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Had a fantastic day yesterday in the company of Billy Sheehan, have been in contact with billy for a number of years, always had great chats with him etc, he arranged for me to meet up with him yesterday in Glasgow, just can't put in words how cool that experience was, i take part time photos of bands for fun, and billy asked if i would take some shots, Mr Big are a very slick set up!! Pro all the way, i was listening to Billy's onstage sound which is just incredible he has the smoothest low end with just the right amount of grunge on top he is an expert at sound control of a bass guitar , he can manipulate that bass to sound any way he likes it, so happy i got the chance for this experience, great bunch of guys too, i took a pile of photos if anyone fancies a look. cheers Geo Billy Sheehan pics here https://www.flickr.com/photos/139327844@N08/

Nice work Norris - and it's only gone and changed 'penile' to 'puerile' on your last post!

Just as well you added that caveat, otherwise the previous poster might have felt very hurt.

Muchio respect for Billy... Very personable and a great raconteur. Not sure I've heard anyone with a more refined right-hand. His solo on the Stanley special is probably the best... and Stanley's response at 7:40 is hilarious... Second vid is Bill showing he can cut it in jazz which we know from Niacin.

Okay, I want to test something out. Ahem. Steve Harley and pink torpedoney Rebel. S.P.

... to impress people they don´t know.

another device to get people to buy stuff they don't really need with money they haven't really got

Sure - he's not for you. You are in no means in his demographic. You may as well spend your time getting annoyed with TV adverts for CBeebies. As a guitar manufacturer. And also as somebody who has worked with Davie504 - I think you're missing something very important. People like him are VITAL in getting young people interested in playing the bass. Kids (largely) don't care a stinky poo about what famous rock star plays what bass. But what kids DO do is watch a lot of youtube. I have kids coming to my stand at guitar shows *specifically* because of Davie. So what that recent "The Guitar is Dead" article https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.ce7968ff795a didn't take into account was the effect that these youtube players are having on sales. Just my 2 cents. **EDIT haha. love the censorship applied to my post. "stinky poo"

I imagine it would go something like: "I enjoy playing bass, i'm alright at it, I made some videos, list them with a title that fairly accurately relates to the content, some people watch them". I'm almost certain that he doesn't have the time or inclination to defend himself against those in his extended community (bass players). He's happy, he's helping infinitely more people than he's hurting. Again, good luck to him. Si

Oh gawd! I can't remember the last time I had one of those. You should hear him perform on the brown paper bag too.

I think my Beatles post broke Basschat

Wouldn't surprise me, I've been misunderstanding a lot of stuff lately. I think I went to someone's house today for Thanksgiving because I thought I was invited. Now, I'm not sure if I was really invited. Great food. Blue

I presented Billy with a malt whisky from JURA which is not too far away from where i stay he was over the moon with that he is taking it home to Nashville.

I'm sure there's been a few threads about this but oh my god, this kind of hyperactive attention whore-ishness represents everything I hate about the internet. I see that annoying face and the awful clickbait every time I look at YouTube, there is just no getting away from it. You search for anything to do with bass, and bang, there he is, with 4 thousand novelty party trick videos, pulling stupid YouTube faces and pointing at 12 string novelty basses. "Finally, a funky fretless 19 string slap bass jam! Leave a comment, like and subscribe LOL etc smiley face" ad infinitum. Jesus christ. Yes I'm sure these guys are all very talented and special, but when I see this stuff, all I see is a bunch of ballerinas prancing around for attention. Anyone remember a time when people got laughed at for being attention-seeking show-offs? Those days are long gone. Now I know this is a rant and I'm being rude, and I'm obviously in the minority, because 1 million followers blah blah, and I know it's a 'business model' blah blah.. but it annoys the living crap out of me personally. Stock Aitken Waterman was also a business model, and their pinnacle was 'The Reynolds Girls'. Just because something is a 'business model' it does not mean it's good. There are people like Adam Neely out there who also have a trillion followers, and they're not resorting to this stuff. No disrespect to anyone who loves it obvs, just my personal view. /end rant (I also hate 'Remco Hendrix', and that german guy with the ridiculous massive beard, and every other o.c.d. novelty internet show-off out there).

