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A pair of Short Scale MM

During my life I've certainly eaten for more than 10,000 hours but still regularly manage to spill food down my shirt. Clearly the theory is flawed

Played a gig last night at my local squash club with a band that I haven't played with since before lockdown. It was arranged fairly last minute as fundraiser for Ukrainian families who've ended up here in the north east. It didn't look like it was going to be well attended due to the early tickets sales numbers but we were pleasantly surprised that the place was almost full on the night with a great friendly/family atmosphere. We played 2 sets of Brit Pop covers with me also singing lead vocals all night. I normally play in a classic rock covers band sharing a quarter of the lead vocals so I woke up this morning feeling a little bit hoarse. The drummer's son has been learning the guitar so we got him up for a few songs which made his parents and grandparent's very proud! The drummer played an electric kit which, although I'm not a massive fan of electric kits, made for a much more manageable backline sound. The only negative thing about the night was that the room was really warm as we couldn't open the windows while we were playing due to the nearby houses, one of which was the guitarist's parent's house which was literally across the street! I'm not normally a sweater but it was running down my forehead in buckets last night! That could also have been due to the fact that I was flying by the seat of my pants on a few of the newer songs that we threw in at the last minute as I was reading the lyrics from my phone, whilst also controlling the mixing desk from a tablet(not normally my job in my regular band). We made it through the night without too many mistakes, the audience went home happy and we raised some money for a worthy cause.

Gigs are like buses... Nothing for a while and then 3 in 4 days, including 2 yesterday. In the afternoon it was an hour at the Cider, Rum and Reggae festival in Trowbridge. Utterly brilliant, such a happy vibe and some great ciders flowing and some amazing food -- curry goat, jackfruit & ackee and a roti, oh god just thinking about it is making me drool. Superb PA sound with a maHOOsive wall of bass, we played really well and the crowd seemed to love us, some of them were up and dancing from the B of "Buster..." and by the end they all were. The evening was 2 hours at a private party thrown by a bandmate's friend, they also fed & watered us and everyone danced the night away. Probably helped by the copious amount of Red Stripe being consumed a brilliant day, but oh holy mother I am so broken today.

Just sat down after my third gig with the challengingly named 4-Play. Yer bog standard pub covers at The Crown Hotel in Holbeach. Went down well: 20:30 to 23:40 with a couple of breaks. A little rusty and some canny blisters, not been playing enough at home. Few dodgy moments but I played some nice stuff until the end when it was plectrum out and hang on for dear life! Guitarist does that pub covers thing of just playing open 1/4 note down/up/down/up chords over everything towards the end of the gig - all dynamics gone. But overall, good! Fender Dimension USA Deluxe V, heavy D’Addario Nickels, GK 700 and Barefaced Big Baby 2 3rd Gen. I love my rig so much. Special mention for the thick plectrum with tube drive sound courtesy of SA Aftershock.

In the interests of both pseudoscientific opinionated curiosity and shameless self promotion, Im posting this video I made that addresses a lot of the common themes I've seen posted on social media (including during my brief tenure here on Basschat) about the P Bass...... enjoy, comment and discuss?

I had a lovely set at the Gloucester food festival this afternoon. Started off slow and overcast and ended up busy and sunny The load in is a nightmare, so I just chucked my Headrush 108 in a rucksack. It was fine

