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Hi all For anyone interested, I’ve been breaking down some of Mick Karn’s bass lines note-for-note. I plan to get to them all, but so far, it’s mostly Japan era stuff. I take the time and research them to be as accurate as possible. I hope they’re of use to some of you. Cheers!

Just picked this up from EvilBay (from a guy who turned out to be a real star and definitely a seller I would buy from again of anything turned up that interested me). I have been wanting to own one of these for a while but always seem to either miss out or not have the funds at the moment when they appear. This one was originally Sea Foam Green but was re-finished by the owner in Lava Red. He has had it from new so I am in effect the second owner. Overall in great condition for a bass that has been used regularly over it's life. At some point it might need a new harness but everything else seems spot on. Will do some better pics in due course.

A polite reminder that we do have a guitar forum. www.guitarchat.co.uk It could do with some love from guitar loving members on here.

This is a Moon that I bought directly from Japan and according to the seller it is a custom order, I did some research myself and I think it is correct as it is rare to see a MBC-6 with a neck though in this colour. The blue colour looks different in the presence and absence of sunlight, when there is not enough light it looks more like dark blue. Mahogany body core, Flame maple top and back Wenge and maple neck, ebony fretboard The pickup is Bartolini with XTCT+MCT375 preamp String spacing is 17mm Weight is close to 5kg or just 5kg. The crack in the neck area should only on the finish and not reach the wood, it does not affect the playing and sound. The action right now is very low, the truss rod I tried still turns easily, but I didn't make any major adjustments because I don't know how to set a bass... Audio or video recording is available, if interested please pm me directly The reason for selling is that I find the 6-string still not manageable for me... The current price for a brand new custom one seems to be around £3600 WITHOUT shipping and VAT, I think this is a great opportunity if you are interested in the moon flagship model The price is 1350+shipping Now available part trade with apollo solo or twin USB version Scam Warning！！！ My Moon bass was just stolen from Facebook marketplace today A man meet me and used a fake AIB bank app to transfer money to me and I let him take the bass. I'm not sure what needs to be done with a post, but let's just want to make a warning

Big New Year's Eve for us at the Star and Garter, Manchester...

Pubs are run by publicans, clubs are run by amateurs/volunteers, you do the math. Any band that relies on the venue to do the marketing (with a very few honorable exceptions) is on a hiding to nothing.

C'mon... it's tongue firmly in cheek!

Liquidator - Harry J All Starts

A drummer I know has a band like that. He puts together several bands under the same name, with random musicians, depending on how many bookings he gets on the same date. He calls them the A team, B team, C team etc depending on how competent and experienced the musicians are in each band. He plays with the A team of course but gets his own cut from each of the other bands that are playing on the same night. You wouldn't want to get the D team for your wedding. Les Dawson is on keyboards 🤣

As Jean-Luc says above they're actually doing different things despite being called the same name! The Thumpinator will cut the subby lows from your signal which in turn will make your amp have to work less hard and reduce the strain on your speakers, as well as helping to tighten up your low end. The HPF on the Cali is used to remove the lowest lows from the compression circuit only, not from your signal, if that makes sense? By reducing the deep lows going into the compression circuit the compression is not being triggered by the low lows which can reduce the whole signal down and can dull the high end frequencies. By removing the lows like this the compression is triggered more by the mids and highs while the lows are left alone. This might sound counter-intuitive but it actually makes the lows sound deeper and fuller. So despite the confusing naming convention they are 2 different things doing 2 different jobs so no, you're not wasting your money 😀

Hurtsfall have two gigs in December. The first supporting Skeletal Family at The Lending Room in Leeds on Saturday 3rd December, part of the Carpe Noctum series of gigs The second at Shakespeare's in Sheffield for "In The Black Midwinter Festival" when we will be playing on Sunday evening 18th December.

I look forward to ‘taking the pledge’ for 2023 and failing magnificently again.