I consider myself pretty well-rounded/versed when it comes to musical knowledge & listening experience past & present but there's always been a big Beatles-shaped hole in my knowledge. I've got massive appreciation for what they represent musically & culturally, but just never taken to them & so have never taken the time to seek out their tunes or do much reading up on their history generally. However, inspired by a combination of a recent BBC4 show which explored the musicality of Sgt Pepper, Blue's detailed declarations of worship on here & my daughter constantly bigging their songs up, I've rinsed each of their albums from Sgt Pepper onwards in the car throughout the week & thought I'd share my thoughts on em. Cos there's simply not enough examples of people sharing their thoughts about the Beatles on here, or anywhere So, for no particular reason & all IMHO etc... They did lots of amazing, groundbreaking stuff both musically & just sonically, & should always be respected for this alone. They had some really, really great songs (Here Comes the Sun, Come Together, Sgt Pepper (both the first one & the reprise), While My guitar..., Let it Be, Day in the Life to name some, basically the well known ones from Sgt Pepper album onwards. Hey Jude & so on. They had some shocking songs that others consider sublime. Mostly Lennon's stuff. Lennon's songs annoy me, they're either sneery or just all over the shop in a bad way. Strawberry Fields is a massive exception here. Lennon just annoys me full stop. McCartney is a fantastic bassist in both his approach & execution, an excellent all-round musician & an often-genius songwriter. However he's guilty of dicking around with whimsy & styles too much on a lot of tunes & it's annoying. George Harrison really blossomed as songwriter late on aye, but his geetar solos were second rate. Their entire catalogue is ruined by sh*te drumming. "It wouldn't have been the Beatles without Ringo" blah blah blah...if Ringo had raised his game, they'd have still had him & they'd have sounded better. I can't comment on stuff before Sgt Pepper, I realise it was game-changing stuff but the sound leaves me cold. Anyway, there's my two pennorth, & I can now comfortably pursue the remainder of my days in the knowledge that I've contributed to the greatest debate that no one actually wants but ultimately can't resist in chiming in on, ever

I may well steal adopt this idea

Jealous Moi? .....damn right!!! One of the reasons I play bass!

It's been said before, the guy that shows up with the shiny new huge elaborate kit and can't play. Blue

Do you prefer something like that: ?

People think my head is so far up The Beatles arse nobody takes me seriously. As for Ringo, do drums even matter when you have songs that great? Blue

That guy 'old mark' who says he really likes the white one isn't me, by the way.

But the wisdom isn't in oneself eating the poop; it's in getting someone else to pay you $2 each time one of those flies does so. Here endeth the lesson in how to commodify YouTube. Or maybe PooTube

He was at the London Bass Guitar Show in 2016, quite tall as I remember. I use YouTube to find things I am interested in. The recommended videos are often really useful. I'm not forced to watch anything, I type in or click on what I want to watch.

Well it's just a ligh-hearted anger fuelled rant really, it makes for a good discussion. I'm not actually sitting at my computer red-faced and screaming at the screen whilst watching YouTube. But it does bring up interesting issues on a wider scale, about how we see the future of music, and about how we quantify musical value in this age of stupidity.

Cracking pics and giving him a nice bottle of Jura the elixir of life to me. Well done sir and thanks for showing your pics. Dave

I was alerted to a *really* tenuous one yesterday evening: Unsurprisingly, Coca-Cola have muscled in on the forthcoming release of the new Star Wars film with a branding tie-in. Basically, if you buy a bottle of coke in the next couple of months, it is likely to have a mugshot of one of the actors printed on the bottle. The guy they commissioned to do the graphic design for these labels is also a singer-songwriter in his spare time. A few years ago, his PA called me out of the blue because he had an upcoming gig that his regular bassist couldn't make, so I filled in for that one. So in short: I once played bass for the guy who went on to design the labels for the upcoming Coca-Cola branding tie-in to the new Star Wars flick.

Always keen to hear new stuff, I was intrigued enough by the enthusiasm shown in this topic to give 'em a whirl through their Youtube presence. Luckily, I was doing other stuff at the same time, so I didn't completely waste my afternoon. Good gracious; I knew, several decades ago, a few folks that would listen to stuff like this, but they've, for the most part, either stopped smoking that stuff now and got their life back, or are dead from over-use. In any case, I couldn't stand more than half an album or two; I completed none. Would I do it again..? Ha..! Still, I did learn some new stuff, but I'm not so keen, now. How odd..!

Re. stand, I bodged a stand for my Stag that actually works pretty well. The donor was a tattoo leg/arm rest - took off the pad and it gave me this quick release jobbie. Once it is folded up it (nearly) fits into the bow pocket on the carry bag, too.

I wouldn't be surprised he occasionally has a nosey in here.

A sloppy feel sounds like something that happened round the back of the bike sheds...

My tin is pretty corroded and the track-sheet disappeared at some point but the vinyl is still flawless. I have Second Edition too, but the bass extension isn't even close. 45 rpm for the extra 6dB of win! For some reason though, I tend to play Flowers of Romance more often even though there's no bass on it.