Well, that was interesting, in that my judgement was way off. So this is a local pub to me, I mean, it takes 10 minutes to walk to it, its not a pub I have ever been in, but it is the local of our drummer (who lives just under a minute from it) who even knowing the bar staff never managed to get us a gig in there, despite trying. To be fair, we got offered a gig and then we had the lockdown. So we get a gig in a very random way. Somehow it seems more of a pain loading up the car and driving such a short distance the track playing when the car starts hasn't finished yet. Unload, actually loads of space which is nice. Setting up, I find that I have failed to pack my IEM, but that is probably ok as I have also failed to pack my headphones. Take my iPad out which I had charged to 100% the day before, and I guess fiddling around with the synths on it, it is now on 28%. OK, I have a charging power block - ok that is dead too. I do have a lead and a usb charger, so that saves the day. Testing it all out with my newly rebuilt pedalboard, everything good. Try the synth patch that I made to replace the one I had that sounded terrible when testing it, it sounds awful - go back to the original, ok, that sounds fine. Sound check, everything good. Time to start the gig, plug in, massive buzzing - try everything, it is the wireless so quickly throw my spare lead in there. The omens are really pointing to a terrible gig, but there is quite a crowd. Then we are off - first two songs worrying as I can't hear my bass, it sounds wierd out of IEMs, can't hear the guitar. On the third song switch the connect the back beat up, ok, now can hear/feel the bass. So hot. Did the first half, the crowd are many, varied and dancing and singing along, all seem to be enjoying it. Half time told the vocals were quiet so turned them up. Second half, same thing, everyone happy. After that was told the vocals were much better, the sound was good. The drummers mum, who is at pretty well all our gigs and always says how the bass is too loud or the sound is wrong, or something else is wrong tells me that it was the best sound ever. We get loads of people telling us they loved it, one guy saying we are one of the best ever to be in there, and it turned out he was friends with the owner, and a good night was had by all. Packed up, home in 3 minutes (although no cash as it is one of those online payments, which is rare for us). I think we will probably go back there. Downside of no IEM though is fingers hurt like mad, throat hurts - not hearing yourself is a bit damaging! Today, I think it is a quiet day, feel like I have been in a boxing match!

And so (at least!) one more thing to do before gluing the two sides together...that is, seeing if the billets need thinning down before I start. Simple reason - my Makita thicknesser isn't wide enough to take a full width body and so it is a lot easier to thickness the blanks before joining than messing about with router sleds, etc. But to determine the thickness, I need to confirm the cross-section. I think the most effective compromise between weight/playing feel/control-chamber-depth I've done so far was the design I used for @Len_derby's Swift Lite: Because I do have that extra depth of wood in the present blanks and no separate top, I will probably start the top curve a touch earlier (the start of the top curve of Len_Derby's is determined by the thickness of the poplar burl top wood) but I will play around a bit and see what I reckon will look and feel right while still taking out plenty of wood and still being able to fit the pretty deep Fishman EQ pot!

Friday, not last night. Another gig at a tiny little music /Irish pub called The Shamrock in the heart of Ipswich. Copy and paste of the last time we played there - small but really enthusiastic crowd many of whom came especially to see us. Lovely place. We played well, went down well, got paid more than we asked and had free drinks all night. And I found a free parking spot close by A12 south was shut was on the return leg, so the diversion was a long a dark country lane which added 35 mins to the trip. Still, I smiled all the way home

The legendary cellist Pablo Casals asked why he continued to practice at age 90... “Because I think I’m making progress,” he replied.

You speak to his dad often do you?

Just me, my acoustic and one speaker tucked away in a nice bar corner at my end of term do. Did an hour, dropped the gear home, legged it back and had a few. Nice enough. Off to Gloucester docks shortly with the band for a festival of some kind.

I thought it was an interesting video. Duck Dunn was the main influence on my early bass playing. He always had a bass line powerful enough to turn goat p!ss into gasoline.

Andy, God loves you, if you are a quitter or not. Now that you have seen the light, you may want to ask these bands if they need a great bass player like you, brother. Hallelujah 👼

Oh, you were depping for me on Friday night it's less that Matt changes the song structures around, and more he's not always sure what they should be 😁

Baboonshka - Kate Bush

Two gigs this weekend. Gig 1 - Lingfield Park for a school for epileptic kids. I was depping in the band and always enjoy their gigs because the singer messes around with the songs and structures so it keeps us on our toes 🤓 Gig 2 - tiny function room in a pub for a mate’s wife’s 60th. Completely makeshift band who’d never actually played together as a 5 piece before that evening. Drummer didn’t seem to have done a huge amount of homework (“What’s that song?”) but we had a giggle and on the whole scraped through without anything horrendous happening. Nice to be back to a level of normality with these things. A quiet august will be followed by a pretty busy September I think so that’s nice.

