Leaderboard

And...pretty much finished I say pretty much because I still have to replace the test saddle with the final one, replace the 'working strings' with some new ones and polish it, but none of that will change the basic look. I'll do some arty-farty photos when the light is right, but here it is: To my ear, it sounds lovely and it is very easy on the playing hand...even with my progressing arthritis (which has pretty much stopped my 6-string playing) I am SO tempted to build myself one. And through the Pure Mini played through my little Vox valve amp set clean with neutral EQ, it is exactly the same sound as played acoustically but simply louder And P picks it up next weekend!

Just to update you as per my email, they are now in production and will take a couple of weeks before being posted to me. I’ll let you know when they’re here (and make sure I BCc everyone this time 🤦🏻‍♂️) Cheers

I wasn't popular with our music teacher. It was in the 1960s and the Beatles & Co were changing the music scene. She was a classical music fiend and condemned pop music as being repetitive with the same line sung over and over again. I asked if she meant "rather like the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah". For some reason that didn't go down too well!

Although it was nearly 50 years ago now, I still remember a junior school music lesson when Miss brought in her vinyl copy of Prokofiev's Peter and the wolf. The characters being represented by the different instruments quickly had me hooked like Pavlov's dog. This directly influenced me in 1965, coming up with the upright bass part in 'These Boots Are Made For Walking', which directly influenced Nancy Sinatra taking me to her hotel after the session and having full sex with me... our heaving rampant torsos twisting together until there was no space between us... ... that in turn influenced me to try to get on the 1960s Motown sessions backing the Supremes, but unfortunately Jamerson or Babbit always got those gigs... The above is completely untrue obviously, except the first part. 😬

We still have the national curriculum to cover, so basic theory and notation, vocabulary, a range of musical performance including singing and also cover a range of composers including 'the greats', plus various world and commercial genres. This feeds into GCSE for me, (my school doesn't cover btec etc) so there is classical music as the exam boards have to set a set work on such an example, plus an expanded range of the above. Most schools have the same approach as my department, the schemes of work in years 7/8/9 are mini versions of the GCSE content. I think most teachers now are aware of the conundrum of the student being into the latest thing and the teacher being out of touch. I can remember feeling that myself. We have a student at the moment who's a pretty competent producer of edm, however as good as his work sounds getting it to pass the assessment criteria is another matter. So we endeavour to include more advanced melodic and harmonic development techniques from 'classical' period. My argument is if you do food technology you don't just learn about pizza because its your favourite, there are more sophisticated culinary achievements. We aim to broaden the students musical palette, treading the very fine line of being understanding and meeting target grades.

FizzNews sat down with Dad3353 and asked him the question we ask everyone... What's The Top Five Things That Annoy You Most? 5. "Profanity filters with loopholes" 4. "Drummers who hit bass guitar strings with their sticks for a novelty effect. It's just degrading" 3. "Reggae because of ..." 2. "Reggae bands which over-run their set time and when you go on stage all the audience have left" 1. "Songs which use the oooh vowel sound. What's wrong with using eee or ahhh instead? If a band goes oooh I'm out the door".

It’s not crazy at all: car culture was huge in the USA in 1950s, and articles such as this describe how Fender got on board. Also: back when TV was black and white and studio lights were harsh, people had to wear yellowish makeup so that they would look white on TV, and Gibson produced guitars in what they called TV Yellow. It was a weird greenish yellow, but people grew to like it and they still use it sometimes on new guitars.

As the head of music at a secondary school I'm following this thread with curiosity and a sense of dread!

No, in part because the music teacher was a ghastly old bastard whose sole qualification was that he'd played lounge piano on cruise ships in the 1950's and who operated a lucrative sideline whereby he shanghai'd you very much against your will into the 'school orchestra' then charged you instrument rental, said musical instruments being no more musical than a Zip firelighter. If he'd been any good at his job I'd be on ViolinChat right now saying disobliging things about bass players.

I really fancied both my music teachers at school which was rather a distraction whilst attending lessons but conversely this encouraged a disciplined regime of after hours practice on the pink oboe, unfortunately not an instrument recognised formally within the comprehensive curriculum during the 70s.

Thinking of a Halloween gig, and of course this is on the setlist. Took a listen last night to remind myself. What a flipping great song, it's got everything, don't think I'll ever tire of listening to it, the recent remix has a great bass line really high in the mix also (although couldn't find this YouTube so this isn't the version linked to below). Listened to some of Zevon's other stuff last night also, his lyrics are outstanding.

We'd shot down in flames for that. That's why the national curriculum expects a range of performing. We have keyboards attached to macs running logic, tuned, untuned and stuff that should be tuned percussion, ukuleles/ guitars and a starter scheme for other instuments, your school orchestra stuff for example (although that's really struggling) plus rock band instruments.

