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Guy in the crowd shouted 'bass solo' a couple of years back and the singer appeared to think it was a good idea. I didn't BTW Auditioned on DB at a studio in London for a singer/songwriter and her producer a few years back. We're doing this lovely mellow song that required little more than some root notes and the occasional foray towards the rosiny end and the guy suddenly shouts "BASS SOLO". Thinking on my feet I didn't play anything different to the previous verse and chorus but I lent forward, dug in and gave it a facial expression and posture suggestive of intense and deep musicianship. They seemed quite impressed 😉

Poppadom Preach - Madonna

An afternoon well spent at the Cropredy Fringe Festival. It was hot, so hot that the majority of the audience didn't venture out from the safety of the shelter onto the grassed area in front of the stage. It was a little off-putting at first, but we could just about hear the applause and the feedback we got after we played was all positive. On reflection, the decision to wear a hat wasn't one of the best I've ever made, but hey, we suffer for our art!!

Nice one ,Rubis ! Here’s one of my old Ampegs, perfect for gigs with acoustic guitarists. ‘Bout ‘65, this one.

Hi all, really thanks for your feedback's. I wasn't afraid to start with the right hand, and was thinking this should work out in some way, but in some beginners tutorials was told to use the pinky. I liked to know from artist, like you, if do they really use it. Thanks again, and now I will go for it.

Family photo Left to right: Zon, ACG, Fodera, Fender, Mayones. Fodera is the latest addition, came a couple days ago. The ACG came a couple of months ago too. The addiction has finally been fulfilled! He says....

Thanks for the advice everybody- the Fender is going up for sale, and a deposit is going down on the Tokai. I thinl the hesitation comes primarily from not often dealing in these amounts of money!

There was a well known bass player in Watford who had the imaginative nickname of "stumpy" due to having no little finger on his left hand and half a ring finger too. He played right handed and managed to adapt his style to suit his abilities. He was a cracking player. Similarly if you haven't already, check out Django Reinhardt who only had (I think) two useable fingers in his left hand due to a fire. He played right handed too. I'm sure you'd ably manage to play right handed but it's possibly worth looking at a shorter scale Bass to help with the reach until you develop a style that's right for you. Good luck with it all, you have my absolute respect.

NBD yesterday... Really, really, REALLY like my Excess 5 string. Now it has an older sibling...

Those of us who do not use our fourth finger, have a role model...

Do you mean annals?

Its my chapati and I'll cry if I want to - Lesley Gore

Lurcher - Gull

I generally like what he does eg: presents pieces of music in a way that can be appreciated by a listener or someone who wants to progress and learn some of his technique. If he was jumping all over the screen you wouldn't be able to see properly what and how he was playing. 🤣 As with all music it won't float everyones boat. I've said it somewhere on BC before that "Electric bass guitar appears to be the only musical instrument I can think of that it is frowned upon to progress and get better and you must limit the notes you play." 🤣 Pianist: "I've got 88 keys available to use" Other musicians: "Knock yourself out. Use 'em all if you want and as a bonus you can play more than one at a time! " Guitarist: "What about me? I've 6 strings and 120+ different note positions?" Other musicians: "Yep, no restrictions either, carry on, lets see what you can do. Wait.....only one restriction, no playing of simple chords or we'll rip you to shreds for not being complicated or accomplished enough" Bassist: "I've got four....." Other musicians: "STOP right there! You may have four strings but you should limit your playing to the lower 2 and then only up to the 5th fret" Bassist: "But....?" Other musicians: ".....and no more than 4 notes per bar played with fingers or a pick. Don't forget we're watching you!" Adam Clayton: "But when I do that you rip into me???!?!?" 😕🤣 As far as those who say "Jaco only needed four strings......he was but an amateur.....my Grandpop only needed ONE string and played one of these 🤣