Surgical spirit works for me. Soak your finger tips in it regularly and they get a lot harder and able to cope with the rigours of playing.

I am afraid you are right. The more you play the tougher they get. An extended gap between gigs and they go soft. Practice sessions don’t seem to count. I keep trying to turn the volume up and play gentler but as the rest of the band get louder (and quicker) I find myself hitting the strings really hard. It will have been 3 weeks off by the time I do my next gig, today week and the blood blister from the last one has peeled off leaving new skin. Guess I’ll be starting the toughening cycle all over again. I find a glass of ice between sets seems to calm the blisters down a bit but that is not always available. I watched a YouTube clip of Leo Lyon’s doing an extended solo and it looked as though he was periodically licking his finger tips. I am guessing it was to reduce friction. I might give it a try.

Try some AlNiCo 2 pickups, that's what, after close to 4 decades of fretless playing, I found was suiting Jazz Basses the best, corresponding to the tone you're after. But these are not the most common pickups... Here are the ones I know (and almost everything available) : Fender Original Jazz Bass pickups (the closest to the original Jaco tone as it's what you really hear on most of his records, my favourite pickups for the early singing and articulate Jaco tone and more) : https://www.fender.com/en-GB/parts/jazz-bass-parts/original-jazz-bass-pickups/0992123000.html Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazz Bass pickups (a bit too shy for me) : https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/antiquity-jazz-bass Q Pickups Jazz Bass Pickups A2 Aged Relic (slightly overwound with slightly thicker wire : I like these for the extra punch and output, more reminiscent of the latter Jaco tone) : https://reverb.com/item/13613918-jazz-bass-pickups-a2-aged-relic-hand-wound-alnico-2-bridge-neck-fender-by-q-pickups Aero Jazz Bass Type 3 pickups (too dark sounding for me) : https://www.aeroinstrument.com/pickups.html Northern Pickups Vintage Jazz Bass pickups (never tried them, but giving their price and your location, maybe worth trying them) : https://www.northernpickups.co.uk/jazz-bass

That is a question worthy of a whole new thread. (See what I did there?)

See! THAT’S bad right hand technique… ice bath required! 😝

If you have a bass and drums, all you need is the novelty acts to top it off!

Well. Absolutely lost my head and binned the band off. If I’d been earning a wage from it I probably would’ve stuck it out. I can’t say I’m 100% happy with the idea of all that hard work going down the toilet. But life is too short to be unhappy in certain peoples company. Nothing specifically wrong with person in question, just a clash of personality. The drummer felt the same apparently and announced his departure 34 seconds after me. So - we go again. Apparently - singer and guitarist plan to continue. Judging by the speed the singer put the adverts on Join My Band…😂

Great gig on Friday with the Led Zep tribute at the Cluny in Newcastle. Great venue, great sound and went down a storm to more than 180 paying punters who packed the place out. Newcastle is one of the towns that is keeping the gigging circuit that I frequent alive. Let’s hope that places like the Cluny can keep going and survive the current mess that the country has got itself into. All in all a great night, right up until after the gig when I found that I had a flat tyre and a striped wheel nut and didn’t get the 100 miles or so back home until 4:30 in the morning…

Well I would play 10,000 hours, and I would play 10,000 more ...

so in about 2009 I worked for Dawsons - we were the distributor for Farida acoustic guitars. they sent some samples of electric basses and guitars (they would become the Squier classic vibe series) we did a p and j with them - and I said “could you do a fretless/Sadowsky style” they made me 2. One is fretless, one is fretted. they’re ace. Only ones in existence . “The twins”

I've been playing bass and gigging for over 40 years, and I've probably got to the stage now that I've mastered what to leave out and when not to play. That's definitely a start.