Still better than a music stand. /LightThatTouchpaper

There's another scam with PayPal which goes like this: Buyer genuinely pays with PayPal and collects the item in person. Buyer subsequently opens a dispute with PayPal claiming the item was not received. PayPal requests a proof of delivery from the seller. This cannot be produced (because it doesn't exist, because item was not sent through a postal service); PayPal sides with the buyer. You made the correct move here: i.e. never use PayPal for a transaction made in person.

Yes, very much so, but not in the bass department. I went to a provincial grammar school, which thought of itself as a public school, except it had all of the pretensions and none of the class. It was big on sport, which I absolutely hated and resigned myself to years of misery. Then I started music lessons. The music teacher was a real character - a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists no less, with a famously short fuse leading to a fiery conductor's temper. Most of the kids, and many of the staff - including the headmaster - were sh|t-scared of him. But he and I got on famously after he discovered I had a good singing voice. I found myself in the music crowd, where you could get away with a hell of a lot as long as you were delivering the musical goods. The school was big on music thanks to him - I had a part in an opera directed by the Master of the Queen's Music, took part in choir recitals broadcast on Radio 3... it was great. Sadly, it didn't last. We moved away and my confidence went with it. It took a while for it to come back - changing schools half-way through O-levels had a horrible effect on my psyche. I bounced back a bit by mastering the marching snare drum and rising to become Leading Bugler in the school Corps of Drums, but my musical ability, such as it was, took a back seat for far too long. I've recently started lessons in singing while playing bass, and quite a bit of what I learnt way back when is starting to return. Thank you, Mr Tickner. And may you rest in peace.

Possibly the witless and superficial BBC report fails to convey the nature of the composition, the project, the site, the rationale, the technical construction, the historical semiotics, the aesthetic precepts, the metaphysical allusions, or the implications for numerous modes of ambient or experimental music. I went to a gig once. Won't do that again. Eight quid spent, and it was over in no time with nothing to show for it. What a con.

Some years back I was forever buying and selling amps and basses, trying out pedals, and as I ran the PA always up-grading something or other. Recently I've gone the other way and down-sized and simplified everything. Sold most of my studio stuff and the only pedal I have is a Beatbuddy. I think it's old age and getting lazy, can't be bothered fiddling around to much or having to learn to navigate my way through a multi-layered set of instructions on a tiny LED screen. I often record on cassette or just fiddle around on Audacity. Whatever you enjoy doing go for it. It's no good thinking I wish I'd tried this or that - find out if you do. There's no one size fits all. By the by, I have driven an automatic for some years now.

I can see *my* face in it, it's that shiny.

@dave74200 you are not alone, I often find that when I hear a bassists tone that I really like it’s usually bass/amp, possibly a compressor but that’s it. Similarly I often find that said tone that I like will usually sound a bit meh and insipid on its own, but work so well in the mix.

I'll never get bored of it - the words are fab. I'll quite happily listen to it over and over again, along with Desperadoes Under the Eaves and Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner, and... etc. etc.

Soooo - a bit more digging through the online guidelines has unearthed this lovely nugget under the Entertainment section covering Restaurants, pubs, bars and take-away food services https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery#takeaways-4-5 It's still as clear as mud but this does at least hint that socially distanced indoor live performances in pubs/bars etc are now allowed under the guidelines? That said - the section advising that the volume of background music or playing music that might encourage shouting or making conversation difficult pretty much rules out a live band of most, if not all genres. I'm thinking our acoustic rock covers trio is more likely to be out gigging long before the fully blown rock covers band.

Robbie, you've made my day! Year, actually!

I've faintly heard of Bevis Frond but I'll have to look them up on YT. Hearing about an unfamiliar band and the endless search for new music made me think of a website I haven't been on in a while; it's an odd site created by a guy I've followed for a while - he's done some interesting projects/website - some of which he has decided to close to avoid having to maintain them so he can focus on new projects - I constantly forget the name of this site - it's www.gnod.com ( I think that's General Network of Discovery or something to that effect) - it's really a jump off point for several "discovery" sites that all use the same underlying technology - sites for discovering music, authors/books, artists - for the music site - one part - Project 1 (https://www.gnoosic.com/) relies on users entering the names of several bands that they like - it then makes recommendations based on bands/artists submitted by other users. The other part of the site - Project 2 (https://www.music-map.com/) simply enables you to enter the name of a band/artist and it displays a map - with the names of other bands/artists clustered around the one you enter - proximity should give some indication of how strongly they are linked by users liking the same bands. He also made the product comparison sites: https://www.productchart.com/ FYI The creator of these sites is https://twitter.com/marekgibney I've been listening to some King Crimson on YT and was surprised and incredibly impressed to hear a live version of Starless from 2016! It has not lost any of it's emotional strength - it's still an incredible piece imho.