Theatre is still moderately buoyant. Wedding scene is largely unimpacted, corporate is well down. Everything else is crashing compared to where it was 3 or 4 years ago. People just aren't spending the money. At the lower budget end of the wedding scene, people that would have stretched to a band are mostly going for DJs. Trouble is for me personally, I'm bored of where I am. Weddings are pretty frustrating in the fact that it's so formulaic and predictable. I can't complain, I've earned some good money over the years and like yourself, spent a few years doing the big NYE gigs. They don't even excite me anymore! Your comment did make me smirk though - one of the things that angers me a lot about the wedding scene, is that it's basically becoming a bunch of scratch bands - and that really doesn't sit well with me. There's folk like yourself with a static lineup which is great - but then, the vast majority seem to be a bunch of musicians thrown together at the last minute, going out with scrappy gear. It's amazing how many of the "UK's Best Wedding Band" go out with inappropriate "Powerful PAs" (a couple of Behringer tops), a sorry excuse for "Amazing light show" (a couple of par cans) and sound absolutely awful and totally non representative of the promo material that they present. I don't think thats fair on the clients who have no doubt spent hours choosing their ideal band only for a band of deps to turn up. That's becoming the norm as more and more musicians scrabble about, ditching gigs for other gigs to earn another fiver. I don't want to be part of that scene, especially when I'm the one holding the contract. The whole thing has mostly become a joke anyway, it's a battle of the promo - and as you'll know and I've stated, the promo rarely represents the reality of what the band sounds like live. It peeves me off seeing all these super produced mega band promos where you can hear the vocalists have been tuned within an inch of their lives, vocal stacks for days, a million over dubs yiddah, yaddah, you know how it is. It's Richard Turpin stuff.

My current three, Ibanez SR905, the 2005 thru-neck version Squier Standard series P/J precision in Satin Walnut, 2010, Cort GB35j,

I have wasted a lot of time aimlesly noodling and mucking about with effects, I suppose it is fun/relaxing and there is some benefit but I now try to always play along to metronome/drum beat/the original tune as being able to keep time/groove is essential for playing with a band - more than how fast notes can be played, fine-tuned fuzz tones, slap skills, or knowledge of modes. If I can be bothered with a proper structured practice routine (which is rare) then it is this: Rhythm/timing: Playing single notes to a metronome, gradually slowing the metronome right down and trying to still hit the note exactly on time. Change to 1/8ths 1/16ths etc. I usually just do this in 4/4 as that's 99% of the music I listen to but I do also try other time signatures like 3/4. Fretboard/notes: Doing as above to a metronome/drum beat but randomly changing notes/finding them all over the fretboard e.g. G# for 4 notes, then the same note on other strings for 4 notes each, then swich note. Trying to get to the point that it is second nature to know exactly where every note is on the fretboard without really thinking at all. Chord tones/Modes: As above but incorporate scales/chord tones, go through the different modes and switching between the differnt playing patterns (e.g. G minor all along one string, then just two strings etc. then root 3rd 5th etc.). Still always focussing on this being in time - to a metronome or drum beat, and changing the speed and time signature around. A big focus on timing really. Like this guy says, there are plenty of very well known decent bass lines that are almost entirely reliant on timing/groove, some just using a couple of notes. If you can play in time, instinctively know where the root notes are, and know how to add the correct chord tone notes then that covers the vast majority of basslines needed for bands : As it's all about playing along to stuff I play through a Zoom B1 Four (for the drum machine & metronome), or into an MPC One (drum machine), or into DJ mixer (to mix with backing tracks via phone, laptop, vinyl, with their bass reduced).

Use mine regularly - sometimes alone sometimes with a 210 as well (or vice versa). Not flimsy, sounds good. Easy one handed carry for quite a distance too (about 150m at last gig including stairs). As with any 112, there are limitations for how big a venue it can cope with, 2 however should sort you out until you need PA support. I used the 2 cabs last week in a large conference room without PA support, was fine. n.b. I moved the logo so it would look 'correct' on it's side, there are rubber feet on 2 sides to allow this.

ZZ Top have always played stupid looking instruments for show...

How's this for the most unbass player like image ever?

Apologies if already posted. Please delete if so.

Smoothie operator Sade

Tonights jam night rig - 2 Aguilar SL112s and a Mesa TT800

Two of the bands I play with have really wound down towards the end of this year, so my diary for 2023 currently contains no gigs at all, although I've got a few ideas on the go which will hopefully come to something in the meantime. I'm lucky enough to be able to turn my hand to solo guitar/vocal gigs which have got me out of a tight spot before now. Might have to resurrect that a bit.

Morally bankrupt isn’t it?