I have both Roqsolid and Hotcovers. Hotcovers are of better quality and more thickly padded (I use them for my PA speakers). Roqsolid are perfectly decent - if a little less abuse-proof - and cheaper than Hotcovers. You pays yer money and takes yer choioce.

How good a player do we want to be? If bass playing is more than a hobby then the 10k is a meaningful concept.

I made the mistake of grating off one of my fingertips on my fretting hand before a gig once. I used a load of superglue too and it worked. I probably went a bit overboard as I looked like I had one of ET's hands.

I learned that this works well when marching in army boots (school CCF 'boot-camps'...); surgical spirit (meths...) hardened up the feet nicely, preventing blisters. It works well for guitar/bass (I've never worked out how to use a plectrum, so it's always finger-style...). Best done before gigging, as one gets funny looks if smelling like a Primus stove.

Herewith my entry to the July comp. Didn't have lot of time due to work, a weekend musical festival and a holiday all in, but just about managed it! Blurb: The picture evoked care-free playtime between parent and child (with my parents and also myself with my kids when they were younger), so the lyrics are from there. The music came from a quick mess-around with some jangly C86 ideas. Technical notes: Drums: library beats from MT Power Kit plus live tambourine. Bass - vantage avenger. Guitar: Squier Tele though Fender amp sims, Keys are Studio one Farfisa, Vox though a cheapo condensor. Lyrics in spoiler:

I’ve superglued my finger tips before now… that works REALLY well! Wears off (all over the strings / pups!) during the gig but forms a great barrier.

Shave all your kisses for me - Brotherhood of Man

Shear Heart Attack - Queen

Every day is a school day. I forget stuff I learned six weeks ago. You only need to be as good as you need to be on the day.

Some in fact do.

The 10,000 hours thing is cow poop from Malcolm Gladwell. There is no evidential basis to it, in the same way as his tipping point phenomenon it crap too. The guy is a pop-science king but has no support in the scientific community. There is no shortcut to success. But spending 10,000 hours will make you great depends very much on you.

I think I spontaneously combust if I cross the threshold of a church without 48hr prior notice @Eldon Tyrell

Its what you put into the 10000 hours. It needs to be specific to what you wish to be a master of. I did a 5 year apprenticeship to become a toolmaker. Every one of those 40 hours a week for 50 weeks for 5 years was focused on becoming a fully trained engineer. Apprenticeships are partly where the 10000 hours idea comes from.

Granted that we're all on some sort of spectrum, and I'm far nearer the control-freak get-it-done-now-and-get-it-right end of that spectrum myself, but I'm forever astonished at how many of the people I've played with over the last 15 years have either had substance issues (usually booze or dope or both, of course) or self-worth issues or were just perfectly feckless in how they lived their lives. I'm only talking about people I've actually played with here, so a sample size of perhaps a hundred musos. If I were to include all the musos I've met but haven't played with (i.e. a group largely comprising flakes and fantasists) my sample size gets quite respectable. To me it's clear that a "career in music" (bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!) frequently attracts a certain personality type - along with plenty of perfectly sensible, hard-working folk of course - and that a lot of them work really hard to live down to the image of what a rock musician is supposed to be. One of the saddest things I ever hear is when some desperate Keef Richard wannabe sees me doing something he wouldn't do, and says "not very rock'n'roll, is it?" like there's a rule book which he memorised as a 14-year-old and can't let go of.

Bristol is absolutely full of bands and some incredible venues. I think it’s the concentration of both two universities coupled with the sheer number of creative spaces that makes it. Some of it is junk but some of it is sublime.

Generalizations are never accurate. When I was younger I was a lot better at some aspects of playing bass, but I know I do a lot of bass stuff better now. At the start energy, determination and keenness got me a long way. Now experience and common sense covers a lot of ground.