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Epic fail on at least two levels. 1. Define 'best' - best chops, best playing for the song, best songwriting...? Get promptly mired in controversy. 2. Last time I checked, people don't play bass with their genitals, therefore 'female bassist' is as relevant as 'gay bassist' or 'black bassist.'

I’m not, I wrote this post in September.

Well that's a New Year's Resolution right there ...

I have a nut allergy

Ok, I'll start. I was assuming someone else might but, anyway... If I spent as much time practicing bass and writing music as I did reading and commenting on Basschat I'd be a far better player! I realise/appreciate that BC is a powerful and hugely useful reference guide and tool for any bass player but hell, I spend so much time just mooching on here and essentially wasting time. So I suppose the resolution really is to practice more and, of course, that doesn't have to be at the expense of BC, I just need to prioritise.

All the very best to everyone for 2019 Sad to see the New Year start with the news of Ray Sawyer passing on at 81yrs of age. A true entertainer over the years. Dave

Coming soon to a clickbait website near you: 50 dead bassists 25 oldest bassists 100 best-dressed bassists 40 bassists who don't play a Precision 69 top bassist divorces 101 things you didn't know about bassists 33 foreign bassists who don't talk like us and smell a bit funny 10 reasons why Brexit will improve bassists 5 richest bassists 100,000 bassists who don't appear in any other pointless lists

OK, think I found the bass - it looks like it's a Joseph Kaye Guitars custom build - found a gallery on Facebook, so not sure if this link will work: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Josephkayeguitars-The-london-workshop-142235195836790/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1197588173634815&__tn__=-UC-R

Part of the problem seems to be the quickness of a soundcheck, if you are lucky enough to get one, as a support act it's usually "bass" I hit two notes "thank you, Guitar" and that's my soundcheck!

Get an album done, do some gigs to support said album. Make no money, be happy playing music.

The job is done 😎 Started the tung oil coats very early yesterday morning and did last coat around 11.30pm. Gave it a buff over this afternoon then came assembly. Still a small amount of fettling to be done, couple of touch ups to the finish and a wee bit off the saddles to tighten up the string spacing. Comes in just shy of 10lb.

Or on his Summer holiday 😀

I've had some great experiences and some worryingly poor. Luckily enough being a recovering alcoholic I've learned the value of acceptance. Accept the things I cannot change, is the motto by which I have to live. I can't change a sound engineer or how they do their job any more than they can change how I play the bass. Of course it sucks if they get a crappy bass sound, but I have to accept it so I do. The one rule I've always maintained is to shake them by the hand and thank them for what they've done for me. I never know when they will next be in charge of making my band sound as good as they can so I try to keep them on side as much as possible. None of this in any way belittles the OP nor his disappointment which I entirely understand. I can only speak to my own experience.

What about lefties? I believe you know one.😀

This is my Pino bass. Well it’s a 1970 original (Bar the paintwork) and a lot less coin than the GAK ones! Looks the business thanks to BassDoc for sorting it out 👍 Just got it back today 😍

It's really never going to be the kit. It's all in the players own technique and touch, how hard/soft they play, the angle they attack from - spent two weeks teching for a great session player who stood in on a tour I was looking after, I knew the lines as well as he did having worked with the band for ages, but when I line checked his bass, I sounded almost exactly like I sound playing through my own kit. He sounded completely different. I was lucky enough to work for Victor Wooten for a couple of shows. I can 100% confirm that having his actual bass in your hands and pedals at your feet in no way makes you sound or play anything like him 🤣

Have they done a list of best male bass players?

S'probably the evolution of New English - or summat.......... 😎

An article on JKG where Mark's bass is mentioned: https://www.pressreader.com/australia/guitarist/20180112/282930975749387

Available from all Ann Summers stores 😀

glad i didnt watch 😊

Sorry guys (and gals), this is getting boring. We have ascertained the following: a. some of us don't like Kylie (or Dannii) b. On the other hand, some of us are huge fans c. Most of us seem to agree that Kylie has paid her dues and generally deserves the Legend slot at Glasto d. (Too) many of us are enjoying dragging this topic on and on and ON with dubious, unfunny, semi-sexist banter which doesn't even stretch to offending us female members - it simply terminally bores us. Time for a lock. Thank you all.

