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I have just complete a tremendous experience, ordered a bass for my 50th and it arrived early thanks to Alan. From start to finish Alan has been great. The bass on the other hand is fantastic. Full specs here: https://www.acguitars.co.uk/project/0328urecurve5/

Call me crazy, but I just met a chap in Buxton and did an eBay trade deal. Traded my PDN Musicman Starry Night Stingray for a Euro 5 LX. Couldn’t be happier!!!!

... but almost as good - I've just re-strung my Jazz Aerodyne BEAD. I'll have to play the strings in a bit, of course, but first impressions are excellent. The strings (basic D'Addario medium gauge rounds that I've been carrying around as spares) fit the bridge and nut nicely, the tension and action were fine without any tweaking, and the B string (which is supposed to be E) is better than the one on my Jazz V (which is supposed to be B). This is going to force me to use the B string in my main basslines rather than just for throwing in passing notes under them. I do tend to drift towards the higher end of the range, although I know that means my sound can get a bit lost in the mix - this should keep me away from that. It also gives me a new sound - and a new toy! - for a lot less trouble and money than buying a new bass! 🙂 Happy cat.

A completely unplanned ambush which left me with a fit of the giggles and slightly spoiled the rock'n'roll sneer that this song needs.

Plan is, try and remain cost neutral. If I want something, then I need to sell something to raise the funds. Thats 2019, still got a week of 2018 to shop in first and I’m going out in style. 😂

Merry Xmas Basschatters! Thought I'd share a quick arrangement of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi Trio, taken from the incredible "A Charlie Brown Christmas" album. Always loved Guaraldi's contrast of sweet melodies against unusual harmonies so thought I'd have a go at transcribing a piece finally! Have a great Xmas when it comes, all!

I thought I was going to be able to contain myself about this build, but the more pictures Chris sends me the more excited I am getting I can’t wait to get my hands on this thing! I cant recommend Alpher highly enough, anyone looking for a world class instrument should really give them a shout!

Otoh I stepped up at the jam at Carlisle Blues Festival last year and found myself playing with Matt Long from Catfish - possibly the best young blues/rock guitar player in the UK atm - and Connie Lush and Kaz Hawkins, definitely two of the best female singers (both in the loud unsubtle mould - hurricanes if you get anywhere near them on stage). Utterly intimidating (I've told the story in full on another thread) but Matt supported me brilliantly and I got through ok (on the cr@ppy recording on my phone I sound better than I thought I was at the time). Playing with better (in this case off-the-planet better) musicians is imho the best way to raise your game, if you get the chance. And that is now one of my all-time most cherished memories and motivations. If the chance comes again I'll be able to play better. Promise to myself.

I used to go to open nights when I lived in Chelmsford in the late 90's. I had some fun nights there, getting up to play on a few numbers. Then one night, Guthrie Govan turned up and joined in. I hid in the bog for half an hour until he went away.

It just has very serious look that says “I am capable of knocking down buildings”.

He was in Curved Air for a bit so he's alright by me.

It's that orange that I thought they must have used Tango to stain it, I was thinking of leaving it near the window so the sun gets on it and it might lighten up a bit but then I realised I lived in Wales so not much sun so the UV lamp idea sounds like a good idea 😀

It's an illness, it sneaks up on you when you're not looking and causes you to make irrational decisions. It doesn't discriminate, it cares not of wealth, colour, sex, race or age. Be careful folks, it hides around every corner and pounces when your guard is down. I was totally happy with all my gear, even started working out what to sell in order to downsize to what I really need, and this time I really am going to sell stuff. Then in a 24 hour period I'd seen, pondered and spent the most I've ever spent on a bass, without even holding it. As I said be careful out there folks, beware of the classifieds, FB selling pages, instrument shops, even mates of mates who 'have this bass for sale', it's too late for me but if this cautionary tale helps just one person then it's been worth it. Stay wary! 😁

They have the suffix "M" if they have the magnetic pickups, so that would be (but isn't) a CR5M.

Best bass purchase: my NS Design CR5 upright bass - Love it!!!! Worst bass purchase: Dunlop Super Bright bass strings. Dear goodness! At first they're all top and zingy, but without a solid bass fundamental to the tone. Then, as they bed in, they start to settle down. And then one day, overnight, the sound goes from zingy to sounding like someone is kicking a cardboard box down the street. Bloody awful strings!! (in my humble opinion)

In all fairness, you only have to play one note at a time so that's easy, right?