I'd say that the current Epiphone is so good on a price/quality ratio that you'd be a fool to buy the Gibson. Better (to my ears anyway) pickups (how tired and old are those TB+ pickups sounding, Gibson?), better bridge (two piece with tailpiece vs. the dreaded 3 pointer), similar construction (I don't see what going from a 7 ply neck to a 9 ply on the Gibson brings to the table other than being a bigger number) and just look at all that lovely chrome on the Epiphone. Your call, but I wouldn't give a current Gibson Thunderbird houseroom right now. I had a recent Epiphone Thunderbird and thought it was great, just didn't care for the ergonomics so sold it and got an Embassy instead (same pickups, different body, set neck instead of thru). The Thunderbird was fun though and looked great at the gig - I felt quite rockstarish playing it 😎

Gravy's in the Heart - Deeelite

We seem to have wandered off a bit from Al's first post but it is great to have a place to discuss PA Just something to think about really when discussing putting the PA at the back behind the players. It just isn't a great idea really. I'm a pragmatic person so I'm not saying it can never work, I will say it is never the best solution in terms of how your band will sound. Two reasons for this. The PA is louder than the human voice. If it isn't why would you use it, just sing. If you have anything other than an acoustic band the band is likely to be louder than the vocals and even though the mic is much closer to the singer than the rest of the band it will pick up everything in it's line of fire. I have meters on all channels and those vocal mics are busy all the time even when the singer isn't there. A hit on the snare registers at the same volume as the singers voice. You need to get a clean sound from each musician to get a good mix so moving anything away from the vocal mics is good. Don't put the PA at the back, keep it in front where as little sound as possible leaks into the vocal mics. Point everything back line away from the mics if possible. I've mixed for bands that are so loud on stage that there is no point in the set where the singers voice matches the instruments in the vocal mic. Secondly there's a thing called 'gain before feedback' link. It's basically very simple, how loud can you turn things up before feedback. There's loads of components to this from the acoustics of the room, pickup pattern of the mic, how flat the frequency response of your system is, how loud the rest of the sound is and so on. It's quite possible that with a singer with a loud voice you can turn down the gain and they can go into the audience. Or turn down the gain and just be quieter. Or just be in a perfect room with no little acoustic problems but eventually if you turn up loud enough your PA starts screaming. A column may well have a flatter response than a poorly designed horn and a more predictable dispersion but that's as much about the quality of the system. A good horn system will beat a poorly executed column. Putting the speaker at the back was a bit of advertising from Bose written by the marketing people. Putting anything behind the vocal mics just decreases the gain before feedback over placing them in front. Something you can possibly get away with but never a good idea.

So many players out there don't use their little finger. At least you have a genuine excuse! Go right handed - it will feel much more natural than trying left handed.

I'm relatively new to this forum, or at least being active on here. I joined recently to sell some gear and 48 hours from listing 2 basses I had sold them. Just a note to say that this is a great forum full of like minded and generally sound people and I will be trying to get into the stuff that goes on a little more over the coming months. it's a great place to do business and with such great people. Just to be transparent, I work for Yamaha, my role being to sell Yamaha, Ampeg and Line 6 products. Any help I can offer in that area, then I will do my best, I might even be able to run a few prototypes past you for some opinions here and there. Obviously this is not an official connection, it's my personal account and not endorsed by my employer, due to legal compliance there's only so far I can go with matters, but i will do my best. Thanks Basschat, impressed.