For the third year our jazz quartet played an early New Year's Eve gig yesterday (Dec 28) at a nursing home where about 75 residents/patients gathered with some family members and staff for a party to celebrate NYE. We play in a lovely big room with great acoustics and decorated with balloons and lots of other appropriate things including hats and noisemakers. We did two sets and then had the big countdown at 3:00PM(!) and the balloons came down from the ceiling nets and we launched into Auld Lang Syne as the residents toasted and cheered in the new year. It is a fun but also sad gig as many of the residents struggle with various afflictions brought on by old age or disease but the music always seems to get through to them and some dance or clap along and some sing along with us. Even most of the people with mental difficulties (dementia and others) respond to the music and at the end of the show seem to be a bit more "alive" , if I may use that term. I guess for many musicians this would be a very odd gig but we have come to look forward to it and work hard to make it a good time for everyone, including the band. A sad fact is that when we go back again many of this year's audience won't be there and as we all get older we realize how precious life is and how lucky we are to have music in our lives and that we can brighten up the day for others doing what we love to do. This gig always reminds me that life just flies by, we should try to do what we can while we are able and have fun with our music and use it to cheer up others as well, and that is not always easy as life throws stuff at us.We play in many different venues but this gig always makes me want to get moving and take what I can from whatever time I have left. OK, sermon over, time to wish everyone a great year in 2019.😀

I can't imagine how this must have been for you - I'm sure that with determination, you'll get your passion back. I wish you every success. I'm in Manchester, I can give you a violin bass (Challenge VP) ⬇️ If you're interested, let me know where you are & we can sort something out.

Just ordered one from obbm. Thanks for the tips fellas!!

It’s another ACG special birthday bass. The first of a new model- the Krell Kompakt. Black Limba body with ART top. Wenge and maple neck with ebony board. Multi coil pickups with Dual filter preamp. Thanks to Alan Cringean (ACG) who not only builds great basses but also takes great pictures of them!! A full build diary is in this thread if you're interested in what the process is for having a bass built from scratch.

Do more gigs with my originals band, fewer with the tributes ...... if possible.

Wow!! I don’t know what to say! That’s incredibly kind. I’m not far from Manchester, 30 mins drive. Totally overwhelmed. Thank you so much.

The band had a chat this morning and all agreed our collective resolution is to gig more this year than last. Which shouldn't be hard! Again it's partly a case of everyone making it a priority, and possibly letting other things be less important (little things, you know, like wives, or children, or jobs... 🙂 )

I'll certainly be far more careful in future about which kazoo I pick up ...

I'm just grateful that TV doesn't get taken over by the Scots on NYE any more. I mean, just because the English can't hold their drink and run a TV station, we had such weirdness when I was little. Although years had passed since the trauma, I was still afraid that Donald would turn up without troosers at any minute last night. Happy New Year to you all!

The important point is not to give up and walk away, playing with ‘better’ players than you will challenge you for sure but it will be a really good way to improve the skills you feel you lack. There is one exception to this of course, you have to be able to discuss the structure of the music with the other players, if they won’t stop and help out, give you pointers and stuff then fvck ‘em. I’ve played with some brilliant players who expected you to be as brilliant them right off the bat without the slightest help or advice, I find these kind of players fall into a general wider category, that of cnuts. Inside musical circles or outside I try to avoid cnuts at all costs. Play with more advanced musicians for sure, no better way to improve, but don’t think you have to tollerate cnuts. Musicians who sneer at those not as advanced or are intolerant of other's abilities or just plain unwilling to help are to be avoided.

They aren't specifically sensitive if you are not soldering too close and I wouldn't think they needed more attention than normal, although if it takes 5-6 seconds to solder something I would say your iron is too cold, it should only ever take a second or two. So turn the iron up from what you have it on if it is temperature controlled. Although the 4001s are pretty robust (the black ones, or 400x series anyway), the bottom ones, presumably 1n4148s can be a little delicate close to the body, so when you have soldered one side, let it cool a bit before doing the other side. I can't say that I have ever lost a diode soldering it in though, and that includes surface mount.

Agreed to both points one and two from a serious view. Less seriously, however, my playing could sometimes be referred to as a load of balls. Does that count?

That would be one way to end the pick vs fingers debate.

That would be one hell of a cracking list though!

Challenge accepted?

Or perhaps because it forces the reader's mind to move away from the obvious, most of whom tend to be male. I would prefer to simply see a few more female names in 'normal' lists, as splitting lists by gender does have the effect of making you think along the lines of 'if it didn't specify that they have to be female, would any of these women be taken into consideration?' (Probably only a couple of household names would.) There have historically been fewer female bass players around, so, proportionally, there will have been fewer outstanding female bassists than male bassists. I don't think all-female lists are the solution, though.

Used mine last night and I absolutely love it. In fact, the whole band commented on how much they enjoyed it. I've had my GK/BF set up so that it is for me to hear meaning that the rest of the band have had to have a monitor mix with my bass in it whereas the sound from this carries across the stage but isn't too loud. Possibly the first time that I have set my volume at the start of a gig and hadn't touched it during the night. Need to check my subscription but the GK/BF rig will be up for sale alter on today

Quite an interesting thread running on talkbass.com specifically about the QSC K12.2, seems to have been running since mid 2017 until Dec 2018. I thought it was worth a mention because one of the contributors is someone who works for QSC who answers a lot of the queries put to him... https://www.talkbass.com/threads/qsc-k12-2.1287735/

I recently discovered that when an Ebay item's location is advertised as 'Middlesex', that is actually Middlesex - half way up the Yangtze river.

