's a bargain. I had one of those AXL Teles a few years back. Went to a music show, just happened to pick it up & strum it and realised it felt and sounded really good. £40 OTD. The fret wire was really soft and began to wear quickly, but never the less it was fully giggable. I sold it to make room (Gibson flying V was coming) and regretted it - it sounded & played better than the V.