More than a Filling - Boston

Pilau Talk - Sylvia

Doner Lee - Jaco P

Tikka Chance on Me - ABBA

Mama, He's Bacon Eyes At Me ～ Lena Zavaroni

My process for the monthly Composition Challenge runs as follows: Stare at picture for somewhere between five and ten days. Hear something, somewhere, get inspired (waddaya mean, "pilfer"?) Grab nearest stringed instrument and thrash out basic chord sequence into phone voice recorder. If no strings to hand, hum tune into phone voice recorder. Hum something more recognisable into phone than the out of tune farrago that was the first attempt. Think about lyrics. Pick up stringed instrument. Spend hours and hours and days and days fleshing out, re-writing, moving bits about, re-writing, moving bits back, re-re-writing, adding something else and taking out that bit that never really fitted in the first place. Find drums from Looperman or program own effort using Hydrogen open source drum machine. Or, record bashing machines at work, pots and pans, tables, chairs and tin cans and spend far too long trying to make that sound half decent. Think about lyrics. Once drums down, usually rhythm guitar next instrument, but not before spending an absolute age mucking about with pedals. Then bass with, sometimes, keyboard to follow. Hey, this one will sound great with a brief interlude of Syrian oud! Reach for Syrian oud. No, still can't play it. Put Syrian oud back on stand. Think about lyrics. Guitar solo? No problem! Shouldn't take more than...two days. Argh! Think about lyrics. Am I happy with that solo? Answer is you'll never be happy with that solo. Like Elsa, let it go. Then, either a) finally write lyrics or b) sod lyrics, add extra instrument (saz, bouzouki etc) instead. If a), 'sing' (HA!) and then fail miserably to get the vocal to sit in what I suppose must be called 'the mix', although this mixing business remains elusive thanks to my hamfisted, lo-fi approach to all of this. Post final effort into monthly Basschat Challenge with little time left until deadline for entries. Rest for a week until voting is finished then repeat process. I wouldn't have it any other way.

What is most impressive about the Beatles, and is rarely mentioned, is their recording output lasted only seven years. The depth and breadth of their songs in that short space of time is truly staggering. To go from Love me Do to, for sake of argument, Helter Skelter or I am the Walrus is inventive genius.

I've had my Barefaced Two10 a number of years now and I am very happy with it. I bought it from @chris_b on here in 2017 and it was virtually brand new. I've probably done around 300 - 350 gigs with it now and its still in mint condition with no peeling tolex or broken handles. I can't see me ever changing it to be honest. I also get a lot of compliments on my sound since having it.

Wonder if there is a similar post on BanjoChat... I only have the 10 normal fingers... recommend me a Banjo...

Just reminiscing - which I do a lot nowadays (can't say the same for remembering unfortunately!). When I bought my first bass in 1964, I knew nothing about scale lengths, string spacing or indeed anything else. As luck would have it, the only bass our local guitar shop had in my price range was a s-s Watkins Rapier. When I later understood that s-s was my thing, the WEM was followed by a series of Gibsons. My point is that, if I'd started on a standard scale, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have persevered with the bass to become the player I am today: vastly experienced but still mediocre 🙂

Honestly, its worth keeping just for a line like that

Albert Tatlock - The Skids

I know “it’s all you fault” from Hot Club of Cowtown, who also hail from Austin!

Ampeg PF20t with my DIY B15 cab and my YOB '64 P bass, this is still making me smile

C&P from the dusty end of basschat circa 2014: Basschat fans everywhere will remember this thread about the Blockheads bassist selling his Fender Jazz on eBay So Norman gave his guitar to Andy (Baxter) to sell, who lists it on eBay the link gets posted on Basschat (thanks to BC user thebrig!) I show the link to my bassist pal Matt Matt shows the link to his dad and bass tutor Laurence Canty Laurence shows the link to his ex-student Colin Colin contacts Andy and puts a deposit down, and subsequently buys the bass. And that's the story of how Colin Greenwood out of Radiohead bought Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy's 1962 Shoreline Gold Fender Jazz bass. Also, (different story), after John Giblin playing a Takamine TB-10 with Kate Bush in her 2014 shows, I decide to find a Takamine TB-10 for myself somehow. Time passes, stuff happens, yada yada, I've now got John Giblin's Takamine TB-10 from the Kate Bush shows.

