cupples

I played an 8 course Renaissance lute for a while a few years back, that was fun! Although the tuning pegs were a bit dodgy, and after I'd tuned 15 strings umpteen times, it was a bit of a chore. And also, the frets were bits of nylon tied onto the fingerboard, which meant that tuning was an ongoing nightmare. But it made a gorgeous (although very quiet) sound, and playing John Dowland songs was amazing! I eventually sold it as I got bored and got an EUB instead... It's like that old joke about harpists - they spend half their time tuning their instrument, and half their time playing out of tune...

Yeah, it's a beautifully made instrument, although I got it somewhat preloved. I did play another secondhand one in a Cash Convertors, and it was the weirdest thing - I just couldn't get it tuned. It wasn't the original strings, but everything else looked just fine. I did see a note on a forum somewhere that the Fylde instruments are very sensitive to strings, I don't know if that's true. In terms of string gauge, as long as it's lighter than my bass, I don't mind! Whenever I was restringing my Octavius, I just played safe and got a replacement set from Roger. Andrew

I've been playing mandolin for a year or two, as well as fretless bass. I use it when leading the music in church (much easier from the mando than the bass...). I started on a cheap one that my uncle had, which didn't play above the 10th fret, and then moved onto a really nice Fylde Octavius, which sounds gorgeous! I run it through my Behringer BDI21 bass pedal into the PA. I love this wee thing - it's dead easy to play chords on (generally 2 fingers for the basic ones), and it makes a change from playing the bass. Mandolin Cafe is a fantastic resource, with loads of chord fingerings and tabs for all occasions. Andrew

[url="http://worshipbass.jivesound.com/"]Christian bass player forum[/url] There's that forum I was talking about. Andrew

Hi everyone, I'm a Christian bass player too. I've been playing in New Mossley Presbyterian Church, near Belfast, for the last 4 years, and I've been blessed to play with some great musicians in order to glorify God. It's given me the opportunity to play regularly and develop my technique, and over the last couple of years I've started leading worship (sometimes from the bass, which is tricky, and from the mandolin), and now I feel that I'm being drawn to teaching and preaching, so I'm going on a course for that next month! Since getting a pair of subs, we've been DI'ing the bass into the PA, but I would still use my Ashdown Superfly amp and a Laney 2x10 on stage. I would vary between playing my Mania 4 string fretless or a Dean Pace EUB. I think a 5 string would work well for the sort of stuff that we do - lots of contemporary praise, but also some older gospel stuff, with the occasional hymn, but for the meantime I'm awaiting the arrival of a Hipshot detuner. There is a Christian bass player's forum, but it seems to have slowed down a bit lately, maybe we need to waken it up... Actually, I've just searched and can't find it, so if someone could oblige me by posting the URL that would be great. Andrew

Lovecats by the Cure, probably the tune that got me into playing the bass, that or Little Green Bag

As a ex-lute player, I don't see what the fuss is. your average 8 course Renaissance lute has 15 strings in 8 courses (and it's a bugger to tune...), although the lower strings tend to be played open as diapasons. I think for solo bass music, having four strings for fretting and 3 or 4 open strings, tuned appropriately, would be very cool, does anybody do this? Andrew

I bought some Sennheiser wireless kit from Chris. His communication was great, the items were well packed and arrived quickly. Thanks Chris! Andrew

Hi, sorry to hear about the bother you've had with your hand/arm problems. I would suggest phoning your local professional orchestra office and asking them to recommend a specialist in your area. String players are particularly bothered by this sort of thing, if you know any pro violinists, ask them too. It might be expensive, but your hands are pretty important. Might be a good time to get a good teacher to cast an objective eye over your technique and see is there anything that can be worked on, any bad habits. You're doing a load of playing, and it's amazing how much difference a slight problem with technique can make. I think calling tendonitis a psychosomatic illness is a bit much. In my experience it's related to direct trauma, activity that you're not used to, or overuse. As for RSI - it's a nebulous term that I wouldn't be quick to use. A bit like whiplash or fibromyalgia - you can't diagnose it without excluding everything else first, there's no direct test for it. There's certainly a psychological element to all pain, but (having not read that book), I suspect that the actual evidence for psychological interventions in helping these conditions is negligible. And if there's no evidence, I wouldn't go there. I'm glad it worked for you, but you're maybe one of the lucky ones. And I think missing the physiotherapy was a mistake. Some GPs don't really know what they're talking about when it comes to musculoskeletal medicine, but physios are usually on the ball. [Conflict of interest - orchestral musician and GP.] Andrew

I sold my Kickback 12" a while back for about £150, so you can do better than that if you look around. Andrew

It's got to be Little Green Bag by the George Baker Selection, from Reservoir Dogs, or else the Cure's Lovecats. Love those bass lines! That's what got me started. Andrew

I've just picked on up for £299 from a dealer, used. It's a bit battered, but sounds good with the LaBella tapewounds, great in fact! Not a proper upright, no, but as easy as pie going from my usual 34" fretless bass, no thinking involved! One problem that some of these basses seem to have is an annoying sporadic buzz, worse when you touch the strings. It's a problem with the earth wire running to the bridge, it seems to lose contact after a while. Mine was doing this. Just unscrew the bridge, and solder on a small round thingy to go around one of the screws, or just bung it into a screw hole when you're reattaching the bridge. I would recommend one, as long as you've had a good play at it, and can get it cheaper than 499... Andrew