This sums it up in a nutshell for me. People can argue till they're purple about how bad some the content is on YouTube, but there'll always be quite literally millions of people who think the opposite. They can't all be wrong. Yes, the likes of PewDiePie are an - ahem - 'acquired taste' and not for me. But they're young entrepreneurs earning shedloads of cash off their own backs. And if they achieve that pratting around on the internet then why the hell not? Same goes for the numerous YouTube musicians. It's a world away from grinding out small change playing pub gigs; but god knows the music industry needs some new ways of earning a living right now. If you don't like it, heed the old adage of Why Don't You and "go do something less boring instead". Meanwhile, the World Wide Web will keep turning, leaving us oldsters in its wake

Cuzzie you make your points eloquently and with passion. A bit like Jeremy Corbyn. Doesn't unfortunately mean that I can necessarily entirely agree with them. Let's just have a think about what Two Notes were doing when they put together their pedal? Two thirds of the pedal control is given over to Channel B which includes mid sweep, mid control and fusion mode, all of which are missing from what they have provided in relation to the 33% devoted to clean Channel A. So it's obvious to me and I presume to any impartial bystander that the 2Notes is a dirt pedal with a clean EQ bolted on? It is certainly 'famous' for being a dirt pedal and not a clean EQ. The Ampeg SCR DI is opposite way around, with this being primarily a clean EQ and what it is 'famous' for, with a (not so highly regarded) Scrambler dirt bolted on. You're obviously at liberty to use your 2Notes exactly how you wish to maximise the benefit for your sound. And, in your defence, I completely acknowledge the sound you are getting with the various components of your signal chain from relic'd Sandberg bass via your carefully thought through pedal chain with some great, and occasionally avant garde, pedals through your 1000W Form Factor Amp into a BF ST cab is nice (you've banned me from overusing 'gorgeous').

I remember asking a drummer at an audition whether he could read. He blushed a bit and said he could, but not very well even now, he'd had to have extra lessons at school.......................................

Which brings up another point (can't remember if it's covered in the videos above)... If your left hand fretting is inaccurate and you're stopping the string too far from the fret, there will be a natural tendency to use more pressure to avoid fret noise.

I used to own a FNA Jazzman (2004). I thought it was great. It was a 5 string and I thought it was a decent B string. I had (still have) a Thumb NT 5 at the same time and I much preferred the old/flat neck profile the Thumb has than the baseball bat profile of the FNA. It was a great gigging bass but I fancied a Stage 2 and traded it for that. Its a totally different bass so no point comparing them. But lets just say it was like jumping from a good Japanese car to a high performing German beast. But I have no experience with the Streamer Jazzman. I would think there are different body woods but other things should be similar (neck profile?). So it comes down to what body shape do you prefer and I guess price/availability. I like anything Warwick so I would have to toss a coin between these two but I liked my FNA and would not hesitate to get another one but then again I have not tried the Streamer Jazzman so might prefer to try that. Too many basses to try, these 1st world problems are so bad.

It's interesting how folk include browsing digital media in their set of social skills to the detriment of being able to hold a real time conversation when needed. They think they are better off socially. How many shops have I visited where I thought they would appreciate my business only to tell me to go online before going back to their smarties? And they wonder why high street shopping suffers. It's ludicrous. I have taken the time to visit the shop and they have told me to go elsewhere. It's a polite way of telling you to Foxtrot Oscar, nothing more and nothing less. Grrrr. Can't we go back to the days when shop counters were populated by bright young things who were just in the crucial stage of decorating their nails when you inconveniently presented yourself before them? It might mean less nail bars taking the place of music shops where you can go and buy strings right off the shelf for one thing! Bah! @ the OP; It's only the Internet at the end of the day if that's of any comfort to you. Just pull the plug if it irks you to that extent.

C o c k l e s

I was lucky enough to meet him at a clinic a few years ago in Brum. Such an incredible player and his knowledge of bass is second to non

+17 for Mick Karn, one of my favourite bass players, as you say, well under appreciated. It's a good point, would he have existed without Jaco? His influences were so peculiar and left field I choose to think he would, but then, Jaco did change bass playing fundamentally. Ach, who knows, just great to remember that wobbly Wall deliciousness. Japan on the drive home then.

I make wiring looms to order, top quality, solderless fitting, PM me for details.

Trying to buy basses 'without' an Adam Clayton signature is becoming difficult, I think the ones without will be worth a few quid in years to come!

I'm amazed this is a thing! ha ha ha! It's a bit like saying that an able bodied person prefers walking with their left leg rather than the right.

I released a solo album on 1st September 2017 featuring bass guitar and some acoustic guitar. Having started playing in 1981 the album is typified with influences by Mark King & Stanley Clarke. All tunes are original compositions. The style is pretty chilled out.

It doesn't play well, but looks cool:

My just acquired TM4 It's wonderful! Such a huge sound and an easy neck. Build quality that Fender can only dream about.