Did our now usual NYE residency at a local hotel. 4 piece band plus a good friend on DJ duties. Audience numbers for the evening a little down on last year, but they made up for it in quality - really up for a good time and noticeably a younger lot than in recent years. We got to do more recent material as a result, which made a refreshing change. It’s quite easy to underestimate audiences at such events these days, assuming they’ll want old weary stuff when a lot of the time they just want to go a bit crazy to some good tunes! Only downside for me was the naffing drummer went a bit daft in the last set, hitting everything so damned hard that I now have a slight ringing. I should have taken my ear plugs, but based on previous years didn’t think I’d need them. My NY resolution is to pack them in my gig bag for every event I do, lesson learned. 🤨

It just proves that you don't have to be a great singer to be a great frontman. A few years back I was in a band with a decidedly average singer but he was a great frontman, could get the most disinterested crowd eating out of his hand.

Cool. Give your guide dog a biscuit from me.

With a 51 slab body awaiting it's 2nd coat of tung and more than enough already there's no good reason for yet another P-bass. Except the finish. It's a cracking finish 🙂 Bought from Sounds Great Music on Friday afternoon and delivered by DPD 1400hrs on Saturday. My camera skills are zero so I've pinched the shop photos.

Its not really a case of "us" and "them"; more like that there's good and bad musicians in all forms of music. The less good musicians tend to focus on just a subset of their musical knowledge, and its easier for a less good 'classical' musician to not have to focus on things like swing, groove, playing by ear, improvising etc. But let me reassure you, there's 'classical' musicians who can run rings around the average 'rock' musician for technical ability, knowledge, musicianship, etc etc in ALL aspects of playing music. Also worth mentioning, that jazz musicians tend to be able to read very well, in addition to improvising over chord changes etc etc (including the good guitarists!)

I play frailing/clawhammer style for American old-time music, and used to play 4-string tenor for Irish trad, so I'll offer the following. You could also try asking on banjohangout.org, bear in mind it's a very US-centric site but there are some brits on there too. If they absolutely have to do this, it might be better to consider a Ukulele Banjo. It'll be easier to get started on than any of the other choices, the learning curve will be less steep, and it's much more likely that he'll be able to find either a teacher or a Ukulele group, which will give him an additional social outlet. Banjo Ukes are a bit more expensive than other Ukes, but this one also from Harley Benton looks like excellent value, for an instrument with a flange and a resonator. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bju_15pro_banjo_ukulele.htm? As with a bass, it'll probably need to be set up; the head tension will need to be adjusted and the bridge put in the right place, for a start. If he's not played an instrument before, the learning curve is going to be pretty steep whichever style you choose. Billy Connolly is what I'd call a frailer or a clawhammer style player, and he's not half bad either. For that you'd need a 5-string banjo. The HB one that you picked out also looks like incredible value for money, with proper planetary tuners (the ones that point backwards) but it's fitted with a resonator and would be more likely to be the choice of a bluegrass player. Frailers normally would pick an open-back banjo, such as this one https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bjo_35pro_5_string_banjo_ob.htm, or this slightly better one https://www.andybanjo.com/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_RBROVERRB22P . There are exceptions of course. Trad Jazz players would normally use a 4-string tenor banjo tuned C-G-D-A and tend to just play chords. Scottish and Irish players usually tune G-D-A-E, an octave below fiddle tuning, with heavier strings to compensate. They tend not to play any chords and just pick out melody. There are short-scale and long-scale tenor instruments. Short scale are easier to play, I think they're probably the way to go for trad jazz. My opinion is they don't sound great in octave tuning but some people use them. There's another variety of 4-string called a plectrum banjo - these are about the same scale length as a 5-string, use a different tuning to the tenor and are probably best avoided unless somebody gives you one for nothing. It'll be up to you to find out whether there are any teachers or sympathetic players in the area. There are lots of books and youtube videos. For old-time there is a great book by Dan Levinson called Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch. I don't know enough about bluegrass to recommend anything: personally I find bluegrass Scruggs-style picking unfathomable and I think the trailing style is a lot easier to pick up , but it still poses a few challenges. Hope this helps you make a decision. Happy to chat further if you want to send me a PM.

I haven't played NYE in years through choice. It's always, without fail a nightmare. People who don't normally drink get sh!tfaced and act like d!cks, couples who don't go out very often go out and argue with each other, people who do go out all the time get territorial and act like d!cks to ones who don't go out all the time, the night never lives up to anyones expectations and it all ends up a very sad, depressing place to be. And I'm stood, sober on a stage watching it all unfold. No thanks. Merry New Year 😄