Leaderboard

Well after 40 years of playing, Mrs JPJ bought me a beginners book of reading the dots and an introductory lesson with a local music school. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, especially as I’m working with ‘proper’ musicians these days. So yes, this 54 year old is going back to school and I couldn’t be more excited 😎

I'm not going to try and work out how much a little piece of rubber would have saved me over the years!

I also think that Rutherford's role in the multi-12 string guitar thing that Genesis made their own was a massive factor in their freshness and originality.

1972 all original Fender Jazz, with the original case, she’s aged beautifully with great looking wear and checking all over, she was Olympic white but is now a gorgeous buttermilk colour with the most beautiful piece of tort I’ve seen, I think my soul was a small price to pay.

A bit weird to see Geddy in the Guardian. Like they've finally allowed in from the cold which is a bit ironic given Neil has stopped drumming. What are your favourites ? https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/24/geddy-lee-on-rush-greatest-songs

A Zon Sonus Standard 4 string bass and 6 Dunlop Ultex 2mm picks :-) I had a pair of lounge pyjama bottoms and a new scratchplate for my Precision on my list but it went a bit wonky........

Not a Morning Person myself... after a quiet day and a sedate couple of G&Ts it's time for a play. I've just started a policy of rotating my (now stable I hope) family of five basses, today it's the fretless, for the first time in a while. It's the smallest and heaviest of the five - I need to do some strength training before I gig it again 😞 Ps half an hour later - I'd forgotten how easy she is to play and how good she sounds! 🙂 🙂

Got nothing bass related today so pulled the trigger on an Orange 4 Stroke 500 as a gift from me to me 😂 Arrives Friday

My luthier friend dropped this in my lap last week. Part gift, part barter for preamp design work I've done for him. Purpleheart fingerboard, custom neo sidewinder pickups optimized for slide bass. The bottom knobs are a temporary set I put on so I could get started on the electronics package. I'll probably go with something blond to complement the pickup covers and headstock.

From my daughter. Main pressie from the wife was the Bassix EUB.

I made it until about 4pm when I heard this and had to whip out my bass

A huge part of Genesis was about having two guitars. Mike's role was just about unique. Something they also did was bring bass pedals to the fore.

This. That era (Permanent Waves in particular) is the point where they stopped being a mishmash of plagiarised influences and defined their own sound, to my ears. Never been one for picking "best" or even "favourite" tracks but if I wanted to play a track that represented Rush to someone who didn't know them, it would be Free Will from PW. Hits every defining Rush feature, for me. Re: the article itself - a bit of a shame that even after Rush being validated by an outrageously successful 40-year career, the Grauniad writer can't get past the sneery put-downs - "widdly-woo music" and the inevitable implication that musicianship & technically complex music are intrinsically valueless. Seems some dismal & dated music hack tropes are destined to never go away...

Stop getting Rush wrong! It's Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures that are the best. Not the bland synth Pop of the latter years.

Now now, what would the Nickelback museum need Geddy's basses for? 😉

How’s about this then, Santa’s only gone and got me tickets from the Friday at the palladium. So it doesn’t matter if I get the call or not, I’ll see you there.

Ah, you’re referring to the 1/4” amp output then, which will be at instrument level. Merry Christmas, Rock & Roll Killers!

As if you could buy eggs at this time of night on a Christmas Eve! 😂

Totally get what you mean Dribble is her middle name. Never got why she is so popular, although its seems she is more ‘hip’ than popular. Bland self indulgent wailing springs to mind.

Agreed, I get concerned when our band leader calls multiple 12 bar blues tunes. Thing is we have so much other material . However it's not my call. Blue PS: I'm in New Jersey over the holidays and had a chance to jam with my close childhood friend Doug. We started our first band when we were both 12 years old.

Hi, I'm an British ex-pat, living 25 years in South Germany (Augsburg). Been playing on and off over 40+ years as work / family allows. I started on upright about a year ago mainly to get that off my bucket list. It's been a hard transition but fulfilling because, for the first time, I've taken tuition. I also play and adore steel guitar (not the one with pedals) I play in a duo (bass & sax + our 2 voices), a jazz -guitar trio that keeps to the tradition of never being able to find the right direction(or gigs) and various bands that form when someone has a gig, agree a set over email and then play without rehearsal. I play steel in a tex-mex / western swing band. I'm a regular at local jazz, blues and Western Swing sessions. Gear: I have an Antoria White Eagle, Fender(s) Jazz and Precision, a Sei Flamboyant 6 and an Aria acoustic bass-guitar which I am curiously fond of. My upright is built in Romania, of all hard wood and fitted with a Shadow pick-up. My steel guitar is a 1956 Rickenbacker twin 8 string. I have a Mark Bass combo for gigs and a Phil Jones practice amp. I have an embarrassing number of effects pedals that I consistently and convincingly tell myself I need. Looking forward to interactions! \ paul