I know the piece of mind is all in the ‘how they deal with it when it goes wrong’, but.... I booked with Eurosender again on Tuesday. The earliest pick-up date was Thursday. The bass was collected on Thursday afternoon and arrived with its new owner in Germany this morning. He’s a very happy man. @ped - the discount code is still working properly 👍

As below, really... 'Make The Logo Bigger'...

The background to the recording of Werewolves http://www.waddywachtelinfo.com/Nina1.html Waddy: We were doing a lot of the record with Russ Kunkel and Bob Glaub, but when we got to “Werewolves,” we tried it with them, and it just didn't sound right. We got a decent track, but there was something lacking in it. It didn't sound stupid enough; it sounded cute. Jackson was saying, “It's really good!” and Warren and I were saying, “No, man, it's too cute. It's got to be...heavy.” So we proceeded to try five or six bands after that - Russ and Lee Sklar, Jeff Porcaro and Bob Glaub, Jeff Porcaro and Lee Sklar, Michael Botts on drums, Gary Mallaber on drums, both with different bass players - and it just wasn't working. It was getting depressing. Then, and I can't remember whose idea it was, someone mentioned Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and I flashed, “That's it! That's who can play this flipin’ song!” So I called them, because I'd been working with Stevie and Lindsey. They came down, we set 'em up, and we did a take, and then we did a second take. After the second take, I looked at Jackson and said, “That was pretty good, wasn't it?” “Yeah, that was pretty good, but Mick doesn't quite have it yet.” Mick says, “Yeah, we don't have it yet; let's keep going.” Well, we kept going until 6 in the morning! I remember at about 5 in the morning saying to Mick, “I think we're done!” and Mick looks at me with that crazy look he gets in his eyes and sort of whispers, “We're never done, Waddy!” I thought, “stinky poo, we've got a wild one here!” So we put in another hour, and at about 7 in the morning, we were up to about take 59, and I looked at Jackson and said, “Hey Jackson, take two was pretty good, wasn't it?” He said, “Yeah, let's hear take two.” We listened to take two, and I said, “Gentlemen, thank you very much!” I sent everyone away, 'cause I really wanted to work up a great [guitar] solo. I got my sound set up, got a nice bottle of vodka. I said to Dennis Kirk [who helped engineer], “Okay, run the tape!” The solo came up; I played it. I looked at Dennis, I played it back and said, “That's it!” I didn't even get to open the vodka! Then I put a harmony on it, and it was finished. The solo took as long as it takes to hear it. Don't you just love the swear filter? 🙂

A musician smoking dope...! Who woulda thought 🙂

Yeah. That's what I do in general. Cocktail stick or matchstick and a bit of wood glue. If serious strength needed leaving it to set for days not hours regardless of what it says on the bottle.

That's it. @stewblack wins. I think we can all go home now

This thread, as is the case with a couple of others at the moment, demonstrates just how subjective the answer to even an apparently objective question can become. There's a chart on the site somewhere with the frequency response of a large range of strings. But bassists don't play strings, we play a system; basses that have their mechanical and acoustic characteristics, circuits and preamps and power stages into speakers and into rooms, and then into people's brains via their ears. If you need an answer re the strings, check out the chart (I'll try to find it), but as per the above, once in the system above, those characteristics might be a largely insignificant factor in the tone you and others actually hear.

Bit of a work in progress but after the best part of 2 years using modellers im much happier to be using something like this again.

Love WZ songwriting. Great choice for a Halloween gig. One of the first songs 16 year old me learned for my first band was this: Still grooves now.

I've met & chatted with David, bought parts from him, tried out something for him, and my Red Baron is a Retrovibe bass. His LP and Tele basses are a bit of fun, though I'm not so struck on this Tele one.

Body rounded, belly and arm contour done and did some further mock up ..... picked up on a few bits I need to tweak/change for it all to fit right. Since I am going fretless, I may just go with the 1 pickup. We’ll see.

Hi I have sent John a link to this thread so hopefully he will drop by and let you know what the story is. Cheers Alan

Here is my beautiful and totally original 1969 Precision bass.

It's on there now! Fingers crossed. 🤞

Wardrobe :

Pickguard made, and I couldn’t resist mocking it up! Liking it so far.

Just taken advantage of Mel bay’s 35% off, especially given that I have more time on my hands now. I was particularly interested in the Gilbert Isbin pieces, and I was not disappointed. These pieces are terrific, and to my mind echo the great studies by Leo Brouwer for classical guitar. Like Brouwer’s works, I feel that far from living their lives as just studies many of these pieces will be very welcome in concert halls and recitals. The harmonies are delicious- I sure wish I could compose pieces this wonderful! Thank you Rob, they have helped me reignite my love for my bass 😊 Robbie