After not getting a great deal of interest in my Custom P Bass body with EMG Jazz pickups, I decided to go down another route and see if I could source a Status Graphite neck for it. Considering how difficult it is to get hold of these necks I was lucky enough to be able to find one that was within reasonable (ish) driving distance and I so picked it up tonight. It's an absolutely spotless Jazz width neck pre-fitted with Schaller tuners that dropped right in to the body and although I've not really set it up properly yet the bass plays beautifully and gives me the opportunity for Jazz Bass sounds without the Jazz body which I struggle with ergonomically. I think the whole thing looks ace too and weighs in at 9lbs 3oz.

Must have been a Freudian slip.......? I would guess 'anals' would rate as 'peculiar' and 'annals' as 'funny ha ha' depending on one's orientation?

His best work was with the Beatles! 🤪

Really into Yeza lately, not sure if I’ve posted this before but it’s worth another listen if I have, turn up the volume be careful of the bass 🤣😂

You should always improve your technique and know how to play across the whole fretboard, using as many strings as you have. I don't think anyone here would state otherwise. Whether playing all those notes is really effective for the instrument's role in an ensemble is another matter. Some band structures and songs permit more notes than others - some of Flea's work in the RHCPs is an example where he not only plays lots of notes but in some cases includes two or three different bass pats at the same time. Sometimes he chooses not to play anything and that's just as effective..

So to sum up. Cue the drum machine… Rapper 1: “Bodies too thick For a genuine Ric, such a bad copy, make me sick” R2: “Block and binding jus ain’t right, listin been pulled like a ship in the night” Together: Yeah yeah R1: “Chikinbacker neck shouldn’t be set” R2: “see through you and you’re neck through poo doo” Together: Yeah yeah

My first venture into Barefaced Cabs was to order 2 Super Compacts (2015ish I think). I'd been forced into getting some new gear as I'd joined a very busy function band and after a few months my old ABM300 evo2 had started behaving weirdly. So I thought as I was gigging regularly 2-3 times every weekend I'd go for a whole new lightweight rig. Ended up with a Tecamp PUMA 500 and the 2 Super Compacts. Gigged that for a while but my issue was that the rig was almost too transparent for my ears! The Tecamp was super clean and the super compacts really do put out whatever is put into them with very little or no colour at all. Tried an Ashdown ABM1000 instead (swapped for the Tecamp) and that was better for my taste but still not quite right. So - I found someone (maybe it was on here, I don't remember) who had a two10 and was looking for a Super compact, and did a straight swap. Sold the other Super compact, then somewhere along the line got the TC RH750 and that's the rig I've used since. The TC and the two10 really work well together for me.

You can mix and master now to far higher fidelity than anything produced in the 70s and 80s. On a laptop. All on board. No studio. You can't track for stinky poo without a good room though. There were great rooms in the 70s and 80s. There still are, but they cost a huge amount of cash because there are even less of them. Vinyl cannot reproduce bass as accurately as digital, so that is not the issue. The consensus of quality has changed vastly over time. The loudness wars on cd ruined 2 decades of cd quality masters in a never ending spiral of average volume over everything crystal meth style addiction. Streaming has actually addressed this more than anything else due to all the algorithms these sites have generated to figure out equivalent playback output volumes across masters from all eras as close as possible. But bit depth is compromised and they are lossy compression formats normally which tends to affect the loudest masters the most adversely by nature of data compression mechanisms. Its super important to understand the difference between data and audio and audio data compression before trying to understand what might be adversely affecting your playback in a given instance. Mastering engineers now work on gaming those Streaming algorithms to their advantage. And so it goes on....

Thanks for the responses to this post, much appreciated. The last couple of years have really slowed down any development and plans for new products from Yamaha / Ampeg recently, as soon as I could share anything I would love to get the opinions from the forum. OK, that may be a little dangerous as I'm sure I'd get a healthy mix, but the feedback would be really useful. Dave.

Nice! I think I know it from this old Timejumpers video. Always good to hear the late great John Hughey, this time on the C6 neck...