Yeah they handle everything. A few years ago I sent a defective item back to China and had to fill all the forms in to reclaim my import duty etc, was a PITA due to how incompetent our government are. Did the same form 3 times as they lost them twice along with evidence of the return (all sent signed for) and eventually got a call from them on a Saturday as for some reason they thought I was trying to claim it back on an item I had kept. Put me off importing expensive items from anywhere due to the hassle, make an exception for Thomann though.

just saw @Sonic_Groove already shed some light on that, sorry

yap, the Massive Attack one contains the sample from Stratus by Billy Cobham

Requiem ～ Killing Joke

I remember sitting backstage with the rest of the band trying to work out two lines in one of the verses ('Barefoot on the lawn with shooting stars/Loving on the floor in Belsize Park') minutes before going on stage and opening with Pseudo Silk Kimono into this. IIRC we didn't decide on the correct words and the singer mumbled the lines. 1990, first band, maybe 10th gig ever. 😬🤣

Looking up from my end, after a quiet year, mostly due to the winding-down of the main trio, as the singist/geetard has gone solo for double the money (and I don't blame him for a second), but I've found a new band (and I'm trying to get another rolling, too) with a full calendar, so, with a paid gig hosting a midweek jam night, too, I'll be doing 10 gigs in December...

After an abortive attempt with the Foo Fighters I'm back on safer ground now with Massive Attack's CD singles box set which I picked up for a song a short while back. 63 tracks with many great remixes including

I can only speak with clarity about my one recent G&L Tribute (an LB-100, bought in Dec 2021), but nothing springs to mind about ones I've had in the past. The only flaws I found were as follows: Furry nut slots - yeah, a bit untidy, I picked away the swarf because it bugged me. Shielding - fscking awful, partially daubed shielding paint in the control cavity. I lined it with copper tape. Knobs - I don't recall them being askew - I replaced them with flat tops because I think the dome tops look cheap - just a personal preference. No fit, finish or fretting issues on mine. As far as setup goes, I really don't care - I do my own setups anyway. I don't expect a bass to arrive set up for me so I don't think it's fair to list any setup issues in a critique of a newly arrived bass unless it was so far out of whack as to be unplayable.

The Ian Hill has the most comfortable neck imho of the Euro Spectors as it has the classic Kramer NS2 dimensions....

40mm nut & slimmer back to front compared to the 44 mm Attitude LTD. Alain, Richie Thomson in Wigan has a sratchplate template for one of these, he did a fabulous brown tortie for me some years ago. Just in case 🙂 edit, I forgot, I sprayed the woofer cover black.

Couple more pics of my 2011 Ian Hill (which looks like it sat in its case, untouched, bar the missing control plate screws). Enjoying the slim neck profile

I do wonder if the people (b'stards!) who robbed the shop knew what they were stealing. I mean, if I was going to steal something I'd like to think I could sell it easily afterwards eg: the market for a knock off 70" TV is quite large (so I'm led to believe 😇) whereas finding someone to buy a bass guitar is severely limited. Compound that with a number of the basses are stolen are Alembics which are a niche within a niche, highly identifiable and not hugely desirable by the majority of the bass community! Either they have been stolen to order or will have to sell them on at a fraction of their shop value. I would love to own one (eg: No 14646 5 string above) but know that if I was offered one and could afford it i would immediately know it's a knock off! 🤣 Here's hoping they find the culprits and get the basses back.

I still can't believe (actually, sadly I can ) the amount of luddite hate that ERBs get on Farcebook whenever a pic of one is posted in a bass group. It amuses me that everyone who posts "that's not a bass it's a harp" or "just get a piano" or "Jaco only needed 4" seems to think they're the first ever to say it. Still, at least by publicising their bass bigotry it makes it easy to know which idiots to block. ERBs are very much not my cup of darjeeling, but I take my hat off to anyone who makes music with one. I like to see boundaries being pushed. Although only using 2 strings seems like a weird waste!

When does depping become a regular gig?😃 I'm playing with The Long Road tomorrow night and found out at last night's rehearsal that rather than it being a one-off as I thought when I was asked to play, they're planning more dates. They are a very good bunch of musicians, though. Then Merthyr on Saturday with a duo (Getting Even - same singer as tomorrow) to make up the numbers as they were booked as a trio! I've been the third man with Getting Even a few times recently. A mixture of pop, C&W (shudder) and anything the singer thinks of. Apart from the cowboy songs, it's good fun.

Setting a plan in place for what you want to run through is a great idea! I also have a spotify playlist of tracks that I want to learn so if i'm running short on inspiration during practice I can always turn to that! Great for ear training

So he has 17 strings and uses 2 of them... Extended range instruments can sound great in the right situation, but anything by ZZ Top is far from the right situation!