10 o'clock yesterday morning and I was just up and pottering around the flat when I received a phone call.. could I dep with a Rolling Stones trib band, performing that very afternoon? Load in time, 1pm!! I madly said yes. I depped with this band for a few gigs over the summer and really enjoyed it and I got to know the songs really well. However, I hadn't played any of them since the end of August and I didn't really feel 'match fit'. Still, it seems they were desperate. There had been some sort of falling out the night before, leading to the departure of both bass player and drummer. The gig was a 'Rock n Roll Circus' event, featuring a John Lennon trib, a Who trib and the Stones trib 'headlining'. I had in fact intended to go along to watch with a few friends, so I had to let them know I'd be going on ahead and actually playing!! The Who drummer agreed to be both Keith Moon and Charlie Watts for the night 🙂 It was a smashing afternoon. There was an MC all dressed up like a ring master and a very good magician doing conjouring tricks with balls (steady, discreet!) which all added to the rock on roll circus atmosphere. However, I felt very nervous as I was completely unrehearsed and was just hoping that it would all come flooding back. As we were last on, my nerves just grew throughout the afternoon. When I got up to play I decided not to do anything flashy, just concentrate on trying to remember it all, and to stay at the back and not to try to move around much. A pretty good Bill Wyman impression then, haha! 🙂 Afterwards everyone was very complimentary, especially the 'John Lennon' who I know slightly but who hadn't see me play rock n roll before. So I took that as the biggest compliment, as he made a point of coming up to speak to me. However I felt I had only just got through by the skin of my teeth and delivered quite an array of bum notes! Saw some vids of it on line today though, and I didn't sound as bad as I thought, so that was a relief. Looks like I'll be doing another one on Friday!! I'll be better prepared this time though 🙂 I love my life 🙂 🙂

@lurksalot I shall explain after this g&t

The musical performance left me cold, but I am going to try Adam's tip to start 'feeling' quintuplets.

My 64th birthday party next Feb is going to be a blues jam, with my Plastic Mojo Blues Band as the house band. I've asked them as my birthday present to learn my personal anthem: I was drifting through life like I'd lost my way, / Had no original words to say, / Road was empty and the sky was grey, / Praying Lord, get me home tonight. I was drifting through daytimes, not even trying, / Long bitter nights of drinking and crying, / Cursing myself for wasting my time, / Praying Lord let me sleep at night. Now I'm playing 12 bar blues on a five string bass, / Finally know I've found my place, / Electric adrenalin, state of grace, / Singing Lord, let me play all night. Sorry, seriously ot, and on the "must-know" list for my band but not for anyone else!

Thotch. /I am a Genesis fan, BTW. lol

I think that just means you don’t like them. Not that they are over rated. Good click bait though.

£1300 ?? Crikey. I daren’t tell you how much I paid....

Is that the 3035 Marshall Silver Jubliee model? That's been my back-up amp for a few years now - rather underpowered for its claimed 300W, but a really nice core tone and it says something that they're still going strong at 30 years old. Don't flog it too cheap, as they're pretty rare and have their admirers (I think the bassist from Nomeansno used one?) Hell of a power upgrade to the 1.5 kW Crown!

I`m buying sod all next year. I have more than enough gear for a player of my limited skill We should all return here on the 1st of January 2020 and see who was talking garbage...

planet rock. planet rock. planet rock

Agree 👍

Just seen this on Northwest Bands and Gigs Facebook. James Beedham shared a post. Yesterday at 09:46 Stolen in Warrington. Please keep an eye out x James Beedham Yesterday at 09:41 STOLEN: Overwater Progress Deluxe 6-String bass. Please keep an eye out for my beautiful bass that was stolen from a property in Warrington yesterday. She’s a Walnut and Maple, through neck beast. Distinctive extended range fretboard with jack & xlr sockets. Please get in touch with the police if you spot it anywhere. Thank you! Merry Christmas!

So it isn't only me who believes bassplayers are the only people with proper cable management? If I had a dollar for every time MY extra cable had to serve as a guitar cable because one of our guitarists forgot or broke their flimsy sh*tty cable... I would be able to buy them some decent cables.

I can't belive the SA manta hasn't been mentioned here yet! Check our Adams other vids for more of the same!

If you look closely, I can actually see your name written on it

How does this work if you are unlucky enough to be one of the few to have been born with a deficiency in the leg dept? I, for example, have only two legs. Bit tricky making a triangle with only two sides, surely?

That was Not one of my brightest moves BreadBin.

I found giggle translate said it translated “laughably bad”

It involved Cash in a Dash (local cash converters type place).- half a mile from my house....FFS....total Moriarty!!! Learning.... - insure your stuff (don’t forget you need to ‘activate’ your free MU insurance if you have it) - don’t leave it in the car....erk - phone the police straight away if owt gets nicked - the crime number is super important in getting your stuff back - try the “they can’t be that stupid” really obvious places early xxxxx

Twins you say...

I assumed they messed up the pickup cutout so did that to hide it?

Two things... So I succumbed in the end. And delighted I did so!

I only put my head above the parapet at blues jams, where a basic 12-bar can take you most of the way, but "Hey Joe" keeps coming up, "Black Magic Woman" and "Hooch Coochie Man" and "Crossroads" are usual suspects too. And "The Thrill is Gone". It does bug me that the bass player is expected to just know anything that comes up. I play as many open blues jams as I can - it's really good experience - but almost all the time either the guitar player(s) just announce what they're going to play, or (even worse) everyone else gets together on the other side of the stage and then someone walks across and tells me what they've decided to play. I've had to learn to listen for the first few bars and then blag it, but that's good experience too and I'm slowly getting better at it.

I really wanted a fretless Retrovibe Zygote that was on eBay but couldn't quite free up the cash in time. It sold for £270. A couple of months later I was buying a fretted Zygote from David@retrovibe, happened to mention the fretless one - imagine my dismay when I found out it was the only one in existence. I was properly upset I can tell you.