Roughly 108 days give or take..... shiny new Status series II to be flaunted, shamelessly, here as and when it arrives...... 🙏🏻😃

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/

I think I’m quoting another BassChatter here when I say it seems to have a couple of meanings to different people but to me (and do excus e my not very technical lay-person’s explanation here) it is about traditional bass amps and cabs having a very ‘coloured’ output, so you might want a truer idea of what your instrument really sounds like without the ‘colour’. Some powered PA speakers give such a ‘colourless’ sound, if not completely ‘colourless’ then close, certainly closer than a traditional amp/cab setup. Also, once you start exploring this avenue you might (or might not) be persuaded that actually such a powered PA speaker might be able to completely replace an amp/cab rig. I have done this recently and I’m not going back. Like @Bridgehouse, I now play my bass through a preamp into a powered PA speaker and when I gig I send a DI from the PA speaker to the desk. The forty pages of discussion on the Interesting FRFR thread has radically changed my approach to amplification in all scenarios, a complete game changer for me.

Very nice, it has made me want to get the Warwick corvette fretless out

Thats probably why they never interviewed him.

Just the Geddy Lee book I bought for myself Son #1 got a Darkglass 3BK, son #2 got a Hofner Ignition violin bass (he likes the Beatles) - so I still have new stuff to play with 😜 I may have to give up hopes of the Norris family band though with 3 bass players, unless we just play Big Bottoms over again

Probably wouldn't get on very well with Schubert, then.

I had a quick noodle on the Hofner violin bass that son #2 wanted for Christmas. Just a cheap Ignition, but actually a very nice little bass which arrived set up, intonated, and even in tune from Anderton's. I've never really fancied one before myself, but it's rather fun

Just now sat down to play bass. Mmmm....

Got up, went for a walk, came home played bass, in laws arrived, started cooking and eating, still going.....send help!

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I love a bit of Collins era Genesis, guilty pleasures be damned. And if Gabriel hadn't left we wouldn't have albums like Peter Gabriel III, IV, So, Passion and Us which are all beyond-words levels of good. Everybody wins!

I've found that a lot of the songs I prefer on the last few albums are all Vedder's. I do agree there was an intentional change, whether that was to move away from the Grunge scene or to try and avoid radio play I don't know.

I've used George L's for years. I've had them for so long I can't remember why I switched, but recently a guitarist friend of mine used a cheap "6 for £10" patch cable to jumper channels on his amp and everything went dark. I leant him a George L one I had spare and hey presto, great tone returns. Solderless cables of this calibre are an absolute MUST if your pedals are mounted on a board and there's minimal movement between the pedals.

AKA "Duck Egg Blue"? (Nips off to buy some Bombay Duck eggs for breakfast. They're rare you know, like hen's teeth rare. I might settle for a duck lip sandwich instead.)

To be honest, there’s not really a lot of point to these kind of threads, either “I can’t stand so and so”, or “so and so is fantastic”. All they ever end up in is a percentage of people agreeing and a percentage of people disagreeing. 99% of the time minds are already made up. All they ever prove is that we’ve all got different tastes, which is how it should be.

No worries bud ,my Sr 500 will be resigned to the bedroom wall for a while now.

Over to the blank. I forgot to take a photo of that. There's the remains and the mock-up after cutting. Neck pocket cut,pickup routed out and bridge position set.

Where's Alex Claber when you need him? Seriously, if you aren't playing silly loud, the speakers will, simply, work fine - try using them spaced a fair way apart rather than just as a stack - you might be surprised............ 😎

Yup... £22.51. Trigger pulled.

Twin Aria Pro II Super Basses, both made in 1981. Passive Fretless SB900 & Active Fretted SB1000

I found this on the BBC News app this morning and while it doesn't go into a lot of detail about Fender's business it's still quite an interesting insight into the man that leads the company: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46546014

I found it intriguing , it's not likely to fit with the music I play but interesting nonetheless.

Frank I love your convert's zeal! But have you seen what @Bridgehousehas recently dragged in with the cats? He is single handedly (well with both hands and a fork lift truck) rescuing rock n roll. Just in time for Christmas 😀

Amazing how different people's tastes are... I know folks who love Californication as well. Each to their own! But then I'm a fan of Urban Dance Squad, 24-7 Spyz and Infectious Grooves.